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​U.S. President Donald Trump is shown on television monitor.

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Join the effort to restore trust in elections

Opinion

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"The 2024 election is less than a year awaym," writes Blades. "Now is the time when we can and must do everything in our power to ensure that the upcoming election is both trustworthy and trusted."

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Joan Blades
By Joan BladesDec 28, 2023
Joan Blades
Joan Blades 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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Blades is co-founder of LivingRoomConversations.org, MomsRising.org and MoveOn.org.

A successful democratic republic must have trustworthy elections. Voting should be accessible to all eligible citizens, with votes counted accurately and reported honestly. No human system is perfect but elections can be very, very good.

Trust in elections is a related but distinct, additional requirement. Citizens must trust that elections are fair and free from partisan interference.

Since 2020 it has been evident that trust in U.S. elections has been dangerously undermined. The attack at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was in large part the outcome of some media and leaders claiming the 2020 election was stolen. A significant portion of the citizenry continues to believe those false claims even though charges of election irregularities were dismissed in over 60 lawsuits filed.

The 2024 election is less than a year away. Now is the time when we can and must do everything in our power to ensure that the upcoming election is both trustworthy and trusted. This is our responsibility. How might we do this?

We need to commit to focusing on shared values; fairness; love of family, community and country; and respect for the dignity of all our neighbors. Then we need to be curious, learn about our local election practices and listen to each other to better understand any concerns. We need to work together to be able to assure ourselves and then others that our local electoral practices are trustworthy and run in a way that is free and fair. Relitigating past elections and other differences will not help us achieve this goal. This is a targeted, future-focused effort.

Let’s be clear: We can see this problem coming. We have almost a year to build confidence in our next election. We can do this, and we must. Escalating political violence is not the future we want to choose.

There are thousands of organizations working towards a better future in communities and organizations around the world. In the corner of the world reached by The Fulcrum, readers find coverage of election reforms and bridging work daily. What is missing are millions of Americans who take action in good faith, willing to set aside differences for a brighter future.

So today, join hundreds of thousands of Americans taking the Pledge for Democracy.

Click here to read and sign the Pledge.


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Why Trump’s antics don’t work on our allies

From left to right: Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky, Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer and France's President Emmanuel Macron hold a meeting during a summit at Lancaster House on March 2, 2025, in London, England.

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Why Trump’s antics don’t work on our allies

It is among the most familiar patterns of the Trump era. First, the president says or does something weird, rude or otherwise norm-defying. Some elected Republicans object, and the response from Trump and his minions is to shoot the messenger. The dynamic holds constant whether it’s big (January 6 pardons) or small (tweeting “covfefe” just after midnight).

The essence of this low-road-for-me-high-road-for-thee dynamic rests on the belief that Trumpism is a one-way road. Insulting Trump, deservedly or not, is forbidden, while Trump’s antics should be celebrated when possible, defended when necessary, or ignored when neither of those responses is possible. But he should never, ever face consequences for his own actions.

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With Oil Prices Rising, Is Dreaded Stagflation Making a Comeback?

Remember back in the 1970s, when the headlines blared warnings about an economic disease plaguing the U.S. economy? It was called “stagflation.” It’s a rare economic affliction in which inflation is high, unemployment is rising, and overall economic growth is slowing, all at the same time. Five decades ago, it caused major havoc to the national economy because it’s a tough disease for the economic doctors to cure. And now, like the hockey-masked villain in those Friday the 13th movies that seems to never die, a number of economic experts fear that: “Stagflation is baa-aaack!”

The U.S. last experienced stagflation starting in 1973, which seems like a long time ago back when Tony Orlando and Dawn’s "Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree" was top of the charts. That's when the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), run by Middle East oil-producing nations, imposed an oil embargo, cut production, and banned exports to the U.S. and other nations supporting Israel during the Yom Kippur War. That action caused oil prices to quadruple, leading to severe oil and gas shortages and long-term changes in energy policy.

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AI may not be the only existential threat out there, but it is coming for us the fastest. When I started law school in 2022, AI could barely handle basic math, but by graduation, it could pass the bar exam. Instead of taking the bar myself, I rolled immediately into a Master of Laws in Global Business Law at Columbia, where I took classes like Regulation of the Digital Economy and Applied AI in Legal Practice. By the end of the program, managing partners were comparing using AI to working with a team of associates; the CEO of Anthropic is now warning that it will be more capable than everyone in less than two years.

AI is dangerous in ways we are just beginning to see. Data centers that power AI require vast amounts of water to keep the servers cool, but two-thirds are in places already facing high water stress, with researchers estimating that water needs could grow from 60 billion liters in 2022 to as high as 275 billion liters by 2028. By then, data centers’ share of U.S. electricity consumption could nearly triple.

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Across the nonprofit sector, signs of strain are becoming more visible. Staff turnover is rising, compliance demands are increasing, and community needs are growing more complex. Yet the funding structures that support this work remain largely unchanged. What appears today as instability is not a sudden disruption. It is the predictable outcome of a model that has relied on endurance rather than investment.

For decades, nonprofit organizations have been tasked with addressing society’s most persistent challenges. Domestic violence, homelessness, behavioral health, and poverty depend heavily on nonprofit infrastructure to deliver services and stabilize communities. The sector has sustained this responsibility not because it was designed to be durable, but because the people working within it continued to adapt under pressure. Commitment filled the gaps where investment was limited. That approach is now reaching its limits.

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