In February, IVN.us reported on the possibility that the Independent Party of Oregon might be named Oregon's third major party by registering 5 percent of the state's voters by August 17 of this year.

With the stigma of being the first one out of the race now gone, with Rick Perry's exit from the contest, we will probably see another handful of departures from the Republican primary race in the coming weeks.

As the refugee crisis in Europe gains more attention, commentators have been asking (and answering) the question, who is at fault? 

In a piece for the Daily Beast last week, James K. Glassman, former Under Secretary of State in the George W.

The California state Senate on Thursday approved a bill that would automatically register to vote any eligible Californian who receives a driver’s license unless they opt out.

The measure was prompted by the 42% turnout in the November 2014 election, as well as the turnout for the March 2014 election in Los Angeles, in which only about 10% of eligible voters went to the polls.

"When an election law reduces or forecloses the opportunity for electoral choice, it restricts a market where a voter might effectively and meaningfully exercise his choice between competing ideas or candidates, and thus severely burdens the right to vote." - U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals

On September 9, the U.S.

Investigative journalist Ben Swann has no qualms making a controversial remark that few in the media or the political world are willing to say out loud: that the United States must accept responsibility for the refugee crisis in the Middle East and Europe.

In a recent segment of Swann's Reality Check, he says the refugee crisis started with the United States' invasion of Iraq:

There is no doubt that we haven't heard the last of Hillary Clinton's email scandal.

Was it dumb of her to use her personal emails for state business? Of course -- but technology keeps expanding at paces faster than regulations and employment rules can keep up.

Simply put, by the letter of the law, she probably didn't do anything wrong because there wasn't firm, explicit policies in place. The Obama presidency has been the first truly wireless presidency.

Regardless of how you feel about the current trajectory of our country, or the notion of “American Exceptionalism,” there’s no denying that the U.S. is still one of the greatest places on Earth to live. Americans have a great deal to be thankful for. With that said, I think we can all agree there’s room for improvement.

But where should we look for answers to improve as a country? How can we increase human flourishing in this great land of ours?

The independent news program, Democracy Now!, interviewed Democratic presidential candidate Martin O'Malley on Thursday about his ongoing protest against the DNC's debate schedule. O'Malley has been the most outspoken candidate against the debate rules, calling them 'rigged' and 'undemocratic."