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Gynecologist doing ultrasound of pregnant woman in hospital.

No Doctor, No Delivery, No Future

A military ship out in the sea.

Reasons to Care about the Sailors Aboard the USS Lincoln

What Will It Take to Rebuild American Democracy?

What Will It Take to Rebuild American Democracy?

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Retired Chief Justices Warn of Growing Threats to the Rule of Law

State Gerrymandering Surge Ends Path to Proportional Representation

State Gerrymandering Surge Ends Path to Proportional Representation

The women who lead democracy reform

Sara Bonk, Jackie Salit, Justine Williams
Shakira Mills
By Shakira MillsMar 14, 2022
Shakira Mills
Shakira Mills is a contributor for The Fulcrum, a nonpartisan publication dedicated to strengthening democracy by fostering informed civic engagement and elevating diverse perspectives.
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While women remain significantly underrepresented in government, there is at least one adjacent field in which they have achieved gender parity in leadership: the universe of democracy reform and bridge-building organizations.

In its 2021 Diversity Report, the Bridge Alliance found that half of the executives leading its 100 member organizations are women. (Disclosure: The Fulcrum is a program within the Bridge Alliance, which brings together organizations working toward a healthy democracy.)

To mark Women’s History Month, The Fulcrum is spotlighting just some of the women leading these organizations.

Jillian Youngblood

Jillian Youngblood, Our Civic Genius

Executive Director, Our Civic Genius

"I do this work because I know how strong our country is when we work together and draw on our spectacular diversity of opinion and experience. The women inspiring me today are the journalists who help us understand and reflect on the rapidly changing world around us, like Anne Applebaum and Kara Swisher."


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Tucson youth members of the Arizona Youth Climate Coalition listen as Rep. Adelita Grijalva talks about the importance of youth voices on the issue of climate change and extreme heat. More than a dozen Arizona youth met with Representative Adelita Grijalva and Ward 5 council member Selina Barajas on Tuesday, at El Pueblo Activity Center in Tucson, to share some of their concerns about climate change, as well as some of the work they are already doing to address these issues.

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When Carmen De Backer was a toddler, she would sit on the couch staring at photos of wildlife in the worn pages of National Geographic magazines her mom bought at the thrift store. She couldn’t read the articles so she would ask her older sisters to tell her about the wildlife in the photos.

That’s where her love for and curiosity about nature started.

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AI chatbots and online therapy promise easier mental health care, but technology may be eroding the boundaries, privacy and human connection that make psychotherapy effective.

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Big Tech’s Solutions to Mental Health Bring Bigger Problems

While America is suffering a mental health crisis, the good news is that tens of millions of people are getting help. In 2023, 60 million adults reported having sought counseling or treatment in the previous year, and the numbers continue to rise.

Psychotherapy works because of what’s known as the therapeutic frame, a set of boundaries that create safety and structure for patients and clinicians. Sessions last 50 minutes. Fees are agreed upon prior to the start of treatment. The therapist remains neutral, shares little of their personal life, and holds confidentiality sacred.

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The Erosion of Judicial Integrity
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Photo by Fine Photographics on Unsplash

The Erosion of Judicial Integrity

The partisanship of the Roberts Supreme Court Republicans violates the neutrality central to the rule of law's legitimacy. Moreover, the Founding Fathers, including James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and Alexander Hamilton, viewed avaricious oligarchs and seditious demagogues as the two gravest threats to democracy. They would doubtlessly view the Roberts Republicans – with rulings institutionalizing oligarchic pay-to-play while embracing Trump’s authoritarianism - as another grave threat.

The Rule of Law Survived One Judicial Coup

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Dan Osborn is Ready to Represent the Working Class in Congress. Is Nebraska Ready to Let Him?

Dan Osborn

Obtained from Dan Osborn's Facebook page.

Dan Osborn is Ready to Represent the Working Class in Congress. Is Nebraska Ready to Let Him?

Independent voters now represent the largest share of the American electorate, and yet they remain mostly unrepresented in federal office. Both major parties have spent decades optimizing for their bases, almost always leaving the near majority of Americans who identify as independent with the choice of either voting for a party candidate they don't fully support or staying home.

A handful of high-profile independent candidates for the US Senate are trying to change that. 2026 is seeing one of the largest surges of interest in independent candidates in recent memory. However, these candidates are often covered as fringe candidates, and stories about them focus more on how they'll impact the outcome of the election between a Republican and Democrat than they do on the substance of the candidate's campaign.

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