By Eliza Newlin Carney In the quest for civic success stories, the very last place to look might appear to be climate news. The best efforts of the United Nations Climate Change conference will not be enough to avert the worst effects of warming, scientists say. This is why youth…

By Eliza Newlin Carney Writings that predict democracy’s demise are commonplace these days, from books like “How Democracies Die” and “Twilight of Democracy” to articles like policy expert Robert Kagan’s Washington Post essay warning of “mass violence” amid a “constitutional crisis.” The apocalyptic tone of much democracy writing is unsurprising…

By Eliza Newlin Carney The election is over but the voting wars continue, and a wave of new state laws to restrict access to the polls has stirred national controversy. Yet voting rights advocates have also scored important victories, and are winning where it matters most — in the court…

By Eliza Newlin Carney One of Donald Trump’s very last acts as president was to release a report by his “1776 Commission” that trumpeted “patriotic education,” defended the Founding Fathers’ ownership of slaves, likened progressives to Mussolini, and was roundly denounced by historians. Four days later, one of President…

By Eliza Newlin Carney The presidential election is over, despite ongoing efforts to rewrite history. President Donald Trump’s failure to subvert the will of the voters is thanks largely to a half-dozen guardrails that held fast against an extreme democracy stress test, as I wrote in The Fulcrum. These included…

By Eliza Newlin Carney Election Day is here, and Americans are on edge. Storefronts and office buildings are boarded up in anticipation of street violence. Partisans on both sides are warning that the opposition will rig the outcome. At this moment of national anxiety and even paranoia, it behooves us…

By Eliza Newlin Carney On the surface, this election looks like a disaster waiting to happen. Congress approved only a small fraction ($400 million) of the estimated $4 billion that states needed to run the election amid a pandemic. Lawsuits, postal service delays, and fears about voter suppression or a…

By Eliza Newlin Carney Joe Biden’s selection of Kamala Harris as his running mate cements 2020 as the year of the Black woman, particularly when it comes to campaign fundraising. Biden raised $48 million within 48 hours of tapping Harris, the senator from California, as his №2 on the Democratic…

By Eliza Newlin Carney Americans may have to wait days for final election results this year, election experts warn, as the pandemic drives voters to absentee ballots. Since Republicans favor in-person voting while Democrats are more inclined to vote absentee, President Trump may perform better on Election Day than in…