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What is an American hero?

Enrique Iglesias performs "Hero" 10 days after 9/11.

What is an American hero? Sometimes American heroes are famous. However, as we well know, all famous people are not heroes.

As we honor the 20th anniversary of 9/11, let us celebrate American heroes whose names we may not know, including the first responder, victim, family and citizen.


September 11 is forever etched in the souls of those of us who witnessed the event.

Ten days after 9/11, Enrique Iglesias performed 'Hero' for the 'America: A Tribute to Heroes' telecast. It is a profoundly moving rendition of a beautiful song, and you can watch his performance at the top of this post.

The Fulcrum will be exploring American heroes in greater depth in the coming months. Who is your American hero? What does the term American hero mean to you? What are the characteristics of a hero that you admire and aspire to? We would love to hear from you. Please feel free to share your thoughts via email at newsroom@fulcrum.us.


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Dallas County Republicans abandon plan to hand-count ballots in March primary

Election workers hand-count ballots in Gillespie County in the 2024 primary. Dallas County Republicans have abandoned a similar plan for the 2026 primary.

(Maria Crane / The Texas Tribune)

Dallas County Republicans abandon plan to hand-count ballots in March primary

After months of laying the groundwork to hand-count thousands of ballots in the March 3 primary, the Dallas County Republican Party announced on Tuesday it has decided not to do so, opting instead to contract with the county elections department to administer the election using voting equipment.

The decision spares the party the pressure it likely would have faced if a hand-count had delayed results beyond the state’s 24-hour reporting requirements in the state’s closely watched GOP primary for U.S. Senate, among other offices.

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From “Alternative Facts” to Outright Lies

U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem on January 7, 2026 in Brownsville, Texas.

(Photo by Michael Gonzalez/Getty Images)

From “Alternative Facts” to Outright Lies

The Trump administration has always treated truth as an inconvenience. Nearly a decade ago, Kellyanne Conway gave the country a phrase that instantly became shorthand for the administration’s worldview: “alternative facts.” She used it to defend false claims about the size of Donald Trump’s inauguration crowd, insisting that the White House was simply offering a different version of reality despite clear photographic evidence to the contrary.

That moment was a blueprint.

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White House ‘Score‑Settling’ Raises Fears of a Weaponized Government
The U.S. White House.
Getty Images, Caroline Purser

White House ‘Score‑Settling’ Raises Fears of a Weaponized Government

The recent casual acknowledgement by the White House Chief of Staff that the President is engaged in prosecutorial “score settling” marks a dangerous departure from the rule-of-law norms that restrain executive power in a constitutional democracy. This admission that the State is using its legal authority to punish perceived enemies is antithetical to core Constitutional principles and the rule of law.

The American experiment was built on the rejection of personal rule and political revenge, replacing them with laws that bind even those who hold the highest offices. In 1776, Thomas Paine wrote, “For as in absolute governments the King is law, so in free countries the law ought to be King; and there ought to be no other.” The essence of these words can be found in our Constitution that deliberately placed power in the hands of three co-equal branches of government–Legislative, Executive, and Judicial.

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Two people looking at screens.

A case for optimism, risk-taking, and policy experimentation in the age of AI—and why pessimism threatens technological progress.

Getty Images, Andriy Onufriyenko

In Defense of AI Optimism

Society needs people to take risks. Entrepreneurs who bet on themselves create new jobs. Institutions that gamble with new processes find out best to integrate advances into modern life. Regulators who accept potential backlash by launching policy experiments give us a chance to devise laws that are based on evidence, not fear.

The need for risk taking is all the more important when society is presented with new technologies. When new tech arrives on the scene, defense of the status quo is the easier path--individually, institutionally, and societally. We are all predisposed to think that the calamities, ailments, and flaws we experience today--as bad as they may be--are preferable to the unknowns tied to tomorrow.

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