MONTPELIER, VT. - New legislation is slated to be introduced in the Vermont legislature that would implement ranked choice voting for the state's elections. Vermont is one of several states that could soon follow in Maine's footsteps in adopting RCV statewide after a historic 2018 election.

VTDigger reports that Dover independent Rep. Laura Sibilia plans to spearhead RCV efforts in the Vermont State House, while Sen. Chris Pearson (D/P - Chittenden) will introduce legislation in the Senate.

In these times of mounting national and international crisis --  from poverty to climate change -- a lesson that emerges from studying how liberal democracies fail is condensed in a few words noted in Thucydides’s Peloponnesian War, “rights” are only relevant “between equals in power."

The Declaration of Independence declares a right to equality, but the reality of inequality for the powerless remains.

It’s 2019 and the United States of America still has a democracy problem.

In December, I wrote an article on a particularly egregious case of the famous legislative "revolving door." After sixteen years in the South Dakota Legislature, Senator Deb Peters announced her resignation to take a job with the state's healthcare association.

San Diego, Calif.- Councilwoman Barbara Bry has made it official, she's running for mayor.

Bry's campaign sent a press release and created a website, Barbara Bry Mayor 2020.

In Gallup's first review since the midterm elections of public opinion regarding the most important problem facing America, government was the number one answer given by respondents, with 19% or 1 in 5 respondents saying some aspect of the federal government is the top problem facing the U.S. today:

It is unclear whether or not voters can expect a slow political news cycle in the final of 2018. Congress was expected to pass a temporary funding bill that would kick the can down the road another few months before another budget fight dominates the headlines.

In the midst of the partisan competition of who can brand this disaster in governance against the other side better, there are nonpartisan news items that are worth noting that are not getting any attention from cable and other mainstream media outlets.

Abuse of power stopped by citizens, that’s a good sign of the health of our democracy, and it happened in New Jersey this past weekend when state legislative leaders were forced off a plan to permanently gerrymander Democratic control. It’s an even better sign that the citizen groups doing the stopping were on the side that would have benefited politically from the power grab.

San Diego, Calif.- Sweetwater High School District officials knowingly covered up the district's financial crisis, so say state officials after a damning audit of the Sweetwater School District's finances.

The state’s Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team (FCMAT) has even suggested some district employees may have committed criminal fraud.

FCMAT’s chief executive officer Michael Fine said the district’s accounting system was doctored to create the impression the district had more money than it really did.

San Diego, Calif.- Chad Peace is an election law attorney, national campaign strategist and representative for the Independent Voter Project.