By Chris Winters, Yes! Magazine
Three weeks after the 2016 presidential election, a group of 21 people came together in South Lebanon, Ohio, outside Cincinnati, to talk.
The group comprised 11 people who’d supported Hillary Clinton for president and 10 who’d supported Donald Trump.
After the contentious election, there was a question lurking under the surface: “Could we as a country avoid a civic divorce? Could we build a more perfect union?” says David Lapp.
That meeting marked the beginning of what would become a national movement called Braver Angels, that Lapp and two colleagues formed to create friendly spaces for potentially unfriendly conversations.
It’s among dozens of such arrangements—from weekly dinners to meetups to formal debates—that have emerged after the 2016 election to look for common ground across the political divide.