What's Your Political Identity? Notes from our January 15, 2025 Meeting



The January 15, 2025 meeting of the Braver Angels Fairfax Alliance included a roundtable discussion
around three questions posed in advance:
  • What word or short phrase describes how you think about your political identity?
  • How do you think that identify might be stress-tested over the next few years?
  • How might BA best help you?
The question about current political identity set the stage for staying self-centered during a time of
change. Several times during the evening, the irony (as well as the useful purpose) of the BA practice of
focusing on the polar red/blue labels while focusing on depolarization was noted. The conversation
demonstrated the range of backgrounds and values that people integrate within their sense of self.

In reviewing how individual senses of political identity might be stress-tested in the next few years, the
group observed that it was easier to describe anticipated causes of stress than how they may see their
identity changing. Yet there was also a recognition that such identities do change; many participants
shared how they had life experiences that had shifted their political identities. Those experiences often
involved young adult experiences (e.g.., as a student, émigré, military serviceperson) that broadened
their exposure to and appreciation of different viewpoints. Common concerns included the expectation
of heightened media attention and need to separate signal from noise in selecting areas of focus for
civic involvement. Many expressed the recognition that their identities tend to be more issue-focused
than party-focused, yet it seems aligning with one of the parties is a prerequisite to involvement, at least
at the federal level.

The conversation about how Braver Angels might help generated ideas for what would be good for
individual members as well as for the organization as a whole. The Alliance has committed to deliver a
Common Ground workshop on immigration in support of the national initiative to develop a position
paper on immigration (which would be similar in purpose/structure to the 2024 initiative on trustworthy
elections: Trustworthy Elections Initiative - Braver Angels

Ideas for 2025 discussion topics / activities included:

  • Better promotion of the BA 1:1 Conversations program to match individuals with someone on the other side of the topical spectrum for two structured phone calls: 1:1 Conversations - Braver Angels
  • Increased use of expert speakers to kick off a discussion with a position supported by resources/facts
  • Violence (either focused on guns and/or broadened to all types) and relationship to mental health concerns
  • What is the appropriate role for the US in the world? (and/or similar topics where the DC/Fairfax alliance proximity to federal policymakers may help us seed a local conversation and then record/share nationally via online tools
  • Educational opportunities on general civics topics such as:
    • Countering mis/disinformation
    • Alternatives to two-party system (i.e., third party dynamics, ranked choice voting)
    • Techniques/tools for finding common ground
  • Information on internal BA decision-making processes (i.e., how do these sorts of ideas bubble up towards becoming national-level initiatives?)
  • Actions with greater visibility like the Pairs at the Polls program (a similar effort is underway locally for select Metrorail stations on Inauguration Day)
  • Focusing civic activities more on local issues, both from the perspective of scale and the ability for individual actions to bring about change as well as from the perspective of helping our local communities find common ground. From a BA perspective, this could include discussion topics and debates, as well as offering resources / volunteer assistance in BA tools/approaches.
  • Advertising BA meetings/activities through sources like the Patch and jurisdictional community calendars
  • Seeking greater media involvement (both mainstream and social media) in select BA activities, particularly paired with activities in which BA is only a facilitator in addressing a newsworthy local issue rather than BA seeking to make our own activities the newsworthy item.
Some notable resources participants shared include:
on

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