While many news outlets received good political mileage Wednesday, flaunting the fact that President Obama was met at the airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia by a low-level official (the mayor) followed by cool, if not outright cold, negotiations -- there are underlying reasons that we should be really caring about.

The folk theory of democracy

The common perception holds that the people elect their leaders at the polls and then hold them accountable for representing their will. The folk theory is appealing because it puts the will of the people and their interests at the heart of government. Sovereignty resides with the people who control the agenda.

Horror stories abound in New York after the Tuesday primaries as voters report being dropped from rolls, turned away by poll workers, and subjected to long lines in understaffed polling places. City authorities admitted that at least 125,000 voters were mysteriously purged from the polls in Brooklyn alone.

The Intercept, this is how much time cable news networks Fox News and MSNBC devoted to daytime and afternoon TV coverage of the Democracy Spring protests as of April 12. On April 11, when 400 protestors were arrested for a sit-in at the Capitol, some were heard chanting, "Where is CNN?

An on-going philosophical tug of war exists between disgruntled taxpayers and legislators who on the one hand, are working hard for their constituents, while on the other, suddenly find themselves in a situation where they are given the choice to leave the legislature for greener pastures. Literally.  

With overwhelming victories in the New York primary by Donald Trump (89-3; with 3 delegates yet to be declared) and Hillary Clinton (175-106; with 10 delegates outstanding) the path for either challenger to have a legitimate claim at their respective conventions just got significantly harder.

The two strategies are totally different.

A persistent theme in the Democratic primary contest is that the race is between Hillary Clinton, the pragmatist, and Bernie Sanders, the purist – images that the candidates have both acquired and themselves actively nourished.

As the nominating contests wind down, a new poll suggests that a majority of Republicans would prefer the top vote-getter obtain the GOP presidential nomination.

Since last week over twelve hundred protesters have subjected themselves to arrest outside the U.S. Capitol building, with thousands more pledging their willingness to join them.

Their goal? To draw attention to widespread fears about corruption and the influence of money in American politics.

The organization behind the nonviolent protests, Democracy Spring, has been arranging mass sit-ins outside the Capitol rotunda since last Monday. The movement’s leaders also held related festivities over the weekend in the nation’s capital.

When Donald Trump's own family couldn't vote in New York's closed primary because they didn't switch parties in time, it made national headlines. New York has some of the strangest rules on switching political parties, mandating that a person must switch affiliation by October of the preceding year.