According to recent polls, approximately 4 in 10 Millennial voters say they would support either Libertarian presidential candidate Gov. Gary Johnson or Green Party candidate Dr. Jill Stein. The popularity of alternative options outside the Republican and Democratic parties increases the possibility that there might be three, maybe four lecterns on the fall presidential debate stage.

Not since 2008 has the Libertarian Party been this active in Kansas politics, with a candidate challenging all four congressional districts, the Senate seat, and the presidency in the same election year -- and 2016 may in fact turn out to be a record year for minor party and independent candidates.

While it is debatable whether Americans largely approve of joining the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) – the massive free trade agreement comprising 11 other countries -- it is undeniable that the presidential candidates are responding to Americans' concerns about economic insecurity in staking out their posit

In Illinois' 13th district, one candidate is suing over the constitutionality of the onerous signature requirements for independent candidates.

A lesser-of-two-evils election is the lowest form of democracy. Voters deserve a better alternative. —David Yee, August 2015

The 'writing has been on the wall' for over a year at this point. The 2016 election season has become a national referendum on the lesser-of-two-evils choice between the two major party candidates.

The Debate

Since 9/11, one of the defining fault lines in American and Western politics has concerned whether jihadist groups such as al-Qaeda and ISIS are motivated by their religion or by politics – or more specifically, by grievances against Western foreign policy.

A challenge to the Commission on Presidential Debates was effectively dismissed in federal court Friday. U.S. District Court Judge Rosemary Collyer ruled that there is little merit to the claim that the CPD is violating antitrust laws and there is no evidence the commission is intentionally working to shut out minor party presidential challengers.

Over the past month, the courts have systematically begun to dismantle voter suppression laws in 4 states. Texas, North Carolina, Wisconsin, and Kansas have all seen various laws designed to 'protect the ballot box' struck down as merely attempts to suppress the vote.

Everyone has heard the one-liners when it comes to politically discussing heath care: from 'death panels' to 'free health care,' 'socialized medicine' to 'free market care,' the one-liners say everything and nothing about the current state of America's health care crisis.

And we are in a health care crisis.

Last week marked the end of the presidential primary season. After 18 months of speeches and debates and millions of tweets, Facebook posts, and email blasts, it will go down in history as a pivotal moment in our experiment with democracy.

And while Donald Trump’s antics and unconventional campaign style will fill political science textbooks, his approach to seeking the highest office in the land isn’t the central lesson of this election cycle. What the last year and a half revealed is that our system is rigged and the American people are on to it.