Election season can be so overwhelming that some experts consider election anxiety a public health concern. UC Berkeley’s researchers say 7 out of 10 adults experience anxiety about the future because of an election. Policy concerns are a major cause for election anxiety, all of which can feel out of the average voter’s control. According to the Pew Research Center, U.S. residents are most concerned about the economy, immigration, healthcare, and foreign policy. Whether thes

“How can you get involved in a way that positively impacts your wallet?” If you’re just making ends meet, living paycheck to paycheck, it's important to remember that it didn't used to be that way. While the U.S. has always had a capitalist economic system, wages were once more closely equated to the cost of living. Officials had the gaps among the cost of living, wages, and inflation on their radar. Now, those gaps are further than they've ever been. As former Fed chair Ben

How can we encourage civic education? Back-to-school season has Pinion inspired to discuss civic education in the U.S., which is at best sporadic and at worst skipped over. We're wondering how we can improve it and how we can get young people engaged. Will Gen Z still show up at the polls, even if they never had a civics class? It turns out civic education is bigger than just learning about voting. While it helps people understand their rights as members of the greater commun

Money may not be the root of all evil, but it sure is the source of a lot of political frustration for the general public. Like most of us, governments have to budget so they have money for the things that matter most. And much like individual people, they have to decide which bills get paid first. When the new fiscal year approaches for states, they begin to review their money diaries. And that means spending money on social programs, education, and infrastructure. While som

What happens when a public forum gets banned or changed in some way? Social media has become the venue where we share all our thoughts: from what we ate today, words of encouragement for loved ones, funny cat videos for your best friend, or opinions on news, the arts, and yes…politics. Before 2016, calling, writing and watching politicians’ debates had its own set of spaces and mediums, but now a meme is just as powerful as a press release. And while each platform has its own

“I can’t believe that doesn’t already exist.” This is the response we usually hear when we introduce people to Pinion. In an era where we can effortlessly connect with individuals across the globe and access information beyond our grandparents’ imagination, there’s still a gap in empowering citizens to actively engage with their government. Let’s imagine the following: Easily voting on the same issues as your representatives and tracking progress. Transparent comparison of vo