As some readers know, I volunteered at the national convention of the Braver Angels last week. It was a great experience. Braver Angels is an organization that seeks to provide training to help people speak respectfully (and even form friendships) with others whose opinions they strongly disagree with.

The convention was held at Temple University in Philadelphia. About 900 people attended, which meant it was far bigger than previous Braver Angels gatherings. The size and growth meant that there was a certain amount of chaos, but it was still wonderful.

There were over a hundred sessions, and between my duties as a volunteer and the sheer number of sessions, I know I missed a lot, but I did get a lot out of the sessions I made it to.

I commuted into Philadelphia, catching the 7:25 from Wawa Station each morning.

A mix of blue and red (and yellow). Braver Angels worked very hard to get approximately an equal mix of liberal-leaning and conservative-leaning attendees, even to the point of asking would-be registrants to arrange for someone of the opposite persuasion to attend. The effort paid off. At registration, you got to pick the color of the lanyard for your convention credentials: red for conservative-leaning, blue for liberal-leaning, and yellow for independent or somewhere in the middle, and the red/blue balance seemed roughly equal. .

I got a blue lanyard. At first, I was self-conscious when speaking with attendees with a different lanyard color, but soon that feeling faded away and I didn’t notice the colors. Everyone was friendly, and I had great conversations at meals and in sessions without even noticing the lanyards.

Two sessions in particular stand out in my memory of the event. One involved two US Representatives, one Democratic and one Republican, sharing the stage. The other involved a panel of journalists. I will save my comments on the journalism panel for another blog post. All I will say for now is that the panel reflected the fact that Journalism is changing dramatically, the future of journalism is unclear, and it is an exciting time to be exploring what journalism is becoming. Stay tuned for more details!

Two US Representatives, R & D, who get along. One remarkable session featured two US Representatives: Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) and Tom Suozzi (D-NJ). Both are members of the “Problem Solvers Caucus”, a bipartisan group that is trying to get things done in Congress during a difficult period. It was clear, from their informal banter and needling of each other on stage, that they are actually friends.

Maury Giles, the CEO of Braver Angels, acted as moderator and asked a broad range of questions. Both Suozzi and Fitzpatrick voiced complaints about the way our system works and provided ideas on how to make it work better. Fitzpatrick believes in term limits. Long-term incumbents, he said, can lose touch with the voters they are supposed to represent. He noted that the Founding Fathers distrusted parties. Suozzi agreed that parties are too powerful (but he disagreed about term limits). He observed that powerful parties result in policies (and politicians) that please the party’s base, not the broader electorate. He wants corporate money out of politics.

The most remarkable thing about the discussion was the lack of rancor, interrupting, or grandstanding. I guess it speaks to the current state of our politics that I could be surprised to witness a civil conversation between a Republican and a Democratic member of the House.   

There isn’t room in this blog to describe all the positive aspects of the Braver Angels convention. I consider it a great success, and I am grateful to have been able to participate. I saw many friends (including some who I didn’t know were involved with Braver Angels) and made some new ones. I came away with a renewed sense of hope that we may be able to heal some of the wounds that currently divide our country.  

PS: For a different perspective on the Braver Angels convention, check out Eileen Flanagan’s blog: https://mailchi.mp/daa9934acf77/dialog-and-its-limits. She too had a very positive experience. She notes that dialog (a focus of Braver Angels) may not be enough to achieve necessary changes—especially if you can’t get all the relevant parties to the table. Some pressure may be required. I would certainly agree with that.

I am grateful to BJ Williams for sending me the link to Eileen’s blog.