My Experience as a Braver Angels Convention Delegate: Or How I Came to Love Republicans

I just spent the July 4th week in Gettysburg, PA, the site of the bloodiest battle of the Civil War, which resulted in more than 50,000 American causalities suffered over the divisions in our country. I was there as a delegate from California to the national convention of the Braver Angels. We were there to try to prevent another such catastrophe.

Braver Angels

Braver Angels is a grassroots national organization dedicated to creating a more thoughtful, civil discourse in our country and bridging the gap between progressives and conservatives, Republicans and Democrats, blues and reds. It was launched in a modest way in 2016, after the national election, as a structured discussion between 10 Trump voters and 11 supporters of Hillary Clinton in South Lebanon, Ohio to try and understand their differences. It created great friends.

I became involved with the organization in 2018, when I attended one of their Red-Blue Workshops in San Francisco, similar to the one in Ohio. The structured session, run by two facilitators, one “red” and one “blue”, consisted of a series of “walk in my shoes” exercises among an equal number of participants who self-identified as at least leaning red or blue. I’m a progressive and I had been a Democratic Party activist for some years. So, I went prepared to make all the arguments and counter-arguments that supported my side, expecting to learn new skills on how to fight fairly with the other side. I came away disappointed when I found out how much we agreed on and how civil we were to each other, until I realized that was the whole point!

Since then I’ve been involved at a rather modest level, attending a few other events and becoming a member of their Scholars Council, a group of about 100 scholars from all over the country who self-identify as red or blue and who support the ideas of the organization.

I was invited to attend the Convention among other delegates, in equal numbers of blue and red, who were charged with helping the organization’s Executive Committee craft a mission statement and chart the future course of the organization. I went with rather low expectations and it was with a certain sense of dread. Yes, I had come to have respectful, productive conversations with Republicans, as a result of the workshops I attended. But they were reasonable, San Francisco Republicans.  In a national meeting, with people from all over the country, I would have to work with those Republicans. The prospects didn’t look good.

My Experience

Well, I’m pleased to report that no blood was shed. Indeed, from the first hours, my experience was totally unexpected. I’ve been to many, many conferences in my 50-year career. But I have never attended one where people smiled so much at each other! 

Now mind you, this was a meeting where everyone displayed their leanings with colored lanyards. And I found myself actually smiling at Republicans—and they were smiling back at me!

I initially wrote this off as a Pollyannaish beginning-of-the-meeting optimism that would wear off once we attended session and actually got down to work. 

Again, I was surprised and impressed.

Among the sessions I attended was one moderated between two prominent Black leaders, Travis Smiley and Ian ROWE, with alternative opinions and perspectives, who had a wide-ranging, nuanced, thoughtful, and passionate discussion about topics that included reparations, charter schools, Black poverty, and individual responsibility. Another discussion was between a prominent conservative podcaster, Wilk Wilkinson, and the former Director of the National Institutes of Health, Francis Collins, who discussed distrust of the public healthcare system and errors that were made in during the pandemic in an effort to save lives that resulted in mistrust of the health care system. And there was a keynote presentation by the Republican Governor of Utah, Spencer Cox, who espoused the Utah Way of creating informed, bi-partisan discussions in the lead up to state legislation. We all, smiled, shook our heads and clapped.

All of this was thoughtful and informative, even exciting, as I learned so much about other points of view. 

But then I decided to enter the jaws of the beast, to really stretch myself and attend sessions I thought I would never consider attending: one on Christian Nationalism and another on re-electing Donald Trump. With this experience, I knew the bubble of naïve enthusiasm would finally be burst.

Indeed, my limits were confronted. There are real differences between me and them. I am not a Christian and I am not a nationalist. And I consider Donald Trump to be one of the most immoral, despicable people to have ever held public office.

But I listened. And I learned. I wanted to understand their position. And as a result, I came to understand my own position at a much deeper level.

The session on Christian Nationalism was a discussion between two Southern Baptist ministers, Hunter Baker and Daniel Darling, both of whom are conservative, neither of whom identified themselves as Christian Nationalists. Both are dedicated to the democratic process and the principles of Braver Angels.  I learned that there are two sorts of Christian Nationalists. One is theological; people who desire that the nation be explicitly led by the principles of Christ’s teachings. But these people would expect this leadership to arise within the democratic structures and processes of our country. The second is an overtly political version of Christian Nationalist, led by people who aren’t steeped in theology or who, it is claimed, aren’t even regular church goers. These people feel our government is corrupt and they are angry, angry enough to take the government by force.

Our differences are real.  They are not to be papered over. I don’t believe in theocratic governments. Even if popularly elected, I fear for minority rights. And I am particularly concerned about gun-toting people who feel their misguided righteousness is sufficient to bring down our government by force. My beliefs are real and I hold them passionately. But at least some of them are shared by the Southern Baptist ministers on that stage. This is a basis for dialog and, perhaps, for joint action. I came away from that session with deep concern but with some basis for hope.

The session on Trump’s re-election was a debate in which delegates could take sides, arguing pro or con. I was reassured to see that a number of people taking the con position were Republicans or former Republicans who had voted for Trump. They argued against his re-election based on moral principles, principles we share. At the same time, those that argue for Trump claimed that values are unimportant and that they should be ignored in favor of policies that they supported. I was reassured both in the values of Republicans against Trump and the fact that the pro-Trump position was so weak. But this debate was not like the Presidential debates you see on TV or most other “debates”. This was done with respect. The process was designed to preclude ad hominem attacks. If only, we could all be informed by such debates.

The Hard Work

But the real work of the convention was to adopt a mission statement, or what was called the Platform of the Convention, that captured the spirit of our time together and the principles we espouse.

Our country is facing a level polarity and incivility that is threatening the very fabric of our country. However, in the face of this, nearly 700 people of all walks of life came together with a commitment to find a new way of relating. There were significant differences and it was not all Kumbaya. And it was generally agreed that we did not represent the full political spectrum in the country.

But that’s okay. In fact, it is probably essential. We’re probably not going to get to where we need to be by throwing the most extreme, vitriolic bomb throwers into a room. We are going to get there by starting with the people who are as dedicated to maintaining our democratic republic as they are to their own position. And that’s what I found along with my new Republican friends in Gettysburg.

And I believe that’s where the majority of the people are in our country. We just need the tools, structures and mechanisms to get there.  Braver Angels is uniquely qualified to help us do it. This grassroots-based organization has over 11,000 members in 92 chapters, or “alliances” in 47 states. They not only have tested, effective workshops for citizens, they have workshops for legislators and their staffs. They have outreach efforts to media to promote positive, balanced reporting that informs citizens. They have campus debates for students and for faculty on tough, controversial topics. And they have a network of over 200 likeminded local and national organizations around the country. Our charge at the end of the convention was to build on these resources and make into a movement, to go out and take this the purpose and mission of the organization to the rest of the country.

That’s what I’m doing here.

We finished the convention with the adoption of the platform that reads in part:

Today we dedicate ourselves to the great task before us: to safeguard the spirit of our republic and to preserve its deepest unity. In our politics, let us work together when we agree and when we do not agree let us oppose one another in good faith. In the work of civic renewal, let us build trust among individuals and build institutions worthy of our trust. Let us labor together to discover and cherish our common heritage and identity as Americans. Let us strive as one toward the “beloved community” of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s vision and the “more perfect Union” of the Founders’ summoning, believing that America can live up to its best ideals.

This is something we can’t do on our own—blue or red. We have to do this together. And I am prepared to do the hard work with my Republican brothers and sisters. Together we can save our country.

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