With all that is happening in our country and in the world, I sometimes question whether the work I'm doing is relevant, meaningful, or a priority at this time. However, as I reflect on current events and what is dominating the headlines, I suspect that the vast majority of Americans would chart a different course either for our government's priorities or for the approach that our government is taking to address current priorities.
The best way that I see to increase government effectiveness and accountability is for Americans to partner with, and demand more from our elected officials. Our elected officials are much too constrained by party leaders, deep-pocketed donors, and their fear of losing their next election. In order for common ground legislative solutions to be passed, we need to overcome the forces that prevent our elected officials from working in good faith to actually solve problems. Overcoming these forces will require voters and constituents to model and demand the constructive engagement most of use to solve every day problems with friends, family, and coworkers.
Over the past month, I have been actively engaged with three Braver Angels initiatives:
Building upon last summer's Braver Angels/Voice of the People "Experiment in Democracy", we are working on a framework to support Braver Angels' Citizen Commision on Immigration;
I am working with the Braver Network to inform Braver Angels' framework for Courageous Citizenship;
I have scheduled the first of two 1:1 "Conversation Across Generations" with a college student to better understand the perspective of the younger generation and to potentially identify ways to help younger people feel empowered to engage with and inform the work of our elected officials.
Both Donald Trump and Kamala Harris received over 70 million votes in the last presidential election. Every one of those voters are unique individuals with their own reason for the voting decision they made. Too frequently people characterize or judge people based on who they voted for, when their voting decision is just a small part of who they are.
Tribalizing people based on their voting decisions plays into the hands of people and institutions that benefit by anger, division, and hatred.
My work with Braver Angels is helping me to more effectively listen and learn from people and news sources I don't agree with. I remain convinced that we are much less polarized than we are led to believe and there are common ground legislative solutions that can be adopted to address most of the critical problems our country faces.
I remain convinced that my eight good government principles can provide the framework for a responsive government that truly works for its citizens. A key first step is to overcome the forces that prevent our elected officials from truly working for their constituents.
Much more to follow in future months.
Social media posts from earlier this month:
