Newsletter - April 2026

On April 18, I had the pleasure of attending a Braver Angels Common Ground workshop on Immigration in David Joyce's 14th congressional district. This event demonstrated deliberative democracy and courageous citizenship at its best.

Eight "reds" and eight "blues", representing a wide range of viewpoints, openly and constructively shared their concerns and values regarding immigration, and reached unanimous agreement on eight solutions or policies for addressing immigration challenges facing our country. Their recommendations ranged from addressing processing backlogs, enforcement standards, education and communication, employer accountability, and workforce development.

In addition to sharing the findings from this workshop with Representative Joyce, points of agreement from the workshop will be incorporated into a national report, which will detail bipartisan points of agreement that can form the basis of much needed immigration reform legislation.

A key to the success of this work is active engagement and sponsorship by members of Congress. That's where Constituent Conversations and other active outreach efforts become critical. Whether it be through this work, or through the public consultation efforts of organizations like Voice of the People, we are clearly demonstrating the ability of citizens to find areas of bipartisan agreement on a wide range of difficult issues.

Although we have not yet been able to overcome the forces that prevent members of Congress from working together on a bipartisan basis to produce the legislation necessary to address the difficult problems that face our nation, I remain cautiously optimistic that we are laying the foundation for a sustainable movement that helps us to finally overcome inaction and gridlock on both a local and national basis.

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I take great pains in my work and through this newsletter to maintain a non-partisan focus on improving goverment processes and the effectiveness of Congress.

My social media post earlier this month on election integrity and the SAVE act may be perceived by some subscribers as stretching that non-partisan focus. My work from 2022 to 2025 with election officials, subject matter experts, and quality professionals, provided me with a unique understanding of the heroic work of election officials and the comprehensive guardrails in place to ensure the integrity of our elections.

If you have not already done so, please review the aforementioned social media post and take the two minutes required to view the associated video. The proposed SAVE act is much more than a voter ID requirement, with multiple provisions that would be costly to taxpayers, problematic to implement, and potentially harmful to our election system.

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Newsletter - March 2026

Exactly five years ago I emailed the first Speak Up for Good Government newsletter to a small group of recipients.

I started with nine basic principles to guide my work. Those principles have since been refined and consolidated to eight "good government" principles.

A couple of months later, I created a web page that serves as a repository for my work. It contains Speak Up for Good Government's mission, houses my newsletter and associated publications, and provides links to organizations and resources that support my principles.

Surprisingly the scope and focus of my work has not changed and the principles continue to effectively guide my work. I continue to believe that those principles provide a viable framework for Congress to function effectively.

I have learned a lot during the first five years of this journey and have met and collaborated with some amazing people and organizations.

Nonetheless, we remain very far from acheiving my mission of "improving the effectiveness of our federal government by reducing legislative gridlock and empowering the public to impact and inform federal legislation".

Simply put, there is insufficient counterbalance to the forces that cause our elected officials to prioritize party loyalty, their donors, and the next election over the interests of their constituents and our country.

I am convinced that in order to offset or counter these negative forces and make progress on all eight of my good government principles, there needs to be a citizen-led movement that provides the cover and impetus our representatives need to reorder their priorities. The citizen-led movement should compel elected officials to act on the input of their constituents and it should promote a bipartisan approach to governing. That's why I feel that the work of Braver Angels and the emerging collaboration between Braver Angels and Voice of the People are so important.

We cannot continue to accept a federal government that shuts down, can't pass a budget, and fails to enact common-sense legislation to address critical problems. The emerging model of courageous citizenship being promoted by Braver Angels is designed to empower Americans to constructively engage with each other, constructively engage with our elected officials, and model the behavior we expect from Congress.

If we can leverage the overriding spirit of respect and collaboration that I've described above, my other six principles can provide an engine for Congress to operate the way I believe most Americans want it to operate, effectively solving problems and promoting health, safety, and prosperity.

There is a lot to be concerned and frustrated about. But I do believe that momentum is building for the type of change I'm articulating. So despite the lack of progress in the first five years of my good government journey, I remain hopeful that positive change is possible.

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Newsletter - February 2026

I am convinced that in order for Congress and our Federal government to function effectively, "we the people" need to effectively counterbalance the forces that prevent our elected officials from working in good faith across the aisle to produce legislation that addresses the critical issues that affect our country.

The model of "courageous citizenship" being developed by Braver Angels provides a foundation for translating talk into action, leveraging the power of civil discourse to help engage citizens to partner with and inform the actions of their elected representatives.

The politics of hate and fear dominate so much of what we see and hear in traditional media, on social media, and in casual conversations. As a result, it is easy to understand why so many people simply "tune out".

As disgusting as politics can be, tuning out and/or accepting the status quo, where people are demonized for their political persuasion or for their position on specific issues, plays into the hands of those that put party loyalty, campaign donations, and the next election over solving problems.

Early last month, one of my long time friends bemoaned the lack of election participation by the youngest voters. His comments resonated with me, and I have recently had conversations with younger family members on this topic. In addition, I recently completed two very impactful and insightful "1:1 Conversations Across Generations" with a college student who comes from a very different background than mine. He is a deeply religious person who has committed to a life of service, but he "confessed" that he and many of his fellow students are disengaged from politics. Simply put, he didn't equate his strong commitment to helping other people to the "civic duty" that is implied by being well-informed on local and national issues, by engaging with his elected representative, or even by voting. Through our conversations, I learned that an extremely strong moral compass does not automatically translate to civic engagement.

In the last presidential election, nearly as many people chose not to exercise their right to vote (73 million votes) as those that voted for either Kamala Harris (75 million votes) or Donald Trump (77 million votes), with the 18 to 24 age group having the lowest turnout rate at only 47.7%.*

*source U.S. Census bureau and USAFacts

It has become very apparent to me that meaningful improvement of Congress and our federal government will not occur without active citizen engagement, that is why I'm so actively involved with Braver Angels and Voice of the People.

On April 18, we are planning a Common Ground Workshop on Immigration in David Joyce's 14th Congressional district; and on May 16th we are conducting a similar workshop in Emelia Sykes's 13th Congressional district. These workshops bring reds (conservatives) and blues (liberals) together to identify points of agreement on immigration.  

As a follow-up to the workshops, Constituents Conversations on Immigration are scheduled, where workshop participants are invited to present the workshop results to the district’s U.S. representative.

The Braver Angels Citizens Commission on Immigration will culminate in a “Report to the Nation,” outlining key policy recommendations that reflect the output from the red/blue common ground workshops.  Plans are to distribute the report to Congress, to the media and to immigration leaders in July 2027.

We are still recruiting participants for both workshops and need your help!

If you live in either of the aforementioned Congressional districts and you have a passion for immigration and want to add your voice to a possible solution; or if you know of someone who might be interested in participating, or if you know someone who might be able to help us recruit participants, please contact me for more information.

Thanks in advance for your help and have a great month!

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