SLO County group wants to end toxic politics. Here’s how you can help
Amid the backdrop of a purple county and a deeply divided country, a San Luis Obispo County organization is gathering to end political polarization through simple feats of civil discussion and debate.
Braver Angels — a national organization “taking a stand against toxic politics” — has accumulated more than 15,300 members and 131 alliances across all 50 states since it was founded in 2016, according to its website.
The local SLO County alliance contains more than 200 members, Kate Christensen, the group’s co-chair, told The Tribune. And it’s now holding its biggest event of the year.
At 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday at the SLO United Church of Christ, Braver Angels’ CEO Maury Giles, a Republican from Utah, will host a talk on what courageous citizenship looks like in the United States.
Christensen said the free event is a chance for Central Coast residents to “show up across difference.”
“In these times, it takes courage ... to be aware, be open enough to hear,” Christensen said. “It takes tremendous courage to open up your heart and your mind to be able to even start the conversation.”
What is Braver Angels?
Braver Angels was founded as a cross-partisan movement dedicating to bridging political divides and strengthening democracy, its website says.
The group’s name harkens back to Abraham Lincoln’s first inaugural address, when he calls on the American people to yield to the “better angels of our nature” in the wake of the Civil War.
The organization, led by people on both sides of the aisle, holds depolarization workshops and communication exercises that seek to show people how political divides actively reinforce stereotypes, anger and hatred, Christensen said.
Since the organization’s founding, more than 70,000 people have participated in Braver Angels’ events across the nation, according to its website.
SLO County alliance a place for ‘non-combative political discussions’
The SLO County-based Braver Angels alliance was launched in 2019 and managed to expand exponentially during Zoom meetings while the pandemic was underway, according to one of the group’s original members, Gordon Mullin.
The alliance frequently held debates featuring experts who spoke on a variety of controversial topics ranging from nuclear power to critical race theory and diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, he said.
As a registered Republican and a self-proclaimed “political junkie” with “no end of opinions,” Mullin told The Tribune he was seeking a group where he could talk to people with different beliefs without the conversation devolving into a shouting match.
“It’s the only outlet that I know of where I can have serious, thoughtful, non-combative political discussions,” he said.
Christensen, a registered Democrat, said she started attending SLO County’s Braver Angels’ alliance in 2019 after she grew tired of living in a like-minded bubble where political talk often escalated into outrage and fear.
“(It) doesn’t give you a lot of wiggle room to think, even,” Christensen said.
She said the purple county is the perfect place to break through political differences. As of Feb. 9, there are 69,792 registered Democrats and 63,772 registered Republicans in San Luis Obispo County, according to the Clerk-Recorder’s Office.
Mullin also said he appreciates the alliance because it provides people with a clear structure for discussing different viewpoints. In turn, the organization helps members see other people’s humanity.
“You don’t interfere. Just listen,” he said. “By doing that, it does allow you to open up a bit more and equally — if not more important — you discover that your opponent isn’t crazy or immoral.”
The challenge is getting more people to show up to Braver Angels’ events, he said. Members who walk in the door are already likely to be open to some dialogue across the aisle, while broad sections of society are still at an impasse, Mullin added.
“It’s very difficult to track people who are willing to do that, because we’re so polarized,” he said. “But in the end, if you think about it, it’s the only way out of this cesspool we’ve created.”
How to attend event with Braver Angels CEO
The free event with Giles will take place from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. on Wednesday at Chandler Hall, SLO United Church of Christ, 11245 Los Osos Valley Road in San Luis Obispo.
“Please come and meet Maury Giles and the Braver Angels SLO Alliance members who are eager for discourse across difference,” and event news release said. “We need your support as leaders and citizens as we engage in the year of our 250th anniversary of the founding of our great American experiment.”
SLO County Supervisors Jimmy Paulding and Heather Moreno both plan to attend the talk.
Paulding said the local alliance is a “really, really healthy thing to bring people of different political stripes together.”
Moreno told The Tribune in a statement that she’s known about Braver Angels for two years “as an organization that promotes constructive dialogue and collaboration to solve complex, and what can be divisive, issues.”
She said she looks forward to meeting their CEO soon.
