Ciaran O'Connor and John Wood, Jr. with Carolyn Dupont

CANCELLED

April 23, 2020
“Better Angels: Balance and Virtue in American Political Debates”

The Better Angels Story: In December 2016, 10 Trump supporters and 11 Clinton supporters gathered in South Lebanon, Ohio, in what became the first Better Angels Red/Blue Workshop. The goal? To see if we could respectfully disagree and find any common ground.

The results were remarkable. We liked each other. We wanted to know more about each other. We wanted to keep on meeting. We wanted to help start workshops in communities all across America! Those reds and blues invited their friends to another workshop and helped to found the first Better Angels Alliance.

Better Angels Mission: Better Angels is a national citizens’ movement to reduce political polarization in the United States by bringing liberals and conservatives together to understand each other beyond stereotypes, forming red/blue community alliances, teaching practical skills for communicating across political differences, and making a strong public argument for depolarization.

We unite red and blue Americans in a working alliance to Depolarize America. Instead of asking people to change their minds about key issues, we give all Americans a chance to better understand each other, to absorb the values and experiences that inform our political philosophies, and to ultimately recognize our common humanity.

Sponsored by the Department of Government, the Department of Communication and the Honors Program

Ciaran O'Connor serves as Chief Marketing Officer for Better Angels. He previously served on the Obama 2012 and Clinton 2016 presidential campaigns as a communications staffer, and worked as a marketing consultant for corporate, political, and non-profit clients. He lives in Los Angeles, CA.

John Wood, Jr. is Director of Media Development and a national leader for Better Angels, a former nominee for congress, former Vice-Chairman of the Republican Party of Los Angeles County, and author of the upcoming book, Transcending Politics: Perspectives for a Divided Nation. As a writer and speaker, Wood’s work has focused on race, religion, public policy, social commentary, the intersection of politics and science and political and moral philosophy. His writings have been featured in Quillette, Areo Magazine, Arc Digital, Better Angels Media, The Washington Times Communities, Reflections (a journal of the Yale School of Divinity), and Black Is Online.

Carolyn Dupont is Associate Professor of History at Eastern Kentucky University, where she specializes in American History, the History of the Civil Rights Movement and Women’s History. She is the author of the historical monograph, Mississippi Praying: White Religion and the Quest for Black Equality, published in 2013 with New York University Press. She is a co-organizer of EKU’s annual Herstory Conference, has been a candidate for KY public office and is the Kentucky State Coordinator of Better Angels.

Sources:
https://www.better-angels.org/
https://history.eku.edu/people/dupont

Source:

https://www.better-angels.org/

Published on April 23, 2020