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The COVID-19 pandemic has had a dramatic and devastating impact on American society and the economy. All 50 states and the president have declared a state of emergency, and over 100 million Americans now live under stay-at-home orders. Meanwhile, Republican and Democratic lawmakers in Congress continue to squabble over a relief bill that the US desperately needs. Both sides failed to strike a deal on a multi-trillion-dollar stimulus plan over the weekend and on Monday, which prompted two parti

Hello America! Hello my Brothers and Sisters! This campaign, this race for the Democratic Party presidential nomination, has come to a critical point. A boiling point, some would say. And before we go any further, before voters in the next states cast their primary ballots and before the media casts its spin over the public, and before the kingmakers in the back rooms of the Democratic Party tell everyone that it’s over, I want to speak directly to the American people. Not just to Democrats. No

With a lot of primary left to go, the Democratic presidential candidates have raised and already spent a small fortune on their White House aspirations. So much for keeping money out of politics, right? As long as the there's politics in money, there will be money in politics. But there are a few good non-partisan political innovations that could improve the way money flows into political campaigns to make the system more transparent and fair to candidates and voters. In the meantime, looking

Illinois should host the first presidential primaries if the goal is to pick a state that most closely matches the demographics of the country. And Vermont, the home state of Democratic front-runner Bernie Sanders, should have minimal influence over the process because its makeup is least similar to the entire United States — meaning the results from that state would be hardly at all predictive of the nation's views. Those are among the conclusions out Thursday from the personal financial ser

In a country that often feels divided between two camps, the Republicans and the Democrats, independent voters could really be the future of politics in America. While polarized, if not combative, politics are nothing new (e.g., the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860 that tore the nation apart), there is something undeniably different about the political climate that we have had for the last few years. Independents know it too, as made obvious by the substantial amounts of voters leaving bot

We’ve all heard of the debates between top democrats, but what about all the other candidates running for President? Elevate the Debate is a collaborative effort between Free and Equal Elections Foundation and Open the Debates, who have teamed up to produce at least two Open Presidential Debates this year, including a first-of-its-kind cross-partisan debate during the primary season on March 4th in Chicago at 2pm CST. There are 21 confirmed presidential candidates from across the political s

Look, I describe myself as a “humble libertarian.” So why would I see the opportunity in a Bloomberg/Tulsi ticket? Because it just makes sense. The reasons why Michael Bloomberg would be the strongest Democratic nominee in November (if he picks Tulsi Gabbard for his running mate) become obvious when you look at why Hillary Clinton lost to Donald Trump in 2016, and why a Bloomberg/Clinton would fail in 2020. The Case Against A Bloomberg/Clinton Ticket Over the weekend, reports emerged from so

We can all agree that Washington is broken. Gridlock ensues as the divide between the Republicans and Democrats reaches Grand Canyon size proportions. Watching the Republicans put party over country in their defense of Donald Trump during the impeachment trial showed how hyper-partisanship is withering of our democracy, even raising questions of whether our constitutional system can survive. I'm sure our Founding Fathers are turning over in their graves. Politics, and by extension, polarizatio

A legal challenge, filed by Level the Playing Field, and joined by the Green Party of the United States and the Libertarian National Committee, to the Commission on Presidential Debate's rulemaking and tax-exempt status will be heard by a federal judge in the DC Circuit on February 24th. The lawsuit, “concerns violations of federal law by two institutions the Democratic and Republican parties have used to perpetuate their duopoly: the Commission on PresidentialDebates (“CPD”), an organization t

The beginning of the 2020 presidential election was an unmitigated disaster. Results that should have been reported the night-of in Iowa instead took days as a result of technical issues with an app and inconsistent numbers being reported. Politicos were baffled while accusations of a rigged process arose after the candidate with the most votes didn’t leave with the most delegates. At the center of the controversy was independent US Senator Bernie Sanders, and suddenly the question became whet