• Home
  • Independent Voter News
  • Quizzes
  • Election Dissection
  • Sections
  • Events
  • Directory
  • About Us
  • Glossary
  • Opinion
  • Campaign Finance
  • Redistricting
  • Civic Ed
  • Voting
  • Fact Check
  • News
  • Analysis
  • Subscriptions
  • Log in
Leveraging Our Differences
  • news & opinion
    • Big Picture
      • Civic Ed
      • Ethics
      • Leadership
      • Leveraging big ideas
      • Media
    • Business & Democracy
      • Corporate Responsibility
      • Impact Investment
      • Innovation & Incubation
      • Small Businesses
      • Stakeholder Capitalism
    • Elections
      • Campaign Finance
      • Independent Voter News
      • Redistricting
      • Voting
    • Government
      • Balance of Power
      • Budgeting
      • Congress
      • Judicial
      • Local
      • State
      • White House
    • Justice
      • Accountability
      • Anti-corruption
      • Budget equity
    • Columns
      • Beyond Right and Left
      • Civic Soul
      • Congress at a Crossroads
      • Cross-Partisan Visions
      • Democracy Pie
      • Our Freedom
  • Pop Culture
      • American Heroes
      • Ask Joe
      • Celebrity News
      • Comedy
      • Dance, Theatre & Film
      • Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
      • Faithful & Mindful Living
      • Music, Poetry & Arts
      • Sports
      • Technology
      • Your Take
      • American Heroes
      • Ask Joe
      • Celebrity News
      • Comedy
      • Dance, Theatre & Film
      • Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
      • Faithful & Mindful Living
      • Music, Poetry & Arts
      • Sports
      • Technology
      • Your Take
  • events
  • About
      • Mission
      • Advisory Board
      • Staff
      • Contact Us
Sign Up
  1. Home>
  2. Newsletter>
  3. newsletter>

Op-eds of the week: Global democracy, retirement benefits and STEM diversity

The Fulcrum
May 14, 2022



Our weekly op-ed highlight reel

The Fulcrum is a forum for debate about what's ailing American democracy and what could make the system healthier. Here are the most recent arguments from our columnists and other contributors.

It’s time to build a global pro-democracy movement

Rawpixel/Getty Images

Yordanos Eyoel and Hahrie Han of the SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University believe the worldwide slide toward democracy relies on attacks against the institutions that form civil society, including schools and universities, nonprofit and advocacy groups, professional associations, churches, and cultural institutions.

In order to protect – and improve – civil society, we must invest in such organizations, and not just in the United States.

Because civil society is inherently decentralized, sometimes it can be hard to know how to strategically invest in it. Investments in civil society may not seem as significant as sweeping institutional and policy reforms, such as H.R. 1 in the United States. Or, because civil life involves the messy work of bringing people together, efforts to strengthen it may seem unpredictable relative to individually targeted psychological interventions, such as traditional or social media ads to incentivize action.

It doesn’t have to be so. We can and must develop a strategic approach to shoring up and inoculating civil society against attempts to weaken it. The first part of the solution to protect and strengthen democracy is to prioritize funding democracy issues and organizations. The second is to invest these resources strategically in civil society. We propose two immediate priorities.

Read more about their proposals.

First instincts, second thoughts

Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

The Fulcrum’s Debilyn Molineaux is disturbed by the political industry’s sway over our instincts. Thanks to the rise of partisan consulting, improved technology and social media, electoral campaigns are designed to win, not to achieve the common good.

This evolution was brought on by the politics industry of electioneers, party loyalists, marketers and conflict entrepreneurs, who together contribute to the toxic polarization we see in society. Individually, they are part of a Manhattan-like project, compartmentalized from one another, working their part of an election to subvert the common good in favor of winning elections. It’s time we have second thoughts about the value of winning “at any cost.”

As Debilyn writes, we must not allow our basest instincts to prevail. Instead, we must take the time to fully consider the messages crafted by marketers and conflict entrepreneurs. If we could, collectively, apply some rational thinking, we’d all be better off.

Read more.

Congress shows signs of bipartisanship with retirement benefits bill

DNY59/Getty Images

Mario Lopez, president of the Hispanic Leadership Fund, was heartened to see the House of Representatives overwhelmingly pass the Securing a Strong Retirement Act, also known as Secure 2.0. The bill would, among other provisions, improve the economic outlook for low- and moderate-income people who contribute to retirement accounts.

With financial insecurity looming in the consciousness of millions of Americans, it was encouraging to see the U.S. House of Representatives recently passed legislation that strengthens and expands opportunities for those who participate in private retirement plans through their employer. Tens of millions of Americans stand to benefit from potential changes in the law.

Keep reading.

Fair representation: More Black people needed in STEM today

Ariel Skelley/Getty Images

Jennifer Stimpson, an educator and former DEA scientist, examined the data showing Black people make up a small percentage of students earning degrees in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) fields, and she is concerned about the long-term impact.

Thus, it is concerning that Black and Hispanic adults are less likely to earn degrees in STEM than other degree fields, and they continue to make up a lower share of STEM graduates.

The decline of blacks in STEM continues to perpetuate even though the demand for STEM careers continues to escalate. The impact of this absence influences the global economy, as this gravely affects workforce development.

Read more.

newsletter
Get some Leverage Sign up for The Fulcrum Newsletter
Follow
Contributors

Independent voters want to be heard. Is anybody listening?

David Thornburgh
John Opdycke

The U.S. has been seeking the center since the days of Teddy Roosevelt

Dave Anderson

Imperfection and perseverance

Jeff Clements

We’ve expanded the Supreme Court before. It’s time to do so again.

Anushka Sarkar

The ‘great replacement theory’ is nonsense

Debilyn Molineaux

Inflation will hit health of low-income Americans hardest

Robert Pearl
latest News

Nearly 20 states have restricted private funding of elections

David Meyers
16h

Video: Will Trump run in 2024?

Our Staff
21h

The state of voting: May 23, 2022

Our Staff
23 May

Trump looms large over Tuesday’s primaries

Richard Perrins
23 May

Podcast: Abortion politics take center stage

Our Staff
23 May

Your Take: Inspiring sports memories

Our Staff
20 May
Videos

Video: Helping loved ones divided by politics

Our Staff

Video: What happened in Virginia?

Our Staff

Video: Infrastructure past, present, and future

Our Staff

Video: Beyond the headlines SCOTUS 2021 - 2022

Our Staff

Video: Should we even have a debt limit

Our Staff

Video: #ListenFirstFriday Yap Politics

Our Staff
Podcasts

Podcast: Did economists move the Democrats to the right?

Our Staff
02 May

Podcast: The future of depolarization

Our Staff
11 February

Podcast: Sore losers are bad for democracy

Our Staff
20 January

Deconstructed Podcast from IVN

Our Staff
08 November 2021
Recommended
Independent voters want to be heard. Is anybody listening?

Independent voters want to be heard. Is anybody listening?

Voting
Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg

Nearly 20 states have restricted private funding of elections

State
Video: Will Trump run in 2024?

Video: Will Trump run in 2024?

Elections
State of voting - election law changes

The state of voting: May 23, 2022

Voting
Mo Brooks and Donald Trump

Trump looms large over Tuesday’s primaries

Voting
Podcast: Abortion politics take center stage

Podcast: Abortion politics take center stage

Leadership