How Do We Fix It?

What do you think of people who you totally disagree with about politics? Can you listen to their point of view and have a constructive conversation? Do you dismiss the other side as evil or deplorable? In this episode we hear from  Wilk Wilkinson , a Christian conservative who voted for Donald Trump. He has working class roots and grew up poor. A decade ago Wilk was enraged at liberals, but...

In the five years since the COVID pandemic began, trust in public health institutions and vaccines has plummeted. According to  a new opinion poll , just over half of the public now says they trust the Food and Drug Administration to make the right recommendations on health issues at least “a fair amount,” down from nearly two-thirds (65%) in June 2023.  About 1 in 4 Republicans par...

How Do We Fix It? raises questions about solutions to divisive topics of politics and public policy: Decidedly secular matters. In this episode we look at how religious groups and institutions can help bring people together across divides.  Braver Faith  is our focus. The Right Rev.  Mark Beckwith  is our guest. Braver Faith is one the newest and most vibrant gro...

In the fall 2024, a young British filmmaker jumped in a small car and drove across America, asking more than 200 strangers the same two questions: "How did we lose connection with our neighbors, and how do we get it back?" Many of the answers and explanations are fascinating. "I am a firm believer that developing a curiosity or a curiosity in strangers is the cure for a polarized and isolated...

The holiday season is here, but many people across the country may dread sitting down with their nearest and dearest— all because of politics. In this episode we share down-to-earth advice from two wise experts who have thought deeply and creatively about how to minimize conflict and maximize cooperation with parents, family, and friends. Tania Israel  is a Professor of Counseling Psychology...

Some wore red hats, others wore blue. Outside scores of polling places in many states across the country, pairs of Democrats and Republicans sat together in a radically simple experiment called the Braver Angels Election Day Initiative. The contrast between dire media forecasts of violence, and calamity during the election and what actually happened was stark. Th...

Do you believe what you see in newspapers, websites and on TV? Most Americans don't trust the people who are supposed to truthfully report the news.  A new Gallup poll  says Americans have record-low trust in mass media. Only one-in-three adults has a "great deal" or a "fair amount" of confidence in the media to report the news "fully, accurately and fairly." More than 150,000...

Are you fed up with politics and especially the presidential campaign? On How Do We Fix It? we're reporting on the people, projects and ideas of Braver Angels. This nationwide citizen-led movement is a growing coalition of liberals and conservatives working to  restore hope  and co-operation to our politics.  In this episode we speak with a second pair of Red-Blue volunteers who wil...

These final days before the election are  tense times . Today’s toxic politics are  hurtful and heart breaking  for many of us. Maybe we all need a hope vaccine. An injection of kindness, curiosity and understanding for those who see the world differently than we do.  In our latest report on the work, ideas, and people of  Braver Angels , the nationwide citizen-led campaig...

Elections are vital to all democracies: The authority of the government comes solely from the consent of the governed. But millions of Americans  don’t trust the electoral process  and have highly  negative views of politics .. Many have little or no confidence that all votes will be fairly and accurately counted.  What should be done to improve our elections? We discuss reform...

Braver Angels is addressing a huge threat that could disrupt the future of our democratic republic: The rigid, often bitter, divisions between reds and blues. While nearly four in ten voters identify as "independent", more than nine in ten Americans fall into one of two broad categories. They identify as either conservative or liberal leaning and tend to vote for either Republicans or Democrats. "...

“I don’t do this work in optimism. I do it in hope”,  Braver Angels  President  David Blankenhorn  tells us. “If we’re going to have any chance to fix this and save our country, this is what needs to be done.” Soon after the tumultuous 2016 election Braver Angels sprung to life— co-founded by David, Bill Doherty and David Lapp. Two years after its founding this nationwide volun...

When renowned physician-scientist  Francis Collins  was about to have his first conversation with Christian conservative Wilk Wilkinson in early 2022, he admits that he had concerns. "I thought oh boy, this is going to be a tough one".  Dr. Collins had recently stepped down as Director of NIH— The National Institutes of Health. He served under Presidents Obama, T...

Toxic polarization is "the problem that eats all other problems... It's the sludge at the base of everything else," says our guest  Mónica Guzmán . Think how much progress could be made on the great problems of today if politics were much more about discovering nuance than shouting slogans. This show is our second episode on the work, people, and ideas of the volunteer-led cross-partisan camp...

This is our first in a series of new reports on the work, people and projects of  Braver Angels — the largest volunteer-led group in the bridging community. The show was recorded a few days after the assassination attempt against Donald Trump. Our guests are  Jessie Mannisto  and  Luke Nathan Phillips , who spent this week in Milwaukee, right outside the Fiserv Forum Arena, sit...

In the last episode Jim Meigs and Richard Davies celebrated more than nine years as co-hosts. They also announced that their podcasting partnership was ending. But "How Do We Fix It?" is not going away. Instead we plan to focus on something we've covered a great deal recently, and is of urgent importance right now: The broken nature of American politics. In the weeks to come, Richar...

When we first started our podcast in the spring of 2015, Jim and Richard came from different political tribes. They still do. But during more than 400 shows they've deepened their friendship and learned a tremendous amount from each other, and our remarkable guests. While "How Do We Fix It?" podcast will continue its journey, Jim and Richard's nine years as co-hosts ends with this show. We di...

Supporters of Ranked Choice Voting argue that we need to a big change how we vote. Our “choose-one” elections, they say, deprive voters of meaningful choices, create increasingly toxic campaign cycles, advance candidates who lack broad support and leave voters feeling like our voices are not heard.  We examine the case for this form of proportional representation. Ranked Choice Voting co...

Liberalism is out of fashion. You might say that it's under siege. From the populist right to the progressive left, liberal touchtones of limited government, personal freedom, the rule of law, and a mixed economy have come in for harsh criticism. Liberalism is assailed by many critics, but it has not failed, argues Yale Political Science Professor  Bryan Garsten . "A liberal society is unique...

In much of the country local news has collapsed, threatening civic pride and a sense of community for countless towns and cities. This dramatic change has also  deepened America's divides . As our guest, journalist and public policy researcher  Anna Brugmann  explains in this episode, "the internet disrupted the local journalism model". Newspaper advertising revenue fell 8...

Diversity equity and inclusion: Sounds like a good thing in an incredibly diverse country such as ours, especially when teaching young people at American colleges and universities. But the DEI industry - or DEI Inc. — has arguably gone off the rails. There’s a big difference between the intentions behind a lot of diversity training and the results. We learn about the crucial difference b...

News coverage of Super Tuesday and other party primaries focused mainly on base voters— Democrats and Republicans. But most Americans are actually on the political sidelines or somewhere in the middle. Many have a mix of conservative and liberal views. This episode is about them. Our guest is  Shannon Watson , the Founder and Executive Director of  Majority in the Middle ....

Only  four-in-ten Americans  say they have a lot of trust in the news media. That's a big problem for our democracy, especially in this volatile presidential election year. While journalists are supposed to tell the truth and get the story right, just 35% of right-of-center voters have some trust in what they see on the news. Democrats and independents are much more likely...

What is the point of a good education? Do we need it to learn a narrow set of skills ro help us get ahead in the workplace, or should knowledge and learning to be used over a lifetime to acquire wisdom that enables us to think more deeply about our place in the world? This question has profound resonance at a time of angry divid...

From the economy and prospects for a Biden vs Trump rematch to the future for global energy and artificial intelligence, Richard and Jim make their forecasts for 2024.  And we re-visit our predictions from exactly a year ago and report on precisely how we did. "It's sort of like weather forecasters and opinion pollsters going back and owning up to their mistakes," says Richard. "I mean, who o...