Justin Naylor

Braver Angels doesn’t try to change peoples’ strong views or move them toward the center. It’s an organization very comfortable with the red/blue divide, as long we speak in productive

The views expressed in this article are those of the author, and are not indicative of any official positions of Braver Angels or The Conversation.   This Piece is part

For me, the most frustrating moment in the first round of Democratic debates was also the most widely discussed: Senator Kamala Harris’s criticism of Vice-President Joe Biden’s record on busing.

Since the 2008 financial crisis, there’s been a renewed interest in talking about the inherent problems and weaknesses of capitalism. There has even been renewed interest in socialism, or at

We need to reward, not punish, politicians who take risks, who hold unpopular positions, and who build consensus across the aisle, even if it means losing an election.

Americans need to make clear once again, through concrete actions, that we owe something to one another, that we’re willing to sacrifice for one another, and that in the most extreme circumstances, that we’re even willing to lay down our lives for one another. And the fact that our fellow-citizens have been so willing, in the past, is exactly what Memorial Day is meant to honor and remind us of.

Does the global free market benefits the majority of Americans?

In addition to being a vegetable farmer, I’m a chef and cooking teacher. …I’ve spent the last twenty years thinking about issues of animal welfare and the ethics of eating meat.

Religion is part of the solution to our divisions, and attempting to maintain a healthy culture without religion is fraught with difficulty.

When it comes to his phrase “American carnage,” Donald Trump hit on something dark and deeply disturbing, but also something important and true.

I’m not a Democrat. But for all these reasons above and more, I like Joe Biden, a man and politician worthy of praise.

Of the many virtues which we have long recognized in our culture – things like courage, humility, and integrity – an essential one that we’ve missed, maybe the essential one, is balance.

When I first joined Braver Angels and had to claim my political leaning, it wasn’t easy. I’ve been registered as an independent my whole life, and have voted for Republicans, Democrats, and even third-party candidates. With our Founding Fathers, I’m skeptical of factions, and political parties themselves—especially in our current primary system—seem to be one of the main forces driving our polarization.

As I write this, President Trump has recently declared a national emergency in order to increase funding, beyond what Congress has already approved, for extending a physical barrier at the Southern border.