Earlier this year, the Napa County Board of Supervisors considered a proposal that would require local political parties to reimburse county election offices for conducting private central committee elections. However, Napa County election officials recently backed off after party leaders threatened litigation.

Channel 9 in Oklahoma City reported Tuesday that the state's Republican Party decided not to let independent voters participate in its primary elections in 2016. This means that if independent voters want to participate in the first stage of the public election process (i.e. taxpayer-funded election process) the only option they have is the Democratic ballot.

KXLH, a local news station in central Montana, reported Monday that the Montana Republican Party's lawsuit to close its taxpayer-funded primary elections is headed to trial after a ruling from a federal judge. The judge, however, refused to block the use of open primaries in June until the issue is resolved.

KXLH reports:

"Voter turnout in the United States is dismally low."

A recent academic paper exploring the aspects of low voter turnout begins with what we already know--that our voter turnout is horrendously low and getting worse.

Any number of measures have been employed to increase turnout--from motor voter laws to get-out-the-vote campaigns.

The Republican presidential debate at the Venetian Casino and Hotel in Las Vegas showcased most candidates' hawkish tendencies.

Matthew Dowd (who served as chief strategist for President George W. Bush's re-election campaign in 2004) certainly understands the political moment we find ourselves in.

American voters feel like they are caught between the extremes of both parties, and while it should be inevitable that a competitive independent candidate runs for President, our political system is controlled by a duopoly doing everything in their power to prevent that from happening.

Maine could be the next state to approve a nonpartisan voting method that is designed to give voters a greater say in elections. The Committee for Ranked Choice Voting (RCV Maine) submitted over 70,000 signatures in October to Maine's secretary of state to qualify RCV for the 2016 ballot.

Over the past few weeks, protests at Yale, Georgetown, and Princeton highlighted the racist tendencies of some of the school’s most important alumni and contributors, many who had buildings and schools named after them. Students are now demanding that colleges change the name of these monuments to the school’s forbearers.

Since the recent attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, California, “Americans are more fearful about the likelihood of another terrorist attack than at any other time since the weeks after Sept. 11, 2001,” the New York Times reported.

Unfortunately for the average American, the status quo for American politics today is a goose-stepping routine of legislators spending the majority of their time fundraising, blaming the other side of the aisle when the pressure is on, and ultimately stagnating while in office with the primary goal of strengthening their party. The system works for those in power because they are successful in their fundraising and the debate remains centered on ‘Republican versus Democrat.'