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Credit: texastribune.org The United States has some of the lowest voter turnout and voter participation rates of any industrialized country in the world. Low voter turnout is typically ascribed to voter ignorance and apathy or to the lack of choice in our two-party dominated political system. Another factor is what we might call the “busy work” burden imposed on voters by government regulations. In order to vote, individuals must register to vote with their state's board of elections according

Photo credit: texasobserver.org The state of the economy, job creation, and tax reform are important issues for independent voters. Most people in this voting demographic want practical and pragmatic solutions to some of the biggest problems facing the country, and not proposals that fall purely on partisan lines. Within the Republican Party and among conservative voters the biggest debate on tax reform is typically whether the national tax code should be replaced entirely with a 23% federal s

Photo: Gage Skidmore It is not easy running for public office, especially president of the United States. Once you become a candidate for president, you have alienated at least 40-45% of all Americans. It gets worse once you become the nominee. The next 3+ months will be rough sledding for President Barack Obama and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney. While the challenge for the president will be defending his record on the economy and National Debt, Romney's challenge at the moment app

Photo: Gage Skidmore Congressman Ron Paul, who is serving his last term in the US House, had one final chance to cross examine Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke Wednesday during the chairman's testimony to the House Financial Services Committee. In his opening remarks, Paul wanted to dispel any notion that his now notorious criticisms of the Federal Reserve System are confined to Ben Bernanke or any individual person at the helm of monetary policy, stating: "I have, over the years obvious

A firestorm of criticism is coming to a head over a letter sent by one-time Republican presidential hopeful Rep. Michele Bachmann and four other GOP lawmakers to various government agencies alleging an elaborate government infiltration by the Muslim Brotherhood organization. One such letter was sent to the State Department's Deputy Inspector General. In the letter, Secretary of State Hilary Clinton's deputy chief of staff and longtime aide, Huma Abiden, is singled out. Alleging that "her routin

Credit: texastribune.org The Texas senate race will come down to the winner of the July 31st GOP runoff election between Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst and former Texas Solicitor General Ted Cruz. We are seeing a tight battle between big money and an expanded grassroots effort. Dewhurst's personal wealth gives him a huge advantage over the grassroots Cruz. But it may not be enough to win the runoff election. The candidate with the deepest pockets is considered to have the best advantage in

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This weekend, the National Governors Association (NGA) will be meeting in Williamsburg, Virginia. The NGA is an annual meeting of current governors from all fifty U.S. states and five U.S. Territories. In honor of this year's meeting, here's the five memorable moments from governors past and present. Governor Chris Christie – New Jersey Governor Christie responds to a reporter questioning his tone of voice. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQQdZFtHJD8 Governor Angus King – Maine Governor King

Texas has once again topped CNBC's list of best states for business, a list the Lone Star state has been topping since the network began ranking the states in 2007. Utah came in second, for most conducive to business. While Texas is the best state for business, it has other areas to improve as CNBC reports: The state had to make some sacrifices though, and that hurt in some categories. Texas comes in 26th in education and 35th in quality of life. And while the state held the line on income tax

This election, an estimated five million eligible voters will be disenfranchised from the political process due to new voter identification laws. These de-facto voter suppression laws not only make it harder to register to vote, but also place restrictions on voting, creating an obstacle to eligible voters who lack government issued identification. The Brennan Center for Justice released a study in which they outlined the changes in voting laws we face in the 2012 election and the adverse affec