If you’re a young voter like us, you’re probably tired of politics as they are now. Tired of every aspect of your life being a political issue. Tired of the restrictive grip of the two major parties making you jump through hoops to vote in critical primary elections or barring you from them entirely. It’s no secret that the major parties have been taking advantage of the way we engage with politics to guilt and scare us into their camp. But what you may not know is that 40% of Americans refuse to comply with this party-policed status quo.

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The general perception of young voters is that they are largely detached from politics and thus have no interest and don’t participate. Yet, the largest segment of the voting population -- Generation Y -- and the generation that follows, Gen Z, could completely change the way elections, and by extension politics, are conducted in the US.

Public opinion polling shows broad dissatisfaction with the current two-party political structure: 

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The ever-increasing battle over free speech is becoming a powerful dividing line for Americans. Is anyone allowed to say anything? Or are there certain words and ideas too dangerous to ever be uttered?

If you've ever wondered about the concept of free speech in modern America, this is great discussion to listen to. Adam Goldstein is the Senior Research Counsel to the President of the non-profit Freedom of Individual Rights in Education or FIRE.

County Commissioner Mark Jerrell joins host T. J.

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The conditions that allow human greed to corrupt institutions such as the American system of governance have the same elements as those required for a criminal conviction—motive, means and opportunity:

“It’s almost impossible to maintain any kind of distance or any sense of social hierarchy when you’re just howling with laughter. Laughter is a force for democracy.” - John Cleese

Independent voters have been in the forefront of a movement to change the rules of the political game in the United States. We have led efforts to open the primaries to all voters, establish independent non-partisan redistricting commissions and introduce reforms like Ranked Choice Voting to the voting process itself.

San Diego City Attorney Mara Elliott is misleading the public by refusing to release potentially damning parts of a forensic

U.S. democracy is in existential crisis.

The country already suffers from unrepresentative winner-take-all, single-seat-district legislative elections, a two-party duopoly, partisan gerrymandering, the corrupting influence of big money in politics, and an Electoral College and US Senate that give vastly outsized influence to some voters over others. In the case of the Electoral College, it can also prevent the presidential candidate receiving the most votes from being elected.

On this episode of Toppling the Duopoly, host Shawn Griffiths interviews Dan Falconer, director of the award-winning documentary film, UnRepresented.