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President Trump Claims To Care About Interference in US Elections While He Is Doing Everything To Eliminate the Protections

President Trump Claims To Care About Interference in US Elections While He Is Doing Everything To Eliminate the Protections

Woman voting on election day

Which Proportional Voting System Best Fits America’s Constraints?

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The Tone of Our Country Has Changed — And Americans Can See and Feel It Everywhere

As Cruelty Normalizes, America’s Authoritarian Drift Deepens

As Cruelty Normalizes, America’s Authoritarian Drift Deepens

Luke Combs: The healing power of “The Great Divide”

Luke Combs: The healing power of “The Great Divide”
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David L. Nevins
By David L. NevinsNov 17, 2023
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.
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David Nevins is co-publisher of The Fulcrum and co-founder and board chairman of the Bridge Alliance Education Fund.

I was watching the 2023 Country Music Awards last week and was struck by a song near the end of the awards ceremony, “Love Can Build a Bridge”.

This song written by Naomi Judd, Paul Overstreet, and John Barlow Jarvis, and recorded by American country music duo The Judds was released in 1990.

Yet, the lyrics are as powerful today as they were when they were written over thirty years ago. As I listened to the lyrics, I thought that it must be a song about bridging the divide that is separating our nation.

Love can build a bridge
Between your heart and mine
Love can build a bridge
Don't you think it's time?
Don't you think it's time?

I would whisper love so loudly
Every heart could understand
That love and only love
Can join the tribes of man
I would give my heart's desire
So that you might see
The first step is to realize
That it all begins with you and me

But I was wrong. I was quite surprised to discover that the song by Naomi Judd was dedicated to the Judd family and fans as a goodbye, as at the time, Naomi was chronically ill with Hepatitis C and was forced to retire. While the song was not at all political, its message about the importance of always standing together is a lesson that our nation surely must learn.

The audience was obviously moved as Jelly Roll and K. Michelle sang with power and obvious emotion and I couldn’t help but think that country music could serve as a powerful force to bridge the divides that are separating us as a nation.

So, I did a bit of research and discovered that in early 2021 famous country singer Luke Combs wrote and performed the song, “The Great Divide,” that connected politics and country music. At the time, Combs told The Rolling Stone that the song was an interpretation of the conflict and tension we had been witnessing at the time he wrote it.

The lyrics speak powerfully to the conflict in America:

We're striking matches on the TV
Setting fires on our phones
Bearing crosses we believe in dying on
Tempers flare, the flame flies higher
As we soar closer towards the sun
But I like to think too much damage ain't been done

We're all so far, so far apart now
It's as deep as it is wide

We're about to fall apart now
If we can't reach the other side

Other country superstars have spoken out about finding common ground. Garth Brooks was widely criticized by many of his fans for performing at President Biden's inaugural but fended of the criticism with this message of unity:

"I'll tell you with this whole presidential thing: We got one going out. Pray for him and his family. And for the president going in, pray for him and his family to guide this nation," Brooks said at the time. "Let's stay together. Love, unity -- that's what it's all about." He continued, "We can't thank the Obamas enough for serving this country," he said. "And may God hold Trump's hand in the decisions that he makes in this country's name as well."

Listen to both “Love Can Build a Bridge” and “The Great Divide” and see if you feel the amazing healing and connecting powers music can have on us. And just imagine how if this energy for good were amplified and scaled.

Jelly Roll and K. Michelle Perform "Love Can Build A Bridge" at the The CMA Awards

Luke Combs’ “The Great Divide”


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Kevin Kiley Left the Republican Party Over Gerrymandering. Now He's Testing Whether an Independent Can Beat the Map Drawn to Defeat Him.

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Kevin Kiley Left the Republican Party Over Gerrymandering. Now He's Testing Whether an Independent Can Beat the Map Drawn to Defeat Him.

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A handful of high-profile independent candidates are trying to change that in 2026. They are often covered as fringe candidates whose stories are told through the lens of how they'll impact the outcome between a Republican and a Democrat, rather than on their own terms. This series exists because independent voters deserve better than that.

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In Lady Veterans We Trust

Many people who have served, or are still serving in the military, are not thrilled with the state of our country. There are plenty of active duty members who wish they could quit–and many of them are in my DMs asking for my advice–which might be why the number of military personnel inquiring about conscientious objection has risen by 1,000% since the start of the Iran war. Whether they joined to patriotically serve their country or simply for the promise of stability and upward mobility, a draft dodger who “finds the notion of military service difficult to understand, and the idea of volunteering to serve especially incomprehensible” is now holding them hostage in an indefinite war against Iran.

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AI Chatbots for Kids Should Act Like Tools, Not Friends

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AI Chatbots for Kids Should Act Like Tools, Not Friends

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Now, as lawmakers and parents continue to grapple with how to keep children safe on social media, there’s a new danger already taking shape: AI-powered chatbots that simulate friendship, emotional intimacy, and care with children who may not be able to tell the difference.

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