American Polarization Event Launches Democracy & Diplomacy Community
On Saturday, September 17, Learning Life’s first in-person event in over 2.5 years drew metro Washington DC residents to a rich, participatory discussion of one of the most salient political issues in America today — polarization — and launched an ambitious new community devoted to advancing democracy and diplomacy in the USA and abroad.
Nealin, among other things, offered an international perspective, noting that while violence overall has declined markedly in the past 500 years of world history, more violence is now coming from non-state actors, like terrorist and militia groups.
Radwell presented some of the historical and philosophical underpinnings, distinguishing moderate and radical wings of American politics since the nation’s founding that inform polarization today. “In addition to our partisan bubbles, we are caught in a time bubble that inhibits any illuminating historical or longitudinal perspective,” Radwell argues in his book.
Schneider, in turn, focused on political developments since the 1960s to help explain current American polarization. “Class conflict [of the 1930s] has given way to cultural conflict” since the 1960s, with religiosity (not what church, but how often one goes to church) and education (especially whether one has a college degree) dividing Americans. The corresponding shift from a focus on material interests to moral values makes it harder to compromise since values are more central to people’s identities.
Readers can view the speakers’ full presentations here via the Eisenhower Institute’s Youtube Channel. Following the speakers’ remarks, participants formed a circle to talk with each other about American polarization. The rich discussion ranged widely, from human nature, to the state of American civic education, to social media effects on polarization, to existing efforts to tackle the problem, including the work of Common Ground USA, Braver Angels, The Bridge Alliance and Learning Life’s own Democracy Learning Community.
This discussion was the first in a series of events Learning Life has planned as part of its new, overarching Democracy & Diplomacy Community (DDC). The DDC builds on the over 25,000 people worldwide connected with Learning Life’s work to foster international learning, networking and action on democracy and diplomacy “because the problems we face demand not demagogues and strongmen, but rather citizens and diplomats.” Learn more and join the DDC here.
American Polarization: A Conversation (DDC Event)
Live in the metro Washington DC area?
Interested in politics?
Concerned about the future of American democracy?
Learning Life and the Eisenhower Institute at Gettysburg College are pleased to announce a special in-person, conversation about American polarization on Saturday, September 17, 6:30-10:00pm EST featuring three distinguished speakers on American polarization:
1. Nealin Parker, Executive Director, Search for Common Ground USA, and Founder and Director of the Bridging Divides Initiative at Princeton University.
Precise location in Washington, DC to be announced to participants.
Given limited venue space, please fill out this brief registration form now to confirm your interest and availability. We will then notify you asap if you have a seat. In the meantime, please mark your calendar.
The event is free, but participants are encouraged to join Learning Life’s Democracy & Diplomacy Community (DDC) to network, learn, and support this and other upcoming DDC events.
All participants must show proof of Covid vaccination (vaccination card and photo ID) to enter the event.
International Family Storytelling Launches
Part Two of Learning Life’s Family Diplomacy (FD) Training launched today as seven FD trainees told often wrenching stories about their lives and their families. The trainees, from the USA, Zimbabwe, Liberia, Ghana, Nigeria, Albania and Georgia, told family stories about foster care, suicide, gender inequality, civil war, inheritance, kinship, and identity. You can hear each of their initial stories in this video, each five minutes or less, starting at 36:40 in the video:
Launched in 2016, Learning Life’s Family Diplomacy Initiative (FDI) is an ambitious, long-term effort to connect, train and empower families to participate in decision-making at local to global levels. We envision a world more connected and caring because every family has one or more family diplomats, and those citizen diplomats advocate effectively via nonprofits, businesses, media and governments for the needs, concerns and aspirations of families worldwide. In Phase 1 of FDI, from 2016 to 2021, Learning Life connected over 10,000 people worldwide to FDI via Facebook, and engaged families in different nations in live dialogues via Zoom, and asynchronous dialogues via our FDI Facebook Group to learn about each other. In Phase 2, starting in 2022, motivated volunteers across the world are getting training as family diplomats (FDs). Phase 3, the final phase of FDI’s development, will connect trained FDs with nonprofits, businesses, governments and media in order to advocate for the needs, concerns and aspirations of different families across the world.
This year, the Phase 2 FD training runs every Sunday, 12:00-1:30pm ET (New York/Washington DC time) from July 10 to October 23 via Zoom, with certificates of completion for those who complete Part 1 on power and citizen diplomacy, plus family issues, patterns and trends (July 10-August 21), and Part 2 on family storytelling (August 28-October 23). On Sundays, October 9 and 16, the FD trainees will deliver their final family story performances via Zoom, and all those interested are invited to attend. To attend, contact us at email@learninglife.info to get the Zoom link. Get full details on the 2022 Family Diplomat Training here.
Learn more about FDI and how you can get involved here.
Stakeholder Spotlight: Nick Burton
The “Stakeholder Spotlight” is an occasional series of posts highlighting people who are helping to advance Learning Life’s work. Our third post in this series features Nick Burton, who interned with Learning Life in summer 2014, while he was a student at Liberty University. Now a successful real estate investor, Nick reconnected with Learning Life founder, Paul Lachelier, last year, and began donating generously to support Learning Life’s work. For ways you can support Learning Life, click here.
What is your current occupation?
I am currently a Real Estate Investor.
In 1-2 paragraphs, please tell us more about you.
I am a DC native. I decided dropping out of college and becoming a full-time real estate professional was the way to go. For seven years, I have served as Tim Bratz’s Director Of Acquisitions for Legacy Wealth Holdings, wholesaling hundreds of single-family homes and purchasing thousands of apartment units. The Legacy Wealth team and myself have also coached over 1,000 real estate investors on how to simplify and scale into the multifamily real estate world. As an avid collectibles and memorabilia collector, I pride myself on my organization and willingness to collaborate to get the job done.
Why did you decide to support Learning Life?
Paul Lachelier was one of the only people to ever give me a chance. He gave me an internship when nobody else would even look at my resume. Paul is an outstanding individual with the drive and heart to really make a change.
Princeton University. 
Schneider, in turn, focused on political developments since the 1960s to help explain current American polarization. “Class conflict [of the 1930s] has given way to cultural conflict” since the 1960s, with religiosity (not what church, but how often one goes to church) and education (especially whether one has a college degree) dividing Americans. The corresponding shift from a focus on material interests to moral values makes it harder to compromise since values are more central to people’s identities. 
