The success of Maine as the first state to use ranked choice voting statewide has brought newfound national attention to ranked choice voting. There’s much to like in this replacement to our fractious, problematic, and outdated plurality voting method. Voters can vote for their top choice without fear of splitting the vote. More candidates and parties can compete without the label of “spoiler.” Campaigns become more civil and less prone to negative attacks. The winner is the consensus, majority choice.

Mental health is a growing problem in the U.S. workforce. As many as one out of every 5 adults will be diagnosed with or experience a mental illness every single year.

Social media is killing thoughtful citizenship. I see it and feel it every time I’m online. You do too.

I get it. I really do. It’s so easy to get sucked into the vacuum of short bursts of Twitter snark, epic and ridiculous Facebook comment threads or the blissful ignorance of a filtered Instagram feed that takes you to some other, beautiful place where there is no politics — only iced coffee on vintage wood tables and sun-kissed, smiling people.

The Republican Party's approval rating is the highest its been in seven years. According to Gallup’s September ‘Government’ poll, the GOP scored the favorable opinion of 45% of Americans. This a nine-point jump from last September’s 36 percent result.

There are many who would argue that the political and media circus around the Kavanaugh controversy has gotten out of hand. It is not about the facts. It is not even about respect for the claims of his accusers or his repeated denials. It is about the spectacle.

Editor's Note: This article was co-authored by Kammi Foote and Donald Wilson Bush, president of the Woodrow Wilson Legacy Foundation.

In 2016, for the fifth time in the history of the United States, it appears that the President of the United State won the Electoral College vote, but lost the popular vote. As a result, many are calling for a reform of the Electoral College in favor of a national popular election; and this debate has added a new level of division and emotional discord to the polarization already infecting our civic discourse on Main Street.

San Diego, CA.- District 2 City Council candidate Dr. Jen Campbell finished second to incumbent Lorie Zapf in the June primary.

Campbell received 21% of the vote, Zapf had 43%.

It was an impressive finish for Campbell as she had never run for public office.

A Democrat, Dr. Campbell retired from the medical profession after 37 years of treating patients and teaching medicine. It was a medical issue, the Hepatitis A crisis in San Diego, that she says caused her to run for public office.

I. The State of Self-Driving Car Technology and The Possibilities

In the 1990 film, Total Recall (starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sharon Stone), the protagonist played by the now former governor of California hails a self-driving car with a humanoid, robotic attendant sitting where a human driver would.

What makes the surreal scene eerily prophetic is how Schwarzenegger asks the AI cab driver questions like one might ask Alexa, Siri, or Google's voice assistant, and the "Johnny Cab" sasses him and cracks jokes just like Siri might do.

California is the fifth largest economy in the world and has the fifth highest tax rate in the United State. It would be reasonable to assume that those alone would be enough to merit a round of debates between candidates vying to become its governor. However, like many other things in California, that is not the case.