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The Independent Voter Project (IVP) hosted its 2015 Business and Leadership Policy Conference at the Fairmont Hotel in Maui. The conference brought together California lawmakers from both political parties, industry professionals, and policy experts to discuss issues that greatly affect lawmakers, businesses, and state residents. IVP has taken heat from the press for holding this annual conference in Hawaii, which they argue is away from the public's eye and media scrutiny. The LA Times, for ex

In a state of over 38 million people, Californians – as well as the rest of the U.S. – have come to rely inextricably upon the capabilities of modern telecommunications technologies. Whether it’s your smartphone accessing the cloud to download the latest cat video, taking an online class in a virtual classroom, or launching another tech startup, the tech industry lends itself to almost every aspect of daily life. Likewise, in California alone, the information and communication technologies indu

The Independent Voter Project's 2015 Business and Leadership Policy Conference, an annual event with lawmakers, business professionals, and policy experts, kicked off Monday with a presentation from Dr. Lanhee Chen, Director of Domestic Policy Studies at Stanford University and Lecturer in Public Policy Program. Dr. Chen focused on innovations in the health care market, something he says is often overlooked when we discuss the current state of health care in the U.S. Most of the time, discussio

When it comes to national elections, the deck is stacked against any candidate who doesn’t have a (D) or (R) next to their name. Even third party candidates realize that they are dead in the water before they even had the chance to mount an effort against the two-party duopoly. Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein recently posted a “pre-mortem eulogy” that satirically characterizes her campaign that was “prematurely and surreptitiously extinguished by her many enemies.” It’s time for

If there are swing states, there are also swing issues. These are the issues where there are no “official” Republican or Democratic positions. These issues are significant because it is here where the candidates’ values must come out. Unfortunately, these are also the issues that presidential candidates tend to avoid on the campaign trail. Since having positions on these “swing issues” might alienate their voting blocs, candidates play it safe. This 2016, three of the four leading candidates (

U.S. District Judge David Nuffer ruled Wednesday that Utah cannot force political parties to allow non-members (e.g. unaffiliated voters) to participate in "their" primary elections, striking down the open primaries provision in SB54."While a state has the authority to regulate elections and even require that political parties hold a primary election …  state may not force a political party to allow unaffiliated voters in its primary election," Nuffer wrote. "Such a requirement is a 'severe' bu

On November 3, the Maryland Redistricting Reform Commission proposed a plan that would allow an independent committee to draw legislative districts. Under Maryland’s current system, the governor and legislature decide how electoral districts are drawn, and the new commission would disallow any politician from participating. The plan was approved 9-1 by a commission appointed by Gov. Larry Hogan to determine a new method of drawing legislative districts. According to The Washington Post, Gov. H

Why I Gave Up Meat I remember the day I decided that I would become a vegetarian. It came while watching the documentary Life in a Day – in particular, the scene in which a cow receives two shots to its skull from a bolt gun (the first one didn’t kill the cow and only made it panic and flail in its narrow metal pen). The scene lasted only a minute, but it haunted me long after the lights in the theater had come back on. I wasn’t naïve: I knew animals had to be killed to be made into meat, and

Congress will not vote on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) until 2016, but in the meantime, presidential candidates have taken positions on the massive free trade deal. Republican candidates are split on the merits of the deal, while the Democratic candidates, at this point in the campaign, oppose it. Yet there is one bloc of voters who stand the most to gain -- or lose -- from the agreement, yet have mostly been ignored: American workers. Currently, many of the country's largest unions opp

A few years ago, the CIA declassified a WWII field manual that was used to teach insurgents (or sympathetic citizens) of Germany-held areas to conduct simple sabotage, thereby hindering the enemy's war effort. While some of the suggestions bordered on juvenile and hokey (such as sand in government vehicle's gas tanks), others were well-thought-out and based in either technological or psychological warfare against the Nazi regime. One of the most frightening recommendations comes under the sect