I seek and thrive on hope. But currently, I see chaos throughout our society, at every level. This leaves me feeling anxious and fearful. Have you felt this as well? Or are you more optimistic?

Recently, I’ve started to ask myself -- what if there is a larger pattern or story that we have yet to see?

My belief that we are in a time of chaos is based on these assumptions:

Right around April 14, the group Reform California who is leading the statewide Gas Tax Reform effort, say they will submit their signatures for the November ballot. DeMaio tells IVN San Diego the group has enough valid signatures for the initiative to make it onto the ballot.

In a revealing conversation with IVN San Diego, former City Coucilman Carl DeMaio had much to say about his statewide initiative to repeal the Gas Tax, reforming Sacramento and the chances that he might run again for Mayor in 2020.

In a shocking and disappointing read of the March 2018 issue of The Atlantic, two of the magazine's contributors, editor Jonathan Rauch and contributor Benjamin Wittes, both advocate deliberately blind partisanship going into the 2018 midterm elections.

There are some major news stories coming out of Maine right now; especially from independent Terry Hayes' campaign for governor.

On Monday, the Hayes for Maine campaign announced that independent State Treasurer Terry Hayes became the second independent candidate to qualify for clean elections funding since the law was approved by voters in 1996.

In a news release from the Committee for Ranked Choice Voting, the organization announced its intention to seek a court-ordered injunction against Maine’s Secretary of State forcing him to follow Maine’s voter-approved Ranked Choice Voting Law.

Dick Woodbury, the Chair of the Committee said, “In the 15 months since voters enacted Ranked Choice Voting as Maine law, Secretary of State Matt Dunlap has consistently avoided its implementation."

Jordan Peterson, the Canadian professor of psychology who in the last year has become North America’s most popular public intellectual, has spent many decades studying tyranny and its antecedents. As a result, he frequently warns his audiences of the unparalleled destructive power of “ideological possession."

As someone who has long been writing about the threat posed by this all too prevalent epistemic disease, I am delighted to see the attention that is now being paid to it.

Duality. Duel. Dynamic Duo. Two.

Sometimes against; yet, sometimes together.

I propose an examination of our apparent love affair with Comic Book and Sci-Fi movies since there is so much money invested in movies pitting "dark sides" against "light" Jedis. (Admittedly, my bias is that I slumber through such cultural followings as The Lord of the Rings; I only rustle from my slumber when the orcs run through the forests).

People over Parties.

It's the DNA of independents.

The freedom and liberty to choose the candidate or initiative we think is best for the country has always been the hallmark of who we are.

Independents have been working for years to elevate our national political conversation that better educates and serves our country, not two political corporations.

Following up on the 4-0 vote by the Orange County Board of Supervisors to join a lawsuit from the Trump administration fighting the state's "sanctuary city" laws, the Counties of San Diego and Escondido are now wading into the Sanctuary State Debate.

The County of San Diego has docketed a closed session hearing on the same issue for April 17.

Is the Trump administration a decisive break from the Clinton-Bush-Obama status quo—or an extension of it?

This fundamental question has hovered over Washington since the shock result of the 2016 election.

On Friday, March 23, 2018, the president provided an unmistakable answer. President Trump set aside the sword of reform. He took the pen to sign a $1.3 trillion budget. The national debt, which doubled under the respective administrations of George W. Bush and Barack Obama, remains on a steep, unsustainable trajectory.