It is no secret that Americans are dissatisfied with the work Congress is doing. A 15 percent congressional approval rating has become the norm in American politics. Most voters don't feel either party represents them on Capitol Hill, and people feel like neither chamber is able to get anything substantive done.
But there are organizations out there that are leading the effort to change a political culture that has millions of Americans feeling left out in the cold.
The state elections commission in Delaware claims it just doesn't have the manpower to resolve a dispute after a tiny splinter group recently broke off from the Libertarian Party of Delaware, and confusingly named itself the Libertarian Party of Delaware Inc.
Back in February Delaware’s election commissioner Elaine Manlove told Delaware State News she didn’t know which party should get the ballot access belonging to Delaware’s more than 1,600 registered Libertarians: "I don’t know who gets to claim them at this point. I am awaiting a response from my Deputy Attorney General."
First, let me apologize. I don’t really think you are stupid. I was competing for your attention with an oxymoron. And also to demonstrate how easy it is to get attention by using denigrating language.
Something titled “Dignity Is the Answer” would not interest as many people. Yet I know the world would be improved if dignity were our basis for living. When dignity is present, all things are possible.
California is a blue state, but Los Angeles County is way blue: Clinton bested Trump by 50 percentage points.
Few local elected officials belong to the GOP, and only 18% of registered voters are Republican.
In Central and East/Southeast Los Angeles, the GOP has collapsed to such an extent that not a single Republican filed to challenge the incumbent congressional Democrats of the 34th and 40th Congressional Districts.
Last week I traveled to Kansas for an appearance at the Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics at the University of Kansas. Nestled in the hills of Lawrence (seemingly the only hills in this flattest of states), the Institute building is a striking structure, framing a towering stained glass rendering of the American flag.
What happens when you marry a passionate group of pro-voter Americans to an encyclopedia? You get Ballotpedia.
No government public information officer or website can do what this non-partisan online political encyclopedia does - it hands Americans free, simple, useful, actionable information. It also takes the who, what, when, where… and then goes to unheard of lengths to offer a balanced "why".
The team even create new words when the one in common use becomes so partisan it blocks thoughtful discussion.
Voter suppression is a strategy to influence the outcome of an election by discouraging or preventing people from voting and is different from political campaigning.
Campaigning attempts to change likely voting behavior by changing the opinions of potential voters through persuasion.
Voter suppression attempts to reduce the number of voters who might vote against a candidate or proposition through other means, such as legal hurdles or physical intimidation.
The race for the 50th Congressional District in San Diego, California has been a page-turning, headline-grabbing feast for observers.
On the Saturday a week before Mother's Day, I participated in the 34th Annual Harlem Mother's Day Parade. I was there on behalf of the Committee for Independent Community Action (CICA), founded by Dr. Lenora Fulani.
The CICA consists of public housing residents, citywide activists, community organizers, and grassroots leaders fighting to protect public housing in New York City from the privatization that threatens to displace hundreds of thousands of public housing residents from their homes.
No one could accuse former CIA Director John Brennan of being a peacenik or too soft on the United States' enemies.
The lifelong CIA man (he started with the agency as a Mid-East analyst and station chief for 25 years) has faced criticism for overseeing a substantial increase in CIA drone strikes on targets in Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, Libya, and Afghanistan.