Alliance News

Join us for an in-person Common Ground Workshop on Immigration! 

In person, November 15 @ 1:00 pm - 5:30 pm EST

About this event

The Braver Angels Common Ground Workshop will bring together seven Conservatives (Reds) and seven Liberals (Blues) for a deep dive, with the assistance of certified moderators, into immigration policy. Together, participants will talk about their connection to the issue and their opinions on solutions. By the end of the workshop, participants will have developed unanimously held Points of Agreements on values, concerns, and policies. You can read a news article about the same workshop held in Phoenix last April here.

Participants will also have the exciting opportunity to participate in Constituent Conversations with Governor Wes Moore and Congressman Jamie Raskin, tentatively scheduled for January 2027.  Please apply to participate only if you are prepared to attend those conversations.

Restricted Attendance: Interested people should apply via the link below.  Participation is limited to seven Reds and seven Blues and also limited in an effort to maintain a balance along certain demographic characteristics. Applicants will later be notified by an organizer as to whether they have been admitted to the workshop.  Those not admitted may participate as observers, with the possibility of participating should a participant cancel.  Organizers reserve the right to switch people between Participant and Observer/Alternate status depending on the needs of the workshop.

Goals:

• To delve into a single issue where citizens differ – in this case, immigration – and learn how each other sees the problem,

• To delineate areas of common ground and points of agreement,

• To learn something that might be helpful to others in our community and the nation, and

• To communicate results of the workshop with elected leaders.

Logistics: Participants will engage in small- and large-group discussions with individuals of both the same and different political persuasions.

Who can come? Anyone interested in developing a deeper understanding of, and connection with, people whose political beliefs differ from their own. You should be able to honestly answer “yes” to the following question:

“Are you willing to listen to the other side, and are you willing to speak to the other side with respect?”

Questions? Contact the Event Organizers, Jack Goldlman (jgoldman@braverangels.org) or Walt McKee (waltersmckeeiii@gmail.com).

When: Sunday, November 15, 1:00 pm – 5:30 pm

Where: Salem United Methodist Church, 12 High St., Brookeville, MD 20833 (two miles north of Olney)

Apply to participate: here.

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MoCo Alliance has been selected: International Aid Project!

Kickoff on October 29

The Montgomery County Alliance is one of a handful of Braver Angels alliances nationwide selected to participate in a new project on international aid.  An in-person debate and common ground workshop will be held early next year in the county.  But to kick off the project, the national project team held a Coliseum Debate online on October 29, featuring experts on foreign aid with differing perspectives.  

Speakers included:
Alice Albright – former CEO of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (Yes, Madeleine’s daughter)
Max Primorac – Senior Research Fellow at the Heritage Foundation
Emily Brearley – Founder, Solution42 and developmental economist
Rachel Peniston - Aid On The Hill policy director and former USAID senior policy advisor 

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Monthly Alliance Meeting, October 26: 

Special preview of the new Braver Angels Documentary,

"A House United"

Braver Angels is beginning its second decade the way it started its first one—with a new documentary film, A House United, demonstrating the depolarizing power of what we do.  And we in the MoCo Alliance have a unique opportunity to preview the film and to meet the filmmaker virtually at our next monthly meeting on Monday, October 26th.  After the virtual screening of the film and the discussion with the film maker, our alliance will hold its own discussion on the film.  This exciting opportunity pre-empts our originally planned programming, which will be moved to the November meeting.

Films, such as our first documentary film, have been demonstrated to have a strong depolarizing effect.  In addition, these films are great recruitment tools, showing what we do and how we are effective.  So, if you know anyone who you think would have any interest in participating in Braver Angels, please invite them to join us.   Also, you can use the film in your own recruitment efforts once it is more widely available.

The film was produced by Braver Angels in conjunction with JoJo Films.  Watch a preview of the film here.

Reflections: How can you be so sure?

“The spirit of liberty is the spirit which is not too sure that it is right,” according to Judge Learned Hand.  Why?  Well, consider the alternative: the authoritarian believes, or acts as if, he is unquestionably right.    In a democracy, on the other hand, a belief in one’s fallibility is necessary for the compromises essential for the government to function

     But why shouldn’t we feel certain about our political beliefs?  Well, for one thing, most of us are not experts.   Experts devote years to the study of some specific area of political relevance.    To learn what experts have to say we can read the articles and books they write.  But honestly we only have the time or motivation to do so much of that.   One thing you can do is select opinion columns written by authors whose names are not familiar to you, rather than regular columnists.   Often these writers are experts on the subject they are writing about. But, of course, experts disagree.  So we should read experts with differing opinions.  And even experts should not feel too sure of themselves:   Experts who are most certain of their judgments have been found to be worse at predicting political events than ones who are more modest.1

     Further, there are limits to expertise.   Some thinkers see knowledge as distributed throughout society.2 Each one of us is an expert in his/her own life: not only about our problems, but also about the solutions to those problems. A rank-and-file employee knows things about how best to do his/her job that the CEO knows nothing about.   In this vein, Learned Hand continues, “The spirit of liberty is the spirit which seeks to understand the minds of other men and women.” None of us knows the minds, interests, challenges, and solutions found by men and women who lead very different lives from us.

     So much for knowledge.   What about opinion?   To find reasons to feel uncertain about our opinions, consider the fact that we react emotionally before we reason.3  Unless we are vigilant, our thinking is likely to be a rationalization for our gut feelings.   And watch out for all those cognitive biases you’ve heard of…4

     If you are still feeling confident in your convictions at this point, think of the well-documented influence of your social environment on your beliefs.  Imagine being Hamlet: Not only is reality unclear to him, “as in the best it is” for all of us, but he must decide what is right absolutely ALONE, with no help or feedback from another soul.   How would any of us cope with that?   In contrast, the enormous social support we have for our views can give us a false sense of certainty.

     One of our main social supports is our political party.  But our political parties have veered back and forth in their positions, and their constituencies have veered along with them5—usually with little long-term memory for having changed.6    Back in the 1980s, the Democratic party was in favor of tariffs and limited immigration, i.e., the current Republican positions. Democrats old enough to remember those times probably can’t recall having held those positions.  But Democrats have no monopoly on amnesia.  Many Republicans are currently turning away from their traditional free trade position.  Maybe in 10-20 years, most Republicans won’t remember having once been in favor of free trade and against tariffs.  How certain can you be that your opinions will be the same in the future as they are today?   And if you probably will eventually change your mind, how confident should you be in your current views?  (H/T to Earl Shoop).  And let’s hope your mind does change, because, as William Blake said, “The man who never alters his opinion is like standing water, and breeds reptiles of the mind.”  We certainly don’t want that to happen!

     In sum, we should not feel too certain about our opinions.   Uncertainty and humility open the door to tolerance and understanding of others with views different from our own.  As Judge Hand concludes, “The spirit of liberty is the spirit which weighs their [other men’s and women’s] interests alongside its own without bias.”  (Ok, “without bias” may be too much to ask of us mortals, but you get the point.)

-- Len

1Tetlock, Philip E. (2005).  Expert Political Judgment: How Good Is It?  How Can We Know?

2 Sowell, Thomas (2007) [First published 1987]. A Conflict of Visions: Ideological Origins of Political Struggles  (Revised ed.)

3Haidt, Jonathan (2012). The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion.

4Kahneman, Daniel (2011). Thinking, Fast and Slow.

5Lewis, Verlan & Lewis, Hyrum (2022). The Myth of Left and Right: How the Political Spectrum Misleads and Harms America.

6Among others: Rodriguez & Strange (2015). “Dissonance-induced false memories: Evidence from a free-choice paradigm,” Journal: Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. Read the paper (ResearchGate copy).

How To Get Involved in Braver Angels

Ambassador

Q: What does an Ambassador do?

A: Braver Angels Ambassadors work in outreach, speaking publicly to various organizations or writing op-eds.

Q: How do I get trained to be a Braver Angels Ambassador?

A: Take the Braver Angels Ambassador Training

Q: How can I get more information?

A: Contact us!

Debates

Q: Would you like to run or help run debates?

A: If yes, take the Debate Organizer Training

Q: How can I get more information?

A: Contact Andrew!

Workshops

Q: Would you like to moderate or organize workshops?

A: If you would like to help organize workshops, take the Braver Angels Organizer Training

A: If you would like to moderate a workshop, take the Braver Angels Moderator Training

A: If you only have time to pitch in on the day of a workshop and not organize in advance, contact Justin, and we will find ways for you to be involved!