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San Diego, CA. - Visiting Father Joe Carroll at his East Village home, it doesn't take one long to recognize the pivotal role he played in elevating the issue of homelessness. For 37 years, Father Joe walked the streets of downtown San Diego where he fed, housed, and provided lifesaving services for our community's homeless population. Every day 3,000 men, women and children were cared for by St. Vincent de Paul and now Father Joe's Villages. Father Joe's Villages From his pictures with the

To have their voices heard and enact change, citizens are urged to use their vote. But how can America's population be truly represented when, in some states, it is nearly impossible for independent or minor party candidates to even appear on voters' ballots? What good is a "fair" vote when viable candidates are undermined by strict ballot access laws that favor the two major parties? Clearly, election reform at state and federal levels is desperately needed. Here are 8 of America's worst ballo

In the face of mounting criticism from the notorious libertarian billionaire industrialists, Charles and David Koch, Donald Trump flamed the Koch Brothers on Twitter Tuesday, tweeting: "The globalist Koch Brothers, who have become a total joke in real Republican circles, are against Strong Borders and Powerful Trade. I never sought their support because I don’t need their money or bad ideas. They love my Tax & Regulation Cuts, Judicial picks & more. I made.........them richer. Their network is

The Michigan Supreme Court in a 4-3 ruling Tuesday rejected a constitutional challenge brought by a GOP-backed group and the state attorney general to remove an initiative from the November ballot that would institute an independent redistricting commission to redraw state electoral districts. "It is not a judge’s role to philosophize a theory of government. Rather, we are stewards of the people and must faithfully abide by the decisions they make through the laws they adopt. We accomplish this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SFm-w9-Ky0 Voters Not Politicians recently launched a new ad for their proposed ballot measure (Proposition 2) to institute a nonpartisan redistricting commission in Michigan. The measure is currently before the state Supreme Court where mostly Republican-backed groups and the state's attorney general are trying to remove it from the ballot. The narrator of the ad starts by saying that as voters, we have the "freedom to choose our leaders," and that this right

Universal health care — or single-payer health care, or medicare for all, or socialized medicine — has come of age as a mainstream political issue in the United States. There is now an "official" Medicare for All Caucus in the U.S. House of Representatives that launched with 66 members. The latest research indicates a majority of Americans support some form of government guarantee of health care. But while Democrats and Republicans at the federal level attempt to coalesce their competing vision

My latest podcast interview is with Adam Friedman, the executive director of Voter Choice Massachusetts. Voter Choice Mass. is an expansive grassroots network of ranked choice voting advocates hosting several events across the state to educate voters about ranked choice voting. Friedman says his organization is the largest effort in the nation to get ranked choice voting passed at the state level following the reform's success in Maine. He believes momentum will continue to grow for RCV, and th

Earlier this month, a report from the Associated Press that about 40 immigrant recruits had been discharged from the Army’s Delayed Entry Program, or DEP, drew attention and made the rounds on social media, prompting outrage by some alleging discriminatory treatment. And while this is unfortunate and does leave the immigration status of these recruits in questions, it’s nothing new. Most recruits, regardless of their country of origin, will spend some time in DEP, usually a few weeks to a few m

Earlier this year, Utah and Washington quietly joined 14 other states that have eliminated the use of registration deadlines as a final cutoff to be able to vote. The congruent actions of a red state and blue state bring the number of states that allow voters to register or update a registration when they go to vote to nearly one in three. It’s a critical threshold that could spell the end of voter registration deadlines as we’ve known them for 100 years. Enabling voters to address and fix reg

The independent and nonpartisan reform movements have never seen the momentum they are seeing today. Voters are ditching the Republican and Democratic Parties in droves. A record number of independent and third party candidates are running. And, powerful coalitions are forming to transform the US political system into one that is more representative of the diverse political landscape in America. We are witnessing history in the making. Here are the 15 biggest developments in the independent mov