This summer has brought more activities in the Better Angels Organization. The name Better Angels came from Abraham Lincoln’s first Inaugural Address where he said,
“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.”
The mission of Better Angels is to take those beautiful words and put them into action, by depolarizing America, and helping people who disagree politically find common ground. We do this by hosting workshops where we bring together about a dozen people, ½ liberal, ½ conservative to have a discussion that’s moderated by two non-partisan moderators.
Why do we need organizations like Better Angels? Many of us believe our views to be the only views that are valid. What do you think of the horrible language describing people on the “other-side?” We’ve all heard the hateful language; Evil. Ignorant. Unpatriotic. We’ve also heard much worse. Better Angels offers another path by helping people find the humanity in people with whom they disagree.
How do we find the humanity? We uncover three qualities people that bring people together; Respect, communication, and empathy. No matter what the conflict is, a labor-management negotiation, a marital crisis, or an uncomfortable political discussion, as long as there is respect, communication, and empathy, there are possibilities, when the respect, communication, and empathy stops, he possibilities vanish.
How does that work in real life? At our convention in June, Hawk Newsome, President of the New York Chapter of Black Lives Matter and Ray Warrick, President of the Ohio Tea Party shared the stage to have a discussion with Better Angels President, David Blankenhorn. Both talked about the goals of their organization and things they might have in common with each other. While they disagreed on many things, they were not affraid to explore things they agreed on. One area of agreement was support for finding ways to get money out of politics. It was a learning experience for everyone who attended.
Locally, we have a thriving Better Angels Alliance in Alameda that meets on a regular basis. We’ve organized three workshops in town and we’ll soon be be setting a date for the next one. Our stretch goal is to host a conversation in the area similar to the one Ray and Hawk participated in at the convention.
Do you agree that our society would be more productive if we were less polarized. If the answer is yes, please take a look at our website; better-angels.org. You can also email me at this staddei57@gmail.com.
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