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"Te shameful and deeply irrational response at the Capitol to the election was simply the most recent manifestation of a longstanding movement to subvert our democracy," according to the authors.
The simple, hopeful message from the mind-boggling and awful assault on democracy
Jan 15 2021
Berkman and Beem are on the political science faculty at Penn State University.
<p>We direct our university's McCourtney Institute for Democracy, which is committed to promoting democracy in the United States and abroad. Last week's disturbing events in the nation's capital imperil our American democracy. They require some thoughtful reflection about how we got here and what we do about it.</p><p>If history proves anything, it is that people disagree. Vehemently. Unity of opinion is not possible. Democracy exists as a way for people to disagree and yet still live together peaceably. Elections are the means by which we do that. They are the backbone of a democratic system. Every vote counts the same and the candidate who receives the most votes wins. A peaceful transition of power occurs as losers accept the outcome and come back prepared to fight again another day.</p><p>If any aspect of this system fails, democracy becomes impossible. Over the last many months, since well before Joe Biden's clear and commanding presidential victory, we have spoken forcefully that it was not only factually wrong but also dangerous to claim that the 2020 election was unfair, rigged or otherwise tainted.</p><p>Indeed, we have celebrated the hard work and successful efforts of election workers and others around the country who managed to carry out this election under difficult circumstances. </p><p><p style="text-align: center;" id="sufn"><a style="font-weight: bold;margin:40px auto;font-size:2rem" href="https://thefulcrum.us/st/newsletters">Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter </a></p></p><p>But the shameful and deeply irrational response at the Capitol to the election was simply the most recent manifestation of a longstanding movement to subvert our democracy. </p><p>The scenes we saw should not be seen as sudden or unpredictable. They are rather the inevitable outcome of a sustained and reckless assault on the propositions that make democracy possible. The chronic denigration of the rights of the other side, the easy dismantling of democratic norms and procedures — and ultimately, the rejection of even the foundational idea that there is one reality, one truth, for all of us — all facilitated the breakdown we saw before us. </p><p>Every one of the politicians or pundits who took part in this authoritarian charade, who blithely put their own political or economic calculus ahead of the well-being of our nation and our democracy, will have to live forever with the humiliation of this moment.</p><p>But all Americans of good will have to take on the burden of rebuilding what has been lost. As we now know too well, democracy is fragile. If it is to continue, let alone thrive, it will require a renewed commitment from all of us.</p><p><div class="x12"><div class="htlad-Desktop_Content_Banner"></div></div></p>
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Civvys emphasize equity and inclusion in selection of 2020 finalists
Jan 14 2021
After a year of record-setting voter turnout, nationwide protests for racial justice and equality, and debate over equitable ballot access, it's time to recognize some of the leading players.
To that end, the organizations behind the American Civic Collaboration Awards — better known as the Civvys — announced the slate of finalists, celebrating the accomplishments of people and groups who led the way in 2020.
<p>As in past years, the fourth annual awards will honor work among local and national groups, as well as a youth category. The awards are organized by Big Tent Nation, the Bridge Alliance Education Fund and the National Conference on Citizenship. (BAEF is a funder of The Fulcrum.)</p><p>"We look to these exemplary nominees for inspiration. For the innovation of a new blueprint to improve our communities and nation through collaboration," said Debilyn Molineaux, president and CEO of the Bridge Alliance. "Additionally, our focus included initiatives and projects that highlighted a more inclusive and equitable approach by citizen-led bridge builders."</p><p>Here are the finalists, which come from a pool 15 percent bigger than the prior year's nominations.</p><p><strong>National: </strong>Braven; Hidden Common Ground and Strange Bedfellows Initiative, Public Agenda; Maria Yuan, Issue Voter; The Civic Responsibility Project; Millennial Action Project; and With the People, coordinated by National Issues Forums Institute.</p><p><p style="text-align: center;" id="sufn"><a style="font-weight: bold;margin:40px auto;font-size:2rem" href="https://thefulcrum.us/st/newsletters">Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter </a></p></p><p><strong>Local: </strong>Akron Civic Commons (Akron, Ohio); Interfaith Council of Metro DC; Pandemic Voting Project, organized by the NAACP and Show Me Integrity (Missouri); SA2020, San Antonio's Shared Community Vision; STL Approves (St. Louis, Mo.); and Tarrant County College Civic Engagement District Work Team (Fort Worth, Texas).</p><p><strong>Youth: </strong>Changeist; The Conversationalist; DoSomething.org's "Our 2020 Vision" campaign; Green Our Planet; KidsVotingDurham; Student PIRGS New Voters project, including specifically nominated Eckerd College, California Student Vote and NAACP Youth and College Division initiatives.</p><p>The winners will be announced at a virtual ceremony in March.</p>
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By inciting a riot, President Trump gave Democrats the chance to transcend the gamesmanship they helped to create, writes Salit.
More excessive partisanship will make wound from Capitol siege even worse
Jan 14 2021
Salit is president of Independent Voting, which works to promote the political clout of unaffiliated voters, and the author of "Independents Rising: Outsider Movements, Third Parties, and the Struggle for a Post-Partisan America" (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012).
<p>My father, a Navy veteran of World War II, just celebrated his 94th birthday. He is one of the estimated 300,000 living veterans of that war and he is healthy, mobile and active, with a wicked sense of humor. His memories are sharp, his voice raspy, and he offers colorful reflections on almost a century of American life.<br></p><p>Last weekend, I asked what the country was like when he was in college during and after the war. If you were in uniform and hitchhiking on leave, he said, drivers stopped and said they would take you wherever you wanted to go. In a bar, you couldn't pay for a beer or a meal. The country was united and he was so proud. </p><p>Then he paused. When he watched the events at the Capitol, he said, suddenly grim, he wished he was still in uniform. He wanted to be there to defend our democracy, to repel and punish those who would attack it. His voice was choking. </p><p>My heart ached. His pain and anger were palpable, even over Zoom. Yes, it was about the sordid events at the Capitol. But it was also about how much the fabric of the country had unspooled in his lifetime. </p><p><p style="text-align: center;" id="sufn"><a style="font-weight: bold;margin:40px auto;font-size:2rem" href="https://thefulcrum.us/st/newsletters">Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter </a></p></p><p>Like many, I watched members of Congress forced to evacuate after a failure by law enforcement to create a sufficiently secure perimeter around them or put a visible and well-equipped anti-riot force in place, as had been done before a thoroughly peaceful anti-racism protest the Rev. Al Sharpton led on Capitol Hill last summer. This double-standard must be investigated. </p><p>Eventually, last week's violence was ended. Debate resumed. Objections were heard, the separate houses debated. After courts had dismissed more than 60 lawsuits claiming fraud, after states conducted recounts that produced no different outcomes, Congress affirmed that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris had the necessary electoral votes to be sworn in next week. </p><p>For my money, the democratic process held. The perpetrators who committed violent acts and brought lethal paraphernalia are being hunted down, arrested and charged. I disagree with those who breathlessly proclaim our democracy is fragile. In the face of ceaseless legal, political and procedural challenges culminating in this violent disruption, democracy looked pretty sturdy. </p><p>But what does seem fragile? The institutions that mediate and control the American people's relationship to our democratic republic. Here I refer to the two dominant political parties, the massively over-endowed and overreaching mechanisms of the exercise of political power. </p><p><div class="x12"><div class="htlad-Desktop_Content_Banner"></div></div></p><p>Full disclosure: I'm an independent. I dislike the political parties and what they breed. They are dedicated to the proposition that their self-preservation, separately and together, is equivalent to the national interest. There are moments of upheaval where those can appear to be the same thing, but that is momentary. </p><p>This is part of the terrible pain of the moment. The vacuum in political leadership in America is wrenching. After a brutal election season — in which $15 billion was spent by both sides getting Americans to hate and fear each other — 41 percent of the electorate chose to identify with neither party. Declaring oneself a political independent is their statement of non-compliance with a wretched culture. </p><p>The House decided that an unprecedented second impeachment was the best way to sanction Trump, and 10 Republicans joined the Democrats to charge him with "incitement of insurrection" Wednesday. I sorely wish that partisan Democrats hadn't used the impeachment gambit once before, and with an almost totally party-line outcome.</p><p>It would have been better to tie the president's hands for his final days in office by having Vice President Pence and the Cabinet (what's left of it) invoke the 25th Amendment — followed by Pence, Nancy Pelosi, Mitch McConnell, Chuck Schumer and Kevin McCarthy standing together to promise a peaceful transition of power. </p><p>But I don't get to decide. I'm only one citizen, one who's sick and tired of being force fed a toxic brew every time something happens. </p><p>Trump, in his infinite narcissism, did more than incite a riot. He handed the Democratic Party a golden goose: the chance to ring the bell for democracy, to transcend the gamesmanship they helped to create. </p><p>In an Ipsos <a href="https://www.ipsos.com/en-us/news-polls/abc-news-rioting-democracy-011021" target="_blank">poll taken last weekend,</a> 58 percent of independents said Trump should be removed from office before his term ends — surely the most nonpartisan view on that question. But the same poll found only half the country believes Democrats can be counted on to protect our democracy. Many independents are asking whether Democrats will champion the necessary political reforms to reverse the incentives driving partisanship. I have not seen evidence they will. </p><p>Meanwhile, Republicans are deservedly in chaos. Those high-minded government officials turning in their resignations have me laughing. Someone once said, when government officials talk about principles, hold on to your wallet. I just locked mine in a drawer. The GOP is assessing a vote to convict Trump in the Senate followed by a vote to bar him from any future office. A healthier option would be opening all the 2024 presidential primaries to all voters. Independents voted against Trump by 13 points in November, delivering the Democrats the White House and, later, the Senate. Trump could not survive an open primary in four years. The American people would be the deciders. </p><p>Perhaps the worst thing is that it's so hard to know what anything means. The 18th century philosopher Bishop Butler opined that everything is what it is and not another thing. Wishful thinking? Did the Democratic leadership pursue impeachment because they have the votes to stay Trump's hand? Or do they want to force the GOP to cast damaging votes? Are the resignations an "every man for himself" act of desperation? Or an act of conscience? Was the scene at the Capitol an actual insurrection or a crazed display of deformed defiance, with criminal acts that should be prosecuted? </p><p>Are all these events, and so many others, only one thing? </p><p>America is in crisis. Where do we go from here? The widening gulf between the positive traditions of our democracy, however flawed, and the current culture of partisan politics will have to be engaged. We can't continue as we are. This we know because we feel it in our gut. </p>
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Sixteen percent of young people said they have volunteered for a political campaign, up from 7 percent in late 2018.
Young people found more ways to engage in politics in 2020
Jan 13 2021
Much has been made of the increase in voter participation among young people in 2020. But the act of casting a ballot represents just one method of civic engagement, and young people significantly increased their participation in other political activities last year.
New data released Tuesday by Tufts University's Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement found that nearly three times as many people ages 18 to 24 said in late 2020 that they have donated to a political campaign or registered others to vote, as compared to 2018. And the percent of young people who volunteered for a political campaign more than doubled in the same time frame.
<p><span></span>CIRCLE'S research team provided The Fulcrum with data comparing six forms of civic engagement for 18-24-year olds. The data is based on post-election polls, and the questions did not specify specific time frames for the engagements, meaning respondents could consider pre-2020 participation.</p>
<p>In addition to the big jumps in volunteering for campaigns, donating to campaigns and registering voters, the youth cohort showed modest increases in their efforts to convince others to vote and discussing political issues with friends.</p>
<p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTQ0OTI3NS9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxODk1ODg0M30.DNeZFPQzARwybGuuDkcwif7JF4FAW1MOwdqXuXkM2qo/img.png?width=980" id="81d14" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="9b32226ff6b9cfe9fb279d6b73256dba" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="962" data-height="584">
<small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="Add Photo Credit...">Source: CIRCLE at Tufts University<a href="https://templates.flourish.studio/1790/qq-ET00UhK6Z_a9iHVC8wSzlnNtjWKzk3KVstczQlBR4Ev0gVafcWcrSbWFhM3LN/?environment=editor&auto=1" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"></a></small></p><div style="display: none;"><img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTQ0OTI3NS9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxODk1ODg0M30.DNeZFPQzARwybGuuDkcwif7JF4FAW1MOwdqXuXkM2qo/img.png?width=980" id="81d14" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="6e0456299411cb8c8fb110c05a97afe0" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="youth civic engagement in 2020" data-width="962" data-height="584"></div>
<p>One additional engagement, attending a march or demonstration, was compared to data from 2016. Four years ago, 10 percent of young people said they did so. The rate skyrocketed to 31 percent in 2020 — not surprising in a year of protests over racial injustice.<br></p>
<p><p style="text-align: center;" id="sufn"><a style="font-weight: bold;margin:40px auto;font-size:2rem" href="https://thefulcrum.us/st/newsletters">Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter </a></p></p><p>"The 2020 election cycle further cemented the younger generation's capacity to organize and effect change, often based on their shared commitment to racial and environmental justice," said CIRCLE Director Kei Kawashima-Ginsberg.</p>
<p>The most recent data suggests that while young people on both ends of the political spectrum are inclined to find some way to engage in politics, Democrats are generally more positive about the role of their age group. Among people ages 18 to 29, nearly 90 percent of those who voted for Joe Biden said their generation should participate in decision making, has a responsibility to do so or has the power to effect change. Among those who voted for Donald Trump, those percentages were in the mid-70s.</p>
<p>"Now that the elections are behind us, young people are poised to seize their power to make change on issues they care about and to strengthen our democracy. They know that their continued engagement is needed now more than ever," said Alan Solomont, dean of Tisch College, which houses the CIRCLE program at Tufts.</p>
<p><div class="x12"><div class="htlad-Desktop_Content_Banner"></div></div></p><p>The 2020 survey was conducted by Gallup for CIRCLE. In 2016 and 2018, the program used the polling firm GfK.</p>
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