How Do We Fix It?
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Some wore red hats, others wore blue. Outside scores of polling places in many states across the country, pairs of Democrats and Republicans sat together in a radically simple experiment called the Braver Angels Election Day Initiative.
The contrast between dire media forecasts of violence, and calamity during the election and what actually happened was stark. The day passed by calmly with minimal reports of disruption. There was a sense of quiet majesty that day.
In this episode we hear about the experience of three Red/Blue pairs of Braver Angels volunteers. For all of them the experience of presenting themselves in public as liberals and conservatives who could get along was uplifting. We also get reactions and reflections about the results and what they mean for our democracy.
Our guests are: Liberal Don Goldberg and conservative Elizabeth Doll who were outside the King County Election Headquarters in Renton, Washington on Election Day. Dorsey Cartwright, who voted for Harris, and Roger Haynes who backed Trump, spent several hours together close to a polling station in Austin, Texas. The third red/blue pair Martin Hunke (Blue) and Tarleton Ferrin (Red) in Tucson, Arizona.
Braver Angels volunteers had posters that said Vote Red, Vote Blue, We're All Americans Through and Through.
"People were really warm about it," said Elizabeth. "They seemed sometimes surprised, sometimes amused, but everyone was really receptive." Don said the experience in Renton "was really kind of delightful".
Our Blue volunteers, as expected, were deeply saddened by the election result. "I felt some sadness," said Martin Hunke. "I realized that we live in very different worlds. We can't agree on what truth is."
"In elections people win and lose, but we as Americans are left with moving forward together," conservative Roger Haynes told us. "We have to learn to win and lose with grace and understand how to be more empathetic with people whose side didn't win... Do we take this as another gotcha moment or do we try to step outside of our tribe and ask what's it like for them?"
This episode was produced with the help and encouragement of David Albright, Jessica Jones, and Mónica Guzmán at "A Braver Way" podcast. Our deep thanks to them.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Do you believe what you see in newspapers, websites and on TV? Most Americans don't trust the people who are supposed to truthfully report the news. A new Gallup poll says Americans have record-low trust in mass media. Only one-in-three adults has a "great deal" or a "fair amount" of confidence in the media to report the news "fully, accurately and fairly."
More than 150,000 readers each day turn to Tangle, a website read by liberals, conservatives and independents. Every day Tangle tackles one current debate in American politics, and summarizes arguments from left, right, and center. All Sides Bias Checker gives Tangle a "middle" rating, which means the site neither leans left nor right.
Our guest, politics reporter Isaac Saul, started Tangle in 2019 as an independent, ad-free, nonpartisan newsletter. He grew up in Bucks County Pa. — one of the most politically divided counties in America — where he was exposed to a huge range of political opinions and values. As a young journalist, Isaac learned the media ecosystem was broken when he found that he wasn’t being judged based on his writing, but where it was being published.
On Tangle "you will encounter a wide range of views, including some you really disagree with," Isaac tells us.
"We're trying to be a big tent news organization and we are succeeding at that... Our readership is split almost evenly between conservative and liberal readers."
"I'm working from the premise that the reds and blues don't understand each other," he says. "I really do want to bring people under one roof with a shared set of arguments to analyze and talk about, and a shared set of facts to work from."
About this show: Every couple of weeks we release a new episode hosted by Richard Davies about the work, the ideas, and the people of Braver Angels, a remarkable band of brothers and sisters who get together across political divides in person and online: Reds and Blues who do battle against toxic polarization. In this show we speak with a fellow traveler of this effort.
Links to news sites that feature a range of opinions on a single issue:
Tangle, All Sides, and Ground News.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Are you fed up with politics and especially the presidential campaign? On How Do We Fix It? we're reporting on the people, projects and ideas of Braver Angels. This nationwide citizen-led movement is a growing coalition of liberals and conservatives working to restore hope and co-operation to our politics.
In this episode we speak with a second pair of Red-Blue volunteers who will be working together and meeting voters outside a polling site on November 5th. It's all part of the nationwide Election Day Initiative. Our guests are Elizabeth Doll and Don Goldberg. On election day, they will be outside King County Election HQ in Renton, Washington.
"The other is not necessarily the enemy", Don tells us. "They just happen to be another side." Elizabeth agrees and hopes that one result of the Initiative is that Americans "recognize people can be friends... talk about politics with each other, disagree about politics, and still be in relationship with each other."
Elizabeth Doll is Director of Braver Politics at Braver Angels. She's been a volunteer, and a consultant for political campaigns in the Pacific NorthWest. Don Goldberg is a writer and political social satirist who now helps transcribe the podcast, "A Braver Way".
This episode is a reminder that America's voting system differs across the country. Washington state votes by mail. All voters receive paper ballots. They put them in drop boxes, or hand in their ballots to the local county elections department on or before election day.
You can find out more about the Election Day Initiative on the Braver angels dot org web site. Braver Angels also have local in-person and online events all across the country. Look for one at the "Find an Event" prompt here.
This show was put together with help of the production team at "A Braver Way", a podcast about how Americans of all viewpoints can disagree about politics without losing heart. Thanks to their team David Albright, Jessica Jones and show host Moni Guzman.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
These final days before the election are tense times. Today’s toxic politics are hurtful and heart breaking for many of us.
Maybe we all need a hope vaccine. An injection of kindness, curiosity and understanding for those who see the world differently than we do.
In our latest report on the work, ideas, and people of Braver Angels, the nationwide citizen-led campaign against political polarization, we learn more about its Election Day Initiative: A volunteer-led effort to push back against political climate change— the hurricane of hate resentment and disdain that many on the left and right feel for the other side.
Our guests in this episode are liberal Dorsey Cartwright and conservative Roger Haynes. They are two of many red/blue pairs of citizens who will sit and stand together outside polling places across America.
M. Dorsey Cartwright is a retired marriage and family therapist in Austin, Texas. She travelled internationally leading workshops for couples, individuals, adult children and parents, as well as for communities. Valuing the healing of relationships, Dorsey has turned her attention to America’s political environment. First as an active member of No Labels and its mission to depolarize the House and Senate, and then Braver Angels, with its mission to depolarize our citizenship. Her politics lean blue.
Red-leaning Roger Haynes is a retired Chief Master Sergeant with 23 years of active military service and he recently left a civil service appointment with the government. He has served in his community in various roles including HOA, City Commission, and is also active helping local Friends of NRA committees raise grant funding in areas such as youth education, women-focused clinics, law enforcement training, hunter safety, range improvement, firearms and marksmanship training and safety. He’s passionate about the First and Second Amendments.
Learn more here about Braver Angels “American Hope Campaign”.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Elections are vital to all democracies: The authority of the government comes solely from the consent of the governed. But millions of Americans don’t trust the electoral process and have highly negative views of politics.. Many have little or no confidence that all votes will be fairly and accurately counted.
What should be done to improve our elections? We discuss reforms that both conservative reds and liberals blues can endorse. Some may surprise you, including ending gerrymandering and the unanimous recommendation on requiring ID to vote.
The Braver Angels Trustworthy Elections Initiative held 26 workshops with nearly 200 evenly-balanced Red and Blue participants. Together, they found 727 unanimous points of agreement.
Our guests are Larry Mayes and Walt McKee— the Blue and Red Co-Chairs of the Trustworthy Elections Leadership Team. They discuss their recommendations and what they learned together during the past four years.
Larry Mayes has over two decades of experience working with elected municipal, state, and federal government officials and community leaders, focusing on driving human development and social capital. He is Senior Vice President for Government and Community Relations for Catholic Charities, Archdiocese of Boston. In 2014, Boston Mayor Marty Walsh appointed Mayes to the Community Ombudsman Oversight Panel. The Panel for several years reviewed Boston Police Department Internal Affairs cases that were on appeal from citizens as well as random investigated cases.
Walt McKee lives in Maryland with his wife, Juliana. They have been married for 40 years and have three adult children. He worked as a business entrepreneur and, in addition to Braver Angels activity, Walt serves on two nonprofit boards: Steadfast, which serves homeless youth, and the Sandy Spring Slave Museum and African Art Gallery.
In this episode, we also learn more about how Braver Angels will send red and blue voters to polling places across the country on election day, to show Americans that no matter who we’re voting for, we can— and must— get along.
It’s easy to take part. Learn more and sign up here at the Election Day Initiative.
This episode of “How Do We Fix It?” is our latest report on the work, ideas, and people of Braver Angels, America’s largest volunteer-led citizen group that’s working across the country to push back against polarization.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.