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Statue of Liberty

Statue of Liberty
David L. Nevins
By David L. NevinsOct 19, 2021
David L. Nevins
David L. Nevins serves as publisher of The Fulcrum. Additionally, Nevins serves as co-founder and Board Chairman of the Bridge Alliance. Nevins brings business acumen, vision and a tireless this-must-and-can-be-done zeal to the burgeoning movement to bridge divides to transform the political process. As a business leader, Nevins excels at building bridges between people and organizations from the right, left and center for civilized conversation and then action. He co-founded the Bridge Alliance because, as he says, “No matter how well managed and how well funded anyone organization is, significant political reform will not happen without an alliance to further collaborative interactions. Together we can and will raise the collective impact of all.” He is a member of the Aspen Institute Society of Fellows, with a focus on the Aspen Rodel Fellowship in Public Leadership, he established and continues to work with The Nevins Democracy Leaders program at Penn State University. Nevins graduated with honors in economics from Penn State in 1969 and received an M.B.A. in finance from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in 1971.
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I was recently talking to an 86-year-old friend of mine, Michael Stapler, about The Fulcrum and our new Pop Culture section.

The Fulcrum believes there is a deep connection between democracy and American culture, and this new coverage area is designed to deepen the understanding of our differences and similarities, and discover our shared interests and common destinies.

Whether it is music of all types, poetry, dance, literature, painting and drawing, comedy, or drama, we will appeal to the human spirit — a spirit that expresses the joys, sorrows and harmonies of the heart and soul.

Michael, whose hobby is painting, took my words seriously and I was taken aback when he presented me with a beautiful painting he did that was inspired by our conversation about the connection between art and democracy.

His painting, "LIBERTY - Celebrating Freedom in America," is his expression of what celebrating freedom in America means to him.

His painting was accompanied by these words expressing how art is connected to democracy, and perhaps they were his inspiration for the painting:

  • Art represents one of the key components of Democracy, the freedom of expression.
  • Art examines and expresses culture, human rights, and diversity.
  • Art can view ways of life that differ from one's own.
  • Art is a universal language.
  • Art often promotes citizen participation.
  • Art engages one's emotions.
  • The Statue of Liberty represents freedom, democracy and justice.

Many artists are drawn to the Statue of Liberty. Iconic pop artist Peter Max has been enamored with the statue, completing his first portrait of it 45 years ago. He has done many more over the years.

Standing at 305 feet tall, the Statue of Liberty for many is a symbol of freedom, optimism and friendship among nations. A gift from France in 1886, her base has these words inscribed:

Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Each one of us as we look upon Michael's painting and read these words will feel different emotions and have different perceptions as to what the Statue of Liberty means to them. And that is America: a diversity of thought, a melting pot of ideas.

As you look at this painting and read the words inscribed on Lady Liberty, what emotions do you feel? Email us at pop-culture@fulcrum.us to share your thoughts.

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Dolly Parton performs on The Pyramid Stage on Day 3 of the Glastonbury Festival at Worthy Farm on June 29, 2014.

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Dolly Parton and the America We Keep Forgetting We Can Be

At a time when many Americans are retreating into rigid identities, Dolly Parton has been one of the few public figures able to speak to every corner of America. She had appeal across the board, no matter whether people were from the rural areas, the cities, the evangelical groups, or the gay community. She was not simply loved; she was trusted too. And in these deeply polarized times we are living in, trust is in desperately short supply.

For sixty years, Dolly Parton has stood as an example of the kind of pluralism based on dignity that our politics has lost and that many people have sadly rejected. She never preached her beliefs and seldom, if at all, talked about politics. Instead, she showed through her life how one can respect one's roots without using them as weapons. Dolly welcomed diversity without fear, and built bridges without ever giving a speech on bridge-building. Because she lived out the beliefs she sang about, she became one of America's most effective advocates for dignity.

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Bruce Springsteen In Concert, facing his audience.

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Bruce Springsteen has always spoken his mind through politics and expressed it through his music. For decades, he has treated the stage as a platform for the causes he believes in — a place where songs become arguments, and performance becomes a form of public conscience. His work has long insisted that American culture and American democracy are intertwined, that the stories we tell ourselves shape the country we become. So when he steps onstage in October for the “Power to the People Festival” in Washington, D.C., it is likely that this will just be the next chapter in his lifelong effort to defend democratic values through art.

Bruce Springsteen has spent the past year making no secret of his views on the current administration, expressing them with increasing bluntness from the stage. His recent performances have shown that when he believes democracy is at risk, he does not whisper — he raises his voice. Given that history, no one should expect him to be quiet in October. So when he stepped onstage in Washington, D.C., and previewed the upcoming “Power to the People Festival,” it felt less like a surprise and more like the next verse in a long American tradition of artists using their platforms to defend democratic values.

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A Hollow Song for a Hollow Patriotism: Reclaiming the Real Patriotic Ballads
Imagine a democracy concert followed by a yearlong democracy call to action roadshow—designed to build a new civic movement
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A Hollow Song for a Hollow Patriotism: Reclaiming the Real Patriotic Ballads

After musician after musician pulled out from Trump’s June 24 “Freedom 250” concert, we’re left with Lee Greenwood and an opera tenor. The anthem that made Greenwood a star, “God Bless the USA,” was written in 1985 during the height of the Cold War. It begins with the specter of loss—“If tomorrow—all the things were gone, I’d worked for all my life / And I had to start all over with my children and my wife.” Then the wounds disappear before they’re felt: “I’d thank my lucky stars to be living here today / Because the flag still stands for freedom and they can’t take that away.”

Ronald Reagan made the song his campaign theme while launching a new age of American inequality by systematically busting unions and cutting taxes for the wealthiest. Greenwood treats layoffs and the resulting toll on ordinary lives as a mere inconvenience. As the refrain shifts from violins and a church organ to a military march, he repeats, “I’m proud to be an American, where at least I know I’m free / And I won’t forget the men who died who gave that right to me.”

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