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An open letter to Trump voters

An open letter to Trump voters

Trump's Desecration of the Flag

Trump's Desecration of the Flag

Bruce Springsteen Launches Protest Tour as Warning for American Democracy

Bruce Springsteen Launches Protest Tour as Warning for American Democracy

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Congress Bill Spotlight: Banning Dollar Coin Depicting Trump

Just the Facts: Where the Iran War Really Stands Now

Just the Facts: Where the Iran War Really Stands Now

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

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The Fulcrum
By The FulcrumMay 27, 2020
The Fulcrum
The Fulcrum staff.
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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.



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A California church models civil political dialogue through Living Room Conversations, showing how curiosity and listening can bridge divides and strengthen relationships.

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A Conversation You’ve Been Putting Off?

The Episcopal church in Placerville, California, is not an obvious candidate for political harmony. Its congregation is roughly half conservative and half progressive — a split that, over the past decade, has torn apart faith communities across the country. But this one held together through the pandemic. Through two bruising election cycles and everything else, the congregation’s priest, Debra Sabino, managed to keep their core values front and center. And recently, its members decided they wanted to do more.

Start with what everyone already agrees on

Ken Futernick, co-lead of Bridging Divides El Dorado, was asked to facilitate an event after a recent Sunday service. He began with a simple exercise. He asked people to think about the most important things in their lives — and then to tell the person next to them where their relationships with friends and family ranked on that list.

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Democracy Isn’t Eroding. It’s Evolving. The Question Is: Toward What?
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I fell in love with democracy before I fully understood it.

In high school civics classes in the 1990s, I learned about a system that was imperfect in its origins but evolving toward something better. I believed in that evolution. I believed that democracy, if nurtured, could become more inclusive than the one it started as.

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Macbeth’s Warning: How Ambition and Power Threaten Our Democracy

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Macbeth’s Warning: How Ambition and Power Threaten Our Democracy

“Something wicked this way comes…” chant the three witches in Shakespeare’s Macbeth, hailing the former general, now the new king of Scotland.

And indeed, something wicked this way has come to us, in the threat that we are facing to our democracy.

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The American Dream Now Comes with a Higher Price Tag

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The American Dream Now Comes with a Higher Price Tag

Basma Ahmad leaves her apartment in Arlington, Va., just after 7 a.m., walking a few blocks to a Metro station before catching the train into Washington. By the time she reaches her office downtown, the commute has taken close to an hour.

Ahmad, 25, moved to the United States from Pakistan last year to work in policy research. She shares a three-bedroom apartment with two roommates, and her portion of the rent is about $1,100 a month.

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