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One week after announcing my entry into the Massachusetts race for U.S. Senate, many people have asked where I stand on the issues followed by a list of the usual suspects that are important to them. As a politician, I could simply respond with the usual soundbite policies, but I am not just a politician. I am also a scientist, and as such I want to be very clear about where I stand on each and every issue. Over the course of my campaign, I intend to address each issue starting with those that

It seems that in every cycle there is debate about which states should hold the first presidential primary elections. Some state always seems to try to jump ahead of Iowa and New Hampshire. Since 1972, the Iowa Caucuses have been first in the nation and New Hampshire has been the first "primary" since 1920. There, of course, have been states that have attempted to circumvent Iowa and New Hampshire, claiming that they don't truly represent America as they are small states with seemingly narrow

Month 8 in Evan Falchuk’s diary of his Independent campaign for Governor of MassachusettsAny campaign for public office is busy, I’d guess, but I didn’t realize quite how busy until I began running as an independent in Massachusetts. It’s an understatement to say it’s been a busy year in my independent campaign for governor of Massachusetts. We’ve hired 20 full-time staff and interns, brought on board hundreds of volunteers, raised some money, met with thousands of voters in more than 90 cities

In an improbable attempt to challenge the political establishment, Millbury, Massachusetts resident Bruce Skarin has announced his entry as an independent into the 2014 race for U.S. Senate. The 37-year-old scientist and father of two made the decision to officially enter the race after two years of research into the problems with government and after walking over 185 miles through New Hampshire in January as part of the NH Rebellion. "The goal of the NH Rebellion was to make the corrupting in

The late, great comedian George Carlin once said “if you vote, you have no right to complain .” There are two problems with that: voter disenfranchisement and ballot access for political parties. Nothing will change if not enough people vote, but if the options in the voting booths are also limited, the problem gets worse. Ballot access is complicated because it varies state-by-state, but the fact that people are complaining about their lack of ability to vote for the party of their choosing i

In today’s world of impersonal politics, where elected officials are largely out of reach and social media is viewed as an effective substitute for in-person contact, it is easy to reminisce about the bygone era of retail politics. The days when candidates would literally stand on tree stumps to address crowds of curious voters has become a nostalgic, if not obsolete, image in American culture. While most candidates wouldn’t even consider taking on the burdensome task of an old-fashioned “whistl

Alaska Far away from the mainland United States, Alaska is a conservative, red state, but with a libertarian, live-and-let-live hue and a history of openness toward marijuana. In order to get marijuana legalization on the ballot in Alaska this year, the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana in Alaska submitted more than 45,000 signatures to election officials on January 8. With only 30,000 verified signatures necessary to put their initiative on the ballot, Alaska voters will probably have the oppor

Primaries first began in the early twentieth century as a response to increasingly strong party control over elections. At the time, voters wanted a larger say in who would be chosen as their candidate, instead of the long-standing tradition of party bosses choosing who would run for office. Progressive reformers viewed direct primaries as a way for constituencies to increase transparency and allow for citizens to participate in the electoral process. As primaries became a feature of local, stat

Month 7 in Evan Falchuk’s diary of his Independent campaign for Governor of Massachusetts A lot of people I meet are worried about the future. They’re worried that our politics and government are broken, and that our elected leaders can’t come up with practical answers for the serious problems that just keep getting worse. They worry that we are reaching a point of no return, where the very foundation of what makes America so much more than just a place on a map will be lost.  A new poll out th

Massachusetts passed the first wage law in 1912, followed soon after by thirteen more states and the District of Columbia. However, the Supreme Court ruling in Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States (1935) resulted in the defeat of a major provision of President Roosevelt’s “New Deal” and further efforts would not succeed until Congress passed the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) in 1938. A national minimum wage was established at $0.25 per hour.A few very sobering facts: , a startling perspec