Welcome to The Fulcrum’s daily weekday e-newsletter where insiders and outsiders to politics are informed, meet, talk, and act to repair our democracy and make it live and work in our everyday lives.
Voters must hold politicians accountable
As often happens these days, last week a friend of mine was quite angry by something his member of Congress did and vented his dissatisfaction to me:
“The problem with Congress is that these bums are accountable to no one. They do whatever they want and get away with it. If I acted like them at my job I’d be fired.”
My general feeling about the high level of dysfunction and lack of accountability by our elected representatives is pretty low so it was easy for me to support my friend as he vented. But upon further reflection, the concept of “accountability” as related to the function of our government intrigued me.
Podcast: Partial truths & corporate fables
In this episode, Debilyn Molineaux reveals the partial truths contained in conspiracy theories shared with her by a stranger on a plane. In addition, David sets out to explore the REAL culture war that can be tracked by FOLLOWING THE MONEY.
Democracy has no off-years
As our country celebrates Women’s History Month and looks ahead to local elections this fall, it’s important for us to celebrate the everyday heroines in communities across the country who are the essential workers of our democracy: poll workers.
In recent years, new challenges have tested these workers—from the COVID-19 pandemic to concerns around the threat of violence—but poll workers have continued to show up and ensure that everyone in their communities has an opportunity to make their voice heard in our democracy.
Podcast: Harnessing the power of juries
Juries have been at the center of some of the most emotionally charged moments of political life, especially in high profile cases like the trial of Derek Chauvin for George Floyd's murder in 2021.
This episode explores juries as a democratic institution, while guest Sonali Chakravarti argues that juries provide an important site for democratic action by citizens and that their use should be revived. She says juries could be a forward-looking institution that nurtures the best democratic instincts of citizens like examining their own perceptions and biases and engaging in dialogue and deliberation.
