The Plan for American Unity
The following journal entry is a summary of the Liberatus plan for American unity, as articulated so far in this journal series, Issue 019:The Trailhead—Leadership for American Unity. To read the full series in depth, start here with the introduction. The actions to choose unity listed here with their corresponding sub points are actions we can all take wherever we are, in any context. Our view of unity is the outcome of writing with professionals in American politics who represent the full range of political views since we started Liberatus in 2015. The actions for which we advocate we implement as an organization, and they are not a formula, but rather a pattern for how we can pursue healing and unity. Ultimately, the way to overcome division, self-rejection, political spin, chaos, and apathy is to choose unity. When Americans choose unity, we make our country stronger—more just and more free—for our kids, grandkids, nieces, and nephews.
Liberatus offers inspiration for American unity to help you choose unity. You can read more about our plan for healing or unity in The Values of Freedom and Philosophy of Freedom in Political Engagement. To get started on your journey to become a leader for American unity, get a copy of Volume One. Or if you’re ready to take the next step after that, make a single or recurring donation to fuel the mission, or join our team of creators by applying to join the Leadership Council.
The Plan for American Unity
Key ideas from Issue 019: The Trailhead—Leadership for American Unity
Introduction
America’s first founding ideal is unity, going all the way back to the “Join, or Die” cartoon published by Benjamin Franklin in 1754.
Unity is a choice, and President Washington warned us about the effects of disunity in his Farewell Address.
Followers of Christ find the basis for unity in faith, and have three foundational assumptions:
We don’t need to use political activity to find significance.
Winning votes or policy debates is not our end goal because the flourishing of the kingdom of God does not rely on them.
Our allegiance is not to political ideology because all political ideologies fall short of the human flourishing that will exist in the kingdom of God.
Our generation’s calling is to create a culture of unity, if only a subculture, that has not fully existed in American history.
Unity has not fully existed in American history because we have not agreed on our definition of freedom, as Abraham Lincoln noted in 1864 regarding the so-called freedom to own other people.
As we explored what freedom truly means over the last seven and a half years, we discovered a pattern of three actions that we refer to as The Trailhead.
The pattern of three actions reflect the nature of God: we are all children of God, and we have the Sprit of God to guide us as we follow Jesus to live creative lives of restoration.
We can create a culture of unity wherever we are, although we may spend our whole lives bouncing between the poles of unity and disunity, the poles of creative participation and apathy, peace and noise, energy and burnout, and chaos and justice.
Action 1: Be inclusive.
We don’t have, but we need to have, a shared narrative about American history, and it’s our generation’s calling to finally heal the divide created by slavery.
Logically, there is only one version of reality, so a differing view is only a threat when we willfully exclude portions of the truth; listening to the voices of the marginalized helps us find the path to wisdom.
Unity is therefore not sameness, conformity, or codependency, and it is not a sentimental feeling of togetherness.
The problem is not the other side, it’s our view of human life and relationships as property to be defended or conquered.
The foundation for unity is ultimately faith—reconnecting with the love of God as our source—and this is ultimately what everyone desires.
Conflict at its root is a desire for connection and it is self-rejection of who we are or can become because of Christ—but we should leave abusive relationships and be careful when we hold power not to abuse the people we serve.
Inclusive community building is primarily the role of Congress in American government: as Benjamin Franklin noted, Congress exists “to consult, not to contend, with each other.”
Compromise means consulting with each other long enough to create something new and lasting, the way our founders did by creating two legislative bodies in one Congress.
Action 2: Stay grounded in wisdom.
I: All policy debates in the United States take place on the playing field of liberty to do what we please and government stopping us from injuring each other, as noted by President Thomas Jefferson in his First Inaugural Address in 1801.
We all have different views on how to find this balance, which becomes problematic because government restrains us from injuring each other through coercion.
A: Within this debate, intellectual honesty matters: America is not capitalist—rather we have a mixed economy with some freedom and some government controls.
Those who accuse others of socialism usually do not in practice advocate for true capitalism, therefore both major sides in American politics advocate for a mixed economy but fight about how mixed it will be.
Socialism in modern European practice is also mixed.
What we should fear is therefore neither socialism or capitalism but rather our failure to live up to our highest ideas as Americans and include our fellow citizens in the future for which we advocate.
Intellectual honesty matters in social issues too: the father of modern conservatism was pro-choice regarding the legality of abortion, so being pro-life does not necessarily require specific laws.
B: Preferences are not principles: where we land on the spectrum of balancing liberty and safety is a representation of our preferences and therefore not rooted in principle.
Principles are universal and exist whether we make them our own; the decisions we make reflect our preferences for how to live our principles.
There is therefore no such thing as conservative or liberal principles; our economic theories about how to promote human flourishing are ultimately preferences (although we can point to data and historical examples to make our case).
President Jefferson summed up this idea succinctly in his First Inaugural: “Every difference of opinion is not a difference of principle.”
If we have non-negotiable preferences, we should say so but acknowledge that they are preferences.
C: Helping others is not about need; it’s about restoring mutual human flourishing.
As we debate how to balance liberty and safety, arguments are often framed as helping those in need.
There’s no Christian requirement for the government to help those in need; to what extent it does is up to us.
Doing unto others as we would have them do unto us fundamentally means listening to and including others because that’s what we all want.
The real Christian motive for helping others is not need, it’s restoration of mutual human flourishing and affirming human dignity because of the abundance available to all of us in Christ.
Our choice for the government to help people or not is rooted in the universal principle that government should protect human dignity.
Because human dignity is the point, as followers of Christ we are not servants to limited human economic ideals.
II: As we think about telling the truth, we must remember that the truth is not simply facts; it’s also how and why facts exist or events happen.
As followers of Christ, we must connect our how and why to the larger story arc of restoration and the kingdom of God.
Remember that while we believe Christ died and rose again as a matter of fact, how and why deepens the story: God was showing his love for us, his solidarity with human suffering, and his presence in a moment that appeared to be total darkness.
III: Wisdom means finding the gaps in where our ideology falls short of the results it promises to deliver—and they exist because no ideology will bring about the kingdom of God.
Recognizing that there are gaps between our ideas and the perfection of the kingdom of God keeps our rhetoric in check and gives us a reason to include other people.
Collaborative buy-in is how we all want to be treated as we self-govern.
IV: Wisdom understands fear.
A: On a professional level, fear in politics is intentional.
Political movements thrive not in finding the gaps in stated ideals but rather motivating through fear of the other side.
We act as if our founding-era fear that “the British are coming” still lingers, as if there is always someone waiting to do us harm.
Fear then drives us against each other, and fear is carefully exploited by political professionals to drive outcomes.
B: We should name what we fear…
We turn against each other because we fear being taken advantage of.
We fear the downfall of American ideals, which would not be loving for anyone.
We need a philosophically practical basis to love our neighbors regardless of political views.
A contemplative view means understanding the intellectual dishonesty of fear and why it is leveraged as an honest expression of conflict.
As political professionals we fear indifference because it means we become irrelevant and lose support.
Using fear to stay relevant creates a culture where we always believe that our way of life is on the verge of being destroyed.
C: …And operate on the other side of it.
Wisdom is not naïve or ignorant of evil.
How do we relate to the evil that we fear both as American citizens who care about unity and followers of Christ who care about American unity as a reflection of a deeper unity available to us?
We can operate on the other side of it: when we recognize that the world is already fallen, we then participate for the purpose of restoration.
Restoration means we can see the good we already have, like the structure of the US Constitution.
Wisdom knows that subversive motives are limited and deals with them without letting them determine the debate: if someone wants to overthrow the Constitution, they will eventually have to say so outright.
Anyone who advocates for American founding principles must also advocate for telling the whole truth of American history.
As followers of Christ, advocating for policies within the scope of the Constitution is the surest way to be advocates for unity and peace, because it’s our legal foundation—and we can course correct or amend it when necessary.
D: Perfect love casts out fear.
As followers of Christ, we don’t need to participate in politics out of fear through demonstrations, rallies, or protests; we can organize in a new way to create new culture to build consensus out of love for humanity.
E: Our brains respond to belonging too.
Politics is about targeting the amygdala in our brains that influences our emotions and decision-making.
Belonging cues activate the amygdala in the same way and we can activate our brains and therefore emotions by consistently reminding each other that we belong together as one country.
V: Wisdom is the role of the judicial branch.
If we don’t like Supreme Court decisions, we can amend the Constitution; if we don’t like an amendment, we can amend it again.
Action 3: Create! (How to redefine winning)
I: Have a vision for unity and use tactics to reinforce it.
II: We can learn from Olympians how to get the best out of ourselves and perform at our best.
III: Define your values so that you can constantly evaluate yourself and live them.
IV: Think about the next 40 years: what we do in politics should result in the next generation being better off than we are today, not simply focused on what we want in this moment; Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr’s vision of the Beloved Community is an excellent example of this.
V: Questions are better than quick policy answers, because it’s easy to take a position but difficult to explore the full, nuanced truth of an issue; questions apply the three actions of unity all at once.
VI: Leadership is service, not having an elevated position or status, or a way to get validation or self-importance; it means bringing conflict into the open so that it can be fuel to accelerate performance.
VII: Write a brand communications narrative of leadership for American unity, so that we define the antagonist, the hero, the guide, and the solution accurately, and so that we are honest about our own motives.
Conclusion
Life experiences may move us to do something about the many issues we face.
The Trailhead is the starting point, foundational particularly for followers of Christ, where we act for American unity, where we set out on a new trail to be inclusive, stay grounded in wisdom, and create!
Liberatus offers inspiration for American unity to help you choose unity, build endurance, and become the leaders who make our country more just and free for the next generation.
To participate in the mission, start with getting your copy of Volume One. When you’re ready to take the next step, contribute to the mission with a single or recurring donation, or join our team of creators by applying to join the Leadership Council.
WEEKLY ACTION POINT:
What do you think of this plan? Comment below or apply to join the Liberatus Leadership Council.
Mission: Inspire American Unity
Create a culture of American unity for the next generation by producing content, experiences, and leaders that inspire it today.
Journal Entry #131
ISSUE 019: THE TRAILHEAD—LEADERSHIP FOR AMERICAN UNITY, PART 8