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Independent Vermont senator and Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has a plan to kill two birds with one stone. The first bird? He wants to spend $3 billion to provide solar panels for America’s poor over the next 15 years. The second bird is moving us further away from our dependence on oil, coal, and other dirty fuels—and he’s going to do it not by trusting America’s corporations to do the right thing, but instead by providing for America’s most vulnerable citizens with a common

This week’s offerings are from California, New Jersey, Texas, Florida and Oklahoma. Different topics all tied together. Thanks for reading! Change election laws? That’s the question before Christie Source: Associated Press, AsburyParkPress.com A piece from the Asbury Park Press about how New Jersey Governor Chris Christie’s negative views on election reforms authored by Democrats -- designed to increase voter turnout -- may play with Republican presidential primary voters. My Take: I just f

The Independent Voter Project (IVP) and California Forward (CA Fwd) invite you to an exciting event in Sacramento, California. On August 19, we will hold a series of panel discussions on voting rights, nonpartisan primaries, and the future of elections. Panelists and special guest speakers include: California Secretary of State Alex Padilla, California State Senator Steve Glazer, State Senator Anthony Cannella, and Assemblymembers Brian Maienschein, Lorena Gonzalez, Adam Gray, and Cheryl Brown.

In an exclusive interview, I recently had the privilege of speaking to an American hero, William Binney, NSA whistle-blower. We discussed how NSA mass data collection makes us LESS safe; how the intentions behind it are not misguided but positively nefarious; how the lies that have been told about it are snowballing, and how Rand Paul's presidential candidacy may uniquely represent an opportunity for change. Listen to the interview below or read the full, astonishing transcript that follows.

Personal stories matter in politics. Personal stories connect us to the issues. They tie large, abstract issues to personal, human events. They help us empathize. They help us connect to each other, allowing us to understand, even if we don’t agree. It’s personal stories that change opinions. At a Centrist Project event last week, I met Jimmy LaSalvia, a gay conservative who has left the Republican Party. For years Jimmy worked inside his party as founder of GOProud and as national staff for th

In response to How State, Federal Courts Are Working to End Partisan Gerrymandering, published July 13, I received several emails and Facebook messages questioning the statistic that the United States is now over 80 percent urbanized by population. While this seems like a huge number, it came from the 2010 Census, which found that: The urban areas of the United States for the 2010 Census contain 249,253,271 people, representing 80.7% of the population, and rural areas contain 59,492,276 people

With the Looking to the Founders series running its natural course, it seemed appropriate to move to the next stage of American History. Not that there was a lack of material, but a realization that the 2016 presidential election is going to be an all out brawl over the concept of federalism. Looking at the origins of federalism can help us understand many of the problems we still have today, and sometimes, just sometimes, we might actually find some common ground when we have an honest introsp

Florida's Supreme Court struck down much of the state's congressional districting map on July 9, ordering the redrawing of what it termed "constitutionally invalid" districts in 2 of the 27 districts (requiring a change to 8 congressional districts). Each district represents about 710,000 voters, making this one of the most significant court cases ever involving the practice of gerrymandering. In 2010, Florida's voters overwhelmingly approved (62.9%) a constitutional amendment with some of the

On Thursday, July 9, 2015, the Florida Supreme Court discarded parts of Florida’s congressional district maps, saying that state legislators had violated a provision of the Florida constitution prohibiting political considerations in redistricting when drawing the districts. The Independent Voter Project (IVP) this week filed a petition for Writ of Certiorari with the Supreme Court challenging the constitutionality of New Jersey’s “closed” primary election system based on the same premise – ele

Hey there. Here’s my latest offering and take on a number of items related to nonpartisan issues and voter reform efforts from around the nation. From the Supreme Court ruling on redistricting commissions to the Independent Voter Project petitioning the same Supreme Court -- and everything in between -- it has been a busy couple of weeks. Thanks for reading. Jeff Why Labor’s Dem-on-Dem Attacks Are Foolhardy Source: CalBuzz With so much of the national media attention focused on the GOP and