On Friday, Sept. 15, students of Elizabethtown College and community members had the opportunity to sit down, listen and talk about the polarization in politics today. The Braver Angels group started in 2016 after the presidential election between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. They recognized the overwhelming divide that occurred between both major political parties and sought to find a way to bring people back together. 

The group originally called themselves “Better Angels” in honor of President Abraham Lincoln’s inaugural address. In this address Lincoln stated, “…will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely, they will be, by the better angels of our nature,” referring to the divide against slavery in the country. While the group was unable to use this name for long because of the copyright of the speech, they kept the value of it. Becoming the Braver Angels meant that they are carrying on the legacy with people who must be brave enough to step up. 

Speaker Linda Beck got into this group after a first-hand experience in polarization. She said, “It was actually the 2016 election, and I had never gotten into politics before, and I married somebody who really did.” After hearing some controversial things he said, she started looking up what was going on and found out that some things weren’t true. “I actually had an opportunity to do a TEDx on fact-checking and social media and the impact in our world,” Beck explained. From this, she found Braver Angels and decided to join.

The group holds workshops where they bring together members of both parties and they are “not building skills, [they are] building knowledge,” Beck stated. To do this, many marriage counseling skills are applied. One founder of the group, Bill Doherty, is a marriage counselor and was asked, “is it a proper analogy of Reds and Blues in America and couples on the brink of divorce?” He replied, “There is an analogy to couples on the brink.”  

The entire premise of these gatherings is that the group believes that “we have more in common than we think.” As couples can often find themselves pulling away due to differences, they can find similarities that make them stay. It is believed that the same can go for politics. Finding these similarities can lead to seeing people on the other side as individuals and not as a group who fit into a certain stereotype cast out by the media today. When groups sit down and talk of these differences, Braver Angels has proved that they can often become friends, or at least friendly with each other.

While the organization acknowledges that some stereotypes will not be wiped away, they still hope that by facing this problem one step at a time, they can start to bring the country together again.

Beck shared a statistic that stated that when people leave these workshops, “85% feel less estranged” and “87% gain significant understanding.” If people continue to try to be in these workshops and are willing to talk to each other, that number could go across America, making it a less polarized place. 

Right now, this group has an older generation willing to participate, but they are hoping for people of all generations to join. When asked if it is beneficial for a college-age generation to participate, Beck said that “[Younger] generation[s] are the ones who are going to make an even bigger difference,” and they are, “very actively looking to get youth involved.” In order to become a member of this group, all that is needed is to either visit BraverAngels.org, or text BA to 66866.

Joining Braver Angels, attending their workshops or listening in to their lectures are all beneficial for the depolarization of America. As Beck said, “We’re not gonna get anywhere if we are just butting heads.” Braver Angels is encouraging everyone to commit to stopping polarization in order to bring everyone back together.

Sources:

“’The Better Angels of Our Nature’: President Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address.” (2021 February 25). Retrieved from https://www.thehenryford.org/explore/blog/the-better-angels-of-our-nature-president-lincoln’s-first-inaugural-address .

CBS Sunday Morning. (2022 October 16). Bridging the divide: Gathering Red and Blue together [Video]. YouTube. URL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TypAabhL9eg