Articles by Bruce Skarin

So the conventions are finally behind us now. Thanks be to God, humanity, or whatever deity you prefer. Both parties have finished making their cases for why their anointed candidate should be the next president of the United States of America. Yet as I write this — just under a hundred days from Election Day— we remain very, very far from united. It’s been an odd few weeks as the partisans tried desperately to explain why we should use “least worst logic” to ignore all the deep flaws within th...

From the inception of his campaign, Larry Lessig has run on the promise to deliver the most clear and unambiguous mandate possible from citizens of the U.S. to the 2017 Congress, demanding that the first act be a fix to democracy in the form of a single statute titled, the Citizen Equality Act (CEA). But, what is the CEA? So far it is much less of an act than it is a question, and that is: What civil rights are the most fundamental to a healthy representative democracy? With the launch of his ...

Between closed primaries, gerrymandering, and a campaign finance system run amuck, independents are the most unequal citizens in the U.S. In 2016, all of that could change. With Lawrence Lessig's entry into the Democratic presidential primary now successfully kickstarted, most of the media has focused on the Harvard Law professor’s history of pushing the issue of campaign finance reform. Yet over the past year, Lessig has slowly reframed his argument into an even more fundamental principle of o...

When it comes to what is wrong with Congress, some blame a campaign finance system run amuck, others point to unsustainable spending, some call out the high incumbency rate, and for others, partisan politics receives a great deal of fault. In response, a variety of groups have proposed reforms and even constitutional amendments to regulate campaign contributions, balance the budget, and to establish term limits. Yet, what evidence is there that passing such major reforms would actually improve ...

Two hundred and thirty eight years ago, on July 2, John Adams led the Continental Congress to declare the independence of 13 American states. Two days later, representatives of the 13 colonies ratified the text of the Declaration of Independence, written by a committee headed by the 33-year-old Thomas Jefferson. What followed was revolutionary.When most people think of revolution, they think of wars. Yet, war is not what defines the term, nor is it what made our newly United States so remarkabl...

Is there a way to end gridlock forever? What about gerrymandering, closed primaries, and high-barrier requirements for outsiders? Even then, what about the complete dependence candidates have on a tiny group of funders that have corrupted our government? When considered all together, we are back to a time of taxation without any meaningful representation. A conclusion that a recent Princeton study resoundingly confirms. A wave of bold upstart independents from across the U.S. believe there is ...

On May 20, I passed the 150-mile mark of my 1,000-mile walking tour of Massachusetts. In these first few weeks, I have had over a hundred conversations and personally collected even more signatures for getting on the ballot. Just over a tenth of the way in, I can now say without any doubt that this is how representative democracy was meant to be.I know I will not raise as much money as major party candidates. Yet, I will be more than satisfied in raising just enough to keep my campaign going, be...

On May 4, Massachusetts independent candidate for U.S. Senate, Bruce Skarin, kicked off his campaign and 1,000-mile #Walk4Democracy with a talk titled, “Citizenship in a Republic.” The same title as a speech that President Theodore Roosevelt gave at the Sorbonne in Paris, France in 1910. Roosevelt's speech is most known for the quote about “the man in the arena.” A homage to those that strive to “do the deeds.” Bruce’s speech may eventually be known for the reminder that Roosevelt was not talki...

Last month, in a bold attempt to fix out-of-control campaign financing, corruption activist Lawrence Lessig announced an experiment to raise enough money by 2016 to install a majority in Congress that is committed to comprehensive reform. On May 1, that experiment went live, raising over $200,000 in less than 24 hours. That is almost a quarter of the project's first goal of $1 million, putting it on track to meet the target in less than a week's time. What is so remarkable is that the site was ...