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Video: Daughters and Sons

Daughters and Sons

David Nevins is co-publisher of The Fulcrum and co-founder and board chairman of the Bridge Alliance Education Fund.

American lawyer and lyricist behind “Daughters and Sons”, Hal Pollock, has launched a new website dedicated to the children and their protectors killed in attacks on American schools.


The song “Daughters and Sons” was written on the evening of the Columbine High School shooting in 1999. It was one of the first major mass shootings of students at an American school, and a harbinger of what was to come in the following millennium.

Music is a powerful medium. And it gives us the opportunity to stop and reflect about issues that matter to us, the very reason why Pollock sat down the night of Columbine and penned the words to “Daughters and Sons.” The song was recorded by Sonny Geraci, well known lead singer of the Outsiders (Time Won’t Let Me) and the hit song “Precious and Few”. Tom Mauser, father of Columbine victim Daniel Mauser, recorded the introduction included in the song.

The slaying of children in schools is America’s disgrace. The powerful gun lobby and some “stuck in their ways” congressional members make sure nothing will change. We are the only nation in the world plagued by this problem so acutely. It is escalating, not diminishing. Every day, 23 children and teens (between the ages of 1-17) are shot in the United States.

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It is Pollock's hope that his song can make a difference.

As you listen to “Daughters and Sons,” Tom Mauser’s touching and moving words still ring true today, almost 25 years after the tragedy of the Columbine school massacre.

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Is America a Democracy or a Republic?

Is America a Democracy or a Republic?

From the Penn State McCourtney Institute for Democracy:

New Democracy Discourse Lesson Addresses an Age-Old Question

Is the United States a democracy or a republic? The answer to that question often varies depending on who you ask. We explore the differences in the newest episode of Democracy Discourse, our educational series on YouTube.

In this lesson, host Brandon Stover explores the definitions and distinctions between different types of democracy, including direct and representative democracies, as well as liberal and illiberal representative democracies.

We also discuss the concept of a republic and how it contrasts with monarchy. The video features insights from experts including Francis Fukuyama and provides a comprehensive overview of the principles of democracy and liberalism in the United States, as well as the impact of federalism.

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Primary Reform and Pivotal Voters

Primary Reform and Pivotal Voters

From the National Association of Nonpartisan Reformers:

Primary Reform and Pivotal Voters: A discussion of research on how ideological purity gets translated into representation, the concept of the pivotal voter, and what’s on the horizon.

Join the National Association of Nonpartisan Reforms for a conversation with Sam Wang, Ph.D., from Princeton University, regarding his research on the impact of primary reform on electoral outcomes, how "pivotal voters" play into the dynamic, and what electoral reformers should keep in mind moving forward.

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Video: The dignity index

Video: The dignity index

UNITE is a national initiative to ease divisions, prevent violence, and solve problems. UNITE designed the Dignity Index, an eight-point scale that measures the level of contempt or dignity in a selected passage of speech. Lower scores (1-4) reflect a lack of dignity and the presence of contempt, with the lowest score (1) showing the most contempt. The higher scores (5-8) reflect language grounded in dignity, with the highest score (8) showing the most dignity.

In September 2022, a team from the University of Utah that included the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute, the David Eccles School of Business, and the Hinckley Institute of Politics joined the project UNITE effort to pilot the Dignity Index in Utah. With a team of 22 student coders from politically and ideologically diverse backgrounds, the Utah pilot tested using the Dignity Index in coding passages in Utah political campaigns.

Video: How America's two-party doom loop is driving division

Video: How America's two-party doom loop is driving division

"We're in a doom loop of toxic politics," says political reform scholar Lee Drutman. In this new video from Unite America, Drutman's doom loop theory is explained and we unpack how the doom loop threatens the very fabric of our nation.

How did we get here? What are the impacts of the doom loop? And most importantly, how do we get out?