He's on the left. I'm on the right. Here's what we learned talking to each other about America.
It shouldn't take dozens of organizations working for months to bring together several thousand Americans for one afternoon to talk respectfully and constructively about what they have in common – and what they don't.
It shouldn't take 20 minutes of video instruction about how to have a civil conversation before we even click into the chat room to meet our conversation partner for the inaugural America Talks event.
And the reminders to listen with curiosity, avoid assumptions and stereotypes, and set aside judging others are needed in a cable news, social media-tainted culture that turns the outcome of every debate into an existential threat to civilization itself.
I signed up to participate in America Talks for two primary reasons. One, I was curious about the experience. Two, I am concerned about the future of a nation whose people "have grown hateful toward opposing partisans based more on a religion-like social identity than on actual disagreements about policies.”
So, sitting in my house on a muggy Midwestern Saturday, I found myself conversing with a stranger named David from the Pacific Northwest about climate change, immigration, the news media and economic opportunity.
