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How Weak Federal Ethics Laws Enable Presidential Profiteering

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A call for civic culture

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The Fulcrum
By The FulcrumDec 06, 2024
The Fulcrum
The Fulcrum staff.
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Civic culture shapes how we treat one another and whether we care for our community. It shapes how we show up to solve common problems and whether we can disagree without hating one another.

The 2024 election reminded us of the deep fissures in our nation’s civic culture. At times it seems Americans are speaking different languages — based not on heritage but on partisan leanings — or that the dominant narratives of division are the only path forward.

But so much of this country is yearning for a different culture, a healthier way of being America. And countless community members are already doing so, even if they’re not getting the mainstream media coverage they deserve.

Our nation needs new “stories of us” that give common purpose and show how a stronger civic culture is possible — and happening. On Monday, Dec. 9, Citizen University will host a workshop for storytellers, journalists and content creators to explore how to tell "Stories of Us” that strengthen our social fabric and help America find a way forward.

The workshop is for trusted messengers who are telling stories that help Americans feel more hopeful, activated and sustained in fortifying their communities and strengthening democracy, such s:

  • Journalists and writers who cover topics around strengthening their communities and our democracy.
  • Storytellers and content creators who use their platforms to shape American consciousness for the common good.
  • Civic-minded Americans who are using their voice to catalyze more unifying and trust-building activity.

These civic practitioners will share a wealth of resources, tips and examples from the field of civic storytelling, messaging, and journalism:

  • Eric Liu, co-founder and CEO of Citizen University will discuss “Why civic culture.
  • Kevin Singer, communications support lead for Philanthropy for Civic Engagement will talk about “How Americans perceive civic language.”
  • Aya Taveras and Brooke Moreland, director of community and director of learning and design (respectively) at Cinereach will focus on “Civic storylines that change culture.”
  • Shia Levitt of News Ambassadors will talk about “Complicating the Narrative for good.”

Register now.


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There has been no shortage of articles hailing the opportunity of AI and ones forecasting disaster from AI. I understand the good uses to which AI could be put, but I am also well aware of the ways in which AI is dangerous or will denigrate our lives as thinking human beings.

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However, AI global dominance does not just mean producing the best AI systems. It also means that the American “AI Stack” – the layered collection of tools, technologies, and frameworks that organizations use to build, train, deploy, and manage artificial intelligence applications – will become the international standard for this world-changing technology. As such, advancing a commonsense export policy for American AI chips will play a decisive role in determining whether the United States remains embedded at the core of global AI development or is gradually displaced by rival systems.

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The willingness of the U.S. government to eschew partisanship and undertake a bold experiment -- an experiment based on cooperation as opposed to traditional procurement, and with accountability standards rooted in trust instead of elaborate regulations -- has led the U.S. to a position of preeminence in an industry which is vital to our nation's security and economic well-being.

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Anthropic’s dispute with the Trump administration is no longer just about AI policy; it has escalated into a constitutional test of whether American companies can uphold their values against political retaliation. After the administration labeled Anthropic a “supply‑chain risk”, a designation historically reserved for foreign adversaries, and ordered federal agencies to cease using its technology, the company did not yield. Instead, Anthropic filed two lawsuits: one in the Northern District of California and another in the D.C. Circuit, each challenging different aspects of the government’s actions and calling them “unprecedented and unlawful.”

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