If you are heartsick about the rancor tearing our country apart, if you believe that your opponents should not be your enemies and if you believe that America’s best days lie ahead, then you need to know about a nationwide organization too few people do know about. It’s Braver Angels and there is a chapter, called an “Alliance,” right here in San Diego.
In today’s polarized environment, political conversations often turn angry and counterproductive. Braver Angels’ skills help people listen and understand without arguing in order to build trust, clarify disagreements, and find common ground based on common values and humanity.
Braver Angels is a nonprofit bipartisan citizen’s movement to bring all Americans — red, blue, or purple — together into a working alliance and to bridge the partisan divide. Braver Angels is building new ways to talk to one another, participate in public life and influence the direction of the nation. It is part of a movement that requires a coalition of many organizations in order to succeed. Braver Angels created the “Braver Network,” now with over 230 groups voicing their support. But you have to know about them and us if our goal of a less divided nation is to happen. Judy Woodruff on PBS “NewsHour” has explored the problem. Utah Gov. Spencer Cox participated in last year’s Braver Angels convention offering his assistance.
Recent polls show that a majority of Americans feel our country is more divided than ever, and increasingly view members of the opposite party as not just wrong, but bad people. At the same time, Americans are increasingly divided into bubbles and echo chambers with limited exposure to “the other side,” consuming news that confirms their opinions and stereotypes of those “others.” Braver Angels, with journalist Mónica Guzmán as host, offers a regular podcast bringing on thought leaders of all stripes in order to discuss, in a truly balanced way, important ideas with which you might agree or not. We never need to give up our values and beliefs, but we do need to learn to hear from those who have different values and beliefs.
By creating opportunities for meaningful discussions, Braver Angels works to dial down the heated rhetoric that gets in the way of real conversations and accurate understanding of our differences. The objective is not to push an agenda or change a participant’s mind, but rather to provide a safe place for deeper understanding. We do this with discussions always led by both a “red” and a “blue” moderator; debates are unlike any you’ve seen, because they aim not to find a winner, but rather to present both sides of an issue civilly; workshops in schools and workplaces, especially high schools and community colleges, on “How to Disagree Better;” and also importantly for individuals — a start with a self-evaluation called “Depolarizing Within.” And many more opportunities are designed by each of the over 100 Alliances with over 33,500 participants nationwide which can develop programs to suit their own communities.
One remarkable outcome of an effort over the last 3 years is a report created by members of Braver Angels called “Trustworthy Elections Campaign.” Not an arm of Braver Angels, but rather a group inspired by the values of Braver Angels, this group, over 200 volunteers, with exactly 50 percent each red and blue participants in over 100 hours of workshop time, organized 26 separate workshops across 27 states, and then sat down to vigorously discuss their findings. The team agreed unanimously on 23 recommendations to make our elections more trustworthy. That is the kind of outcome that can occur when good people, who can disagree vigorously, sit down and listen to the other side.
Braver Angels needs all of us. Look at the opportunities offered all across the country, and here with San Diego Alliance meetings every second Saturday morning. Watch the “Braver Angels: Reuniting America” documentary from 2017 that shows you how 20 very partisan people got together over an entire weekend and learned just how much they did know about each other, and just how much they didn’t. Join the movement, it takes all of us to bridge this national divide.
Hay M.D., is an ambassador at Braver Angels and lives in Del Mar. Simmons is co-chair at San Diego Alliance and lives in Carmel Valley. Young is co-chair at San Diego Alliance and lives in Pacific Beach.
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