Disagree Better

Addressing America’s Polarization Problem

In a special double issue, Deseret Magazine assembled preeminent thinkers actively seeking to address America’s polarization problem.

The takeaway: “There is a path out of the perpetual game of chicken. It won’t be easy, but it starts with each American. It starts with more constructive dialogue, better disagreeing, more listening and understanding, and individual decisions to treat our political opponents with greater dignity and trust, or, in the words of Wood, like they’re family.”

Articles include:

• Hal Boyd: How to disagree better
• Spencer Cox: One nation indivisible
• Thomas B. Griffith: Compromise for the sake of unity
• Hélène Biandudi Hofer: Flipping the script
• Ezra Klein: Depolarizing ourselves
• Rachel Kleinfeld and Aaron Sobel: Seven ideas to reduce political polarization

• Hyrum Lewis: The myth of left and right
• Mariya Manzhos: The trouble with thinking we’re right
• Yascha Mounk: Doom spiral
• John a. powell: Quieting the lizard
• Tomicah Tillemann and Luke Johnson: Beyond right and left
• John Wood Jr.: Bridge over troubled water

Disagreeing Better In Colorado

NGA Chair Utah Governor Spencer Cox and NGA Vice Chair Colorado Governor Jared Polis hosted the second in a series of bipartisan events in support of Governor Cox’s Disagree Better Initiative in Denver, Colorado on November 14, 2023.

Centered on the theme of teaching youth about healthy conflict and fostering open debate and free expression in higher education, the event featured panel discussions with bipartisan experts; a practical application of those topics through a service project; and a debate facilitated by Braver Angels, a nonprofit dedicated to political depolarization.

Disagree Better: Healthy Conflict for Better Policy

Americans need to disagree better. And by that we don’t mean that we need to be nicer to each other, although that’s helpful. We need to learn to disagree in a way that allows us to find solutions and solve problems instead of endlessly bickering.

The “exhausted majority” of Americans want this, and the science is clear about interventions that reduce polarization. As doers and builders, Governors are in a unique position to model what healthy conflict looks like.

The Disagree Better initiative will look at the problems of polarization, elevate the solutions that groups around the country are already implementing, and feature Governors showing what disagreeing better looks like. Through public debates, service projects, public service announcements and a variety of other tactics, Americans will see a more positive and optimistic way of working through our problems.

We’re also going to put these principles to work on a real-world policy challenge that needs resolution: the longtime stalemate over immigration. In collaboration with the business community and other stakeholders, our hope is to find enough consensus among Governors to identify common principles around immigration policy.

We know that conflict resolution takes work and involves difficult conversations. It’s much easier to sow division than to persuade or find solutions. But we also know that no one ever changed someone’s mind by attacking them.

Through healthy conflict, we’re confident that we can find common ground and improve our families, our communities and our nation. Together, we can disagree better.

– Utah Governor Spencer Cox, NGA Chair

Disagree Better is an effort to show that as Americans, we can work through our differences to find solutions to the most difficult problems facing our states and our nation. This effort includes a series of public-facing efforts, assisted by NGA and chosen from a toolkit of interventions that are customizable for each state/governor. These strategies include:

• Hosting a service project within your communities, potentially with your state Legislature and their spouses from both sides of the aisle.
• Recording an ad with a neighboring governor from a different party, a legislator from the opposing party, or a campaign opponent. NGA Chair Utah Gov. Cox, a Republican, and NGA Vice Chair Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat, explain more in this video.
• Recording a brief civic education ad, explaining that our nation’s founding and the Constitution were designed for people from different backgrounds and with different views.
• Writing an op-ed with someone from the other party on a topic of common ground.
• Hosting a debate at a college or university that models healthy conflict to future generations, including in partnership with organizations like Braver Angels and Bridge USA.

#DisagreeBetter in Your Community

Americas are losing faith in the institutions that used to bind us. From the classroom to the break room to the sanctuary, we need leaders to help guide the way back to common ground. Explore these opportunities to apply Disagree Better to promote harmony in these institutions that are so essential to American life.

Find Inspiration

• Bridging Divides in the Workplace
• We Need to Build
• BridgeUSA Summit
• American Exchange Project Testimonials
• Podcast: Beyond Polarization: Finding a Way Forward

take Action

• Employee Workshops
• Faith Over Division
• Living Room Conversations for Faith Communities
• BridgeUSA college & high school chapters

Research and Resources on Healthy Conflict

Dozens of groups across the nation are involved in depolarization work, and the Disagree Better NGA Initiative will work to elevate their research and resources.

Here is a list of individual leaders and organizations we have relied on in developing Disagree Better: