As I See It: What Braver Angels is all about

Jan 26, 2024

Braver Angels had their annual convention in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, this year, which was fitting considering the current state of the nation.

While there, I was fortunate to go with licensed battleground tour guide Bob Steenstra as he took a busload of us through the hallowed national park there, which is one of those places every American should try to see. He gave a riveting account of each battle, painting a vivid picture of what life, and the loss of it, must have been like for the thousands of men who died there.

He also gave his personal reflection on the similarities in the country between that time and now, mincing no words on how a country can slip into civil war. This is why Braver Angels was formed following the 2016 election by concerned citizens on both sides of the political aisle who were increasingly concerned about the nation’s growing division and polarization.

It was started in a church basement in Ohio where a couple of dozen people, half Clinton voters and half Trump voters, spent a weekend to see if they could talk with each other rather than about each other. Turns out they could.

The original name was Better Angels, a term borrowed from Abraham Lincoln in his famous address named after the very spot (allegedly) we were standing in, the name changed later due to a trademark dispute.

This year’s convention on the beautiful campus of Gettysburg College had over 650 attendees and Lincoln’s words resonate now as much as ever: “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, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.”

It’s hard to believe we could be at this point but, with as yougov.com showing 2 in 5 Americans believing a civil war is at least somewhat likely in the next decade, the need for a group like Braver Angels is growing.

The same polls show two-thirds (66%) believe that political divisions in this country have gotten worse since the beginning of 2021, compared to only 8% who say the country has grown less divided. Few see things improving in the coming years: 62% expect an increase in political divisions.

This is what drives David Blankenhorn, founder and president of the Institute for American Values and Braver Angels, who travels the country meeting with whoever will listen to discuss the group’s massive mission.

“Rancor has become the dominant feature of our public life,” Blankenhorn said during the convention’s opening plenary. “There’s a heart-sickness in the country, and we don’t really have to tell people there’s a problem, they all know it.”

“It was a magical thing,” he said at the opening plenary, “nearly 700 people have come to Braver Angels’ national convention, and the organization has students active on 75 college campuses and 2,500 trained volunteers.”

Breakout sessions at the convention included timely, compelling, and provocative sessions like “Polarization and the Media”, which was hosted by former Boston Globe writer Farah Stockman, as well as an eye-opening talk about pandemic disinformation and misunderstandings called “An Elitist and a Deplorable Walk Into a Bar.”

The secret ingredient in all Braver Angels events is the thing seldom found anywhere today, especially at news outlets and social media: an equal number of blues (those who lean left, vote Democrat) and reds (those who lean right, vote Republican).

This is what makes up every committee at BA, every workshop, debate, discussion and fishbowl has an equal number of people on both sides. In fact, the huge number of attendees at this year’s convention was almost perfectly balanced between red and blue. Probably the largest such event ever held.

The underlying rule behind it is there is never an attempt to change anyone’s mind, just an attempt to open it to hearing the other side.

Just about every state in the nation has a Braver Angels group, including our own Greater Boston Braver Angels, which was started when fellow North Shore resident Bob Scheier called to ask if I’d be interested in being the red co-chair.

He didn’t have to ask twice and we co-hosted several events, including an especially rewarding one at Concord Academy where students peppered us with questions and concerns well beyond our allotted time.

Today, I co-chair it with Mimi Yang, professor emerita, Carthage College (Wisconsin). For more information: https://greaterboston.braverangels.org/

Lenny Mirra is a former state representative and the red co-chairperson for Greater Boston Braver Angels.

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