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In this issue: A Birthday for the Bill of Rights, meet a reformer, conflicts over history education and thermostatic politics.

The Fulcrum
December 15, 2021



TOP STORY

Happy 230th birthday, Bill of Rights

David Meyers

In September 1787, delegates to the Constitutional Convention signed the document that would become the framework for the new U.S. government. However, that was just the beginning of a process that would not be complete for another three years.

On Dec. 15, 1781, Virginia became the 11th state to ratify the first 10 amendments to the Constitution — what became known as the Bill of Rights — and completed a compromise begun years earlier.

Today we celebrate the 230 anniversary of that vote.

Keep Reading...

DEBATE

Meet the Reformer: Dakota Hall, connecting and empowering youth

Our Staff

Dakota Hall is the new executive director of the Alliance for Youth Action, a national network of local organizations that seek to empower young people and get them engaged in the political process writes Our Staff.

U.S. history curriculum should focus on education, not indoctrination

Lawrence Goldstone

As with so much of the bickering that plagues the nation, the conflict over the teaching of U.S. history has coalesced around questions of race, with each side accusing the other of substituting indoctrination for education. Unfortunately, both are correct, writes Lawrence Goldstone, a writer whose most recent book is "On Account of Race: The Supreme Court, White Supremacy, and the Ravaging of African American Voting Rights."

PODCAST

Podcast: What is thermostatic politics?

Our Staff

In this episode of the Politics in Question podcast, the team discusses thermostatic politics to explain what it means and how it works.

Listen now

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Contributors

We are not helpless

Eric Liu

Why gun control laws don’t pass Congress, despite public support and repeated outrage over mass shootings

Monika L. McDermott
David R. Jones

Courting theocracy

Lawrence Goldstone

But what can I do?

Pedro Silva

Are large donor networks still needed to win in a fairer election system?

Paige Chan

Independent voters want to be heard. Is anybody listening?

David Thornburgh
John Opdycke
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