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Can people debate issues without anger and division? The five clergy who make up Tallahassee’s “God Squad” say it’s possible because of the friendship and faith at the core of their long-running civic experiment.
Throughout those battles, antidotes to our civic poisons have always run through the American bloodstream too. Americans have continually found ways to neutralize their discord and catalyze diversity, turning them into sources of strength.
Early legislators came to work “in the spirit of avowed misunderstanding, without the smallest wish to agree.” Jefferson’s solution? He invited diverse lawmakers to dinner and was widely credited with saving democracy. Maybe we can too?
This entire year The Village Square will look for, talk about – and honor – people who stand up and make things happen where we live right here in Tallahassee. Nominate a local patriot you know — we’ll honor their work and if we choose your nominee, you get two tickets to dinner April 28.
In 1798 James Madison wrote of the press: “To the press alone, checkered as it is with abuses, the world is indebted for all the triumphs which have been gained by reason and humanity over error and oppression.” In 2020, if Madison was correct then reason and humanity could be in for an even rougher ride.
A Divided Union delves into ten pressing political challenges that our two favorite former US Representatives Patrick Murphy and David Jolly (who served on opposite sides of the aisle) have identified over their multiple terms in Congress and that continue to plague the American electorate today.
Part democracy’s orator and part its master mechanic,
Dr. Danielle Allen is uniquely equipped to guide us to the other side of our current crisis of faith in democracy. This is a program you will not want to miss. Offered in partnership with Florida Humanities.
Say what you rightfully will about what’s wrong with America, there isn’t a country on earth nervy enough to hold as a central ideal the pursuit of happiness. Yet we spend precious little time contemplating this founding charge to American citizens. Are we succeeding at it?
What if defenders of truth are missing the most fundamental conceptual revolution at the core of this American experiment, the western world and — heck — even the enlightenment itself? Join us for an important conversation with public intellectual Jonathan Rauch that you won’t soon forget. Offered in partnership with Florida Humanities.
Utter clarity in the face of vast complexity? Check. Haughty condescension and/or venal anger when confronted with diversity of opinion? Got that by the metric ton. Intellectual humility? Notsomuch. It’s possible that isn’t exactly healthy.
