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An Independent's Review of The Independents on Fox Business

This week marks the debut of Fox Business' new political roundtable show called 'The Independents.' It is hosted by Lisa 'Kennedy' Montgomery, and co-hosted by Matt Welch, and Kmele Foster.

Kennedy, best known for her tenure as an MTV VJ turned conservative political pundit, acts as the show's anchor/moderator, steering the 5-person panel through multiple topics and brief news segments.

GOP Leaders Want Even More Control over Picking Nominees

On Wednesday,

CNN reported that leaders in the national Republican Party have joined together in closed-door meetings to discuss new rules that would streamline the presidential nomination process and give the RNC more control over who eventually becomes the party's nominee.

Proposed Legislation to Protect Cellphone Privacy Has Broad Public Support

In a world where privacy seems to be continually decreasing, one man has dared to fight back. Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) plans to make a push for

regulations protecting cellphone users from government data-gathering programs.

Improving the National Political Dialogue Begins With Us -- The People

I strongly support efforts which encourage our elected representatives to seek common ground and bipartisanship -- toward consensus, cooperation, and compromise. I have even founded my own movement, the

C-Party Solution, for this purpose. Yet, I have come to realize that there is a deeper problem.

“We have met the enemy and he is us,” said Walt Kelly in 1970. How true this remains today.

How This Medical Marijuana Dispensary Owner Became a Mayor

A medical marijuana dispensary owner and this California city just made history.

Welcome to Sebastopol

NSA Spying Creates Rare Bipartisanship In Congress

regarding potential violations of American civil liberties and international spying by the National Security Administration become public, Edward Snowden may have done something he had not intended.

As more information

10 Costly Programs Congress Should Cut from the Budget

In today's congressional atmosphere, suggesting ten costly programs that could be reasonably cut from the budget is analogous to placing warring siblings in a room with one toy and expecting them to cooperate.However, .

Obvious areas such as the morbidly obese defense budget and the contentious NSA surveillance programs are not listed here as the siblings just aren't ready for such a task, but here are ten things both sides could reasonably find common ground on:

How to Argue with a Friend

“Disagreement is critical to the well-being of our nation. But we must carry on our arguments with the realization that those with whom we disagree are not our enemies; rather, they are our colleagues in a great enterprise. When we respect each other enough to respond carefully to argument, we are filling roles necessary in a republic.”—Judge Thomas B. Griffith, “The Work of Civility."

Human beings are really good at fighting with enemies.

Publicly Funded Campaigns Clash with Independent Expenditures in New York

Talk to anyone following election reform in New York, and they’ll tell you that there’s a storm on the horizon. That storm is the volatile future of campaign finance laws and regulations in the state.

In one corner, there’s the “irresistible force” that is independent expenditures. In NY Progress and Protection PAC (NYPPP) v.

Moderates Need to Unite to Change the Status Quo

For the last few years, we have seen the stories and blog posts about the split in the Republican Party. It's the Tea Party versus the establishment, vying for control of the GOP. Many independent and third party voices say this is what the political middle needs to finally get a foothold in the political process; this is the opportunity needed to win some seats at the table, join the debates, and change the status quo. However, this may not be possible because the middle is split too.