Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Top Stories

Super PACs a Mixed Blessing for Second-Tier Democrats

Early spending in the Democratic presidential race highlights how super PACs may play a key role in many campaigns even as the candidates rail against the committees.

"The Democratic Party's liberal activists warn of super PACs drowning out the voices of average voters and have sought to make rejecting big money a litmus test for Democratic candidates, CNN reports. "In a field crowded with candidates competing for campaign dollars, however, super PACs offer a route for little-known candidates to break out."


Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker are the only democratic presidential aspirants who are aligned with a super PAC so far. A half-dozen of the 14 declared candidates have said they will not accept super PAC support.

The situation for the Democrats is analogous to what happened on the Republican side in both 2012 and 2016, when the campaigns of second-tier candidates were kept afloat for months by sympathetic super PACs. The Democrats have not had such a wide-open nominating contest since the 2010 Citizens United ruling remade the world of campaign financing.


Read More

person reading a computer screen
man using computer inside room

Student-Led AI Initiative Aims to Tackle Misinformation

PRINCETON JUNCTION, NJ — As generative artificial intelligence reshapes the digital landscape, a New Jersey student researcher is using the technology to combat media bias. Shaurya Jindal, an AI researcher and student at West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South, has launched Cogito News, an educational platform designed to build modern media literacy skills.

Cogito News was founded in response to growing concerns about partisan framing and selective sourcing in contemporary journalism. Recognizing that cognitive biases often influence how news is packaged and consumed, Jindal sought to build a tool that helps users critically evaluate the information they encounter daily. The platform's real-world impact and timely relevance were highlighted when Jindal was my guest on The Fulcrum Democracy Forum, an interview series dedicated to civic renewal and examining innovative approaches to strengthening democratic systems.

Keep ReadingShow less
​Michael Bridgford

Michael Bridgford campaigning

Independent Underdog Tours Iowa as Voters Seek Common‑Sense Change

Eight cities in eight different counties, all in one week. When we talk about cities in Iowa’s First Congressional District, keep in mind most are county seats with populations that often don’t reach 7,000. In the closing months of a political campaign in southeastern Iowa, chatter in those towns and cities centers on the cost of living, farmers' struggles, and the hot-button issue of data centers.

Michael Bridgford is tireless, but the challenge is daunting. I met him over lunch last spring when he was first considering a run. A long-time friend met him at a conference and told Michael he would connect him to a guy who won a long-shot campaign. I’m that guy. Running as a Republican, I upset a 32-year incumbent in deep-blue Madison, Wisconsin.

Keep ReadingShow less
US money being cut by a scissor
A pair of scissors cutting a continuous strip of one hundred dollar bills
Photo by Igor Omilaev on Unsplash

Self-Interested Elite Supremacy, 1776 to 2026, and a Path Forward

For 250 years, U.S. elites have maintained supremacy by embedding self-interest into the nation’s foundational structures, translating economic power into political dominance. From the plantation economy and the Gilded Age to modern corporate lobbying, wealth consolidation has consistently undermined democratic equality to favor the ruling class.

This trajectory of elite control and self-interest unfolds across the following core eras:

Keep ReadingShow less