Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Top Stories

Summit for Democracy needs improvements before reconvening

President Joe Biden at the Summit for Democracy

President Biden delivers his closing remarks during last week's first segment of the Summit for Democracy.

Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

Kevin Frazier is a student at the Harvard Kennedy School and the University of California, Berkeley School of Law. Ravel, a former chair of the Federal Election Commission, is a member of the International Comitê Scientifico working on solutions to strengthen electoral justice.

Two days of deliberation at the Summit for Democracy met expectations, demonstrating that America is in no position to be hosting gatherings on how to make democracy more resilient and representative. Right now, the United States is a case study in democratic ailments that can metastasize into near-terminal diseases. Democracies, from Germany under Hitler to Brazil under Bolsonaro to the U.S., can backslide. What is desperately needed instead is a meticulous study of how to treat the root causes of democratic decay.

Thankfully, there’s still plenty of time to plan for a more meaningful second gathering in late 2022, the next step of the summit’s goal to kickstart countries in the fight against authoritarianism, corruption and human rights abuses.


It’s important to take stock of what went wrong with the first gathering. A different host would have been more appropriate. Mexico, for instance, could have welcomed countries in to study how its constitutional reforms have advanced “Parity in Everything,” which has resulted in increased representation for women and communities of color. The United States, on the other hand, has a history of institutions that discriminate against and suppress the voices of women and minorities, with no consequential efforts to make meaningful change.

It’s time to surrender our claimed position as a democratic leader to those countries doing more substantive work on the issues at the heart of the summit. While no nation has cured itself of authoritarianism, corruption and human rights abuses, the U.S. should work with other countries to enable them to host the next gathering.

There was room for improvement on the agenda, too. A Private Sector Forum, meant to create a “constructive dialogue around the symbiotic relationship between business and government,” did little to prepare either sector to make the most of the “Year of Action” before the gathering. The forum allowed participants to run through their talking points and then run off to whatever came next on their calendar. Most of the events similarly prioritized “conversation” over “committed action.” The next gathering’s agenda ought to learn from the dialogue-heavy first iteration as well as from productive international gatherings, such as climate negotiations. Talk is cheap. When the stakes are this high, there must be carrots and sticks to compel nations to take steps forward on future-proofing their democracies.

A different guest list would have also made the first gathering more efficacious. At 111 countries, including many nations with deeper democratic ailments than those plaguing the U.S. and even less resolve to address them. “Which countries were invited,” according to The Economist, “reflect[ed] American politics more than democratic values.” And the guestlist was too large to expect significant action. A smaller second gathering should be tailored to allow participating countries to provide specific plans for improving their democracies and to coordinate to solve international issues.

Additionally, the U.S. must commit to a “Year of Action” that justifies a leading role at the democracy reform table. A troubling trend in our country has grown worse: Autocratic behaviors have proliferated, and democratic values are waning. Sixty percent of white working class Americans agreed that "because things have gotten so far off track in this country, we need a leader who is willing to break some rules if that's what it takes to set things right." Michael Hais, Doug Ross, and Morley Winograd offer several means to contain the spread of this belief. Chief among their recommendations is reducing gerrymandering, eliminating voter suppression, reforming the filibuster in the Senate and increasing transparency of campaign financing.

On corruption, the U.S. must look at the plank in its own eye: In 2020, the country earned its worst corruption rating in a decade on Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index. Transitional International has already established three ways for the U.S. (and other countries) to improve its anti-corruption work: purge dirty money from domestic and international governance; deter and sanction cross-border corruption; and, support anti-corruption fighters. The Biden administration’s recently released Strategy on Countering Corruption is a good first step, but much more needs to be done.

On human rights abuses, Human Rights Watch’s numerous reforms would give something meaningful to add to the agenda next year. The United States must tackle its egregious and world-leading criminal incarceration rate. The First Step Act, which resulted in thousands of people being released from prison, was just that — a first step. Second and third steps to ameliorate our criminal justice system must be taken in the coming year.

Before assuming a leadership position in democratic resiliency, the U.S. must show progress by turning the proposed Year of Action into a truly productive period of democratic reforms.

Read More

Connecticut: Democracy, Innovation, and Economic Resilience

The 50: Connecticut

Credit: Hugo Balta

Connecticut: Democracy, Innovation, and Economic Resilience

The 50 is a four-year multimedia project in which the Fulcrum visits different communities across all 50 states to learn what motivated them to vote in the 2024 presidential election and see how the Donald Trump administration is meeting those concerns and hopes.

Hartford, Connecticut, stands as a living testament to American democracy, ingenuity, and resilience. As the state’s capital, it’s home to cultural landmarks like the Mark Twain House & Museum, where Twain penned The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, embodying the spirit of self-governance and creative daring that defines the region.

Keep ReadingShow less
Hand blocking someone speaking

The Third Way has recently released a memo stating that the “stampede away from the Democratic Party” is partly a result of the language and rhetoric it uses.

Westend61/Getty Images

To Protect Democracy, Democrats Should Pay Attention to the Third Way’s List of ‘Offensive’ Words

More than fifty years ago, comedian George Carlin delivered a monologue entitled Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television.” It was a tribute to the legendary Lenny Bruce, whose “nine dirty words” performance led to his arrest and his banning from many places.

His seven words were “p—, f—, c—, c———, m———–, and t—.”

Keep ReadingShow less
Fox News’ Selective Silence: How Trump’s Worst Moments Vanish From Coverage
Why Fox News’ settlement with Dominion Voting Systems is good news for all media outlets
Getty Images

Fox News’ Selective Silence: How Trump’s Worst Moments Vanish From Coverage

Last week, the ultraconservative news outlet, NewsMax, reached a $73 million settlement with the voting machine company, Dominion, in essence, admitting that they lied in their reporting about the use of their voting machines to “rig” or distort the 2020 presidential election. Not exactly shocking news, since five years later, there is no credible evidence to suggest any malfeasance regarding the 2020 election. To viewers of conservative media, such as Fox News, this might have shaken a fully embraced conspiracy theory. Except it didn’t, because those viewers haven’t seen it.

Many people have a hard time understanding why Trump enjoys so much support, given his outrageous statements and damaging public policy pursuits. Part of the answer is due to Fox News’ apparent censoring of stories that might be deemed negative to Trump. During the past five years, I’ve tracked dozens of examples of news stories that cast Donald Trump in a negative light, including statements by Trump himself, which would make a rational person cringe. Yet, Fox News has methodically censored these stories, only conveying rosy news that draws its top ratings.

Keep ReadingShow less
U.S. Flag / artificial intelligence / technology / congress / ai

The age of AI warrants asking if the means still further the ends—specifically, individual liberty and collective prosperity.

Getty Images, Douglas Rissing

Liberty and the General Welfare in the Age of AI

If the means justify the ends, we’d still be operating under the Articles of Confederation. The Founders understood that the means—the governmental structure itself—must always serve the ends of liberty and prosperity. When the means no longer served those ends, they experimented with yet another design for their government—they did expect it to be the last.

The age of AI warrants asking if the means still further the ends—specifically, individual liberty and collective prosperity. Both of those goals were top of mind for early Americans. They demanded the Bill of Rights to protect the former, and they identified the latter—namely, the general welfare—as the animating purpose for the government. Both of those goals are being challenged by constitutional doctrines that do not align with AI development or even undermine it. A full review of those doctrines could fill a book (and perhaps one day it will). For now, however, I’m just going to raise two.

Keep ReadingShow less