On Sunday, Cheryl and I joined millions of Americans to watch the Season Premiere of Downton Abbey. As we are drawn to their lavish 1920s lifestyle, we also retain a degree of detachment, knowing that it soon will come to an end. Unfortunately, in too many ways the England of Downton Abbey is too similar to the America of today.

Downton Abbey is the tale of a family steeped in traditions, yet engaged in excessive spending and entitlements. They continue these practices despite repeated warnings that they are not sustainable.

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).

Presidential candidates Donald Trump and Ben Carson are currently two top contenders for the Republican nomination. Trump remains the leader with 35.6 percent of the polls, while Carson was in second but recently slid into fourth place behind Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio. Their popularity, however, stems from their outsider status as neither has held elected office before.

The end of a year is an important time for reflection. In order for a person or organization to grow they need to continually ask themselves: What has gone well for me so far? What can I improve on? As the new year approaches we here at The Centrist Project wanted to take a look back at our experience thus far so we can take the lessons learned with us into 2016 and beyond. Here are a couple of the big ones:

It may seem like independents have an overwhelming deck stacked against them in the political arena, both in power and money.

Yet any group has a tool in their arsenal that ultimately forces parties to depolarize the election--the power to get out the vote.

In the Journal of Economics & Politics, researcher Justin Valasek took a novel approach to measuring the impact of get out the vote efforts on political figures.

Peter Ackerman, chairman of the group Level the Playing Field, an organization that is challenging the current duopolistic structure of presidential debates, recently discussed his lawsuit against the bipartisan Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) on C-SPAN.

The spirit of America is strong; the state of our union is fragile.

That is my conclusion after 100 days driving 14,128 miles through 34 states as an independent candidate for President of the United States.

I remember watching the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989, as a young third-generation American of Chinese descent.

Probably the single most striking image, one that has endured the test of time, was the image of a single man -- known only to history as 'Tank Man'-- halting an entire column of tanks with only his political willpower.

RUSKIN, FLA. – Doug Hughes, the man most of the country knows for his Washington, D.C. gyrocopter stunt protesting the corrupting influence of money in politics, is taking action in a new way: he plans to run for Congress.

His opponent? U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D), who serves as chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee.

In the wake of the 14 terrorism-inspired murders in San Bernardino on December 2, 2015, and other recent terror attacks, some Americans altered their travel plans. They were worried about their personal safety.