— Liberatus

ISSUE 018: INAUGURATE PEACE

Launch a new print journal on wholeness in politics to overcome us vs them narratives and become Americans the next generation will love

back volume one on kickstarter

When we think about American politics, all of us are tired of us vs them narratives that come at us from everywhere. They make us feel apathetic about the process, take away our peace, and make us want to disengage.

On January 6, the day the Capitol was breached, the entire world witnessed what happens when “us” is so far removed from “them” that violence is the inevitable outcome.

But we're Americans, and we must not settle for that. Our calling is to create a future built on unity and peace for the next generation.

We can change Washington when we change ourselves.

Changing ourselves begins by listening to the stories of others, finding our center in the peace of Christ, and reshaping our views to find wholeness for the future. That's why we founded Liberatus in 2015.

Over the past six years, the Liberatus team published over 100 journal entries online from twelve writers, sharing firsthand accounts of those on the inside on how we can remake politics and find better ways to govern together. Fueled by the backing of our family, friends, and colleagues, everything we write is rooted in three primary core values: community, contemplation, and creativity. Other works that inspire our approach to writing include Henri Nouwen's The Wounded Healer, Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Identity, and Laura Hillenbrand's Unbroken.

Four years in the making, Volume One will be our most comprehensive work to-date, with 21 articles centered on the theme of advocating for refugees, the displaced, and marginalized. Printed on thick paper and filled with beautiful photography, the journal will be fit for your coffee table and sharing with your friends.

To give you inspiration on the journey to overcome us vs them narratives and become Americans the next generation will love, its stories will take you from the Sochi 2014 Olympics to a refugee camp in Bangladesh, and from finding sisterhood in India to conversations on bridging partisan divides at a kitchen table in Lima, Ohio. The feature story covers a nine-day journey--funded through Kickstarter--along the entire US-Mexico border and the trip's aftermath that created a new way to connect leaders across the country to the lives of migrants fleeing violence in Central America.

When you back Liberatus Volume One, you're introducing new stories into America's political dialogue, stories built on unity and written by professionals in politics and government that help make us all human again. You're joining a community of fellow citizens who believe that the conversation can still be changed. Wholeness, unity, and understanding is the path forward.

When you back Liberatus Volume One, you're also creating a new and lasting ethos of peace for the next generation. You're launching a new biannual print journal and creating a new way to give to the people who need it most. Outside of the Kickstarter platform and after this campaign ends, 20% of all donations made for each volume will go directly to organizations that bring the very wholeness, peace, and unity that we stand for.

Now is the time to become an active creator of a future built on unity and peace.

Liberatus Volume One will give you inspiration for the journey to overcome us vs them narratives and become Americans the next generation will love. Back it now on Kickstarter.

***

"My friend Maria fled Nicaragua after protesting against the Ortega regime's suppression of political freedom. She ended up in Honduras at the house of one of my best friends.

"Against my advice, my friend took the decision to make the perilous journey across Central America to the US border. And then.... Silence.

"I go to briefings in Congress all the time about how the asylum system is broken and how it needs massive reform. I hear horror stories about detention centers and how understaffed and under-resourced they are. What would happen to her?"

***

Find out how the story ends when you back Liberatus Journal Volume One.

Photography by Anastasia Waltschew and Border Perspective.

WEEKLY ACTION ITEM:

Back Liberatus Volume One on Kickstarter.

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Liberatus is a community journal on wholeness in politics, giving us inspiration to overcome us vs them narratives and become Americans the next generation will love.

Journal Entry #119

ISSUE 018: INAUGURATE PEACE

Apr 3, 2024

Which Way Forward?

Issue 020: Which Way Forward? As we think about the next 40 years, it’s critical that we take up the challenge of our time—in the words of President Kennedy, not because it is easy but because it is hard. We believe that the American idea is this: we make our country more just and free when we collaborate, build trust, and build endurance.

Untitled-18 copy (3) April 2 2024 01 Artboard 1.jpg

Aug 3, 2022

Issue 019: The Trailhead—Leadership for American Unity One of America’s first political cartoons is a message of unity. Published in 1754 by Benjamin Franklin, it depicts the now familiar image of a snake severed into pieces, each representing the colonies. With the image, a declaration is written: “Join, or Die.”

Unity is a choice, and we all know the effects of disunity. President Washington warned us about them in his Farewell Address. But how do we choose unity? How do we offer leadership for American unity as the purpose of any professional work in American politics and government?

Jan 20, 2021

Issue 018: Inaugurate Peace Liberatus Volume One will give you inspiration for the journey to overcome us vs them narratives and become Americans the next generation will love. You can back it now on Kickstarter.

May 1, 2019

Issue 017: Visioneering As we compile a print journal on wholeness in politics, in this Visioneering journal series we will explore the problem in politics, the solution, and our creative challenge; how we can create a new category for political engagement; and how you can give peace a voice in Washington.

Sep 29, 2017

Issue 016: Re-Creation When we take part in recreation, how can we focus that time on pursuits that help us re-create in politics? At a deeper level, what activities help us experience the life of Jesus more fully? How does his life move us towards wholeness, towards the relief of being set free from political dysfunction? These were the questions we posed to our community of writers for our sixteenth journal series.

Jan 11, 2017

Issue 015: A New Era Now it begins. But hope is cold, as cold as stone, as cold as night. We are frozen but we’re searching for power. The stage is packed but the script is empty. The curtain rises but it’s the audience acting. A new era begins but we’re building ruins. Greek columns can’t hold the weight of right now. Healing is now, beneath these snow-chilled stones.

Sep 12, 2016

Issue 014: Remember Your Fairy Tales We see through a glass darkly. But the light shining through stirs our emotions. What is that we feel? An ache: we ache inside. No, not an ache: we are filled with longing, a faint sense of feeling what we do not yet feel, of knowing what we do not yet know, of seeing what we do not yet see. All of the earth is not what it seems.

Jul 22, 2016

Issue 013: Olympic Gold An athlete races down the track, forward. The confines of her single lane are conquered by her relentless speed. The human body, in full motion, beautifully alive—she hits her stride. The finish line, once towering high above her, now slips beneath her feet, slips away behind her.

Congress could be as inspiring as the Olympic Games.

Jun 7, 2016

Issue 012: The Great Outdoors Maybe what our city needs—to discover a deeper knowledge of freedom—is a little more wind on our faces, a little sunburn, a scent from a memory that should never be forgotten. Maybe coming to our senses in politics is literally as simple as coming to our senses. What if, while we explore, we take notes of all we’ve learned?

Apr 19, 2016

Issue 011: Energy What if the energy of abundant life can fill our work for all of our days? And what if its rhythm becomes the natural flow of any human endeavor? Creating beauty calls us to live true to the rhythms of human energy. How do we capture it, use it, restore it—and create, again and again?