The Independence Project

Did You Know? The Second Edition of 2021 Why was the 22nd Amendment Created? And we're back! This week on our second edition of the Did You Know? series, we'll be examining a critical Amendment to the U.S. Constitution; the 22nd Amendment. The 22nd (XXII) Amendment of the United States Constitution was first approved by Congress on March 21, 1947 and subsequently ratified into the Constitution on February 27, 1951. The purpose of the Amendment was to establish term limits for Presidents, limiting each President to two terms either served consecutively or separately. Additionally, the Amendment counts against someone who succeeds a President and serves more than two years of the unexpired term from being elected to the Presidency of the United States more than once. The Amendment was created as a direct response to the overwhelming popularity and successive election of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR). FDR was and remains the only President that was elected President mo...

  A 50/50 Senate: Thoughts of an Independent Will there be compromise? Following the results of the stunning Georgia Senate runoff elections, we were presented with a very unique time in our politics that is rarely replicated; a situation in which the Senate is split 50/50. After 6 years of Republican majority rule in the Senate, the Democratic Party will assume majority control of Congress's upper chamber on January 20th, when President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris are inaugurated. Vice President-elect Harris will be capable of casting tie-breaking votes in the chamber to assume a majority, which will lead to a changing of the guard. This has resounding implications for the incoming President, as it was thought previously that Democrats had failed in their attempt to retake the upper chamber, and that President-elect Biden would need to significantly compromise with the Republican majority to effectuate legislation, approve cabinet appointments, judicial ...

Did You Know? The First Edition of 2021 What is the Nuclear Option? A question we have received many times over, why does it require sixty votes in the Senate to pass legislation? We're here to provide a simple answer: it doesn't. But without the Nuclear Option being triggered, it does. Contrary to popular belief, the Senate has the technical capabilities under the Constitution to pass votes with a simple majority - rather than the sixty votes that most people believe it takes to pass. This is because of a 'nuclear deterrent' that was put in place by amending the 22nd (XXII) rule of the Senate which was established in 1806. This created a process called cloture, which allowed for ending debate on a bill and actually voting on it. The actual votes it takes to pass a bill is simply 51, but in order to invoke that cloture and proceed to a proper floor vote, it requires 60 or two thirds of all senators. In our recent history, this had been modified and removed in certain ci...

  The Capitol Attacks: Thoughts of an Independent Published by Contributor - Zach January 6th, 2021 is a day that will live in infamy, for it was the first time in two-hundred years that the U.S. Capitol was stormed and occupied by non-government entities. I never thought that this was something I'd say - but it is the reality of the situation we have found ourselves in. The current temperature of our political discourse is at an all-time high. We have turned up the temperature to the boiling points of violence and toxic raging anger. At the top of this, we have allowed for a culture of disinformation to permeate our discussions and processes of thought in an effort to invoke our emotions. This cannot remain or we will be unable to function as a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. The incitement of this violence was over an election many had believed to be stolen - led astray by conflicting news reports and conspiracy theorists. It sowed distrust in our dem...