Andrew Gripp received his M.A. in Democracy and Governance from Georgetown University in 2012. He is a former political science professor, and he writes on American politics, international affairs, ph
In the early 1990s, journalist Dan Baum interviewed Nixon aide John Ehrlichman while doing research for a book on the effects of drug prohibition. Ehrlichman had served as a domestic policy adviser to Nixon, who in June 1971 declared a "war on drugs." After an initially fruitless discussion,
But quantity does not necessarily imply quality. While coverage has been abundant, it is worth exploring the nature of that coverage, and, specifically, whether the media is adequately vetting Trump as a candidate. Chuck Todd, the host of NBC's Meet the Press, claims that it has. “A common
In 1999, President Bill Clinton praised the philosopher John Rawls (1921-2002) – who had just received the National Humanities Medal – for his contributions to liberal political thought. Clinton applauded Rawls for having “placed our rights to liberty and justice upon a strong and brilliant new foundation of reason” and having “helped
The standoff in Oregon that began on January 2 appears to have reached its conclusion. On Tuesday, January 26, several occupiers of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge were arrested, and one occupier, Robert “LaVoy” Finicum, was killed in a confrontation with law enforcement. The leader of the occupiers, Ammon Bundy,
Though Donald Trump has raised and spent considerably less than many of his Republican rivals in the 2016 election season, Trump has never shied away from injecting money into the political process. Over the last several decades, Trump has spent millions of dollars – as a donor, lobbyist, and activist – to
In recent years, few Supreme Court decisions have been as controversial – or as consequential – as the ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission in 2010, in which the 5-4 majority held that the First Amendment rights of organizations such as corporations, labor unions, and other associations were violated by
Though the first caucuses and primaries are still weeks away, Hillary Clinton already has a significant lead in the race for the Democratic Party's nomination. According to a survey conducted by the Associated Press in November, in which more than 80 percent of the party's 712
Since the end of the Franco dictatorship in the mid 1970s, Spanish national politics has largely been dominated by two political parties: the conservative People's Party (PP) and the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE). Yet that all changed after the general election on December 20, 2015, when
We all know that the Bill of Rights enshrined in the Constitution contains ten amendments. However, it is less well known that the Bill of Rights sent to the states for ratification originally contained 12 amendments. What we know today as the First Amendment – the one enumerating our basic freedoms
I have been writing for IVN since the summer of 2014. Though my academic background is in political science, I can confidently say I have learned more about American politics in this one year of researching and writing for you (the readers) than I have in my six years in
"Let the lines fall fair." This is the message from Florida state Representative Evan Jenne (D-Dania Beach). During an interview with IVN, Rep. Jenne discussed his proposal to hand the responsibility for drawing the state's congressional and legislative boundaries over to an independent redistricting commission. Our
While Congress has twice mandated the use of single-member districts (SMD) for electing members of Congress (once in 1842 and again in 1967), state legislatures are at liberty to determine how their representatives will be elected. According to FairVote, at one time, more than half of all state legislators were