Michael Smerconish, the CNN TV and Sirius XM radio host, wrote Sunday in his Phi

Earlier this year, the City of Los Angeles decided to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour. Los Angeles has become the latest and largest city to raise the minimum wage in recent years. Hikes in minimum wage are typically pushed by progressive groups; however, some labor organizations have been leading an effort to exempt unionized workers from the new wage increases.

Wait, what? I thought unions were pro worker.

From the Civil War to the New Deal, America's move towards federalism was almost systematically completed as if by some master plan.

In 1913, one of the key constitutional amendments (17th) was ratified, taking the election of senators from the state legislatures and giving it to the population at large -- a move still seen by many as an affront to states' rights.

Only one of the Founding Fathers, James Wilson, was in favor of the popular election of senators, highlighting the fact that the Senate was "as it was supposed to be" in the eyes of the Founders.

Today I want to talk to you about outrage and what I learned from filming my documentary, The Other Side: a liberal democrat explores conservative America. We’re addicted to it. It’s almost as if we like getting angry at the other side and we enjoy the delicious satisfaction of calling the other side ridiculous. But outrage is toxic – both for us and for our political process.

Let’s break down the anatomy of outrage.

California's existing election system for Congress and state office could be improved with the following ideas.

The problem with the status quo is that ever since it went into effect in 2011, there has been very limited choice on the November ballot. So far, no independent or minor party candidate has appeared on the November ballot for statewide office. Each statewide office in November has been between one Democrat and one Republican, with no write-in space.

According to UtahPolicy.com, voters no longer want state legislators drawing state and congressional electoral districts. Instead, the majority of Utahns want an independent redistricting commission redrawing these districts come census time.

Chris Christie told residents in states where recreational marijuana use is legal to smoke their weed now because when he is president he will enforce federal laws.

In a town hall meeting in Newport, New Hampshire, Christie told users of legal marijuana, "If you're getting high in Colorado today, enjoy it." He continued, "As of January 2017, I will enforce the federal laws."

As a boatload of candidates eye the White House for 2016, one issue the hopefuls won't be able to escape is immigration policy.

The issue will be one of the key talking points on the campaign trail, and provides a clear demarcation between the two established parties, said Marc Rosenblum, deputy director of the U.S. immigration policy program at the Migration Policy Institute.

Everyone is talking about him. Republican voters support him. And that’s what he needs right now to be a presidential contender.

But what if former Democrat Donald Trump was more interested in exploiting the press, the politicians who seek its attention and the election process that feeds the narrative, than actually winning the presidency?

Because if that’s his goal, he’s doing a great job.

As Bob Conner reported for IVN in 2014, New Jersey’s independents spent approximately $100 million to pay for primaries in which they could not vote between 2000 and 2013. The obvious question is, how did this come to be? How did taxpayers come to subsidize party primaries?