This is a sad day for America. Even sadder, it is not unexpected. Bitter politics yields bitter fruit. But today’s events are no less terrible and tragic for reflecting just how deep our divisions have grown. We send heartfelt and grieving condolences to those impacted by today’s violence, and we wish former President Trump a speedy recovery.

Violence has no place in our political process. No candidate or elected official should ever be subjected to attacks of this kind. A peaceful and prosperous democracy depends on each of us committing to non-violence in the conduct of our politics. And even our words matter. We should raise our arguments against ideas, not people.

At Partners In Democracy, we seek to cultivate civic strength: a culture of commitment to constitutional democracy and one another. More specifically, civic strength entails:

1. Broad and deep support for core commitments of constitutional democracy: constitutionalism, rule of law, non-violence, universal inclusion;
2. Broad and deep comfort with the practices of pluralism and power-sharing: civil disagreement, reflective patriotism, civic friendship, and collaboration through political institutions.

We work to make this kind of political culture real every day, and we invite everyone to join us.

Publicly express your own commitment to non-violence. Find someone from a different part of the political spectrum from yourself and seek to have a basic human get-to-know you conversation, not about politics, just about what matters to each of you in life and why. Or join us to join this work.