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Texas Deadly Floods: Who Is To Blame for the Devastation?

Texas Deadly Floods: Who Is To Blame for the Devastation?

Why a College Degree No Longer Guarantees a Good Job

Why a College Degree No Longer Guarantees a Good Job

I Fought To Keep VOA Independent. Now It’s Gone.

I Fought To Keep VOA Independent. Now It’s Gone.

From Red vs. Blue to Common Sense: Solving Money in Politics Together

From Red vs. Blue to Common Sense: Solving Money in Politics Together

Project 2025 and the Assault on Immigrants

Project 2025 and the Assault on Immigrants

Video: From the depolarization movement to the U.S. Senate?

Video: From the depolarization movement to the U.S. Senate?play icon
From the Depolarization Movement to the U.S. Senate? | Steven Olikara with John Wood Jr.
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The Fulcrum
By The FulcrumMay 10, 2022
The Fulcrum
The Fulcrum staff.
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U.S. Senate candidate Steven Olikara has already had an impact on American democracy. He’s the founder of the Millennial Action Project, a nonprofit that works with young policymakers on both a national and state level to bridge the partisan divide and spur collaborative legislation. But is that the type of attitude that can get you elected to Wisconsin’s U.S. Senate seat in today’s divided America?

In this first-ever candidate interview on The Braver Angels Podcast, Steven Olikara gives us the backstory of his relationship to democracy through his love of jazz, his work in the field of depolarization, and his experiences on the campaign trail.

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Just the Facts: Supreme Court Ruling in Trump v. CASA Narrows Judicial Power, Reshapes Legal Landscape
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Just the Facts: Supreme Court Ruling in Trump v. CASA Narrows Judicial Power, Reshapes Legal Landscape

From Vision to Action: Remaking the World Through Social Entrepreneurship
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Ten Things the Future Will Say We Got Wrong About AI
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When Democracy’s Symbols Get Hijacked: How the Far Right Co-Opted Classical Imagery
brown concrete building under blue sky during daytime
Photo by Darryl Low on Unsplash

When Democracy’s Symbols Get Hijacked: How the Far Right Co-Opted Classical Imagery

For generations, Americans have surrounded themselves with the symbols of ancient Greece and Rome: marble columns, laurel wreaths, Roman eagles, and the fasces. These icons, carved into our government buildings and featured on our currency, were intended to embody democracy, civic virtue, and republican ideals.

But in recent years, far-right movements in the U.S. and abroad have hijacked these classical images, repackaging them into symbols of exclusion, militarism, and authoritarian nostalgia.

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Is Bombing Iran Deja Vu All Over Again?

The B-2 "Spirit" Stealth Bomber flys over the 136th Rose Parade Presented By Honda on Jan. 1, 2025, in Pasadena, California. (Jerod Harris/Getty Images/TNS)

Jerod Harris/Getty Images/TNS)

Is Bombing Iran Deja Vu All Over Again?

After a short and successful war with Iraq, President George H.W. Bush claimed in 1991 that “the ghosts of Vietnam have been laid to rest beneath the sands of the Arabian desert.” Bush was referring to what was commonly called the “Vietnam syndrome.” The idea was that the Vietnam War had so scarred the American psyche that we forever lost confidence in American power.

The elder President Bush was partially right. The first Iraq war was certainly popular. And his successor, President Clinton, used American power — in the former Yugoslavia and elsewhere — with the general approval of the media and the public.

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Conspiratorial Thinking Isn’t Growing–Its Consequences Are
a close up of a typewriter with the word conspiracy on it
Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash

Conspiratorial Thinking Isn’t Growing–Its Consequences Are

The Comet Ping Pong Pizzagate shooting, the plot to kidnap Governor Gretchen Whitmer, and a man’s livestreamed beheading of his father last year were all fueled by conspiracy theories. But while the headlines suggest that conspiratorial thinking is on the rise, this is not the case. Research points to no increase in conspiratorial thinking. Still, to a more dangerous reality: the conspiracies taking hold and being amplified by political ideologues are increasingly correlated with violence against particular groups. Fortunately, promising new research points to actions we can take to reduce conspiratorial thinking in communities across the US.

Some journalists claim that this is “a golden age of conspiracy theories,” and the public agrees. As of 2022, 59% of Americans think that people are more likely to believe in conspiracy theories today than 25 years ago, and 73% of Americans think conspiracy theories are “out of control.” Most blame this perceived increase on the role of social media and the internet.

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Illness, Presidents, and Confidantes

U.S. President Joe Biden speaks at the Economic Club of Washington, DC September 19, 2024 in Washington, DC.

Getty Images, Win McNamee

Illness, Presidents, and Confidantes

Ever since the reality of President Biden’s mental and physical decline has been made public, ink is being spent, bemoaning that the nation was at risk because the President was not fit to make crucial decisions twenty-four hours a day.

Isn’t it foolish that, in a constitutional republic with clear separation and interdependence of powers, we should rely on one human being to make a decision at three in the morning that could have grievous consequences for the whole nation and the world? Are we under the illusion that we must and can elect an all-wise, always-on, energizer-bunny, superhero?

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