Deliberation and Democratic Norms in America

In today’s polarized political climate, how can Americans foster constructive conversations and compromise across the political spectrum to address the nation’s most pressing issues? Ronnie Janoff-Bulman, psychologist and author of The Two Moralities: Conservatives, Liberals, and the Roots of Our Political Divide; Matthew Levendusky, political scientist and author of Our Common Bonds: Using What Americans Share to Help Bridge the Partisan Divide; and Kenji Yoshino, legal scholar and author of Say the Right Thing: How to Talk About Identity, Diversity, and Justice, join for a conversation exploring the roots of America’s political divide, various strategies for overcoming partisan gridlock, and how and why to engage in difficult discussions to secure the future of democracy. Thomas Donnelly, chief content officer at the National Constitution Center, moderates.

This program is made possible through the generous support of Citizen Travelers, the nonpartisan civic engagement initiative of Travelers.

Additional Resources

• Ronnie Janoff-Bulman, The Two Moralities: Conservatives, Liberals, and the Roots of Our Political Divide 
• Kristen de Groot, “Matthew Levendusky’s Our Common Bonds,” Penn Today 
• Matthew Levendusky, Our Common Bonds: Using What Americans Share to Help Bridge the Partisan Divide 
• “Matt Levendusky on Our Common Bonds and Bridging Our Differences,” Annenberg Public Policy Center (2023) 
• "What is affective polarization?" Politics in Question podcast
• Kenji Yoshino and David Glasgow, Say the Right Thing: How to Talk About Identity, Diversity, and Justice
• Matthew Yglesias, "The Great Awokening," Vox
• Mark Lilla, The Once and Future Liberal: After Identity Politics
• Marta Zaraska, "The Genes of Left and Right," Scientific American
• Drew Desilver, "The polarization in today’s Congress has roots that go back decades," Pew Research Center
• 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis
• Global Party Survey (2019)
• Bruce Ackerman and James Fishkin, Deliberation Day
• Andrew Dobson, Listening for Democracy: Recognition, Representation, Reconciliation
• Kristie Dotson, "Tracking Epistemic Violence, Tracking Practices of Silencing," Hypatia
• Dolly Chugh, The Person You Mean to Be: How Good People Fight Bias

Stay Connected and Learn More

Continue the conversation on Facebook and Twitter using @ConstitutionCtr.

Sign up to receive Constitution Weekly, our email roundup of constitutional news and debate, at bit.ly/constitutionweekly.

Please subscribe to Live at the National Constitution Center and our companion podcast We the People on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, or your favorite podcast app.