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Veterans Are Defending the Constitution against a New Enemy: The Secretary of War

Veterans Are Defending the Constitution against a New Enemy: The Secretary of War

​Performer Bad Bunny on stage.

Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl Halftime Show Sparks National Controversy As Trump Announces Boycott

Trump’s Plan to Gather Data on Every Voter Will Cripple Democracy

Trump’s Plan to Gather Data on Every Voter Will Cripple Democracy

The Insurrection Act, Revisited: Power That Waits in the Margins

The Insurrection Act, Revisited: Power That Waits in the Margins

Alex Pretti’s Death Is a Code Blue for the U.S.

Alex Pretti’s Death Is a Code Blue for the U.S.

Video: The movement to ban congressional stock trading

Video: The movement to ban congressional stock tradingplay icon
The Movement to Ban Congressional Stock Trading with Rep. Abigail Spanberger and Rep. Chip Roy
www.youtube.com
The Fulcrum
By The FulcrumMar 10, 2022
The Fulcrum
The Fulcrum staff.
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Issue One, National Taxpayers Union (NTU), and the Project On Government Oversight (POGO) hosted a conversation with Representatives Abigail Spanberger (D-VA) and Chip Roy (R-TX) — as well as former Representatives Brian Baird (D-WA) and Zach Wamp (R-TN) — about the movement to ban congressional stock trading that is making headlines and generating bipartisan support across the country. The discussion examined why an overwhelming majority of Americans support prohibiting members of Congress, their spouses, and their children from buying and selling stocks while in office, and what Congress can do to address this issue.

The conversation was moderated by Warren Rojas from Business Insider, and was followed by a Q&A with Dylan Hedtler-Gaudette of POGO, Andrew Lautz from NTU, and Camila DeChalus of Business Insider.


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America’s Operating System Needs an Update

Congress 202

J. Scott Applewhite/Getty Images

America’s Operating System Needs an Update

As July 4, 2026, approaches, our country’s upcoming Semiquincentennial is less and less of an anniversary party than a stress test. The United States is a 21st-century superpower attempting to navigate a digitized, polarized world with an operating system that hasn’t been meaningfully updated since the mid-20th century.

From my seat on the Ladue School Board in St. Louis County, Missouri, I see the alternative to our national dysfunction daily. I am privileged to witness that effective governance requires—and incentivizes—compromise.

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Meet the Faces of Democracy: Cisco Aguilar

Cisco Aguilar

Photo provided

Meet the Faces of Democracy: Cisco Aguilar

Editor’s note: More than 10,000 officials across the country run U.S. elections. This interview is part of a series highlighting the election heroes who are the faces of democracy.

Francisco “Cisco” Aguilar, a Democrat, assumed office as Nevada’s first Latino secretary of state in 2023. He also previously served for eight years on the Nevada Athletic Commission after being appointed by Gov. Jim Gibbons and Brian Sandoval. Originally from Arizona, Aguilar moved to Nevada in 2004.

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Minneapolis, Greenland, and the End of American Exceptionalism
us a flag on pole during daytime
Photo by Zetong Li on Unsplash

Minneapolis, Greenland, and the End of American Exceptionalism

America’s standing in the world suffered a profound blow this January. In yet another apparent violation of international law, Donald Trump ordered the military removal of another nation’s leader—an act that would have triggered global alarm even if the target had not been Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro. Days later, the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti were broadcast around the world, fueling doubts about America’s commitment to justice and restraint. These shootings sandwiched the debacle at Davos, where Trump’s incendiary threats and rambling incoherence reinforced a growing international fear: that America’s claim to a distinctive moral and democratic character is fighting for survival.

Our American Exceptionalism

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The Danger Isn’t History Repeating—It’s Us Ignoring the Echoes

Nazi troops arrest civilians in Warsaw, Poland, 1943.

The Danger Isn’t History Repeating—It’s Us Ignoring the Echoes

The instinct to look away is one of the most enduring patterns in democratic backsliding. History rarely announces itself with a single rupture; it accumulates through a series of choices—some deliberate, many passive—that allow state power to harden against the people it is meant to serve.

As federal immigration enforcement escalates across American cities today, historians are warning that the public reactions we are witnessing bear uncomfortable similarities to the way many Germans responded to Adolf Hitler’s early rise in the 1930s. The comparison is not about equating leaders or eras. It is about recognizing how societies normalize state violence when it is directed at those deemed “other.”

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