The democratic virtues of moderation, civility and compromise
Today marks the beginning of the 2018 elections in Minnesota, with precinct caucuses hosted by the major political parties.
This is an Aspen Ideas Festival conversation about our public discourse and the democratic virtues of moderation, civility and compromise.
Those public virtues were once widely praised, but are now often dismissed as weakness — or even betrayal — of the cause.
Amy Walter moderated a panel featuring Michael Gerson, David Brooks and Peter Wehner. They concluded that maybe we only treasure these virtues when they're absent.
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Gerson is a syndicated columnist at the Washington Post.
Wehner is a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington.
Brooks is a New York Times columnist and is heard regularly on PBS Newshour and NPR's All Things Considered.
Walter is national editor of the Cook Political Report and is heard weekly on The PBS Newshour.
The conversation was recorded in Aspen, Colorado on July 1, 2017.
To listen to their conversation, click the audio player above.