One week after the Braver Angels Convention, we are hearing so much about how this movement is growing. New media stories keep coming (see the list below!). Delegates are sharing more posts about their transformative experiences. I’m watching rising citizen leaders like you think up new, creative ways to overcome the debilitating toxicity in our politics.
And then, on Friday, our governors stepped up.
I was there in Atlantic City when the National Governors Association announced the new project our state’s executives will work on over the next year. It’s called Disagree Better: Healthy Conflict for Better Policy, and it’s elevating exactly what so many of you have worked so hard to spread.
Want a taste of what it’s all about? Watch Gov. Spencer Cox of Utah, a Republican, and Gov. Jared Polis of Colorado, a Democrat, sit down together “to help save your family dinners” in this clip:
Is it politically risky to champion healthy disagreement with officials across the aisle in a toxically polarized society? You bet it is.
And that’s why Gov. Cox., Gov. Polis, and all the future champions of this better, braver way to talk politics need our signal boost, support, and encouragement just as soon as we can give it.
This initiative from our governors is the kind of thing that lifts everything we’re doing. So if you have a moment:
- Share the video!
- Thank the governors for what they’re doing! (Reach Cox here and Polis here.)
- And if you can, reach out to your elected officials and let them know this is the kind of thing you’d like to see them model for the country, too.
If I’ve learned anything working with elected officials to bridge our toughest divides, it’s that they are just as tired of the toxicity as we are, if not more. And that no matter how powerful they seem, they can’t change the game on their own. They need us to stand up and say we’re with them.
“Conflict isn’t bad. It’s the way we disagree that matters,” the governors say in the clip.
Movements grow one win at a time. And we are just getting started.
