Editor's Note: This piece originally published on The Fulcrum and has been re-published on IVN with permission from the publisher.

 

 

The size of the United States deficit and the potential dangers to the United States economy is widely debated in Congress. This writing presents our readers with just the facts on the deficit.

A poll conducted by FairVote in December found that 47% of respondents felt they chose between the lesser of two evils in at least one election last year. What does that say about the state of our democracy? And more importantly, what can be done about it?

There are more than 330,000 registered independent voters in New Mexico. However, none of these voters have full access to the taxpayer-funded elections process as a result of the state's closed partisan primary system.

Before going home for Christmas, Congress passed a continuing resolution to fund the federal government through Friday, March 14, 2025. This was essentially a stop-gap measure to buy Congress more time to negotiate a full-year funding bill. Those discussions between leading House and Senate appropriators are underway as Congress looks to avoid a government shutdown.

In New York City, it goes without saying that the most consequential election in nearly every race is in the Democratic Primary. However, if registered independent voters don't join a party soon, they will be completely denied a say.

Alex Koma of Loose Lips @WCP reports that a significant legal battle over Initiative 83 (I-83) has been reignited after the District of Columbia Court of Appeals ruled on February 6, 2025, to remand the case to Superior Court 

In his first three weeks back in office, President Trump has already floated taking control of Gaza, authorized Elon Musk to overhaul the Treasury with college interns, and signed more executive orders than most presidents do in a year. While critics argue he's trampling constitutional limits on presidential power, is Trump really breaking new ground - or just building on a century of executive overreach?

From 2013 to 2016, I authored over 40 articles published by the Independent Voter Network (IVN). I wrote to overcome the partisan divisiveness which had paralyzed our federal government. I wrote about organizations, candidates, individuals and efforts that emphasized non-partisan solutions to the issues we face in America. Hope and positivity were my mantra.

The nonprofit reform group Open Primaries hosted its first Primary Buzz Discussion of 2025 last week. But this conversation worked differently as Open Primaries President John Opdycke was the one being interviewed.

Over the last week, The Independent Center released the second and third installments to its 2025 State of the Union Poll, one of which compared and contrasted the views of independent voters and Republicans and the other compared independents and Democrats.