Skip to content
Project 2025
Search

Latest Stories

Top Stories
U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN)

Trump’s Plan to Strip Rep. Omar of Her Citizenship Is Unconstitutional and a Threat to All of Us

JD Vance

JD Vance Tells Republicans Who America’s Real Birthright Citizens Are

Group of voters stand in line

Six Key Voting Blocs Hold the Balance of Power on Nov. 3

If It Quacks Like a Fascist

If It Quacks Like a Fascist

Five men sitting on one side of a table, as a panel at an event.

Congressional Inaction Raises Constitutional Change Alternative

Democracy in Action: February Retrospective

Opinion

Democracy in Action: February Retrospective

Calendar page February of the year 2025 white color in meeting room in office.

Getty Images//Midnight Studio
Hugo Balta
By Hugo BaltaMar 15, 2025
Hugo Balta
Hugo Balta is a journalist, educator, and communicator. Hugo is the executive editor of the Fulcrum and a board member of the Bridge Alliance Education Fund, the parent organization of The Fulcrum. He is the publisher of the Latino News Network, a trainer with the Solutions Journalism Network, and an adjunct professor teaching journalism courses.
See More Writings by author

Welcome to Democracy In Action, insights and discussion about some of the most talked-about topics of the previous month with Fulcrum collaborators.

Consistent with the Fulcrum's mission, this program strives to share many perspectives to widen our readers' viewpoints.

There is, as always, so much to talk about…including President Trump and V-P JD Vance are accused of ambushing Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office, Elon Musk leading an assault on USAID, and Linda McMahon being confirmed as secretary of education.

Joining us to discuss these topics and more are:

Doris Maldonado Mendez, a member of the Connecticut Mirror’s Community Editorial Board.

Dr. Ulcca Joshi Hansen, a futurist and the author of the award-winning book The Future of Smart. Her research and writing focus on bridging cultural and ideological divides during periods of rapid social change.

Seth David Radwell, author of “American Schism: How the Two Enlightenments Hold the Secret to Healing our Nation” and he serves on the Advisory Councils at Business for America, RepresentUs, and The Grand Bargain Project.

I am the executive editor of the Fulcrum and a board member of the Bridge Alliance Education Fund, the parent organization of The Fulcrum. He is the publisher of the Latino News Network and a trainer with the Solutions Journalism Network.

We began the conversation with President Trump’s threat to shut down the Department of Education.

- YouTubeyoutu.be

Check out:

Project 2025: Department of Education

DEI programs are essential to tackle systemic barriers

Americans may have voted to dismantle government, but they must not leave their children behind


Latest news

Hands raised in the air, holding each other.​
Ethics & Leadership

Land of the Free, Home of the Brave? How Trump Is Destroying America's Soul

US Flag
Bridging & Common Ground

This Country ’Tis of Thee Calls America to Unite Again

U.S. President Donald Trump greets Russian President Vladimir Putin in front of a landed airplane.
Ethics & Leadership

What Would Putin’s Puppet Do Differently?

Read More

Meeting, handshake and business people with deal in office for funding approval and success.

Four Reds and four Blues reached unanimous Points of Agreement on immigration, then presented them to Reps. Fitzpatrick and Suozzi. Here’s how it worked.

Jacob Wackerhausen/Getty Images

On Immigration, Common Ground May Be Closer Than We Think

Immigration has become one of the issues pulling Americans apart. Earlier this month, at a constituent conversation in Bristol, Pennsylvania, I watched eight Americans with very different political views offer a glimpse of how it does not have to stay that way.

Four “Reds” and four “Blues” — terms used for participants on the political right and left — sat across from Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) and Tom Suozzi (D-N.Y.), the Republican and Democratic co-chairs of the House Problem Solvers Caucus, to present something increasingly unusual in our politics: unanimous Points of Agreement on immigration developed through an earlier Common Ground Workshop.

Keep ReadingShow less
Visitor at the reflecting pools to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the September 11th terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center

A visitor pauses at the reflecting pools to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the September 11th terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center at the National 9/11 Memorial & Museum on September 11, 2026, in New York City.

(Photo by Jeenah Moon - Pool/Getty Images)

The Moral Distance Between Our Dead and Theirs

Last month, I watched the ceremonies marking the 25th anniversary of September 11.

I listened as family members read the names of the dead. Children and grandchildren talked about people whose absence still shapes their lives. Nearly 3,000 people were killed that morning. At the 9/11 Memorial, they are remembered as individuals.

Keep ReadingShow less
​A sign directs pedestrians towards the United States in Tijuana, Mexico. A person walks in the foreground.

A sign directs pedestrians towards the United States on January 16, 2019 in Tijuana, Mexico.

Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Immigration, Borders, and Belonging: Toward a More Honest Conversation

This week, Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) won nearly 44 percent of the vote in Saxony-Anhalt, more than twice the Christian Democrats’ share and the AfD’s strongest state-election result. Anti-immigration sentiment and nationalism helped drive the campaign.

I first visited Germany in 1986 and have returned many times. Career-related assignments have repeatedly taken me to the Netherlands and Austria as well. Through four decades of travel and conversations with ordinary Europeans, I have noticed a marked change since 2016. Over the past decade, concerns about immigration have surfaced more frequently, not only in Germany but across Europe.

Keep ReadingShow less
© Copyright 2026