Why Engage

Welcome to Engage: A Forum for Civic Renewal! We are a new 501(c)(4) nonprofit organized in response to a crisis we feel is happening in our society. The crisis was long in coming and will be long in resolving. We aim to play the long game. As we see it, the crisis is threefold. 

First, we are seeing unprecedented levels of polarization, contempt, and incivility in our society. It has become acceptable to demean and threaten others who have different political convictions. It has become commonplace to see policies and even entire political movements that are motivated by concern for the few while we are asked to ignore the needs of the many. As we become more tribal and separated from others, we are losing our ability to imagine, nurture and sustain true community. 

Second, we are watching the erosion of democratic norms, respect for the rule of law, the balance of powers, and of other processes protected under our constitution. We recognize, of course, that in our age of polarization, it is easy for people on the left and the right to see the other side as the more guilty of these offenses. While we recognize both the inevitability and even the desirability of differences of political opinion, we do not accept the ways in which our politics are being framed today. We do not need more voices that reinforce the political and cultural war that currently is being waged in our country. As an organization, we hope to offer alternatives. We begin by seeking agreement on the rules and norms that should govern our politics in the hope for a healthier future. We believe our constitution and our highest morals alike obligate us to accept political pluralism as a reality—we do not seek domination of one point of view—and to work toward compromise with others of goodwill to find solutions to our many problems.

Third, because of our current political climate citizens are increasingly disengaged from the work of building communities. This disengagement takes two forms. One is apathy and willed ignorance where citizens remain on the sidelines, paying little to no attention to what happens in their communities and making little to no effort to be informed, active voters or to raise voices or offer willing hands for good causes. The other form is hyper-partisan extremism where we let our parties do our thinking and even acting for us and where we are largely asked to be mere spectators who choose and root for our team or boo at the opponent, but who no longer remember how to build truly caring and flourishing communities. This sad state of affairs has given greater power and license to parties and politicians to follow their own logic and interests rather than to answer to the actual needs of real people. 

So what is to be done? Engage is organized around three core principles that we believe can act as a remedy to these problems. First, we embrace human dignity, human potential, and human differences. Second, we believe democratic forms of government are the best suited to honor and realize human dignity, human potential, and human differences. And finally, we accept the individual responsibility we each have for the health of our democracy and of our community to realize the tall order of universal human well-being. 

To this end, Engage offers education, training, and opportunities to become more involved and more principled citizens who, as we grow in number, will inoculate our communities against the extremism and erosions we have seen. We are not a political party. We do not tell people how to vote. We lead with principles and provide education, training and opportunities designed to empower citizens to be more accountable for the kind of society we live in and more principled in their engagement. We understand the utility of parties, but we also understand the danger of groupthink and of excessive reliance on or loyalty to party or to persons. Politics is the art of problem solving, and we seek to motivate pragmatic and values-based approaches to social ills. We envision a time when all communities in the country, starting with where we live, acknowledge their own unique qualities and differences and where a wide variety of viewpoints are welcomed into the marketplace of ideas. We envision a culture of competitive and civil political races, higher levels of voter turnout and of volunteerism, and more responsiveness between citizens and elected representatives. 

Such engagement will moderate and strengthen the political center and help to make common ground between those on the left and the right more visible and viable for good governance. To this end, we warmly welcome conservatives, independents, moderates and liberals, anyone willing to align with our values and work to exercise influence in their circles to create community and renew the civic spirit upon which our democracy and our collective well-being depend.

We hope you will join our efforts.

George Handley, Executive Director of Engage: A Forum for Civic Renewal