The Leaders We Deserve – The Responsibility of Citizens in an Age of Division

* Local Focus: Greater Houston area

An in-person Public Conversation with Alexandra Hudson, author of The Soul of Civility.

From school boards to statehouses, public life is increasingly marked by contempt rather than care, performance rather than responsibility. When disagreement hardens into dehumanization, democratic life itself is put at risk. This event asks a difficult but essential question: what role do citizens play in either accelerating that slide—or resisting it?

As Hudson’s work reminds us, we get the leaders we deserve. The Soul of Civility is currently at the center of a live experiment underway in Texas. Legislators from across the political spectrum are reading her book together to explore how governance might be practiced differently amid real and persistent disagreement.

In this thoughtful and challenging evening, Alexandra Hudson will reflect on that experiment and examine the responsibility ordinary citizens bear in shaping the tone, incentives, and quality of our public life. The conversation will explore restraint, dignity, and the habits of self-government required to sustain a shared civic future.

We hope you’ll join us for this conversation about leadership, citizenship, and what it looks like to begin healing our divisions by choosing responsibility over resignation.

About Alexandra Hudson:

Alexandra Hudson is an award-winning journalist and the author of The Soul of Civility (St. Martin’s Press), a work that examines the moral foundations of democratic life amid deep political division. Her central argument distinguishes politeness as a matter of social convention from civility as an inner civic disposition grounded in recognition of the dignity of others. This distinction reframes disagreement not as a failure of democracy, but as a condition that requires discipline, restraint, and responsibility from citizens and leaders alike.

Hudson’s ideas have informed conversations and initiatives across academic, civic, and governmental settings, including engagements at universities and legislative bodies in the United States and abroad. Beyond public lectures, her work emphasizes practical application. Through sustained engagement with local leaders—mayors, legislators, educators, faith leaders, and civic organizers—she focuses on how habits of civility can shape meetings, decision-making, and public engagement.

Taken together, her work treats civic renewal as a practice rather than a posture. It centers on the responsibilities of citizenship and the everyday choices through which trust, legitimacy, and shared civic life are either weakened or renewed.

Event Details:

All people interested in the topic are invited. It is not necessary to read the The Sould of Civility to participate in this discussion.

Parking on site is free and easy.

** This event is open to the media upon approval. Send requests to press@braverangels.org