San Diego, Calif.- It's exceedingly difficult to get 66% of voters to agree that the sun rises in the east, which makes it all the more impressive that in November 2016, 65.79% of voters approved Measure L, the law that puts all initiatives on November ballots by default to ensure they’re decided in elections where the most voters participate.

It is no secret that both parties control the presidential nomination process.

But what is less-known is that taxpayers, not the parties, fund the primary election.

So, why wouldn’t every voter, regardless of party, get to participate?

Seven score and sixteen years ago, President Abraham Lincoln delivered one of the most memorable speeches in all of human history in his Gettysburg Address, though he wrongly presumed the world would not “long remember what we say here.”

With politics in a permanent state of chaos, we might have to look outside the political sphere to be grounded politically. At least I do. Sports is a good place to turn -- real sports, not the blood sport of partisanship and governance.

A Roadmap to A Better Democracy

By: Wes Messamore

Surely you have heard of the "Varsity Blues" scandal, in which the rich and famous purchased "side door" entries to elite colleges for their children with mediocre academic and athletic skills.

There were at least two ways they cheated: at two compromised testing centers in Los Angeles and Houston students were given preferential test administrations—alone with a proctor and extra time; and athletic coaches at elite schools were bribed to steer reserved admission slots for their sport to paying non-athletes.

In this special episode of "Toppling the Duopoly," we air the one-on-one interview I had with former Starbucks CEO and potential independent presidential candidate Howard Schultz.

It's an interview you won't get anywhere else as I ask Howard about many of the obstacles in place that rig elections in favor of the Republican and Democratic Parties -- from the presidential debates to the spoiler argument to partisan primaries.

At Splinter News David Boddiger writes:

"Howard Schultz finally has his big campaign rallying cry."

He's referring to a chant raised by a few loud attendees at the Unrig Summit in Nashville, Tennessee, Sunday when the Starbucks Founder and CEO took the stage to address election reform and stump for his 2020 candidacy.

The “wave” election swept in a few Democrats, but — like most U.S. elections — rolled over democracy’s basic premise that elections should offer meaningful competition and choices for voters.