Restoring Civility to Public Discourse

How did things go so far off the rails?

Partisanship is as old as the Republic, and yet for most of our history, the process found a way to get some things done instead of just chasing its tail. In the past on the Hill, there were partisan fights daily, but there were also more results. 

It is in pondering this question that we have launched The Civility Project — a new initiative by the Centre for Responsible Leadership, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to assembling global thought leaders to find concrete solutions to the major challenges plaguing our world today. This issue was first introduced to CRL on the "Restoring Civility to Public Discourse” panel with Sen. Joe Lieberman and Amb. Nancy Brinker at the United Nations in 2019.

We need your help. We don’t want this to be another Washington cliché that starts with a press release and a panel discussion before fading into the rubble of status quo.

What steps can we put into motion that motivate not necessarily nonpartisanship or even bipartisanship, but responsible partisanship and civil debate? As the oldest democracy in the world, we cherish our differences. They can spur us to listen to each other, to engage each other, and to build structures more enduring than any single viewpoint would engender in a vacuum.

Join the discussion.