A local news station in New Mexico, KOB 4, recently aired a story about how independent voters in the state are excluded from the upcoming primaries, which will be held on June 3. The inability of independent voters (and all voters) to have full and meaningful participation in the election process has long been ignored by most media outlets, but as the number of independent voters rise, it is getting harder for traditional media outlets to overlook.

“Irredentism” is the philosophy by which a state advocates the annexation of another state’s territory because of a common ethnicity or because of former possession of that territory. Perhaps its most infamous instance, albeit by no means its most recent, was Adolf Hitler’s use of it to justify his invasion of Poland as a way to reclaim the Baltic seaport of Danzig with its majority German population.

Recently, in the case Schuette v. Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, the United States Supreme Court, by a 6-2 vote, upheld a Michigan ban on affirmative action. The ban stated that universities didn't have to consider race as a requirement for enrollment. Michigan isn't alone with a ban either as states like California, Washington, Oklahoma, New Hampshire, and others have done so, as well.

Can one ordinary citizen change the world?

It is difficult to estimate the number of people who use Twitter to try to change our dysfunctional political environment. According to Twitter, the number of active monthly users is 241 million, sending a combined total of 500 million tweets per day. If we multiply that one ordinary citizen by 241 million, we have great potential to spread a message of political harmony. Sadly, this is not everyone’s intent. But it's not just the numbers that matter.

Each generation has its crisis. Past generations had to fight against colonial rule, slavery, and world tyranny. Others had to rally for women’s suffrage and equal civil rights. In each case, the steel of our resolve was questioned, and the people answered every time..

 

 

The United States is once again in the middle of a major election year and in many elections, people will go the polls with only two options to choose from -- red or blue, Republican or Democrat. The problem is a majority of Americans do not believe either major political party represents America.