Skip to content
Project 2025
Donate to support
diverse voices
Search

Latest Stories

Follow Us:
Top Stories
How do you solve a problem like Candace Owens?

How do you solve a problem like Candace Owens?

When a Lifelong Friendship Ends in the MAGA Era

When a Lifelong Friendship Ends in the MAGA Era

As DOJ Begins To Release Epstein Files, His Many Victims Deserve More Attention Than the Powerful Men in His ‘Client List’

As DOJ Begins To Release Epstein Files, His Many Victims Deserve More Attention Than the Powerful Men in His ‘Client List’

Congress Shouldn’t Let Federal Tort Claims Become Political Gifts

Congress Shouldn’t Let Federal Tort Claims Become Political Gifts

More Artists Boycott Trump‑Renamed Kennedy Center

More Artists Boycott Trump‑Renamed Kennedy Center

Top seeds squaring off for the 'best of the rest' in Democracy Madness

basketball and democracy
by designing makes me more alive/Getty Images
The Fulcrum
By The FulcrumMay 27, 2020
The Fulcrum
The Fulcrum staff.
See More Writings by author

Three of the four quarters of Democracy Madness have wrapped up. Now, it's time to crown the champion of the "Best of the Rest" division and move into the Final Four of our reader-driven tournament to come up with the fan favorite proposal for fixing the broken democracy.

The top seeds in this part of the bracket — always using paper ballots in elections (No. 1) and using federal funding to power elections (No. 2) — will square off today and Thursday in the final round of this "regional" competition. Both proposals have breezed past their opponents thus far, though the second seed has had higher win margins during its run.

Can federal election funding upset paper ballots? Or will the lead seed bring home the victory? You decide by clicking "Vote Now" and tracking your pick.

Starting Monday, the champions of each divisional bracket will go head-to-head to decide which reform you think is the top choice.



Latest news

Someone using an AI chatbot on their phone.
Media & Technology

Why Workplace Wellbeing AI Needs a New Ethics of Consent

Women holding signs to defend diversity at Havard
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Diversity Has Become a Dirty Word. It Doesn’t Have to Be.

The Domestic Sting: Why the Tariff Bill is Arriving at the American Door
Economy

The Domestic Sting: Why the Tariff Bill is Arriving at the American Door

An illustration of a paper that says "Ranked-Choice" with options listed below.
Electoral Reforms

Why Mathematicians Love Ranked Choice Voting

Read More

Nicolas Maduro’s Capture: Sovereignty Only Matters When It’s Convenient

US Capitol and South America. Nicolas Maduro’s capture is not the end of an era. It marks the opening act of a turbulent transition

AI generated

Nicolas Maduro’s Capture: Sovereignty Only Matters When It’s Convenient

The U.S. capture of Nicolás Maduro will be remembered as one of the most dramatic American interventions in Latin America in a generation. But the real story isn’t the raid itself. It’s what the raid reveals about the political imagination of the hemisphere—how quickly governments abandon the language of sovereignty when it becomes inconvenient, and how easily Washington slips back into the posture of regional enforcer.

The operation was months in the making, driven by a mix of narcotrafficking allegations, geopolitical anxiety, and the belief that Maduro’s security perimeter had finally cracked. The Justice Department’s $50 million bounty—an extraordinary price tag for a sitting head of state—signaled that the U.S. no longer viewed Maduro as a political problem to be negotiated with, but as a criminal target to be hunted.

Keep ReadingShow less
Red elephants and blue donkeys

The ACA subsidy deadline reveals how Republican paralysis and loyalty-driven leadership are hollowing out Congress’s ability to govern.

Carol Yepes

Governing by Breakdown: The Cost of Congressional Paralysis

Picture a bridge with a clearly posted warning: without a routine maintenance fix, it will close. Engineers agree on the repair, but the construction crew in charge refuses to act. The problem is not that the fix is controversial or complex, but that making the repair might be seen as endorsing the bridge itself.

So, traffic keeps moving, the deadline approaches, and those responsible promise to revisit the issue “next year,” even as the risk of failure grows. The danger is that the bridge fails anyway, leaving everyone who depends on it to bear the cost of inaction.

Keep ReadingShow less
White House
A third party candidate has never won the White House, but there are two ways to examine the current political situation, writes Anderson.
DEA/M. BORCHI/Getty Images

250 Years of Presidential Scandals: From Harding’s Oil Bribes to Trump’s Criminal Conviction

During the 250 years of America’s existence, whenever a scandal involving the U.S. President occurred, the public was shocked and dismayed. When presidential scandals erupt, faith and trust in America – by its citizens as well as allies throughout the world – is lost and takes decades to redeem.

Below are several of the more prominent presidential scandals, followed by a suggestion as to how "We the People" can make America truly America again like our founding fathers so eloquently established in the constitution.

Keep ReadingShow less
Money and the American flag
Half of Americans want participatory budgeting at the local level. What's standing in the way?
SimpleImages/Getty Images

For the People, By the People — Or By the Wealthy?

When did America replace “for the people, by the people” with “for the wealthy, by the wealthy”? Wealthy donors are increasingly shaping our policies, institutions, and even the balance of power, while the American people are left as spectators, watching democracy erode before their eyes. The question is not why billionaires need wealth — they already have it. The question is why they insist on owning and controlling government — and the people.

Back in 1968, my Government teacher never spoke of powerful think tanks like the Heritage Foundation, now funded by billionaires determined to avoid paying their fair share of taxes. Yet here in 2025, these forces openly work to control the Presidency, Congress, and the Supreme Court through Project 2025. The corruption is visible everywhere. Quid pro quo and pay for play are not abstractions — they are evident in the gifts showered on Supreme Court justices.

Keep ReadingShow less
© Copyright 2026