Skip to content
Project 2025
Search

Latest Stories

Top Stories
U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN)

Trump’s Plan to Strip Rep. Omar of Her Citizenship Is Unconstitutional and a Threat to All of Us

JD Vance

JD Vance Tells Republicans Who America’s Real Birthright Citizens Are

Group of voters stand in line

Six Key Voting Blocs Hold the Balance of Power on Nov. 3

Five men sitting on one side of a table, as a panel at an event.

Congressional Inaction Raises Constitutional Change Alternative

Veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan Wars Sue New York After Being Denied the Right to Vote

Veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan Wars Sue New York After Being Denied the Right to Vote

Change leaders: Emma Petty Addams, Mormon Women for Ethical Government

Opinion

Emma Petty Addams
Courtesy Mormon Women for Ethical Government
David L. Nevins
By David L. NevinsFeb 09, 2024
David L. Nevins
David L. Nevins serves as publisher of The Fulcrum. Additionally, Nevins serves as co-founder and Board Chairman of the Bridge Alliance. Nevins brings business acumen, vision and a tireless this-must-and-can-be-done zeal to the burgeoning movement to bridge divides to transform the political process. As a business leader, Nevins excels at building bridges between people and organizations from the right, left and center for civilized conversation and then action. He co-founded the Bridge Alliance because, as he says, “No matter how well managed and how well funded anyone organization is, significant political reform will not happen without an alliance to further collaborative interactions. Together we can and will raise the collective impact of all.” He is a member of the Aspen Institute Society of Fellows, with a focus on the Aspen Rodel Fellowship in Public Leadership, he established and continues to work with The Nevins Democracy Leaders program at Penn State University. Nevins graduated with honors in economics from Penn State in 1969 and received an M.B.A. in finance from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in 1971.
See More Writings by author

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

Emma Petty Addams is the executive director of Mormon Women for Ethical Government, whose mission is to inspire women of faith to be ambassadors of peace who transcend partisanship and courageously advocate for ethical government.

“One of the missions of [Mormon Women for Ethical Government] is to empower everyday women of our faith to proactively use our voices in the public sphere as we improve our communities,” Addams said. “We are grateful for this opportunity to join in prayer across a diversity of faiths to remember those who are suffering and to bless our nation at this time.”

MWEG’s follows a series of foundational principles and practices to ensure continuity of its mission and vision:

  • The Six Principles of Peacemaking
  • The Four Core Attributes (Faithful. Nonpartisan. Peaceful. Proactive).
    • Faithful: MWEG will never oppose any stance taken by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints nor criticize the church or its leadership. “We also recognize God’s hand in the formation of MWEG and continue to seek God’s guidance in all we do,” the group writes. “We believe in, exercise faith in, and seek to reflect in our own lives the example of Jesus Christ.”
    • Nonpartisan: MWEG is open to members of all political parties who agree to abide by the group’s principles and guidelines. MWEG does not endorse candidates or take partisan positions.
    • Peaceful: In addition to following the Six Principles of Peacemaking, MWEG is committed to civil discourse, healing the partisan divide, and “genuine honor and respect for every other human being that emerges from an acknowledgement that we are all children of the same God and, hence, sisters and brothers.”
    • Proactive: MWEG is a watchdog for ethical government and wil act “after appropriate and prayerful discussion, research, and strategizing.”
  • Focusing on ethics, including the use of “for Ethical Government” in the group’s name.
  • Closing in observance of the Sabbath.
  • Commitment to a “cooperative, synergistic organizational model.”
  • Being “a space for the schooling, growth, and development of God’s daughters” by having only women members.

I had the wonderful opportunity to interview Emma for the CityBiz “Meet the Change Leaders” series. Watch to learn the full extent of her remarkable work and perhaps you’ll become more civically engaged as well.

David L Nevins interviews Emma Addamswww.youtube.com


Latest news

Woman sitting and typing on laptop on her lap.
Media & Technology

AI’s Information Crisis: Why Trust Is Harder to Sustain Than Ever

Digital illustration of robot's hand holding and supporting man who is working on his desk using computer, represent themes of artificial intelligence (AI), the future of work, and the intersection of humanity and technology.
Media & Technology

AI’s Costs: The Human Element & the Response

Social Security card, treasury check and $100 bills
Economy

$1 Billion, 733 Days: Inside Social Security’s Improper-Payment Backlog

Hands raised in the air, holding each other.​
Ethics & Leadership

Land of the Free, Home of the Brave? How Trump Is Destroying America's Soul

Read More

U.S. President Donald Trump greets Russian President Vladimir Putin in front of a landed airplane.

U.S. President Donald Trump (R) greets Russian President Vladimir Putin as he arrives at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson on August 15, 2025 in Anchorage, Alaska.

Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

What Would Putin’s Puppet Do Differently?

This winter, Russia plans to freeze Ukraine into submission. According to an intercepted Russian plan, Moscow intends to use hundreds of ballistic missiles, long-range drones, and glide bombs to strike Kyiv, Kharkiv, and Odesa with such intensity that they are cut off from power, heat, and water, slashing electricity and heat by up to 90 percent and crippling sewage systems. Russia hopes that with an energy system so thoroughly destroyed, millions of Ukrainian citizens would become so cold, sick, and desperate that their country might just surrender. Deliberately attacking the heat and water of civilians is a war crime, but Moscow thinks it can get away with it. Ukraine is running short on the Patriot interceptors it needs to stop ballistic missiles, and Putin is betting Trump will continue to betray Ukraine. It’s looking like a safe bet.

Trump shows no evidence to the contrary. On October 9, he got off a call with the Russian president and then immediately lifted U.S. sanctions on Russian diesel. The next day, after Russian strikes killed at least 17 people in Zaporizhzhia, Trump announced it was “time for Ukraine to get a new president.” Days later, the American-controlled satellite network Ukraine’s military depends on was throttled without warning, knocking out service to the drones Ukraine uses to chase down Russian attack drones. Trump denied giving the order, but The Telegraph reported that Musk pitched the idea and Trump agreed.

Keep ReadingShow less
Man wearing Trump hat watches Trump on TV

Trump’s 10-to-1 rule aims to cut red tape, but fewer regulations can mean weaker food safety, Head Start services, and checks on presidential power.

Wu Xiaoling/Xinhua via Getty Images

Trump’s 10-to-1 Rule Gives the Presidency Too Much Power

We only think about the plumbing in our homes when something goes wrong. The same is true for government bureaucracy. Rules, procedures, and bureaucrats operate largely out of sight, making sure food is safe, Social Security checks arrive, workplaces are safe, and children with disabilities receive the services promised to them by law. Yes, there is plenty of red tape in government, just as an old house can accumulate pipes that no longer serve much purpose. But ripping out pipes simply because there are too many of them is not much of a plumbing strategy. Yet the Trump administration has made the number of federal regulations it eliminates a measure of success. That raises a more important question: When does cutting bureaucracy stop making government more efficient and start making it less capable?

1. The Case for Cutting Red Tape

Keep ReadingShow less
​Herbert Hoover listening to a one valve radio set.

Herbert Hoover (1874 - 1964), Republican Party candidate for the Presidency of the United States of America, listening to a one valve radio set.

Topical Press Agency/Getty Images

A Second Axial Age Demands Global Leadership Rooted in Hoover’s Ideals

The time has come when we must take an enlarged vision of the future. (Herbert Hoover)

Our 31st President, Herbert Hoover, said this in 1926. Although one hundred years have passed since — and it is always time to take a larger view of the future — his proclamation rings truer now than ever.

Keep ReadingShow less
​U.S. President Donald Trump

U.S. President Donald Trump on October 16, 2026 in Palm Beach, Florida.

(Photo by Eric Lee/Getty Images)

Trump — President by Law, Not by Constitutional Duty

A president can win an election and still fail the test of leadership. The presidency is a public trust, not a personal platform, family enterprise, or license to demean people and disregard the law. Donald Trump holds the office legally. Yet his conduct raises a fundamental question: is he fulfilling the constitutional duties that give the presidency its meaning? The answer, visible in his behavior, is no. He performs the role of president the way a showman performs a part — loudly, aggressively, and without the substance the office requires.

Leadership is not conferred by a title; it is demonstrated through conduct. Ethical leadership requires integrity, honesty, sound judgment, and accountability. Moral leadership demands empathy, fairness, humility, and the courage to do what is right even when doing so carries a personal or political cost. When a president repeatedly demeans people, disregards established norms, and places personal interests above public duty, citizens have every reason to question his leadership — or whether he is leading at all.

Keep ReadingShow less
© Copyright 2026