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U.S. Vice President JD Vance

The Feigned Confusion of JD Vance: Erasure by Design

A miniature residence of the President of the United States, the White House, against the backdrop of 100 US dollar bills.

Trump’s State Capitalism Marks a Radical Break in U.S. Policy

a house made of brown cardboard in a person's hands.

Homelessness Just Declined in the U.S.–Trump’s Plans Will Take Us Backwards.

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America’s Birthday Is Not a Trump Rally

Top-seeded campaign finance reforms squaring off in Democracy Madness

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The Fulcrum
By The FulcrumMay 13, 2020
The Fulcrum
The Fulcrum staff.
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It's down to the top two in the Money in Politics "region" of our reader-driven Democracy Madness tournament. Repealing the Supreme Court's 2013 Citizen United decision (No. 1) is taking on "dark money" disclosures (No. 2) for the championship in this quarter of our bracket.

Similar to an earlier bracket, ideas for bettering voting, the second seed has coasted its way into the finals, blowing out every opponent it came across. The top seed faced a couple of matchups that were a little tighter — but also didn't face any real challenges along the way.

Will the Money in Politics quarter of the draw deliver an upset in the championship round, which is what happened when ranked-choice voting and the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact got past higher-seeded ideas to earn the first births in our Democracy Madness Final Four? You decide.

Cast your vote by Thursday for the campaign finance reform you view as the single most important. Click the Vote Now button and take your pick.

We'll unveil our 16 "best of the rest" democracy reform proposals and start whittling them down next week.


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Texas Is Cross-Referencing Its List of Potential Noncitizen Voters With Driver’s License Records

Texas Department of Public Safety Region II Headquarters on Oct. 1, 2025 in Houston. The state is using DPS records to cross-check a list of registered voters it flagged as potential noncitizens using a federal database.

Antranik Tavitian for The Texas Tribune

Texas Is Cross-Referencing Its List of Potential Noncitizen Voters With Driver’s License Records

The Texas Secretary of State’s Office is now checking whether 2,724 registered voters it flagged as potential noncitizens may have already provided proof of citizenship to the Texas Department of Public Safety, elections division director Christina Adkins said during a meeting with county election administrators earlier this month. That check comes after county elections officials found the federal database used to generate the list flagged some voters who had already given citizenship documentation to DPS when they registered to vote.

Texas officials in October sent counties the list of potential noncitizens generated by checking the state’s voter roll of more than 18 million registered voters against a federal database used to verify citizenship. Soon after the state released the list, counties began to investigate the flagged registrants and mail notices asking them to provide documented proof of citizenship.

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President's Trump National Address On Iran Is Watched By New Yorkers In Manhattan

People watch as US President Donald Trump makes a national address on television at Brooklyn Diner Times Square on April 1, 2026 in New York City. US President Donald Trump's address to the nation is expected to lay out the framework for ending the conflict in Iran.

Adam Gray / Getty Images

When Duty Isn’t a Priority: A Megalomaniac President Abuses the Nation

What does it mean when the presidential oath becomes a performance instead of a promise? It means the nation is left vulnerable to a leader whose actions suggest that personal power may matter more than the Constitution he swore to defend.

He raised his right hand and swore to “preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution.” Yet millions of Americans have watched a president whose conduct repeatedly raises doubts about his commitment to that oath. His attacks on constitutional limits, his hostility toward oversight, and his tendency to treat institutional constraints as obstacles to personal objectives have led many to conclude that constitutional duty is no longer his governing priority. When the oath becomes symbolic rather than binding, the consequences are carried by the public.

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A Georgetown student reflects on democracy, political polarization, civic engagement, and why empathy, dialogue, and informed citizens are essential to America's future.

Eugene Mymrin / Getty Images

Democracy is a Responsibility, Not a Guarantee

The Fulcrum is committed to nurturing the next generation of journalists. To learn about the many NextGen initiatives we are leading, click HERE.

We asked Alexis Tamm, a student at Georgetown University and a Fulcrum Fellowship cohort member, to share her thoughts on what democracy means to her and her perspective on its current health.

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