Skip to content
Project 2025
Search

Latest Stories

Follow Us:
Top Stories
Immigration News Today: Trump Pauses Visa Appointments Worldwide

Immigration News Today: Trump Pauses Visa Appointments Worldwide

American dollars positioned around each other.

$40 Trillion National Debt & Future of Failed Supply-Side Economics

This wide angle shot shows a fully operational modern data center hallway, lined with rows of fully operational server racks behind glass panels. The highly polished reflective floor mirrors the glowing indicator lights and overhead ceiling lights, creating a sleek, futuristic industrial tech environment focused on enterprise cloud computing and digital data storage.

The Killer Robots Have Arrived

Organizing for collective impact & the democracy principle

The Fulcrum
By The FulcrumJan 04, 2023
The Fulcrum
The Fulcrum staff.
See More Writings by author

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.

Organizing for collective impact: Prepared for anything, more effective at everything

organizing for impact

On March 31, 2022, not long after Russia invaded Ukraine, attendees at a Unite America Brewer Fellows reception were asked to discuss how partner nations were able to respond so quickly and effectively to help Ukraine. The conclusion was that the relationships that had been formed between Ukraine and partner nations through joint capacity building and rehearsed interoperability enabled them to be prepared for the invasion.

The question then is how can these lessons learned from Ukraine be applied to promoting democracy and civic health in the U.S.?

Read More.

Democracy means more than just holding elections

people silhouettes

Democracy means more than just holding elections. And, “the people” are more than just voters. Yet, “we, the people,” have allowed our role as popular sovereigns to be reduced to benchwarmers.

Democracy is supposed to be a system through which “the people” exercise power. That power appears to have been lost. We have effectively made “the people” the equivalent of designated hitters -- we participate sparingly (every two years); give our best go at having an impact (casting votes in elections decided by other factors--namely, money); and, spend the rest of our time cheering for our respective teams.

Read More.

Video: The number that will shape Republican politics in 2023

2022 numbers

Winning just nine more House seats than Democrats in the 2022 midterms means the Republican caucus has very little room for error.

Watch.


Latest news

Visitors watch Old Faithful Geyser as an eruption winds down.
Environment

In Praise of Bison, Free Peoples, and American-Flag Fashion

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee speaks as Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter, U.S. Vice President JD Vance, U.S
Rule of Law

Trump's Sale of Arms to Israel Violates U.S. Law

Congress at sunset
Democracy

Congress Should Take the Appointment Power for Its Own Agencies

megaphone
Democracy

What Protest Taught Me About American Democracy

Read More

Texas Capitol building

Texas Capitol, Austin

Mitchell Kmetz on Unsplash

Texas GOP’s Closed-Primary Push Hits Pause. The Next Fight Is in Austin

Austin, Texas—A federal court effectively told the Republican Party of Texas Friday that—at least for now—if they want primary elections closed, they will have to convince their members in the legislature to do it. This puts the matter on hold until the 2027 legislative session.

It wasn’t a dismissal. The court did not rule on the constitutionality of Texas’ open primary system. Instead, US District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk paused the GOP’s lawsuit, stating that the Legislature may soon take steps to close the state’s primary elections on its own.

Keep ReadingShow less
First Amendment being torn

First Amendment text of the US Constitution ripped in half -- Freedom of Speech , Religion or Press unconstitutional concept

Getty Images

Lawsuit Says Press Access Is Essential to Democratic Accountability

When POLITICO, CNN, and MS NOW announced Monday that they were filing a federal lawsuit to restore their reporters’ access to the White House, they challenged more than the sudden and unexplained revocation of press credentials. They underscored a fundamental constitutional principle: a free press does not operate at the government's discretion.

According to their joint statement, the outlets are seeking urgent relief after the Secret Service denied their reporters entry to the White House complex on Saturday and confiscated their credentials. The action followed recent stories by these outlets examining the administration’s handling of classified documents and raising questions about transparency related to policy meetings. They wrote, “Without notice or process, the White House revoked our journalists’ credentials because it objected to our reporting. Left unchallenged, this threatens press freedom and the public’s right to independent journalism free from government interference.”

Keep ReadingShow less
Cropped shot of a group of people joining their hands in solidarity

A new union political director explains why labor membership has halved since 1983 even as public approval hits record highs—and what's driving the gap.

LumiNola/Getty Images

The Ongoing Fight for Bread and Roses

Last Monday, I started a new job as the political director for IBEW 569, a local electrical workers' union based here in San Diego. In talking to friends about what I’m doing–while learning, fast, in real time, how to do the job myself–it occurred to me that there’s actually quite a knowledge gap in society today regarding an understanding of what unions are and what they’re supposed to do. So let’s get into it.

A union is, at its core, a group of workers who agree to negotiate together instead of alone. One worker asking a boss for a raise has almost no leverage. A thousand workers asking together hits different. That leverage of teamwork, that collective bargaining, is how the overtime pay, workplace safety standards, and employer-sponsored health insurance all came to exist in this country. None of it was handed down out of corporate goodwill. Fair wages (bread) and dignity (roses) were won, often at real cost. In 1890, the average workweek for manufacturing employees and building tradesmen was around 100 hours or more. Workers in Chicago who rallied for an eight-hour workday faced police violence, but we have that and weekends now because people were willing to lose their jobs, and sometimes their lives, to organize for it.

Keep ReadingShow less
A woman sitting down and speaking with a group of people.

Research shows Americans see political opponents as more extreme than reality. Learn how closing this 'perception gap' can restore civil discourse.

Getty Images, Luis Alvarez

Closing Perception Gaps Strengthens the Whole Democracy Ecosystem

Perception gaps — misunderstandings about our fellow Americans across the political spectrum — are damaging the fabric of our country. Correcting these gaps is essential to preserving the kind of democracy that respects free speech, individual dignity, and civic responsibility.

At their core, perception gaps reflect a tendency to see those in the other party as more extreme and worse than they actually are. Too often, Americans assume their political opponents are more hostile, closed-minded, dishonest, or even supportive of political violence and rule-breaking than in reality. These caricatures drive fear and division.

Keep ReadingShow less
© Copyright 2026