Welcome to The Fulcrum’s daily weekday e-newsletter where insiders and outsiders to politics are informed, meet, talk, and act to repair our democracy and make it live and work in our everyday lives.
Podcast: Vital Signs of Democracy: Monsters, menorahs & balloons
This episode examines the hangover from the midterms and reviews possible healthier responses by the political party leaders. In seeking alternatives to the red and blue tribe narratives, as presented by partisan media, David Riordan and Debilyn Molineaux look to storytelling through television, film and documentaries for inspiration, observation and clues to how we might write a better story for ourselves.
A democracy roadshow
As the chairman of the board of the Bridge Alliance, I’ve been working with our incredible team and our more than 100 member organizations for the last seven years to create a movement for a thriving, just and healthy democratic republic.
For true change to happen in our democratic republic, Americans must become involved and realize they have the power to bring about the change they desire.
A turning point for civic education?
When civic learning makes the news these days, it’s typically to spotlight contentious book bans, school board shouting matches, and bills to keep allegedly “divisive concepts” like racism out of the classroom.
But scratch below the surface, and the state of civic education in 2023 is arguably on the upswing. An omnibus spending bill passed late last year set aside $23 million in federal funding for civics and history education, triple the $7.75 million allotted the previous fiscal year. Voters of all ideological stripes continue to strongly support civic learning. And state legislatures are backing a new wave of bills that expand rather than restrict civic education, reversing last year’s trend.
Video: On the Rise: Rep. Ajay Pittman
On the Rise is a year-long series featuring profiles of Millennial and Gen Z legislators in the Millennial Action Project’s State Future Caucus Network (SFCN) . This series will lead up to MAP’s 10 year anniversary. The SFCN is a bipartisan network of young elected officials that engages with over 1,600 legislators across the country to work on future-oriented policy solutions. Future Caucus members are committed to pragmatically working towards a culture of political cooperation.
In a recent interview, Rep. Pittman, a member of the SFCN, opened up about her experience, passions, and policy work as an elected official in Oklahoma.
