The Our Common Purpose project is based on the premise that when we work together to strengthen our constitutional democracy, we help create a virtuous cycle -- one in which a culture of participation and responsibility gives rise to responsive institutions, which in turn foster healthy civic norms and values. It is time to say, again: violence is not the answer.
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** Our Common Purpose Special Newsletter: 5 Things You Can Do to Address Political Violence
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The Our Common Purpose project is based on the premise that when we work together to strengthen our constitutional democracy, we help create a virtuous cycle -- one in which a culture of participation and responsibility gives rise to responsive institutions, which in turn foster healthy civic norms and values.
It is time to say, again: violence is not the answer. Violence is antithetical to the virtuous cycle that Our Common Purpose seeks to create, and to the future we want to see for the next generation. It is up to all of us to step up to address political violence in our country. Here are five things you can do:
1. Commit to nonviolence. As OCP co-chair Danielle Allen wrote in her recent column for The Renovator ([link removed]) , “The most important message is this: We can all help reduce political violence by committing to using only non-violent methods of dispute resolution. Our shared safety depends on it. The functioning of our institutions of self-government depends on it…. The first rule of the public sphere is that we should never hold human dignity hostage—neither our own by descending to violence and deceit, nor that of others through attacks on their being—whether in word or deed.”
2. Condemn political violence. As Rachel Kleinfeld points out ([link removed]) , most acts of political violence are committed by lone individuals with underlying predispositions to violence in misguided efforts to feel important. If the larger community applauds these acts, it encourages more people like them to choose this path – and the resulting violence can eventually draw even ordinary people into its vortex. However, the vast majority ([link removed]) of Americans do not support political violence, and if such acts are swiftly and consistently condemned and prosecuted, violence will remain relatively contained.
More resources on condemning political violence:
* Political Polarization and Political Violence ([link removed]) - A webinar from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences sharing information on efforts to reduce political violence.
* #BetterThanThis: Standing Together Against Political Violence ([link removed]) - A campaign from the National Institute for Civil Discourse ([link removed]) inviting Americans to make and share recordings of themselves calling for an end to political violence.
* The High Cost of Political Violence: Business Leaders Must Take a Stand ([link removed]) - A statement from Business for America calling on political and business leaders to reject political violence.
* More than 100 philanthropies and institutions, including OCP co-chair Stephen Heintz and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, issued a letter ([link removed]) condemning “acts of political violence.”
3. Practice “humanizing habits” to recognize and address the pain so many Americans feel. OCP co-chair Eric Liu urges us ([link removed]) to see others “in their full complex humanity” and to sense their pain: “There are so many other kinds of pain making our politics tumultuous in every quarter, shaping how people show up or don't in the lives of their towns and neighborhoods…. There are ways to relieve pain that involve inflicting it on others, and there are ways to relieve pain that involve solving problems with others, making sense of things together, and in the process making each other more wholly human.”
4. Talk with someone with whom you disagree. OCP Commission Member Yuval Levin notes ([link removed]) that "we spend most of our time cocooned away with people we agree with, talking about those terrible people on the other side, but rarely actually talk to those people.” Turning down the temperature requires us to disagree with each other "more directly and concretely,” keeping in mind that our political adversaries “will still be here tomorrow; they will be part of any future we build.”
More resources on disagreeing better:
* Habits of Heart and Mind: How to Fortify Civic Culture ([link removed]) – A publication of the Academy’s Civic Culture Working Group, outlining seven strategies to reshape how we live together as Americans. One Strategy: Create space for the free exchange of ideas ([link removed]) .
* Disagree Better ([link removed]) – An initiative of the National Governors Association spearheaded by Utah Governor Spencer Cox. You can also read about this initiative here ([link removed]) and here ([link removed]) .
* Better Arguments Project ([link removed]) - A national civic initiative created by the Aspen Institute to help bridge divides.
* Less Fire, More Water. Less Darkness, More Light ([link removed]) – A blog post by Liz Joyner, President of OCP Champion The Village Square.
5. Choose renovation over revolution. Record numbers of Americans are dissatisfied ([link removed]) with the way that American democracy is working today, and many report feeling ([link removed]) that government officials do not care what they think. Our institutions may seem brittle, but there are in fact many, many good ideas out there to change the structures to make them more responsive and reduce polarization: enacting multi-member districts with proportional representation, enlarging the House of Representatives, creating 18-year terms for Supreme Court justices, expanding national service programs, and much more.
More resources on democracy renovation:
* Our Common Purpose: Reinventing American Democracy for the 21st Century ([link removed]) - The 2020 landmark repot of the Academy’s Commission on the Practice of Democratic Citizenship, offering 31 recommendations to renovate American democracy.
* America is in a ‘Great Pulling Apart’. Can we pull together? ([link removed]) - Danielle Allen’s Washington Post column about the need for democracy renovation.
* “PR” Should Stand for Proportional Representation, Not Petty Redistricting ([link removed]) – A blog post from Jonathan Madison at R Street.
* House Modernization Select Committee Report ([link removed]) - Final report of a bipartisan select committee aimed at encouraging more cross-partisan dialogue and improving the functioning of Congress.
** Read the Report
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Learn more about the Academy's current efforts to advance reforms to reinvent American democracy and read the Our Common Purpose report here ([link removed]) .
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