Every two weeks, we’ll bring you a new episode of Civil Conversations. Here, we sit down with Americans from across the political spectrum to demonstrate that once you’re in the same room – once you’re having a conversation – no subject is too hard to find common understanding.
Our moderator is Civil cofounder, George Nofli. George has been talking to people across political, ethnic, and party lines his entire life. He studied political science at Princeton, Oxford, and UCLA, originally planning to go into policy and politics. But his passion for storytelling almost accidentally led him to his second career in Hollywood where his writing credits include the Bourne Ultimatum and Oceans 12. He also wrote, directed, and produced The Adjustment Bureau and The Banker. Civil Conversations is result of George’s two lifelong passions: truly understanding people and their stories, and telling these stories in thematic, compelling, respectful ways.
This week, Democratic State Senator John Horhn and Republican Representative Lee Yancey continue their conversation about race, gender identity, policing, and the role of government. And, again, they find agreement in what some may consider unexpected places. Especially in culture war issues. As Senator Horhn said, the problem is that Democrats and Republicans are each supposed to have particular opinions; yet sometimes opinions are in the gray. “If you’re a Democrat, you’re supposed to feel this way, if you’re a Republican you’re supposed to feel that way. And as long as we put ourselves in these kind of trick bags, we’re going to have problems.” As always, Americans hold a range of views, and understanding is not so hard to find as we often think.
Civil Conversation #6: Senator John Horhn and Representative Lee Yancey (Pt. 2)