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.

When Sir Thomas Malory compiled all of the tales of King Arthur and his knights into the Le Morte d'Arthur, it was an epic tale of the destruction of Camelot, and the downfall of many of the political figures of the day.

Likewise today, we see the Bush dynasty beginning to crumble. What was once seen as an inevitability is now seen as a long-shot, even by party insiders.

The fact that Virginia’s Republican Party wants voters to take a Party loyalty oath as a condition of voting in the publicly-funded and administered presidential primary shouldn’t surprise anyone.

In Utah, the Republican Party recently closed their previously open primary through a legal challenge.

The last 15 years since 9/11 has set into American minds a very narrow view of what terrorism means. A fitting standard definition is:

[T]he use of violent acts to frighten the people in an area as a way of trying to achieve a political goal.  -- Merriam-Webster

This definition both fits our current battles with Islamic extremism, yet it also encompasses most historical acts of terrorism.