WASHINGTON (RNS) — Sitting under the imposing columns of Washington National Cathedral, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox turned to longtime political strategist Donna Brazile and shared his change of heart about her.
“I grew up as a Republican; I grew up watching you on TV, as a Democrat, and there were so many times that I thought: I would love to just argue with her,” he said during a Wednesday (Feb. 21) forum on civility attended by more than 750 people.
“And I finally get up here on stage and I finally get to meet you and I just — I love you and I’m so impressed by you.”
The two were among the speakers at a forum at the cathedral called “With Malice Toward None, With Charity for All: Reclaiming Civility in American Politics.” The event, timed to the start of an already contentious election season, was held in partnership with Wesley Theological Seminary, along with the Wheatley Institute at Brigham Young University and Deseret Magazine, two institutions affiliated with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
“As we head deeper into this election year, I can think of few topics more important than
civility and the need for civil discourse in order for our democracy to thrive,” cathedral Dean Randy Hollerith said as the forum began.
He said the cathedral’s programming focus this year on promoting humility, compassion, love and forgiveness should “remind people that even our worst enemies, political or otherwise, are the beloved children of God and should be treated as such.”
Cox is chair of the National Governors Association and, since last year, has spearheaded a “Disagree Better” initiative that includes “interventions,” such as encouraging governors to publish an op-ed with a politician of a different party or colleges hosting a debate on campus that demonstrates ways to handle conflict in a healthy manner.
Cox and Maryland Gov. Wes Moore interviewed each other about their participation in the project and noted their efforts to seek bipartisan solutions in their states despite their party being able to pass legislation without the votes of the minority party.
“I believe in the idea that we don’t have to come all to the same conclusion but everyone just wants to be heard, everyone wants to feel like they were part of a larger process,” said Moore, a Democrat who is the grandson and great-grandson of ministers.
“You can’t claim to love the country if you hate half of the people in it.”
Cox, a member of the LDS church, said his interest in starting the initiative lay in a desire to model behavior that would aim to foster depolarization as he watched a deepening of political divides over the last dozen years.
“Politics was becoming religion for many people and then politics infiltrated their religion, and you started to see that more and more, and I just hated that that’s how we were seeing each other,” he said.
The conversation between Cox and Moore at the cathedral was followed by a panel discussion, facilitated by the Utah governor. Participants included political and legal panelists, such as Brazile, who spoke of the bipartisan work that went into establishing Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a federal holiday, as well as in sending aid to the survivors of Hurricane Katrina.
