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 episode of The John Wood, Jr. Show:
A native of Boulder, Colorado, Mia didn’t know many Trump supporters—and she was nervous to engage with them. “I was like, ‘Don’t they hate women? Don’t they hate black people?’” she said. “That was my initial belief because that’s what I had heard about people who voted for Trump.” But she quickly realized she was wrong. During the first Braver Lens session, Mia was able to connect with conservatives in the group and recognize their points of commonality. “When we met, they showed their pictures, and explained their life stories, and I was able to see where our values overlap,” she said.
As a young man, Daniel’s father emerged from a broken, dysfunctional home looking for direction and found it while attending a Billy Graham crusade in Chicago. There, he “walked forward”—committing himself to Jesus Christ and changing the trajectory of his family. Not long after, he married Daniel’s mom, a Christian convert whose grandparents sought refuge in America after escaping pogroms in Europe.
Twenty-three leaders who disagree on many things said yes to the same thing this month. They agreed to stand together, publicly, behind the idea that Americans can hold fast to their convictions while staying genuinely curious about the convictions of people on the other side. That’s it. That’s the commitment. For more than nine years, Braver Angels has reached people in every state in the union. The ones who’ve engaged have experienced something that surprises them every time: the relief of disagreeing without contempt, and the discovery that the person across the table is not who the feed said they were.
2 thoughts on “Beyond Depolarization: What Our Movement is Becoming”
If Braver Angels is neither red nor blue, liberal nor conservative, do you at least come out against tyranny, fascism, and despotism? If so, what is the movement’s plan to counter these alarming trends? I’m asking sincerely, and hoping for serious answers. Thank you.
Our view, in short, is that when trust between the American people dwindles the appeal of dangerous ideologies built on the idea that we are irreconcilable enemies rises. Our work runs through communities and institutions and the airwaves in an effort to rebuild trust and goodwill between Americans so that we can engage the project of self-government together. In that way, we create common ground that is antithetical to the sort of trends you describe.
Still, we are a community of people who may disagree about where the most salient threats of authoritarianism come from. What unties us is a belief that by revitalizing the bonds of American people we build resistance to the worst possible developments that may threaten American society, whatever part of the spectrum it may come from.