In the weeks leading up to July 4th and America’s 250th anniversary, a new Civic Scholars Council met in Philadelphia to advocate nationally for a new civic culture born of “courageous citizenship.*” The 20-member Council, of which I am a member, was formed by Braver Angels, and met to review 43 scholarly papers and discuss ways of strengthening our nation’s democracy.
*A note here: Regarding the use of the words, “citizen” and “citizenship,” the Council is not intending the terms to relate to legal status, but rather as a descriptor of a person who takes responsibility for the wellbeing of their community.
In forming the Civic Scholars Council, which is an updated version of an earlier scholars council, Braver Angels CEO, Maury Giles, recalled America’s founding, which he said was followed by “a powerful movement of self-reliance and community collaboration by everyday citizens across the colonies.” Giles said he is hoping that the Council will “renew this citizen-centered American story within scholarly and professional fields as well as in communities.”
In preparation for its first national symposium on June 24, the Civic Scholars Council solicited and approved 43 papers on aspects of “courageous citizenship*,” all of which fell under three themes, public work, civic development, and deliberative democracy. Rebecca Trout, the League’s Program Director for All-America Cities and Partnerships, and I submitted an article on Civic Muscle and the All-America Cities program, which, when accepted, fit under the category of public work.
The new Civic Scholars Council has four co-chairs:
- Harry Boyte, Founder & Director Emeritus of the Center for Democracy and Citizenship at University of Minnesota & Augsburg University; Field Secretary for the SCLC;
- Barbara Farmer, Co-Chair, SoCal LA County Alliance; Co-Chair, Red Caucus; Member, Civic Renewal Support Team; Former Research Psychologist;
- Valerie Lemmie, Senior Advisor for State and Local Government at the Kettering Foundation; Chair of the Ohio Civil Rights Commission, and a former Board Chair for the National Civic League; and
- Martín Carcasson, Professor of Communication Studies & Founder of the Center for Public Deliberation at Colorado State University.
In one of the articles submitted to the group and which was published in summary form in Time, Civic Scholars member Trygve Throntveit writes:
These efforts embody the cardinal virtues of courageous citizenship: the experimental willingness to try new approaches and revise them, the reflective willingness to face history squarely, and the empathic willingness to find public value in the perspectives of those who differ from us. Together they produce a form of power that political science rarely studies, but American history repeatedly demonstrates—a generative power that grows when shared, emerges from collaboration rather than dominance, and is uniquely capable of creating new political possibilities.
And this is the kind of “courageous citizenship” we see in our All-America Cities, as discussed in the article accepted by the group that Rebecca and I wrote. It’s the willingness of all members of a community to accept responsibility for making life better, to work with their neighbors to improve local democracy and its ability to tackle tough issues.
In his letter about the Civic Scholars Council, Maury Giles writes that Braver Angels “was founded on the recognition that the crisis of affective polarization — in which Americans do not merely disagree but increasingly distrust and dislike one another — cannot be solved by political leaders or expert systems alone. As important as those institutions are, this is a ‘wicked problem’ that demands a renewed story of citizen initiative, shared responsibility, and collaborative civic life.”
