Skip to content
Project 2025
Search

Latest Stories

Top Stories
people waiting at airport in departure lounge.

Just the Facts: Are FAA Staff Cuts Causing Current Airport Delays?

Chinese Investments in Cuba Demonstrate a Waning U.S. Influence in the Region

Chinese Investments in Cuba Demonstrate a Waning U.S. Influence in the Region

Just the Facts: Canadian Tariffs

Just the Facts: Canadian Tariffs

Redistricting

Redistricting

Tracy Chapman and Luke Combs on stage

Luke Combs, politics and healing our nation's divide

VA Secretary Doug Collins Faces Bipartisan Criticism at Senate VA Committee Hearing

VA Secretary Doug Collins Faces Bipartisan Criticism at Senate VA Committee Hearing

Podcast playlist: At the intersection of racial injustice and the troubled democracy

Podcast
Stefan Ilic/Gettty Images
The Fulcrum
By The FulcrumJul 07, 2020
The Fulcrum
The Fulcrum staff.
See More Writings by author

The deaths at the hands of the police of so many Black Americans in recent weeks have propelled systemic racism and inequality to the forefront of our national conversation. How those deep-rooted problems are further hurting democracy — and how the brokenness of democratic institutions endangers so many in our society — are central aspects of that discussion.

And so they are at the heart of our first podcast playlist — part of The Fulcrum's new partnership with The Democracy Group, a podcast network at Penn State University. All of its shows are committed to engaging in civil discourse, inspiring civic engagement and exploring the future of our democracy.

Featured episodes are from 70 Million, Democracy Works, Democracy Matters, Future Hindsight, How Do We Fix It? and Politics In Question.

Podcasts are a great way to see the world through a perspective other than your own. This playlist covers a variety of topics -- from the history of the civil rights movement, to present-day marginalization, to antiracism and what equality can look like moving forward.

Latest news

Just the Facts: What Is a National Emergency?
Governance & Legislation

Just the Facts: What Is a National Emergency?

Child Victims of Crime Are Not Heard
Rule of Law

Child Victims of Crime Are Not Heard

Read More

Following Jefferson: Promoting Intergenerational Understanding Through Constitution-Making

An illustration depicting the U.S. Constitution and Government.

Getty Images, Douglas Rissing

Following Jefferson: Promoting Intergenerational Understanding Through Constitution-Making

Towards the end of his life, Thomas Jefferson became fatalistic. The prince and poet of the American Revolution brooded—about the future of the country he birthed, to be sure; but also about his health, his finances, his farm, his family, and, perhaps most poignantly, his legacy. “[W]hen all our faculties have left…” he wrote to John Adams in 1822, “[when] every avenue of pleasing sensation is closed, and athumy, debility, and malaise [is] left in their places, when the friends of our youth are all gone, and a generation is risen around us whom we know not, is death an evil?”

The question was rhetorical, of course. But it revealed something about his character. Jefferson was aware that Adams and he—the “North and South poles of the Revolution”—were practically the only survivors of the Revolutionary era, and that a new generation was now in charge of America’s destiny.

Keep ReadingShow less
The Hidden Moral Cost of America’s Tariff Crisis

Small business owner attaching permanent close sign on the shop door.

Getty Images, Kannika Paison

The Hidden Moral Cost of America’s Tariff Crisis

In the spring of 2025, as American families struggle with unprecedented consumer costs, we find ourselves at a point of "moral reckoning." The latest data from the Yale Budget Lab reveals that tariff policies have driven consumer prices up by 2.9% in the short term. In comparison, the Penn Wharton Budget Model projects a staggering 6% reduction in long-term GDP and a 5% decline in wages. But these numbers, stark as they are, tell only part of the story.

The actual narrative is one of moral choice and democratic values. Eddie Glaude describes this way in his book “Democracy in Black”: Our economic policies must be viewed through the lens of ethical significance—not just market efficiency. When we examine the tariff regime's impact on American communities, we see economic data points and a fundamental challenge to our democratic principles of equity and justice.

Keep ReadingShow less
Balance – The Golden Mean

Old empty scales in brass colour against grey background.

Getty Images, OsakaWayne Studios

Balance – The Golden Mean

“Next to love, balance is the most important thing.” ~ John Wooden

Would John Wooden, UCLA’s winningest basketball coach, who took his team to ten national championships in 12 years and was named the “Coach of the Century” by ESPN, speak so of “love” and “balance” if they were not absolutely critical to a winning formula?

Keep ReadingShow less
Understanding The Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA)

Judge gavel and book on the laptop

Getty Images/Stock

Understanding The Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA)

Background

In November 2024, Elon Musk posted on social media, “There should be no need for [Freedom of Information Act] requests. All government data should be default public for maximum transparency.” His statement reignited discussions on the Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA, a federal law enacted in 1966 that requires federal executive branch agencies to disclose information in specific ways. Since its original passage in 1966, FOIA has been updated three times to tighten agency compliance, account for digital records, and allow citizens to request records online. Under FOIA, government agencies must disclose information by:

FOIA includes nine exemptions to protect against harms that might result from divulging certain records; these exemptions include cases like invasion of personal privacy, information related to national security, and information that would interfere with law enforcement proceedings.

Keep ReadingShow less
© Copyright 2025