Category: opinion
6 Ways to Have Agency — and Harness the Facts — in the Post-Truth Era
We can no longer deny that we are living in a post-truth era. It is real, and it has tragic consequences. But the situation is not hopeless.
07 October, 2019
California, US Problems Need Middle-Ground Solutions
Centrist solutions exist to many of California’s and our nation’s problems. Politics makes it easier to attack an opponent’s position than to advance one’s own, however.
28 December, 2020
Fixing the News: The Power of Solutions Journalism
Changing your media diet is like changing your food diet. To make it sustainable, it is not enough to leave out unhealthy items. Much more important is to focus on what is actually good for us.
19 September, 2019
Death and Seeds of New Beginnings
In the midst of a pandemic with social and political unrest, a violent effort to intimidate Congress and threats of violence at state capitals, I keep thinking about new beginnings.
15 January, 2021
OPINION: The Best Antidote to Trumpism is More Democracy
It has become clear that there is not even close to the 2/3 majority needed in the Senate to vote to convict. While the House vote to impeach helped the Democrats shape the post capitol incursion, post inaugural narrative, it has left the Democratic leadership “all dressed up...
01 February, 2021
Why California Should Learn from Maine and Not Alaska on Electoral Reform
Looking at our recent polarized presidential elections — and even the politicization of wearing masks (to combat COVID-19) — it’s easy to say that the partisan divide in our country has never been greater.
28 December, 2020
On Moderation
Without the tempering influence of moderation, the public face of politics is dissolved into banal drama. Extremists engage in theatrical behavior by demonizing their foes in bitterly careless terms.
26 January, 2021
Voters Deserve to Have Faith in the Electoral Process
The reality is millions of voters do not have faith in the electoral process. There are many voters who believe fraud took place. There are many more who feel their voices were silenced or discarded completely.
17 December, 2020
In the Upcoming Presidential Election, Can We Stop Demonizing “The Other”?
With unconscious biases driving our perceptions, and political rhetoric and a flood on information fueling our animosity, the level of societal incivility continues to heighten. Here are some ways to break the cycle.
18 September, 2019
OPINION: Forget Court Packing; We Need to Talk About Limiting Judicial Review
Judicial review does not appear in the Constitution. As former Justice Antonin Scalia admitted, “The Constitution of the United States nowhere says that the Supreme Court shall be the last word on what the Constitution means…"
28 October, 2020
OPINION: Why Voter Reform Trumps Impeachment
Here are four reasons voter reform is a far better, and more permanent solution to the problems the most earnest Democrats are hoping to solve by impeaching Donald Trump.
11 October, 2019
OPINION: Democrats Are Killing Their Chances With Independent Voters
Instead of trying to manipulate voters into thinking something they clearly don’t think is true -- that Donald Trump is too conservative -- Democrats would do better to advance a candidate that’s not too liberal.
17 September, 2019
Admit It, Dems: You Don't Want to Win in 2020
The knock from Republicans, Never-Trumpers and moderate Dems is that most of the 2020 candidates are too far to the left and out of touch. Last week’s display confirmed it. This was a definitive example of a party controlled by its fringe elements, preferring purity over victory.
18 September, 2019
Baby, It’s Cold Inside
I watched the TV coverage of the opening session of the 116th Congress and was happy to see all the inspired women in jewel-toned dresses, many young, some of color, taking their places...
09 January, 2019
An Independent Voter Guide to The Impeachment Trial
28 January, 2020
12 Ways Political Parties Are No Different Than Cults
26 January, 2018
The Independent State of the Union
05 February, 2020
4 Ways The Party Could Still Screw Bernie Sanders
19 February, 2019
50 Ways the Democratic and Republican Parties Are The Same
03 August, 2016
It's Okay to Be Really Good At Selling Coffee
01 April, 2019
Poor Bernie
12 June, 2019
2020 and Beyond: The View from County Road T
15 May, 2019
Two Reasons to be Cheerful About Lobbyists
02 January, 2019
Women’s March: What’s That Word? Intersectionalism?
23 January, 2019
Spoiler Alert: Schultz, the Democrats, and the Independents
13 February, 2019
Once We Awaken, Things Won’t Be The Same
01 February, 2019
A Common Sense Approach to Healing America’s Political Divide
15 February, 2019
Trumping the State of the Union
30 January, 2019
Breaking Down Barriers: Jackie Robinson at 100
31 January, 2019
OPINION: Respect. Is That Too Much to Ask?
23 January, 2019
State of the Union vs. the Response: ‘Hope and Change’
06 February, 2019
5 Most Independent Quotes from Martin Luther King Jr
21 January, 2019
Opinion: The Case for a Real National Emergency
21 February, 2019
OPINION: Boycott Iowa and Its Fraudulent Caucus
25 February, 2019
Remembering Pat Caddell: Independently Brilliant
26 February, 2019
Long Live the Crackpots!
17 July, 2019
Welcome to California Voter Disenfranchisement, GOP
08 August, 2019