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Global Lessons, Local Tools: Democracy at Home and Abroad
May 08, 2025
Welcome to the latest edition of The Expand Democracy 5 from Rob Richie and Eveline Dowling. This week they delve into: (1) Deep Dive - Inviting 21st century political association; (2) Australian elections show how fairer voting matter; (3) International election assistance on the chopping block; (4) Checks and balances and the US presidency; and (5) The week’s timely links.
In keeping with The Fulcrum’s mission to share ideas that help to repair our democracy and make it live and work in our everyday lives, we intend to publish The Expand Democracy 5 in The Fulcrum each Friday.
If you want to suggest a pro-democracy idea for coverage in The Expand Democracy 5, please use the contact form at Expand Democracy.
Deep Dive: 2, 4, 6, 8… Let’s Associate! ⚡
In the spirit of our constitutional framers’ call for the ongoing pursuit of a more perfect union, our democracy is strongest when its tools and mechanics evolve with the times. A major question is how our party system will evolve. Unanticipated by the framers, parties quickly emerged and were dominant by the 1830s. Those parties organized more fluidly without the regulation of a government-printed ballot and could pursue tactics like fusion cross-nominations. Eventually, incumbent office-holders adopted rules and regulations, making the Democratic and Republican parties the only viable ones, leading to the seemingly entrenched two-party system we have today.
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However, most younger Americans aren’t buying it—see the chart below illustrating the yawning gap in preference for registering as unaffiliated among young voters compared to older ones. Younger people are used to real choices, and don’t like either overly limited choices or being pigeon-holed. In this era of fierce partisanship that is tearing our nation apart, we need new models of association to dissolve the current political binary – likely one that is more transitory and responsive to change than a European multi-party system, with a full embrace of independent voters and candidates, as well as allowance for meaningful difference within the parties.
A simple structural tool to allow more political association is the ballot itself. In Washington State, candidates have the power to indicate their association with 18 characters following the word “Prefers.” Most indicate the major parties, but there are intriguing variations that suggest a greater connection to organized movements within a major party that might endorse candidates - like “MAGA Republican”, “Free market Republican", “Working families Democrat”, “Pro-choice Democrat”, “Problem solver", and so on. Building on this idea, FairVote a decade ago created a policy brief based on UC Davis law professor Chris Elmendorf’s proposal that ballots in nonpartisan elections could allow candidates to list a proven endorsement – from the mayor, say, or a strong neighborhood association. I’d like to see that idea extended to any ballot where it’s hard to distinguish candidates, such as crowded primary fields.
We should explore additional tools to enhance association in ways that encourage people to work together politically. Mobile voting must still prove it can meet election integrity standards, but if established, could easily incorporate 21st-century tools such as friend groups sharing their voting decision and easy ways to click on links to videos from candidates, endorsers, and nonpartisan fact-checkers—all tactics that also could be developed alongside continuing to vote on paper. Bottom line: I suspect we’ll be moving away from our traditional understanding of rigidly defined parties even as parties play a key role in bringing voters and representatives under common umbrellas.
Stay tuned for additional ideas, and feel free to send us your suggestions by messaging Team@ExpandDemocracy.org.
[Source: Unite America, 2024]
Australia's election showcases the impact of fair voting 🎬
On May 3rd, Australians cast ballots in a national election. With the tally still ongoing, the left-leaning Labor Party has won a sweeping victory over the conservative Coalition. Women surged in representation, winning nearly 60% of Labor’s seats and possibly will end up with an overall majority of seats in the combined House and Senate.
Ranked choice voting played a huge role. On average, more than five candidates contest every Australian house seat without talk of “spoilers.” RCV showed that the MAGA-like approach of the conservative coalition generally reached a support ceiling below 50%, with this Australian television graphic indicating that 12 seats might have shifted from Labor and independents to the conservative coalition without RCV. Notably, the independents (projected to end up with 11 seats) almost all first won their current seats with “comeback” RCV wins as well.
[Source: The Project]
On the flip side, Labor is winning a landslide majority with only a third of the first choice. The less powerful Senate uses the proportional form of ranked choice voting, and there, the results are quite reflective of all voters’ first-choice preferences. As always the case, rules matter.
[Source: Australia Broadcasting Corporation]
International Election and Democracy Assistance Reeling ⚡
Many are shocked by the scale, speed, and absence of a democratic process in the Trump administration’s attack on the federal workforce and government functions. One particular consequence is on the United States' role in supporting pro-democracy conversation and activity around the world. That work may not have always been perfect, but its loss will be deeply felt. The National Endowment for Democracy in 2024 “made over 1,900 grants across 91 countries, totaling $286 million,” as it explains in its annual report.
That funding has been slashed, including to subcontractors. According to Linda Robinson of the Council on Foreign Relations, “Since its arrival in office, the Trump administration has halted 92 of 95 programs of the International Republican Institute, according to its president, Dan Twining. The institute has closed all 64 of its offices abroad and fired up to 85 percent of its staff. National Democratic Institute President Tamara Wittes testified that 93 of its 97 awards were terminated, three-fourths of its offices closed, and about 1,000 people fired.”
For a sage voice on global democracy and the impact of such cuts, visit the Carnegie Endowment’s Democracy, Conflict, and Governance Program, including this recent analysis by Thomas Carothers and Oliver Stuenkel: How Will the Second Trump Administration Affect Global Democracy.
Checks and Balances and Presidential Power
Although Donald Trump has taken exerting presidential power to a whole new level, it is, in fact, an extension of a disturbing trend of a delegitimized Congress ceding its power—due in no small part to the “people’s house” falling deeply short of any sense of accountability to voters and full representativeness of American pluralism. The sweeping voter approval of term limits in the 1990s should have been a warning sign to Congress to review its rules. Instead, its short-term political self-interest in incumbent protection has led to a long-term loss of power.
Jack Goldsmith, a former assistant attorney general under George W. Bush, has an insightful essay in the New York Times on We Have to Deal with Presidential Power. Here’s an excerpt:
“Yet it is important to recognize that many of Mr. Trump’s efforts to expand the powers of the office build substantially on the excesses of recent presidencies. The overall pattern of presidential action over the past few decades reveals an escalation of power grabs that put the country on a terrible course even before Mr. Trump took office again. The presidency needs reform, and Americans must consider ways — however implausible they may seem in the context of today’s politics — to get there…
“A more important but much steeper path runs through Congress. It is hard to overstate how much the decline of a responsible Congress is the cause of presidencies run amok. There are many good reforms on the table to reorganize Congress and campaign financing in ways that induce the legislative branch to play a more serious role in policymaking and oversight. The hard part, the fundamental hurdle, is getting a dysfunctional Congress to adopt them.”
Below are three relevant links:
- Georgetown University’s Modernizing Congress project
- Civic Salon’s A Strategic Guide for Organizing Civil Society Field Hearings that “provides a practical approach to addressing concerns about presidential overreach by leveraging Congress's capacities”
- FairVote’s resources on the Fair Representation Act that is the best single proposal I know for changing how voters elect - and experience - Congress.
Timely Links
We close The Expand Democracy 5 with notable links, including followups to recent topics.
- “New Republican majority on the NC elections board replaces the executive director”: North Carolina’s Republican legislature pushed through legislation last year allowing for a partisan takeover of the state board of elections. It has now ousted its long-term director and career election official, Karen Brinson Bell, and replaced her with the House speaker’s counsel, who has no election official experience.
- How Will Ranked-Choice Voting Work in the N.Y.C. Mayoral Primary?”: The New York Times uses excellent visuals to show the round-by-round impact of ranked choice voting in the Democratic mayoral primary in 2021. While emphasizing the 140,202 voters who backed trailing candidates and did not rank one of the two finalists, it misses the story of the nearly 318,00 voters who had their vote count in the final instant runoff due to RCV - and turned a 9% lead for Eric Adams into a razor-thin win of 0.5%.
- “Judge halts parts of Trump’s overhaul of US elections, including proof-of-citizenship requirement”: “A judge... blocked the Trump administration from immediately enacting certain changes to how federal elections are run, including adding a proof-of-citizenship requirement to the federal voter registration form…But the judge allowed other parts of Trump’s sweeping executive order on U.S. elections to go forward for now, including a directive to tighten mail ballot deadlines around the country..In a 120-page decision on Thursday, she said the plaintiffs had proven that the proof-of-citizenship requirement would cause their clients irreparable harm and go against the public interest, while the government had offered ‘almost no defense of the President’s order on the merits.’ Accordingly, she granted a preliminary injunction to stop the citizenship requirement from moving forward while the lawsuit plays out.”
- Does Mixing Civic Assemblies and Participatory Budgeting Make Either Process Better?: From the invaluable National Civic Review in its Spring 2025 issue: “In September 2022 New York City residents were introduced to The People’s Money, the first citywide participatory budgeting process. The People’s Money allows every New Yorker to have a say in how to spend a part of the city budget. It is a process built on many years of participatory budgeting in NYC and in communities across the U.S. But it is also a process that had never been done before citywide. How could we create a program that allowed all New Yorkers to have their voices heard and have a meaningful say in how to spend part of the city budget?”
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Project 2025: Impact on the State Department
May 08, 2025
Last spring and summer, The Fulcrum published a 30-part series on Project 2025. Now that Donald Trump’s second term has started, Part 2 of the series has commenced.
The Trump administration is already implementing and planning historic changes to the U.S. Department of State, many of which were influenced by Project 2025. Its chapter on the State Department, authored by Kiron K. Skinner, outlines a vision for restructuring the agency to better align with the president’s foreign policy agenda—assuming a Republican victory in the 2024 election. These proposed reforms are already shaping discussions on the future of U.S. diplomacy.
The U.S. Department of State is responsible for managing foreign affairs and diplomacy, representing the nation in international relations, negotiating treaties, issuing passports and visas, and promoting global stability. Thus, any changes greatly impact the role of the United States in all international relationships.
Despite our flaws, I believe in American exceptionalism and worry that a less active State Department will weaken it. American exceptionalism is not just about military strength—it is rooted in ideals like democracy, human rights, and innovation. The State Department plays a vital role in promoting these values worldwide. If the U.S. disengages, it risks losing its standing as a moral and democratic leader.
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The chapter on the State Department in Project 2025 called for many fundamental changes, including:
- Reforming the Bureaucracy: The chapter argues that the State Department has historically resisted conservative administrations due to a workforce predisposed to disagree with their policies. It calls for reshaping the department into a more streamlined diplomatic entity that fully serves the president’s agenda.
- Increasing Political Appointees: The proposal suggests appointing more political officials to key positions to ensure alignment with the administration’s priorities.
- Restructuring Diplomatic Efforts: The chapter emphasizes the need for a diplomatic machine focused on national interests as defined by the elected president.
- Policy Implementation: The chapter stresses that the State Department should be instrumental in communicating and executing the president’s foreign policy vision.
In the first 100 days, the Trump administration has already implemented several recommendations from Project 2025 regarding the State Department. Significant changes include budget cuts, mission closures, and policy realignments.
The most controversial move has been an executive order targeting the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), shutting it down and freezing all federal foreign aid. This decision aligns with Project 2025’s recommendation to scale back and “deradicalize” USAID by eliminating programs deemed overly politicized or inconsistent with conservative values. The report specifically criticizes USAID for funding progressive initiatives, such as policies addressing systemic racism and central economic planning, arguing that U.S. foreign aid has become a “massive and open-ended global entitlement program,” benefiting left-leaning organizations.
Expect even more sweeping changes to the State Department in the near future, specifically aligned with Project 2025. On April 20, CNBC reported that it had obtained a draft executive order outlining additional reforms that go far beyond those already implemented.
Key provisions in the draft order include:
- Eliminating all “non-essential” embassies and consulates in Sub-Saharan Africa while consolidating regional bureaus worldwide.
- Terminating offices and positions focused on environmentalism, women’s issues, democracy, human rights, migration, and criminal justice.
- Drastically reducing America’s diplomatic presence in Canada. Under the order, State Department operations in Canada would be reassigned to a significantly reduced team within Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s office, designated as the North American Affairs Office.
Most of the proposed State Department restructuring would be carried out through executive orders issued by the president and directives from the secretary of state. However, budget cuts, personnel reductions, and major reorganizations that require funding reallocations would likely need congressional approval.
It remains unclear whether the administration can implement many of these structural changes unilaterally or if legislative action would be required to modify the department's mandate.
These proposals are sparking intense debate among policymakers, diplomats, and foreign policy experts.
The proposed changes to the State Department are critical because they directly impact how the U.S. exercises power, diplomacy, and global leadership. As the leader of the free world, the U.S. depends on a strong diplomatic corps to advance its interests, defend democracy, and shape international policies.
Reducing bureaucracy could enhance efficiency, allowing diplomats to focus on key priorities such as national security and great power competition. However, eliminating offices dedicated to human rights, war crimes, and global conflict resolution could weaken America’s moral authority and soft power—two essential pillars of its global influence.
Ultimately, these reforms signal a shift in how the U.S. defines leadership: Will it emphasize strategic, security-driven diplomacy, or maintain its broad influence through values-based foreign policy? The outcome will shape America’s global role for years to come and is likely to be fiercely debated in the months ahead.
In the 1980s, Republican President Ronald Reagan often emphasized the responsibility of the U.S. as a moral and ideological leader, promoting democracy and freedom worldwide. The philosophy is summed up in this famous quote:
"America is a shining city upon a hill whose beacon light guides freedom-loving people everywhere.”
The world is watching the Trump administration to see if his America First approach abandons our role as an ideological leader or whether foreign policy will become merely based on transactional relationships. President Trump has often downplayed human rights concerns in favor of pragmatic deals—such as his willingness to engage with authoritarian leaders, like Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un, without emphasizing democratic values. His foreign policy is more about economic and strategic interests than projecting the U.S. as a moral force.
This dramatic shift will fuel debates in the next four years and beyond about whether Trump's approach will set back generations as a global influence in shaping a values-based international order.
David Nevins is co-publisher of The Fulcrum and co-founder and board chairman of the Bridge Alliance Education Fund.
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Democracy Is Not a Given—It’s a Daily Fight
May 08, 2025
Since the start of this semester, I’ve seen a disturbing rise in authoritarian behavior across the country. At the university where I teach, the signs have become impossible to ignore. The government has already cut a huge part of the Department of Education’s funding and power, pulling millions from important research.
This isn’t how most people imagine authoritarianism—it doesn’t usually show up with tanks in the street. It creeps in quietly: at school board meetings, through late-night signing of laws, and in political speeches that disguise repression as patriotism.
Let’s be honest—we are not approaching a crisis. We are already living through one. As a professor at a major public university, I’m scared—not just for higher education but for all public institutions that support our democracy and help people thrive.
Too many people still don’t see what’s happening or think it doesn’t affect them. But this isn’t paranoia. It’s a pattern. These aren’t random acts—they’re part of a larger plan to weaken the systems that hold democracy together.
And here’s the hard truth: we don’t need a violent coup to lose democracy. We can lose it through apathy, distraction, and silence. When people stop paying attention, when cruelty becomes normal, and when injustice is ignored, democracy fades away.
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In schools, teachers are being silenced. Books are banned. History is being rewritten. Programs that help make schools fairer and more welcoming have been gutted under the guise of fairness. But what’s really happening is an attack on the truth. The fear isn’t about indoctrination—it’s about people learning the real story.
The press is also under attack. Reporters are being discredited. Trusted news sources are being defunded. Facts are dismissed as fake news. This isn’t an accident—it’s intentional. When people stop trusting facts, they can be made to believe anything.
The courts have also been changed in dangerous ways. Judges who don’t reflect the people have been installed, and politicians are now ignoring court rulings. The law is used to protect the powerful—and ignored when it’s inconvenient.
Voting rights are under attack, too. Peaceful protest is criminalized. Communities of color are being targeted again and again. District lines are being drawn to keep some people out. This isn’t about protecting democracy—it’s about fearing the power of voters.
Science and knowledge are also being attacked. Even as we face a climate crisis, denial is being funded. Public health data, once trusted, is twisted for political gain. The war on truth is hurting us all.
We need to face what’s happening—clearly and honestly. Democracy doesn’t disappear overnight. It gets chipped away until, one day, we realize it’s gone.
Wole Soyinka once said, the greatest threat to freedom is the absence of criticism. Loving your country means holding it accountable—not staying silent. When the loudest voices are the cruelest ones, we risk losing the soul of the nation.
But we can do something. Each of us. Starting today.
You don’t need to be a politician to make a difference—you just need to show up. Speak out at local school board meetings. Help your friends and family register to vote and be persistent about it. Support independent journalism by subscribing, donating, and sharing reporting that tells the truth. Challenge misinformation wherever you hear it, even in everyday conversations. Join others who are organizing to protect democracy—join a union, support grassroots movements, and build collective power. Educate loudly: start a book club, host a teach-in, and create space for truth-telling. Don’t stay silent, because silence isn’t safety—it’s surrender. Vote like it might be your last chance, because every single election matters, and organize others to vote too.
This is our fight. We can still turn things around. But we can’t wait for someone else to save democracy.
If it’s going to be saved, we must save it—together. By standing up. By linking arms. By refusing to let it fall.
We’ve overcome hard things before. But we never did it by staying quiet. We did it because people like you decided it was time.
This is the fight of our time. And the time is now.
Dr. Anthony Hernandez is a member of the Teaching Faculty in the Educational Policy Studies Department at the University of Wisconsin—Madison, won a research award from the National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation for his study of leadership in higher education, and has received four teaching awards from UW-Madison.
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Nurturing the Next Generation of Journalists
May 08, 2025
“Student journalists are uniquely positioned to take on the challenges of complicating the narrative about how we see each other, putting forward new solutions to how we can work together and have dialogue across difference,” said Maxine Rich, the Program Manager with Common Ground USA. I had the chance to interview her earlier this year about Common Ground Journalism, a new initiative to support students reporting in contentious times.
A partnership with The Fulcrum and the Latino News Network (LNN), I joined Maxine and Nicole Donelan, Production Assistant with Common Ground USA, as co-instructor of the first Common Ground Journalism cohort, which ran for six weeks between January and March 2025.
The sessions integrated Common Ground USA principles of “campuses, which can model our nation’s highest ideals: coming together across differences to serve the common good,” and Solutions Journalism Network’s “to transform journalism so that all people have access to news that helps them envision and build a more equitable and sustainable world.”
Concepts like The Power Of Self Narrative, about how our lives can powerfully shape our resilience to challenges, and help others through their blind spots, resonated with cohorts like Maggie Rhoads, a student at George Washington University. “My problems as a journalist are often the same as others from across the country. Knowing this definitely makes me feel less alone in my reporting journey,” she said.
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Maggie now writes regularly for the Fulcrum. I invite you to read her stories on how legislation and policy impact communities by clicking HERE.
Georgetown University student Alexis Tamm agrees. “I had an amazing experience as a member of the first Common Ground cohort! The program introduced me to solutions journalism very thoroughly,” she said. Solutions journalism is rigorous and compelling reporting about responses to social problems, which includes these key elements: response, insight, evidence, and limitations.
Instead of just highlighting the problems challenging a community, solutions journalism’s approach to news reporting explains how and why responses are working, or are not working. The goal is to present people with a truer, more complete view of these issues,
I am mentoring Alexis with an upcoming article that will be published on the Fulcrum, about a program helping formerly incarcerated individuals get the resources they need to integrate back into society properly.
Feedback collected at the end of the Common Ground Journalism initiative found that most students in the first cohort agree or strongly agree that Common Ground Journalism made them feel more comfortable reporting on minority perspectives and humanizing opposing political opinions.
I am happy to share that the Fulcrum and LNN will join the next session, which will begin in September! Students interested in applying can get more information and fill out a form by clicking HERE.
By reporting on diverse viewpoints and issues, journalism fosters public debate and encourages civic participation. That is why the Fulcrum is committed to mentoring students with valuable guidance and feedback, allowing them to navigate the challenges of journalism while fostering a deeper understanding of their responsibilities as journalists.
The publication has a longstanding relationship with Northwestern University's Medill on the Hill Program. Student journalists pitch stories about how democracy unfolds in Washington, D.C. Their quality reporting, often featured on the Fulcrum, provides valuable perspectives that widen our audience’s viewpoints.
Through that alliance, I met Atmika Iyer, a graduate student in Northwestern Medill’s Politics, Policy, and Foreign Affairs reporting program who is an intern with the Fulcrum this spring. Check out her work by clicking HERE.
Duke University student Bennett Gillespie will join the Fulcrum as an intern in June.
The Fulcrum has joined LNN and NPR’s Midwest Newsroom in sponsoring Jessica Meza from the University of Lincoln- Nebraska, as this year’s Hortencia Zavala Foundation Summer Intern. Meza will not only benefit from the coaching and visibility of three news outlets, but will work side by side with journalists in the Nebraska Public Media newsroom.
This summer, I will lead the first Fulcrum Fellowship, where five students from across the country will be trained in solutions journalism and complicating narrative techniques to produce stories that counter the one-dimensional narratives too common in mainstream media.
Nurturing the next generation of journalists is a collaborative effort that the Fulcrum takes seriously. After all, a well-informed electorate is essential for a healthy democracy, as it enables individuals to engage meaningfully in the political process.
Editor’s Note: Hugo Balta 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 and an accredited Solutions Journalism and Complicating the Narratives trainer with the Solutions Journalism Network.
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