On November 18th, 2020 Millennial Action Project (MAP) Founder and CEO, Steven Olikara joined NationSwell and the Einhorn Collaborative for a discussion on America’s future. Alongside Steven, the panel featured Parker Palmer, Senior Founder and Senior Partner Emeritus of the Center for Courage and Renewal. The discussion was moderated by Krista Tippett, Founder and CEO of The On Being Project and Curator of The Civil Conversations Project. 

The discussion’s sponsors included NationSwell, a leading social impact company, and Einhorn Collaborative, a nonprofit foundation dedicated to addressing America’s growing crisis of connection. 

Krista began the discussion by highlighting the dire need for improving American’s connections with each other in the context of a historically polarizing election and increasing divisions amplified by social media. Krista asked Steven and Parker how listeners and ordinary Americans can ground themselves in the long work ahead and how listeners can accompany each other in this critical work. 

In response to these grounding questions, Parker and Steven laid the groundwork for a thoughtful and meaningful discussion about how ordinary Americans can take the steps necessary to rebuild, renew, and move forward in this era of seemingly paralyzing partisanship and extreme levels of distrust. 

Parker and Steven both agreed that political change often comes from the margins of society, and both referenced the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s as an example of how a marginal group slowly became accepted into the mainstream of society and successfully led society to change for the better.

Parker emphasized his belief that our society needs costly healing. Costly healing, in Parker’s view, is a healing that requires each of us to invite one another to share an aspect of one’s own life story that is separate from one’s own political beliefs. By conducting this costly healing, we create a container where our political differences can coexist with each other. 

Related to the need for costly healing, Parker urged listeners to begin a joint commitment to try to discover the facts at play in all political disputes and for both sides to commit to carefully examine their sources of information that inform their worldviews on political issues facing the nation. Parker urged listeners to recognize that violence, in society, is what happens when people do not know what else to do with their suffering. Parker contended that the work to create new and stronger connections between Americans is critical to ensure that future violence is avoided. 

Steven, in response to Parker’s calling for a costly healing and a joint commitment to examine the sources of information, referenced MAP’s work in bringing together young lawmakers that attempt to view an issue through multiple frames. By viewing an issue with more than one frame, Steven contended that change is more likely to occur because lawmakers are able to understand where each of them is coming from when approaching a particular issue.

Steven also urged listeners to be willing to examine their own unconscious biases and assumptions that may impact their views on particular issues. Steven acknowledged how uncomfortable this can be, but argued that a willingness to be uncomfortable is the first step toward forging stronger connections between Americans. Steven emphasized that examining your assumptions requires practice, and he referenced MAP’s Red and Blue Dialogue series in Wisconsin as examples of the progress that can be made when we create the space necessary to find common ground. 

The discussion concluded with Parker, Steven, and Krista answering questions from the virtual audience. The panelists ended the Q&A with a call for Americans to practice genuine empathy toward one another and in the process, gain a greater appreciation and understanding of their fellow Americans.