Dear Richard Johnson

Dear Richard,

In your September 29th Facebook post, you say, "We have to bring the people in the middle together to stop this madness or the extremes will tear it [our country] apart."

Your Facebook post shows 66 likes and 26 comments.

My recent (and earlier) Blogging Eagle Facebook posts evidence that I deeply share your sentiment that "We have to bring the people in the middle together to stop this madness or the extremes will tear it [our country] apart." 

My Blogging Eagle Facebook posts have tried to indicate to those in Eagles Mere things I am trying to do "to bring the people in the middle together to stop this madness" My posts get about zero likes and comments.

I throw myself on your graces to consider the things I am trying to do and decide whether they are worthy of your support and whether  to urge those in Eagles Mere to think about things they can do "to bring the people in the middle together to stop this madness".

Here are things I've been doing:

In 2022, I made an appeal for there to be house meetups in Eagles Mere. See https://bloggingeagle1.blogspot.com/2022/07/appeal-for-house-meetups.html.

In this appeal I said,

My diagnosis is that the extremes on the two political sides are in control of United States politics and political discourse, and they basically will not agree on anything.

This results in a substantial majority in the middle, who would be amenable to many compromises and agreements that the extremes will not countenance and about which they will not even talk to each other, being disregarded by Congress.

In an August 14th Blogging Eagle Facebook post, I posted the American Bar Association's recently created "Task Force for American Democracy" and its Mission Statement that appears at https://www.americanbar.org/groups/leadership/office_of_the_president/american-democracy/overview/. My post gave a link to https://bloggingeagle1.blogspot.com/2023/08/american-bar-association-task-force-for.html, which indicates what I am doing to do in Alabama to defend democracy.

I learned from Jean Alley's Facebook of the article College Debates and Discourse Program partners with Denison – The Denisonian that quoted her son Luke (who is at Denison), saying

"The program works towards its goal of depolarization through deliberately proposing divisive topics for their debates, student fellow Luke Romeo Alley explained. With its concern for complex issues, the organization seeks to bring students together through constructive dialogue."

I posted The Denisonian article on my Blogging Eagle Facebook on September24th.

On February 21st I started posting about Braver Angels as a "national movement to bridge the partisan divide." Per the email set out at https://al6thcongdist-ihaveuntiljan13.blogspot.com/...posting about In Alabama, I am striving to engender depolarizing conversation via the Braver Angels organization (and by other means). See

https://al6thcongdist-ihaveuntiljan13.blogspot.com/2023/02/braver-angels-birmingham-alliance.html

I hope you consider what I am doing to try "to bring the people in the middle together to stop this madness" worthy of your support and worthy of being considered by others in Eagles Mere for what they can do.

Thank you very much, Richard.

Sincerely,
Rob Shattuck