ESSAY // MAURY GILES OF BRAVER ANGELS // DISAGREEING WITH DIGNITY
Choosing the Storm
‘Courageous citizenship’ is about a new American story
by Maury Giles
Volume 7 // Issue 2 // Fall 2025 // Conservation
Washington, DC, in the rain.
I recently laced up anyway and took my running loop around the Mall—past the Washington Monument, a beacon of strength and character, and the Lincoln Memorial, where words carved in stone still ask more of us than we ask of ourselves. It was one of those brief windows when you either step into the weather or stay inside and miss it.
I’m glad I went. Again.
We are in a bit of a storm as a country. But we know the source of light: It is each other. America has always argued; that’s part of the design.
What’s new is the contempt—the fear and isolation that turns citizens into enemies and nudges politics toward force. The antidote isn’t niceness or mushy centrism. It’s courageous citizenship: standards for how we contend with hard issues, skills for how we engage one another, and shared work that repairs the fabric of our society.
I’ve recently taken over the position of CEO at Braver Angels, a national, grassroots advocacy group focused on bringing Americans together across divides of all kinds, including political divides. Weathering this storm will take many more of us, but I have great hope for our country. How we begin: choosing dignity over violence. //
For full text and images, consider reading RQ in print, on a Sunday afternoon, sun streaming through your window, coffee in hand, and nary a phone alert within sight or in earshot… just fine words, fine design, and the opportunity to make a stitch in time. // Subscribe or buy a single issue today. // Print is dead. Long live print. //