NHBR Column: Bipartisan Caucus Bridging the Divide is a National Model

I was saddened by the recent death of folksinger Peter Yarrow (of Peter, Paul, and Mary fame). I first met Peter back in 2010 when I ran the Peace Corps in Ukraine and Peter came to promote his anti-bullying campaign Operation Respect. We reconnected after a 2019 NH concert, and Peter told me about Braver Angels (then called Better Angels). I checked it out and have volunteered ever since with this national organization bringing Americans together to bridge the partisan divide. The goal is not to change people’s views of issues, but to change their views of each other.  

In December 2021, we conducted our first Braver Angels workshop for NH legislators. Bill Doherty, Braver Angels co-founder and University of Minnesota family therapy professor, facilitated a ”red-blue” workshop for six Republican and six Democratic state reps. The goal was understanding the experiences and beliefs of colleagues, discovering areas of commonality, and developing ideas for improving the functioning of the legislature.   

Participant comments afterward included: “We know each other politically but not personally,” “We made assumptions about other people’s motives that are not always correct,” and “It is vital for us to get to know each other on a human scale.” Since that first workshop, Patricia Higgins (a former Democratic state representative) and other volunteers have organized multiple events for NH elected officials there is now a bipartisan caucus of NH state legislators called the Granite Bridge Legislative Alliance. 

You can read the full column at https://read.nhbr.com/nh-business-review/2025/02/14/#?article=4290181&dpg=1