How do we overcome the bitterness of American politics and change the way things are done? “Left of Bernie,” yet a consistent defender of President Trump; author, commentator and creator of the comic strip “Dilbert” Scott Adams is a fascinating or infuriating voice in the political conversation, depending on who you ask. But Scott is …
Morality, Politics and Persuasion | Scott Adams and John Wood, Jr. Read More »
How do we overcome the bitterness of American politics and change the way things are done? “Left of Bernie,” yet a consistent defender of President Trump; author, commentator and creator of the comic strip “Dilbert” Scott Adams is a fascinating or infuriating voice in the political conversation, depending on who you ask. But Scott is …
Morality, Politics and Persuasion | Scott Adams and John Wood, Jr. Read More »
Sam Daley-Harris shares the practices for effective organizing across the partisan divide.
Everybody seems to hate the media. But is it the problem or the solution?
Do not be ashamed of being afraid. Many of us in the United States at this moment are fearful. We may or may not be afraid for ourselves as individuals—but we fear for our loved ones and we fear for our country. That was true for many of us before the pandemic. It is strikingly …
The Work of Unity – A Braver Response to COVID-19 Read More »
Braver Angels national leader John Wood, Jr. delivers a passionate address to The Visionaries Summit in Sacramento, California on the power of personal transformation to effect social change through Martin Luther King, Jr.’s principles of non-violence.
Are we at war with each other in America? The language of war is often used to describe our political battles. Is this language helping us? Or do we need to speak in terms of war to move the American people to make a change? John Wood, Jr. looks at the war-like language of our …
Matt Kibbe, former president and ceo of FreedomWorks and host of Kibbe on Liberty at The Blaze Media network, sits down with John Wood, Jr.
Braver Angels and other individuals and organizations have been working hard to depolarize American politics. But can the movement to depolarize America break into the mainstream? Or is it transforming into something that can? John Wood, Jr. tracks the rise of this movement to heal our republic, taking us on the inside in this opening …
Beyond Depolarization: What Our Movement is Becoming Read More »
We’re launching a new podcast: The John Wood, Jr. Show, featuring Braver Angels director of media development, writer, speaker and former congressional nominee John Wood, Jr. “On The John Wood, Jr. Show, I will be making the case for one America – a united country.”
John Wood, Jr. and guest co-host Greg Steinbrecher talk to, Monica Guzman journalist and founder of Seattle based publication The Evergrey, about the influence of identity on our culture of conversation in the United States, and how to have difficult conversations across racial and political divides. Hear Monica discuss the shades of identity in the …
Editor, political analyst and veteran of previous Republican presidential administrations, Bill Kristol brings a critical take on President Trump and a long range overview of political polarization to this episode of The Braver Angels Podcast. Ciaran O’Connor and John Wood, Jr co-host.
June 22nd, St. Louis, MO, Braver Angels Convention Concert Night: A song about coming together from down very different roads, from the great American singer-songwriter Mr. Steve Seskin.
Ciaran O’Connor and John Wood, Jr. fill us in on the uplifting triumph that was the Braver Angels National Convention in St. Louis, June 19th to 22nd.
President Trump wields Twitter like a battle-axe. On this, his supporters and detractors agree. He uses it to chop down his political opponents, circumvent the mainstream media, and rally his supporters. He is far from alone in this practice. But no Twitter user in America has proven themselves so able—and so willing—to explode the national …
Ciaran O’Connor and John Wood, Jr. are joined by stand up comedian and BA Podcast producer Mike Casentini to trade voice impersonations and to talk political tribalism, political hypocrisy, and why its so hard to have reasonable conversations in today’s political climate.
What are the real lessons to be learned from the beating of Andy Ngo?
There is something subversive in empathy that makes it threatening to certain social status-quos.
The idea of tolerance as a guiding value for society has been criticized in recent years, from different sides.
John Wood, Jr. discusses the challenges of racial identity in Democratic society In front of an international audience of philanthropists and social entrepreneurs.
John Wood, Jr. talks with author Robin Koerner about the political divide in America, and what we can do to heal it.
Immediately following President Trump, Braver Angels media director and former Republican nominee for congress John Wood, Jr. took the stage from Pepperdine university to discuss the state of the conservative movement in California, and need to restore civil bonds with people on the left.
Growing up in the United States of America—a nation defined in many minds by its fraught racial history—and observing public life at a time when racial sensitivities are constantly prodded and enflamed, it is easy to think that there is no greater sin in the world than racism.
For the first time in American history this month, however, the Speaker of the House of Representatives specifically declined to invite the President to address the assembled houses of Congress on the state of the union.
Ciaran O’Connor and John Wood, Jr., with fellow Braver Angels leaders Greg Steinbrecher and Randy Lioz, discuss bias and pile on culture in the wake of the protests involving Covington Catholic High School students and participants in an Indigenous People’s Rally, and the Gillette commercial targeting “toxic masculinity.”
Braver Angels Magazine The Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. was born January 15th, 1929. He died, still a young man, April 4th, 1968, the victim of an assassin’s bullet. The night that Dr. King died, Americans, particularly African-Americans in urban centers, rioted across America in agony over the injustice of the slaying of Black America’s …
Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Challenge of Idealism Read More »
When times are good, when institutions are stable and prosperity abundant, it may be that we are less likely to ask fundamental questions about values in society. Their importance is not as obvious to us when troubles do not appear close. It is when we feel the roots of society seeming pulled upwards by discord …
John and Ciaran dive back into the government shutdown and immigration debate, imagining a new way forward. J and C also announce the Braver Angels State of the Union event, two days after President Trump’s SOTU and the Democratic response, in Washington D.C.
A new new normal among thoughtfully courageous Americans left and right can fill the void of civic virtue that has swelled to a chasm in this past year.
Former Clinton and Obama campaign staffer Ciaran O’Connor and former Republican congressional nominee John Wood, Jr. kick off the relaunched Braver Angels Podcast with discussion about the Trump Administration’s pullout from Syria, the government shutdown, the work of Braver Angels and the importance of the Depolarization Movement.