Finding common ground: An opportunity for a country divided to talk it out

“Politics can’t fix politics.”  

So said former Long Island Congressman Steve Israel when when my Braver Angels Long Island Alliance co-chair, Herb Lape, and I, along with Swati Srivastava, the leader of our partner organization, Crossing Party Lines Long Island, met with him in his Oyster Bay office toward the end of 2024.  

So what can fix politics? According to Mr. Israel, the answer lies in maximizing grassroots initiatives – like Braver Angels and Crossing Party Lines – that bring people of differing views together in a way that allows for a deep dive into each other’s viewpoints. Hope for our divided country will strengthen as more Americans of all stripes engage in respectful, open and humble communication – and look for a semblance of that in candidates for elected office.

Herb and I approached Mr. Israel last July when he curated a political film festival at Cinema Arts Centre in Huntington. He expressed genuine interest in our efforts and invited us to discuss co-sponsoring a book-discussion program at his bookstore, Theodore’s Books, in Oyster Bay.  The outcome was a well-received public conversation at the bookstore between Herb and political scientist Dr. Lindsey Cormack, author of How to Raise a Citizen. 

That event was one of dozens of moderated discussions, debates, workshops and film screenings on Long Island that our Braver Angels alliance and the LI chapter of Crossing Party Lines have held over the past several years. In addition to Congressman Israel and Theodore’s Books, we have partnered with the League of Women Voters, the Tanenbaum Center for Interreligious Understanding, the Ethical Humanist Society, the Coalition to Protect Kids-NY, the New York Civil Liberties Union, Cinema Arts Centre, the Huntington Library Op Ed Discussion Group and multiple houses of worship to offer informative, interactive programs encouraging cool heads without squashing passion.

Most recently, we sponsored a Braver Angels-designed “Reaching Common Ground” workshop on the hot-button issue of immigration. The program was held at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church in Northport on June 22. The workshop brought together an equal number of “reds” and “blues” in the presence of a gallery of observers to share perspectives, with the goal of discovering common ground as the basis for forming policy. Braver Angles has sent reports of these workshops to Congress and others as examples of productive dialogue. 

The participants’ feedback revealed heightened awareness of and respect for opposing positions on the issue, as well as surprise at the event’s effect on their thinking. The June 22 event was filmed by a German organization, Media Rebels, which is drawing inspiration from Braver Angels to address the highly polarizing immigration issue that is affecting Germany.  

This past May, as part of the Braver Angels Citizens Action Program, our guests were NYS Assemblyman Keith Brown (R-Dist. 12) and Jacob Kraniak, director of the education and advocacy group Long Island EVs, when we engaged participants in a discussion of the politics of electric vehicles. And in March, we partnered with Crossing Party Lines to offer a day-long workshop, “Cultivating Courageous Connections,” at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Bay Shore, which was an uplifting and inspiring experience for the dozens of participants.

Looking ahead, Herb will be interviewed for an upcoming documentary, Bridging the Gap, a project hatched by an NYC-based group, one of the many new initiatives forming across the country.  With Crossing Party Lines Long Island, we are currently planning a series of events for this coming fall.  Many of our programs accommodate online attendance, as well.

More than two thirds of the U.S. population is described as “the exhausted majority” (not highly partisan and weary of the current political climate), according to research findings reported by Sahar Habib Ghazi in the October 2024 issue of Greater Good Magazine. Are you in that majority?  If so, the country needs you to take the courageous step to engage productively with “the other.” Braver Angels and Crossing Party Lines aim to offer you energizing and uplifting hope.  

Northport resident Alex Edwards-Bourdrez is co-chair of the Long Island Alliance of Braver Angels. Both Braver Angels and Crossing Party Lines are nationwide citizens’ organizations with local chapters and alliances dedicated to depolarization. Learn more about them here and here. Email braverangelsli@gmail.com with questions or to get on their email list.