The participation by Liberatus stakeholders in the mission to inspire American unity over the last nine years made it possible to publish 19 writers, include 60 people in content creation, create and ship 215 copies of Volume One to people in 21 states so far, and contribute $666 in funding to three partner organizations to fuel their work to care for people who have been displaced or marginalized.
Craftsmanship in politics is about listening, asking questions and doing deeper research to search for wisdom, and it’s about creating new solutions for the next generation. We can also take David McCullough's advice to “learn to edit yourself” a step further, to its broader meaning: lead yourself.
Over the last nine years, more than 200 stakeholders have brought the mission to inspire American unity to life. Thank you to all of you for your shared passion! We all want leaders who make our country stronger. We want a basic sense of sanity and justice. We want quality craftsmanship, and we want to make the next generation stronger.
Part Nine: Endurance is the defining characteristic of Liberatus culture. For this journal entry in Issue 019: The Trailhead—Leadership for American Unity I want to articulate what it means to build endurance, what dysfunction looks like, and how we can create a culture of unity by moving the mission forward.
While we need leaders who embody the build endurance ethos, it’s important to note that anyone can build endurance, and in this journal entry I’ll lay out how so that we can continue creating a culture of American unity for the next generation.
Part Eight: A summary of the Liberatus plan for American unity, as articulated so far in this journal series. The actions to choose unity listed here with their corresponding sub points are actions we can all take wherever we are, in any context. When Americans choose unity, we make our country stronger—more just and more free—for our kids, grandkids, nieces, and nephews.
Liberatus offers inspiration for American unity to help you choose unity. You can read more about our plan for healing or unity in The Values of Freedom and Philosophy of Freedom in Political Engagement.
It seems that every election is IT. The last chance to save America. The final hour to “take our country back.” The ultimate moment to redeem the Republic. Even if the other candidate had won last night, this “last battle” narrative would still live on. But if it’s hope we need, maybe we start by identifying what actually is the consequential fight of our time. What deserves to be called the Last Battle?
The call to remember the beginning and the beauty of the beginning in The Magician’s Nephew could not be more timely for me. At the end of four years lobbying for various social justice issues in Washington, DC, I felt worn out and disheartened by the political system. But remembering the beginning shows us what joy we can look forward to in the end because of Jesus.
As I re-read The Horse and His Boy, I was drawn powerfully to the themes of power and poverty, slavery and freedom, insecurity and significance. At this point in my life, I see the story as a beautiful tale about the reversal of roles, the meaninglessness of titles, and the use and abuse of power. And there’s a place of profound freedom on the other side of contemplating the emptiness of the endless quest for power.
As I scroll through my Twitter feed, turn on the TV, or talk to people, I’m saddened to see ever more evidence that truth and beauty are absent from the American political discourse. What we’re witnessing today is the fruit of a body politic which has wandered from its foundation—we are a people in desperate need of healing.
The Silver Chair doesn’t just challenge us with the idea of causality, but with the idea of providence—causality complicated by intent or teleology. Aslan gave the children four signs, fully intending for our protagonists to follow all four of them. However, they were only in a position to obey the later signs because they had failed to obey the earlier ones.
Today we’re taking a break from our current series, Remember Your Fairy Tales, so I can share a personal note about the current and future plans of Liberatus, and what I’ve learned along the way. In order to continue publishing the journal weekly, build community with a writing team, and grow into phase two, we need ten writers to commit to 2017 and to raise $1,100 in new monthly contributions.
Reading The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, I found myself relating to Eustace during his dragon phase more than I wanted to admit. See, I recently moved across the country and as I sit here as far away from DC as I can imagine, I have a lot of questions. Why am I here? Am I sure this was the right choice? I’ve been searching for some sense of control.
Too often, work in American politics lacks vision and doesn’t value the creativity it would take to achieve that vision. How do we fix it? We can learn from other creators in other fields. Today we interview Noah and Nicole Stratton at The Academy of Arts. Their work overlaps with our vision of healing: in the coming months, they will perform “Prince Caspian” live on stage—for the first time ever.
Today, we’re stepping into the wardrobe. We’re returning to Narnia, to the land fallen under the spell of the White Witch, to the forest frozen by a hundred years of winter.
Here’s hoping we have grown old enough to re-read The Chronicles of Narnia, to step back inside the fairy tales themselves and explore once again.
