How can you “Represent” people in a Congressional District, let alone improve it, if you haven’t defined where you are? It is long past due that all our Congress people are held to account for working with those they represent. Introducing the NY21 District Dashboard, a metric to hold our leaders accountable to the people they represent.

The U.S. decision to pull out of the Iran deal is just another example of failed leadership. If the deal is bad, a true leader should make it better. Anyone can walk away from a "bad deal" for a worse deal.

For more on my campaign for Congress in NY-21, visit dylanratigan.com

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Everyone’s paying close attention to the latest scandal out of Washington – this time, it’s a question of who is going to lead the Veterans Administration. What’s getting lost in the noise is real service to our veterans. These are individuals who have devoted their lives and efforts to a mission larger than themselves.

The opportunity we have right now is to invest in creating pathways, opportunities, and investments in enrolling that population. We must help our combat and military veterans in taking a leadership role in this country in order to help all of us move in the direction we all need to go.

I am encouraged and inspired by the children and young adults leading a push for changing our broken political system. It is broken to the point that we are incapable of having even a sensible conversation around guns that would benefit everybody in this country. We need to fix our political system and discourse so we can have the sort of common sense conversations we need to have around guns.

Who am I, why am I running, and what are we doing? In short, I grew up in Saranac Lake, and eventually moved to New York to work in journalism. During my time at CBNC and MSNBC, I was privileged to have had a bird’s eye view of our financial and political system. In 2011, I observed a frustration, albeit an impassioned one, with both political parties and the entire political process. Here's a deep dive into what we're going to do about it.

Facing a rigged and broken political system, we’re at a very specific point in history. The world is shifting when it comes to the way things are done. We collectively feel a “shift” all around us – whether it’s in our jobs, in our communities, and even in government. This fast rate of change means opportunities for using new tools and build new ways of operating for our future. Check out this podcast where Dylan dives into “the shift” and what it means for NY-21.

It's true: there's no such thing as free trade. And even though so called "free trade" is at the forefront of political discussions right now, we can't forget the heavy cost for trade which has been paid for the last four decades by America's working class.

I'm Dylan Ratigan and I'm running for Congress in NY's 21st District. Learn more about the campaign and get involved at www.dylanratigan.com

I was honored to receive a degree of Doctor of Humane Letters honoris causa from my Alma mater, Union College, yesterday during their Commencement for the Class of 2012. Union College was the first institution to issue an honorary doctorate to Thomas Edison in 1878, and I am humbled to be included now among the ranks of those receiving an honorary degree from Union.

Harvard Professor Lawrence Lessig talks with Dylan Ratigan about his new book, "One Way Forward. You can read it at http://byliner.com/originals/one-way-forward.

Dylan stops by WNYC’s The Brian Lehrer Show to discuss The 30 Million Jobs tour and people who are creating innovative jobs around the country. He also shares his thoughts on NY Knicks point guard Jeremy Lin, our country’s fundamental ideals, and the idea of an agreed culture of aligned interests through collaboration to solve our country’s problems.