Skip to content
Project 2025
Search

Latest Stories

Top Stories
Peter Colman

'It's time to be very afraid': A conversation with Peter Coleman

Cash in a gas tak

Gas prices up again? What’s going on?

Organizing for collective impact & the democracy principle

The Fulcrum
By The FulcrumJan 04, 2023
The Fulcrum
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

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

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

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

Read More

U.S. Constitution

Article I of the Constitution enumerates the power of Congress. Article II, concerning the presidency, is more vague.

Sara Swann/The Fulcrum

Party leaders bear responsibility too

Breslin is the Joseph C. Palamountain Jr. Chair of Political Science at Skidmore College and author of “A Constitution for the Living: Imagining How Five Generations of Americans Would Rewrite the Nation’s Fundamental Law.”

This is the latest in “A Republic, if we can keep it,” a series to assist American citizens on the bumpy road ahead this election year. By highlighting components, principles and stories of the Constitution, Breslin hopes to remind us that the American political experiment remains, in the words of Alexander Hamilton, the “most interesting in the world.”

As we approach what for many is the most important American election since 1860, let’s take a moment to reflect on a few constitutional characteristics. These principles are offered in the hope that they sharpen our focus about what’s at stake on Nov. 5.

Keep ReadingShow less
Andrew Yang

The Forward Party, founded by Andrew Yang, "will greatly increase the overall health of our democracy while helping to put the power back into the hands of voters," writes Copenhaver.

Marco Bello/Getty Images

Identifying division is easy; finding points of agreement is difficult

Copenhaver, a former mayor of Augusta, Ga., hosts “The Changemaker Podcast and is a founding partner of Starts With Us.

Negative campaigning is increasing in volume and nastiness every election cycle. Campaigns are based on a “divide and conquer” strategy, pitting citizens against each other. If you ask most political operatives why this is the case, they’ll tell you it’s because it works. It drives donations, volunteer engagement and turnout. And while I won’t debate that it works, it’s not the only approach that works.

Keep ReadingShow less
Jay-Z on stage

Hip-hop legend Jay-Z performs at a 2012 rally for President Barack Obama, who changed how politicans connect with pop culture icons.

Brooks Kraft LLC/Corbis via Getty Images

From Rock the Vote to TikTok: Pop culture’s political influence

Johnson is a United Methodist pastor, the author of "Holding Up Your Corner: Talking About Race in Your Community" and program director for the Bridge Alliance, which houses The Fulcrum.

In 1992, a young Bill Clinton tried to connect with Generation X by joking around and soulfully playing the sax on “The Arsenio Hall Show.” It was a game-changer that forever shifted how presidential candidates court younger voters.

Nowadays, it's not about late-night talk shows but about getting attention on social media platforms like TikTok. The relationship between pop culture and politics has evolved with each generation, keeping pace with the changing times and new technologies. It's crucial to understand this evolution and what it means for how future generations will engage with politics.

Keep ReadingShow less
Donald Trump

Former President Donald Trump, like Vice President Kamala Harris, had not been a dynamic political leader orior to taking center stage. Yet large followings seemed to emerge around them at dizzying speed.

Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

Followers make political movements

Chaleff is a speaker, innovative thinker and the author of “The Courageous Follower: Standing Up To and For Our Leaders.”

The world is waking up to the long-standing reality that movements create their leaders.

Currently there’s a buzz around Kamala Harris, as there was for Donald Trump in 2016. Neither had been a dynamic political leader, yet large followings seemed to emerge around them at dizzying speed. Did they create these followings or did their followers “create them” to satisfy an unmet need?

Keep ReadingShow less
© Copyright 2024