No matter which side of the election you were on, clearly, half of the country was not happy with status quo. Half a country is now very unhappy with the outcome. As with Brexit, when a country is only working for half the people, it’s not working. When that half exercises their democratic right to change the country’s course, we must respect that.

Much of the run-up to the recent election focused on turmoil: difficulties the GOP had in supporting their own presidential nominee, and difficulties the Democratic National Committee had when WikiLeaks exposed questionable activities of their own.

From the Revolutionary War to the Watergate scandal, journalism has always held an important place in the political sphere. However, the concept of modern journalism can appear bleak and disappointing, constructed more as an attention-getting ruse rather than an objective means of imparting essential information to the public.

California is a leader in clean energy innovation. But energy innovation does not come without a cost.

The simplistic discussion about energy policy at the national level usually comes down to this: you either want to protect our environment, or you are a climate change/science denier.

In this two-sided partisan world, a practical discussion of consequences gets lost.

While researching another article, I bunny-trailed into an obscure law pertaining to how Electoral votes are counted.

Since 1887, 3 U.S.C. 15 gives Congress the right to invalidate Electoral votes -- either specific electors or even an entire state's vote.

While it has no place in the USA currently, gambling on elections is rife in most European countries and no other election has ignited interest so much as the 2016 Presidential Election. Whether it was the divisive rhetoric, or the fact a Celebrity was involved, the 2016 elections saw huge sums of money change hands after Trump’s win. Does this exemplify the disenchantment felt by many regarding the 2016 election, and show the disconnect that led to so few people voting?

There's a lot that American voters may be divided over, but there's one issue that hopefully we can all get together on and embrace a nonpartisan, obvious, and sane position. Demonstrators who have been blocking traffic on streets and highways as part of your protests: please stop! Stop the madness now.

The popular phrase “where there’s smoke there’s fire” is a lie. Lots of things cause smoke without fire. Smoke bombs, for example. And barbecue, which is so integral to a happy life that no reasonable person could imagine the world without it. Anyone who claims that fire always accompanies smoke is a barbecue denier. I refuse on principle to even have a conversation with someone like that.

Editor’s note: This article was co-authored by Chris Micheli and Michael Daft. This article was originally self-published by the authors and has been republished on IVN with their consent. 

The Business and Leadership Policy Conference hosted annually by the Independent Voter Project in Maui, Hawaii, exists to bring legislators, policy advocates, and industry professionals together to exchange ideas and have substantive discussions on the greatest issues affecting California lawmakers, businesses, and state residents.