APF: Compromise? Consensus? Coalition? The Arts of American Politics

How do major decisions get made in the institutions of American democracy, and how do we organize our conflicts to be productive for the public good? We’ve heard a lot of words about how things work, among them “compromise,” “consensus,” and “coalition.” How useful are these concepts for understanding American politics? How should we think about the habits, tactics, and virtues associated with them?

Join Braver Angels, and our friends at American Purpose and The American Project, for this special America’s Public Forum event featuring two outstanding authors and thinkers on the shifting structures of American government. Frank DiStefano has written deeply and extensively about the process of the shifts within political parties towards new ideological framings and policy programs, within the party system. Philip Wallach has written deeply and extensively about the process of bargaining and organizing for legislation and policymaking inside Congress and legislatures broadly. What can we learn from the way these institutions have worked in the past in our pluralistic, factionalized political system, and how should we as citizens think about it moving into the future?

This event is free and open to all. A recording will be posted on the Braver Angels YouTube channel in the days afterward. Luke Nathan Phillips will serve as MC.