This commentary is by Bill Mares, who has been a journalist, high school teacher and member of the Vermont Legislature. He is the author or co-author of 16 books ranging from the Marine Corps to workplace democracy, from desert travel to brewing. He is on the board of the Vermont Journalism Trust, the parent organization of VTDigger, and is a member of the steering committee of the Braver Angels Alliance of Northern New England.
When I taught high school history, I felt that part of my job was to teach critical thinking: how to make a case, how to recognize dishonest tricks of argument like stereotyping, ad hominem attacks and black-and-white thinking. We reinforced these ideas with mock trials, debates and searches for undergirding values.
I even promised students that during the year I would make them all “intellectuals.” When they looked at me suspiciously, I quoted them the happy definition of historian Arthur Schlesinger — a person at home with ideas.
That task seems almost quaint as the real and figurative fires of insurrection and the companion assaults on facts and truth have raged around us, even as a new president calls for an end to this uncivil war that pits red against blue, rural versus urban, conservative versus liberal.
Arguably, our nation is now as politically polarized as we have been since the Civil War. And this “uncivil war” has turned hotter just at the moment when a spreading pandemic, vast economic trouble, and other national and global challenges call upon us to support each other like never before.
But do our politics have to be demonizing, where reds and blues find nothing redeeming on the other side, and the middle ground is an endangered species, and where, in the image of Texas politician Jim Hightower, “the only things in the middle of the road are yellow lines and dead armadillos”?
I think of those classroom exercises as I participate in a somewhat similar exercise for adults. Our group is called Braver Angels. Since the 2016 election it has worked to bring conservatives and liberals, reds and blues together in safe spaces to talk about real issues.
The bookends of their inspirations are quotes from Abraham Lincoln. On the eve of the Civil War, Lincoln called out to his fellow citizens:
“Countrymen, we are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory will swell when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.”
Braver Angels (which changed the adjective to reflect its call for intellectual bravery) does not accept this division as permanent. “Our work is about restoring civic trust in the USA,” says its website. “It is about healing the wounds between left and right. Our work is about supporting a more perfect union.” The group, which has chapters in every state, is no nascent third party; it accepts the current partisan division.
Politics can be bruising, they acknowledge, but it need not be bloody, especially at the local level. The ideas and values are real, even precious, but the discussion is measured. Agreement is not the goal; good listening is.
Moderators take participants on a Sunday drive, not to a drag race. They encourage strong opinions, but equally, polite expressions. On one level it’s about bringing some adult supervision into the nursery of ideas and values.
Their second operative phrase, from Lincoln’s second inaugural, is the heart of their tactics: “With malice toward none.”
Braver Angels members make a pledge:
As individuals, we try to understand the other side’s point of view, even if we don’t agree with it.
In our communities, we engage those we disagree with, looking for common ground and ways to work together.
In politics, we support principles that bring us together rather than divide us.
I’m new to this small crusade. Franklin County neighbors Shanna Ratner, a rural development consultant, and Dan Pipes, a retired U.S. Army colonel, started a chapter in St. Albans three and a half years ago. They can tell how it worked and works.
Ours is an entirely volunteer group that meets approximately once a quarter to engage in civic dialogue around a controversial topic. Topics we have discussed include political stereotypes, immigration, the role of the media, gun ownership and public safety, the opioid crisis, lessons learned from the pandemic, the appropriate role of government, privacy protections, and more. We began by actively recruiting an even number of people whose political views lean conservative and people whose political views lean liberal.
We spent a good part of the first two and a half years learning how to communicate effectively with one another by asking respectful questions based on curiosity, not judgment. We have learned to tolerate difference and to listen deeply for common ground. We have progressed from basic dialogues to shared work on a policy related to privacy in short-term rentals and to a public statement publicized prior to November’s election regarding the importance of maintaining civility no matter who won.
Now we are preparing ourselves to work as a team to provide virtual training in civic discourse to others. We have learned a lot from each other and we’d like to encourage others to do the same.
We have chosen to focus on Franklin county, but have had members drive from as far away as the Northeast Kingdom to participate. We also have had participants from many walks of life. We would love to see some younger citizens get involved. We would like to be a group that represents a full range of life experiences and opinions.
This is radical, humane listening, perhaps not even compromise.
In their search for common dreams and values, not stakes in the ground for opposing beliefs, Ratner and Pipes want to draw the poison from political exchanges.
And as I told my students, Winston Churchill once said, “It’s better to jaw, jaw, than war, war!”
