The Nation, 3 senators will introduce new legislation on Thursday, January 16, that would update the Voting Rights Act (VRA) with a new formula to determine when preclearance is needed.

As long as I count the votes, what are you going to do about it?  - William M. “Boss” Tweed, c. 1871

History shows that for as long as the right to vote has existed, that right has been threatened. Thomas Nast’s caricature portraying “Boss” Tweed leaning against a pedestal on which stands “the Ballot” symbolizes a dark time in late nineteenth century America, where the “playing field” of politics was leveraged by party bosses and machine politics at the expense of the voters.

Primaries first began in the early twentieth century as a response to increasingly strong party control over elections. At the time, voters wanted a larger say in who would be chosen as their candidate, instead of the long-standing tradition of party bosses choosing who would run for office. Progressive reformers viewed direct primaries as a way for constituencies to increase transparency and allow for citizens to participate in the electoral process.

Well, we know Eric Snowden is a traitor. Just like Benedict Arnold. Arnold turned his back on the patriots and gave our secrets to the British, put on a big red coat, and proceeded to make an English muffin topped with a poached egg and hollandaise sauce.

"A house divided against itself cannot stand. . . . It will become all one thing or all the other. Either the opponents of slavery, will arrest the further spread of it, and place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is in the course of ultimate extinction; or its advocates will push it forward, till it shall become alike lawful in all the States.”—Abraham Lincoln, 1858

Editor's Note: The purpose of this article is to highlight a fundamental flaw with the survey. Because of how the questions were asked, poll takers did not encourage respondents to consider all the variables in an election -- only how things are at face value.

or not).  At times, it's quite difficult to discern between the two, but they are vastly different concepts. To help separate these abstracts, think of ideology and principles as two very different modes of transportation: trains and aircraft.

It is day four of a two week, 185 mile walk organized by the NH Rebellion, an activist organization focused on ending the systemic corruption produced by the way political campaigns are being funded. The forecast is for freezing rain over the 11 mile climb from Gorham, NH to Pinkham Notch.

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