Teri Gray and Marty Hopkins are co-chairs of the Braver Angels’ Delaware alliance. Rich Harris is the group’s state coordinator.
Do you have difficulty discussing politics without it becoming personal and judgmental? Have you tuned out of politics because you can’t stand the vitriol? Have family or friends become estranged because of polarized beliefs? If you answered yes to any of these and would like that to change, we invite you to join the new Delaware alliance of Braver Angels, a national organization founded in 2016 and dedicated to depolarizing our politics. It boasts over 13,000 members and operates 106 alliances in 49 states. We want to make that 50 states and are currently leading a group to start Delaware’s first alliance.
BA isn’t about changing political beliefs. It’s about understanding that people can disagree strongly without hating each other. One of us works for a defense contractor, lives in a university town and has both conservative/Republican (red) and liberal/Democratic (blue) friends. None of them is ignorant or mean spirited. Yet, in assessing the other side’s politics, most would insist that ignorance and mean spiritedness are the only explanations. That just isn’t true. Most would be friends if they met, and politics wasn’t the focus. But politics isn’t going away. So, what do we do?
Braver Angels offers a solution. Its secret sauce is bringing people with strong, differing beliefs to well-structured settings that promote respectful discussion. By the end of the day, participants come to see each other in a new light. They still hold their beliefs as strongly as before but come to understand that good people can have sincere reasons for believing something different. If that sounds unrealistic, we invite you to check out Braver Angels at braverangels.org and take a few minutes to view the following: www.youtube.com/watch?v=TypAabhL9eg.
If you believe patriotism belongs to both sides and demands that Republicans and Democrats engage in good faith, and if the thought of folks on the other side seeing your point of view and showing you respect sounds appealing, we would love to hear from you. A key to the Braver Angels’ model is having an equal number of reds and blues. We are especially interested in adding a few more reds to balance things out a bit more. If that’s you, please consider checking us out. But, whether you are red or blue, we welcome you.
These are, once again, times that try men’s souls. Our Founding Fathers had the wisdom to envision a more perfect union instead of the perfect union. We will never agree about everything because we face complicated issues that affect different people in different ways, and the costs and benefits are shared unequally and sometimes unfairly. But we continue to believe that there are many people on both sides who would like to stop the shouting, listen a little more, work together in a way that addresses the views and needs of both, and insist that our political leaders do the same. We hope you will consider joining the new BA alliance in Delaware and contact our state coordinator at rharris@braverangels.org.
In addition, for those interested in learning more about Braver Angels, we will hold a potluck social Nov. 12 at 6 p.m. at the Camden Friends Meeting House at 122 E. Camden Wyoming Ave.
Reader reactions, pro or con, are welcomed at civiltalk@iniusa.org.
