Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Top Stories

Democracy Madness: Follow the money

Democracy Madness: Follow the money
enjoynz/Getty Images

So far, ranked-choice voting and the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact have earned spots in the Democracy Madness Final Four, our competition to find the single most important change championed by democracy reformers. Now we turn to ideas for changing the role of money in politics.

The voters surprised us in the Elections region, repeatedly going for underdogs. But we expect to see the higher-seeded reforms perform better this time around as the top-ranked proposals, repealing the Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling and removing the "dark" from dark money, are major elements of the democracy reform agenda.


This bracket of 16 is sprinkled with ideas around public financing of campaigns, restrictions on lobbyists, and new disclosure requirements for both fundraising and campaign spending. While many of these proposals can appear somewhat technical or arcane, one in particular may resonate with voters: the demand for presidential candidates to release their tax returns. This has become a major issue now that President Trump is taking his refusal to show his 1040s all the way to the Supreme Court.

First-round voting continues through Tuesday, with succeeding rounds taking place over the next week and a half. Two weeks from today, we'll kick off the "best of the rest" bracket, to be followed by the Final Four.

Click the Vote Now button to make your eight selections. (You can click the matchups, then each label, for more about the proposals.)


Read More

Just the Facts: Impact of the Big Beautiful Bill on Health Care

U.S. President Donald Trump takes the stage during a reception for Republican members of the House of Representatives in the East Room of the White House on July 22, 2025 in Washington, DC. Trump thanked GOP lawmakers for passing the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

Getty Images, Chip Somodevilla

Just the Facts: Impact of the Big Beautiful Bill on Health Care

The Fulcrum strives to approach news stories with an open mind and skepticism, striving to present our readers with a broad spectrum of viewpoints through diligent research and critical thinking. As best we can, we remove personal bias from our reporting and seek a variety of perspectives in both our news gathering and selection of opinion pieces. However, before our readers can analyze varying viewpoints, they must have the facts.

What are the new Medicaid work requirements, and are they more lenient or more restrictive than what previously existed?

Keep ReadingShow less
The Crux of the Schism: What defines being American?
U.S.A. flag
Photo by Lucas Sankey on Unsplash

The Crux of the Schism: What defines being American?

Undeniably, the U.S. body politic is in crisis today and has likely been unraveling for more than a decade. The rancorous polarization best exemplified by the demonization of MAGA on one side, and the elite establishment on the other, has become a daily preoccupation in many circles. True, there is undoubtedly a large group of Americans in a broadly defined center whose voices get drowned out by the extremes who scream the loudest. Yet despite this caveat, we are arguably witnessing the most ominous threat we’ve faced since the Civil War tore us asunder more than 150 years ago.

Much scrutiny focuses on the political, economic, and social aspects of the schism, all of which are important and in play. However, I would venture to guess that at its core, the disunion lies in the clashing concepts of what being an American signifies, and further, how these concepts have collided over the course of three centuries. While often not debated forthrightly, the battle can be distilled down to two conflicting views on the fundamental question of what constitutes being an American.

Keep ReadingShow less
Hey Bro! Do You Think Trump Has Your Back?

man wearing a red baseball cap, yelling

AI generated

Hey Bro! Do You Think Trump Has Your Back?

This is an open letter to all bros. You're angry. You're disillusioned. And you have every right to be. The question is, what do you do about it? How do you do something that's going to improve your life, your future?

Does the answer lie in a political party? Both Republicans and Democrats certainly want your vote. However, you don't feel that you can look to the Democratic Party for help. They seem to be particularly interested in women, people of color, and immigrants. They haven't spoken to you or done anything for you.

Keep ReadingShow less