Skip to content
Project 2025
Search

Latest Stories

Follow Us:
Top Stories
Prediction Markets Are Gambling, Despite What They Tell The Government

Prediction Markets Are Gambling, Despite What They Tell The Government

Rolling Back Health Equity Training Requirements in Medical Schools Harms Us All

Rolling Back Health Equity Training Requirements in Medical Schools Harms Us All

Medicare Health Insurance Card. Social Security Card with Stethoscope and pen

Saving Medicare Republicans Are Privatizing Medicare

MAGA is starting to question Trump

MAGA is starting to question Trump

May 5 primary ballot issues affect Ohioans' daily lives

May 5 primary ballot issues affect Ohioans' daily lives

What is your take?

Question mark
diyun Zhu/Getty Images
David L. Nevins
By David L. NevinsOct 08, 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.
See More Writings by author

Last week, The Fulcrum introduced "What is your take?" This biweekly feature where we will ask our readers a question or two.

We look forward to engaging with our readers as we share your responses and create a dialogue around different topics and issues that are important to all of us.

Today's question is: One of the most popular songs in the Broadway show "Hamilton" is "My Shot." As we strive to help protect and improve democracy in America, what do you see as "Your Shot" to make a difference?

Please share your responses by emailing to pop-culture@fulcrum.us.

In the meantime, let's look back at The Fulcrum's first question: What piece of art, music or theater has enhanced (or detracted) your connection to the work you do?

We were overwhelmed by the number of responses and thank everyone who participated. The responses showcase our belief that the arts have the power to break down boundaries and overcome distances between people.

Below are a few of the numerous responses we received speaking to the power of the arts to connect us as a people.

Responses

  • "The Peace Train" by Cat Stevens. I've always loved that song even without knowing all of the lyrics. I wish we all spent more time on the "peace train" and less time on the "crazy train!" — Mary Gaylord.

patriotic artworkwww.educatingforamericandemocracy.org

  • What a neat new idea! I saw the above piece from the Educating for American Democracy team. The category was civic honesty, reflective patriotism and the artist was in the 10th grade. It reminds me that we can touch democracy from many different angles and if the youth of today demonstrate this democratic beauty — then we must be creating "a more perfect union". — Sara Gifford, ActiVote.
  • Suzanne Brennan Firstenberg's installation on the National Mall of 690,000-plus white flags representing lives lost to Covid reminded me of the incredible power of art. This dramatic installation, "In American Flags," is providing both an opportunity for national recognition of the massive loss we have all experienced and personal acknowledgement for those who have lost loved ones. Absolutely incredible. — Liz Harvey, American Promise.
  • I was totally surprised and enchanted by the Wind Circle Peace Sculpture at the Devil's Tower National Monument. The Mobius Strip was by the community college where I taught as a symbol of paradox and unification. We had different fields (sometimes competing for resources) as well as a very disparate student body, and we were trying to unite and work together without discounting any of the components. The history behind the Junky Moto's Circle of Smoke Peace Sculpture reinforced my faith and hope. — Anonymous

When we asked our first question, we said we expected the answers to run the gamut from exasperated to humorous to anxious to hopeful. We were not surprised.

We are more convinced than ever that by engaging our readers through music, theatre, poetry, dance and all the arts, The Fulcrum can help us all find our shared humanity despite the sharp elbows of the day-to-day in American life and politics. And by doing so we hope to build upon The Fulcrum's mission of being a place where insiders and outsiders to politics are informed, meet, talk and act to repair our democracy and make it live and work in our everyday lives.

Thank you.
David L. Nevins
Co-Publisher, The Fulcrum


Latest news

Republican, Democratic and independent checkboxes, with the third one checked
Electoral Reforms

California Schemin’

An illustration of a person standing alone on a platform and looking at speech bubbles.
Media & Technology

The Only Radical Move Forward: Swarm Digital Democracy

Latest Attack Threatening President Trump Reflects Rising Political Violence in US
Democracy

Latest Attack Threatening President Trump Reflects Rising Political Violence in US

Read More

A close up of a person reading a book in a bookstore.

As literacy declines in America, what happens to democracy? This essay explores how falling reading levels, digital media, and the loss of “deep literacy” threaten self-government and the foundations of equality.

Getty Images, LAW Ho Ming

Promoting Civic Literacy for America’s 250th

We Americans have always felt anxious about our democracy. As Benjamin Franklin famously said, ours is only “a republic, if you can keep it,” and we’ve been plagued by a nagging feeling ever since that we can’t. The latest bout of handwringing is brought on by declining literacy and the threat it poses to liberal democracy, and—aware of our penchant for anxiety though we may be—it is hard not to feel concerned.

The fact is that we have large and growing numbers of kids who can’t read well. National Assessment of Education Progress scores reveal that the number of students scoring below NAEP basic has grown steadily since 2019. While the percentage of students considered proficient has held steady, decreased literacy is reported even in elite colleges and universities. Adult reading is way down as well.

Keep ReadingShow less
Bar graph of shopping carts

A deeper look at inflation in today’s economy—beyond money printing. Explore how trade fragmentation, geopolitics, tariffs, and industrial policy are driving structural inflation and rising costs in the U.S.

Andriy Onufriyenko/Getty Images

Inflation Has Changed—And So Has Who Pays for It

A familiar conservative argument is back: inflation is the result of government printing and overspending. Too many dollars, too much demand, not enough goods. It is a tidy explanation, one that has the advantage of clarity and a long intellectual pedigree. It is also incomplete.

That story assumes a stable, globalized economy in which production is efficient, supply chains are reliable, and market signals dominate political ones. In that world, inflation can plausibly be reduced to a question of monetary discipline or fiscal restraint. But today’s economy no longer operates under those conditions. Inflation is now driven less by excess demand and more by rising costs tied to trade fragmentation, industrial policy, and geopolitical conflict. These forces are not temporary disruptions. They are reshaping how goods are produced, where they are produced, and at what cost.

Keep ReadingShow less
A Ballroom Won’t Save Our Children
people walking on street during daytime
Photo by Chip Vincent on Unsplash

A Ballroom Won’t Save Our Children

When an active shooter threat disrupted the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, the president and members of his cabinet were evacuated swiftly and efficiently. The threat ended with a shooter apprehended and a Truth Social post. Then President Trump returned to the podium, bypassing the persistence of gun violence in this country to make the case for his long-sought $400 million White House ballroom, one that would supposedly prevent criminals from entering the space. The solution to a potential mass killing was a bulletproof ballroom.

I was an elementary student when Columbine made school shootings a national emergency. The safe haven of school became a potential war zone overnight, and the fear that settled into children that year never fully left. But how could it? The Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting happened when I was a new high school teacher. Parkland when I was a doctoral student. Uvalde during my first faculty position. The shooting at Brown University happened during my fifteenth year working in education. Gun violence has followed me the entire length of my educational career, from K-12 student to high school teacher to university professor. Nearly three decades later, I am still waiting for the final straw, the moment that produces gun reform and makes school feel safe again. Instead, I have more thoughts and prayers than ever, and no gun reform in sight.

Keep ReadingShow less
Death with Dignity: A Person's Right to Choose Life or Death

Funeral, cemetery and hands with rose on tombstone for remembrance, ceremony and memorial service. Depression, sadness and person with flower on gravestone for mourning, grief and loss in graveyard

Getty Images

Death with Dignity: A Person's Right to Choose Life or Death

There is much debate around the world regarding both physician-assisted dying legislation—often called "Death with Dignity"—and expanding the circumstances in which it is applicable. Eight countries and 19 states already permit it in some form.

It is controversial for many reasons. Part of the controversy stems from our cultural discomfort with death. Part of it results from the medical profession's focus on keeping people alive and its fear of malpractice suits. Part of it is religious.

Keep ReadingShow less
© Copyright 2026