Skip to content
Project 2025
Search

Latest Stories

Follow Us:
Top Stories
President Trump Claims To Care About Interference in US Elections While He Is Doing Everything To Eliminate the Protections

President Trump Claims To Care About Interference in US Elections While He Is Doing Everything To Eliminate the Protections

As Cruelty Normalizes, America’s Authoritarian Drift Deepens

As Cruelty Normalizes, America’s Authoritarian Drift Deepens

Court’s Slaughter Decision Hands Presidents Sweeping New Authority

Court’s Slaughter Decision Hands Presidents Sweeping New Authority

An aerial view of a taco bell and a taco bell sign.

Taco Bell Lettuce Outbreak Exposes Gaps in U.S. Food Surveillance

Not good, but we can’t just quit Iran now

Not good, but we can’t just quit Iran now

A democracy roadshow

A democracy roadshow
Darwin Brandis/Getty Images
David L. Nevins
By David L. NevinsFeb 21, 2023
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.
See More Writings by author

Nevins is co-publisher of The Fulcrum and co-founder and board chairman of the Bridge Alliance Education Fund.

As the chairman of the board of the Bridge Alliance, I’ve been working with our incredible team and our more than 100 member organizations for the last seven years to create a movement for a thriving, just and healthy democratic republic.

For true change to happen in our democratic republic, Americans must become involved and realize they have the power to bring about the change they desire.

The Fulcrum and our sister project, Citizen Connect, serve as the connective tissue to activate 12 million Americans through our collective network.

Yet I believe more must be done and we have to think outside the box to engage, excite, and involve more citizens. This past year the pop culture section of The Fulcrum has proven to be one of our most popular sections of our publication. The power of connecting the dots between pop culture and activating millions of Americans to create a functioning and healthy democracy is something I strongly believe in as a catalyst for change.

The Fulcrum has been honored to celebrate culture as a bridge to the latest news and analysis of politics, policy, and the birth of a new civic and political voice to build greater social cohesion, civic engagement, and problem-solving. Many of you have taken the journey with us as we shared stories, music, poetry and dance to inspire our better angels as a way of addressing our problems and creating solutions. We won’t rest on our laurels and we are focusing on new ways to amplify the power of pop culture to engage millions more of you in our movement.

This past year has proven to us that art has the power to break down boundaries and overcome distances between people. Music, theater, poetry, and all forms of pop culture have amazing healing and connecting powers. We know that when we join people together their energy for good can be amplified and scaled to help power our movement. The role of music in particular can play an important role in celebrating what unites us - rather than dividing us - in activating millions of Americans in a movement.

In the words of the great jazz artist Wynton Marsalis, “Music heals people because music is vibration, and the proper vibration heals.” Music indeed brings people together and multiplies their energy. When we join as one, we are more than the sum of our parts.

My dream is a Democracy Concert followed by a yearlong Democracy Call To Action Roadshow designed to Build a Movement; a movement that dismisses old definitions of right and left, and focuses instead on values, and an optimistic vision for the future of America. The roadshow I envision will inspire citizens to become active participants for healing and change. Imagine the passion and positive impact celebrities could inspire in this time of social media and internet driven divisiveness. Imagine the power of music and celebrity coming together, demonstrating unity for Democracy.

A kick-off concert bringing together artists from across the political spectrum - right, left and center - that includes a diverse group of musicians and celebrities of all genres would create a powerful tapestry representing the diversity of music in America while also reflecting the diversity of the citizens that is America. Musicians of all genres coming together can demonstrate a unity for Democracy. This is not about being a Democrat, Republican or Independent. It is about using the power of music to create a grassroots movement for a stronger Democracy, as well as a more diverse, more equitable, and inclusive Democracy.

Celebrities are powerful influencers in our society. The following are just a few examples of songs that provide the powerful message to bring Americans together:

Through the power of music and celebrity the healing power generated can drown out the divisive voices of the extremes on both the left and the right. I believe most Americans want leaders to exemplify the best in America and are willing to take the lead to bring our country together and to create the Republic that we all deserve.

In the fight for a more representative democracy, our greatest strength is our people. Everyday Americans are the muscle behind change, they are the faces to our stories, they are the carrot and the stick in elections. A Democracy concert and yearlong Democracy Call To Action Roadshow can be the catalyst to reach people’s souls so we can engage them to join in a grassroots movement that scales and amplifies our victories and advances our values for lasting impact.

So WE can make a difference!


Latest news

Children holding hands, walking down a school hallway with backpacks on.
Education

After School, Before It’s Too Late for Texas Students

Voters Want Progress. The Parties Want Control
Elections

Voters Want Progress. The Parties Want Control

Businessman typing on laptop computer keyboard at desk in office.
Media & Technology

Why Nonprofits Are Becoming America's Unofficial AI Welfare State

Democratic socialists pose no real threat to America’s free markets
Governance & Legislation

Democratic socialists pose no real threat to America’s free markets

Read More

​U.S. President Donald Trump sitting in the Oval Office.

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during an announcement on American nuclear innovation in the Oval Office at the White House on July 24, 2026 in Washington, DC.

Eric Lee/Getty Images

Trump’s Elections Speech Was Not the Opening Shot; It was the Latest Salvo

President Donald Trump’s recent address repeating his claim that he won the 2020 election was widely portrayed as a dramatic escalation of his attacks on our election system. It wasn’t.

It is nothing new!

Keep ReadingShow less
Creative Images Creative Images & Video Images Creative Editorial Video Creative Editorial Search by image or video Close-up of woman holding a smartphone.

Can secure mobile voting expand election access? Explore how smartphone voting could increase turnout, improve accessibility, and modernize U.S. elections.

Sitthiphong/Getty Images

Mail-In Ballots Are Still Under Attack. Mobile Voting Can Protect Access To The Ballot Box.

Late last year, I became CEO of The Mobile Voting Project. Previously, I served as Chief of Staff to two United States senators, Chief of Staff at the US Department of Education, and Chief of Staff for Vice President Kamala Harris's presidential campaign. At every step in my public service career, I have always had one clear goal: making government work better for everyday people.

I believe that we cannot make government work better if we do not start at the very foundation of our government itself: democracy and voting. In my current role with The Mobile Voting Project, we are focused on making voting more seamless, secure, and accessible. We believe that putting democracy — literally — into the palms of every American’s hand is how we can boost turnout, reduce extremism, and strengthen our democracy.

Keep ReadingShow less
Congress Renews Talks on Prediction Market Reform As Some Companies Operate Under Loopholes

The House Subcommittee on Commodity Markets, Digital Assets and Rural Development met to hear from sports prediction market experts about U.S. regulations and protections on Tuesday, July 21, 2026.

Congress Renews Talks on Prediction Market Reform As Some Companies Operate Under Loopholes

WASHINGTON – Lawmakers considered whether the federal government needs to increase its regulation of sports prediction markets last Tuesday, just days after the end of the World Cup, the largest event ever for companies like Kalshi and Polymarket.

Traditional sports betting has grown exponentially in recent years, even though 11 states still ban it. But people in all 50 states can use prediction markets to win money on the outcome of certain events. The federal government regulates such trades, many of which surround sporting events.

Keep ReadingShow less
Creative Images & Video Creative Images & Video Images Creative Editorial Video Creative Editorial Search by image or video I Voted Today paper sticker on mans finger on rustic wooden table

How class, identity, and political recognition shaped the Democratic Party's relationship with rural white working-class voters over two decades.

BackyardProduction/Getty Images

The Thousand Injuries: The Not-Qwhite Voter and the Politics of Recognition

In the fall of 2003, Howard Dean said he wanted to be the candidate for guys with Confederate flags in the back windows of their pickup trucks. It was clumsy but not dishonest. He meant that his party had written off a whole category of American voter and wanted to change that. He was attacked at once, mostly by his own side, and walked it back within forty-eight hours. The lesson his party drew was not that the outreach had been badly phrased; It was that the outreach itself was impermissible, that to pursue the rural white working class voter was to be complicit with everything he was presumed to represent. Dean was the last major Democrat to try, and the consequences have accumulated in the shape of the electoral map.

Edgar Allan Poe understood something the party still does not. "The Cask of Amontillado" opens with a line that ought to hang in every campaign office: the thousand injuries of Fortunato the narrator had borne as best he could, but when Fortunato ventured upon insult, he vowed revenge. Injuries can be borne as long as the injured man believes his tormentors still regard his suffering as real. The insult is different. It reframes the injuries as deserved, telling the sufferer he is the kind of person who deserves to suffer. Poe's narrator does not recalculate his interests; he takes his revenge at great cost to himself. That is not irrational but human, and it is the most precise framework we have for what has happened to rural white working-class voters over the last twenty years.

Keep ReadingShow less
© Copyright 2026