Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Top Stories

A personal note to America in troubled times

People standing near 4 American flags

American flags fly near Washington Monument.

Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Harwood is president and founder of The Harwood Institute. This is the latest entry in his series based on the "Enough. Time to Build.” campaign, which calls on community leaders and active citizens to step forward and build together.

I wanted to address Americans after the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump. Consider this a personal note directly to you (yes, you, the reader!). And know that I have intentionally held off in expressing my thoughts to allow things to settle a bit. There’s already too much noise enveloping our politics and lives.

Like most Americans, I am praying for the former president, his family and all those affected by last weekend’s events. There is no room for political violence in our nation.


I'm not here to offer political commentary or make predictions about this act of senseless violence. That’s not my role. But here's the deal. We are all suffering these days. There is so much division, acrimony, recriminations and hatred in our land. Right now, my chief concern is this: How do any of us — how do you — maintain a sense of hope during this time? How do you stay grounded when things can feel so confusing and disorienting — when we can feel unmoored?

Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter

Our nation is at an impasse. Things may get worse before they get better. But that does not mean there is no hope to be found. There is a way to find authentic hope during these tumultuous times and stay grounded at the same time.

I travel America almost weekly, working with community leaders and active citizens to support their efforts to catalyze and unleash change that addresses what matters most to people and strengthens their communities’ civic culture. In spite of the divisions we hear about every day, everywhere I go I see people from all walks of life, from all political persuasions, and from all faiths coming together to build. To figure out what they can agree on, amid our real differences, to get in motion and to take shared action. They are making a real, practical difference.

I take hope from these efforts. So can you. But to do so, you must first be willing to see them — that means you must actively look for them, lift them up and keep them in your heart and mind. You must be a guardian of these efforts even as the noise of the world seeks to crowd them out or devalue them. It does not matter how large or small the change is that they produce. What matters is that they are proof that we can restore our belief in one another and move forward together.

I am also traveling America on our campaign, “Enough. Time to Build.” The response to this campaign has been remarkable — and is growing by leaps and bounds each day. Honestly, it is spreading so fast I can barely keep up. Indeed, we are the only national campaign that is being invited to communities of all political persuasions — red and blue and purple. The important question is why?

It is a sign of just how hungry people are for a new path — a civic path — forward. Where change begins in our local communities and grows from there. This is how significant change has often started in our country. I take hope from people’s response to this effort. As Fanny Lou Hamer said, “People are sick and tired of being sick and tired.” You may be, too.

Staying grounded when you feel like things are coming apart is never easy. Platitudes only make things worse. Calls to simply bridge our divides are not enough. Raising the volume of our debate only adds more anxiety.

Being grounded requires that we see reality for what it is — and then put a stake in the ground about what we seek it to be. Progress during times like these throughout our history — from the abolition of slavery to women's suffrage to civil rights and voting rights to gay rights — has never been easy. But we have also never given up, or given in. We persevered. We came together around kitchen tables, in church basements and in civic halls — and we refused to settle. History teaches us that it is everyday Americans who are most responsible for our progress. That we can once again lead this country forward if enough of us come together around our shared aspirations rather than allowing our differences to overcome us.

Like me, you may be deeply troubled by what is happening in our country — and to our country. It keeps me awake at night. At times, my anxiety rises. I fear things coming apart. Until I think about what gives me hope and how I can stay grounded. Then, I rise up and do the work. I know you do, too. Every single day.

Keep looking for where you can find hope. Let’s put a stake in the ground about the kind of country we seek to build. And let’s go together.

Read More

a group of people arranged in the shape of the United states of America map

A group of people arranged in the shape of the United states of America map.

Getty Images, attjeacock

Where Is the “Real America”?

Is there such a thing as a “real America”? A battle now rages over this simple question. Some Democratic party operatives claim the real America are so-called “Trump voters,” who they say they need to better “study” in order to win future elections. Many Republican voices argue the real America are just those who support the new administration 100% of the time. Still, others assert that different demographics or geography comprise the real America. It’s as if the real America is one particular slice or another of our nation.

These caricatures lead us sorely astray. But there is a real America. I work in it every day.

Keep ReadingShow less
‘When People Spend Time Together, They Are Less Inclined To See Each Other As the Enemy’: ​A Conversation With Matt Grossmann

Picture of Matt Grossmann

‘When People Spend Time Together, They Are Less Inclined To See Each Other As the Enemy’: ​A Conversation With Matt Grossmann

In The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway famously observed that a character went broke in two ways: gradually, then suddenly. The same dynamic has been at work in American politics. For decades, the composition of our principal political parties has been slowly shifting, without a great deal of public attention. And then the 2024 presidential election happened, and it was suddenly obvious: the Democrats, traditionally the party of the working class, had become the party of educated elites.

Matt Grossmann has been a keen observer of this transition. A professor of political science at Michigan State University, Grossmann also directs the Institute for Public Policy and Social Research and hosts the “Science of Politics” podcast for the Niskanen Center. With his co-author David A. Hopkins, Grossmann recently published Polarized by Degrees: How the Diploma Divide and the Culture War Transformed American Politics, a book that documents a remarkable shift in American society. Since 1960, we have seen a massive expansion in the number of adult Americans earning college degrees—from roughly 7 percent of the population to nearly 40 percent.

Keep ReadingShow less
Drain—More Than Fight—Authoritarianism and Censorship
Getty Images, Mykyta Ivanov

Drain—More Than Fight—Authoritarianism and Censorship

The current approaches to proactively counteracting authoritarianism and censorship fall into two main categories, which we call “fighting” and “Constitution-defending.” While Constitution-defending in particular has some value, this article advocates for a third major method: draining interest in authoritarianism and censorship.

“Draining” refers to sapping interest in these extreme possibilities of authoritarianism and censorship. In practical terms, it comes from reducing an overblown sense of threat of fellow Americans across the political spectrum. When there is less to fear about each other, there is less desire for authoritarianism or censorship.

Keep ReadingShow less
The Moral Awakening of Cory Booker's Marathon Speech
Cory Booker | U.S. Senator Cory Booker speaking with attende… | Flickr
www.flickr.com

The Moral Awakening of Cory Booker's Marathon Speech

Just when prophetic witness felt muted by political expediency, Senator Cory Booker's unprecedented 25-hour marathon speech on the Senate floor is a powerful testament to moral courage and democratic resilience. Beginning at 7 p.m. on Monday (3/31/25) and extending through Tuesday (4/1/25) evening, Booker's historic address surpassed Strom Thurmond's infamous 1957 record, though with a profound difference, reconstituting the meaning of a "moral moment."

The New Jersey senator's sustained oratory wasn't merely a political gesture—it embodied the prophetic tradition that has long animated America's moral progress. Like the Hebrew prophets who stood before kings, speaking truth to power at high personal cost, Booker's political discourse represented a contemporary form of bearing witness. His physical endurance became a metaphor for the sustained resistance required in facing injustice.

Keep ReadingShow less