Hello, I'm Dr. Stephen Hassan with another episode of the influence continuum.

And American democracy depends on free and fair elections.

And I am a member, a dues-paying member of Braver Angels,

an organization that I think all Americans,

whether they lean red, whether they lean blue, should be aware of

and potentially get involved with.

I'm going to take a moment before I introduce our guests to just say, read a little bit

from their website, braverangels.org, our mission.

They say Americans on opposite sides of the political spectrum don't only disagree on issues. They increasingly dislike one another.

This growing partisan animosity is the crisis of our time and threatens our nation.

Braver angels exist to address this challenge. And they say, as we separate into groups that increasingly do not even know or

interact, people of differing opinions, we lose trust in our institutions, eroding the ability

to govern ourselves, and lower the caliber of citizenship. This growing trend Corsons public debate reduces policy gridlock,

shrinks our capacity for goodwill, and harms our family

and personal relationships. Effective self-government

depends precisely on what this type of polarization

destroys. We believe the American experiment can

survive and thrive for every American who contributes to this effort. Where we go from here is up to

us. This is the driving force of our mission.

And so this episode of the Influence Continuum, I feel, is one of the most important episodes I've ever done.

And I'm very grateful to have two co-chairs of the trustworthy elections leadership team.

We have Walt McKee, who leans red,

...