If you’ve watched a presidential debate or engaged in just about any topic on social media, this event won’t feel familiar — it’s designed to be highly-structured and civilized. The topic is Albuquerque’s unhoused, specifically: Are additional tax dollars needed to provide housing for those experiencing homelessness?
The national nonprofit Braver Angels is hosting the debate at the International District Library next month. Organizers are looking for people of all political stripes to debate and share their views on the subject.
“My hope for the debate is that as many citizens as possible will discover the value of civil discourse in finding solutions to difficult problems,” said Barbara Regan, co-chair of the group’s North-Central New Mexico Alliance. “I want people to know that everyone’s voice is important and that people who have differing viewpoints on an issue are not bad or evil.”
Civil discourse is the philosophy that Braver Angels hangs its hat on. The cross-partisan group hosts debates and workshops with the goal of political depolarization and problem solving.
The topic of homelessness is a new one for the organization.
Braver Angels says that while people generally have compassion for those experiencing homelessness, society is falling short in its quest to find solutions. It says that while the political right and left may differ on the solutions, those across the political spectrum agree that there’s not enough being done.
The debate’s emphasis is also on collaboration, Regan said, rather than deciding which side is right or who presented an argument “the best.”
“Having people speak up is crucial. It doesn’t matter if someone has in-depth knowledge or can quote data and statistics. We want people who can speak from the heart and tell us what they really feel,” Regan said. “That’s something missing from our current culture — people are afraid to say what they think because they don’t want to offend someone or they think no one cares to hear what they have to say.”
The free event is scheduled to take place Sept. 21 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. As part of the format, attendees can simply listen in, pose questions, or speak. When registering, attendees are asked whether they are for or against the resolution — Are additional tax dollars needed to provide housing for those experiencing homelessness? — and if they are willing to be a speaker.
“For the opening we need two speakers in the affirmative and two in the negative,” Regan said.
The International District Library is located at 7601 Central Ave. NE. To register, click here. Barbara Regan can be reached at bregan@braverangels.org.
Of course more public funding for housing is a big solution to homelessness, so why not call it that instead of the politicized term “taxes”? Since Reagan demonized and broke government in the 1980’s, taxes have become weaponized, along with the civic health they enable. As a result tax regression has become the status quo, where the rich pay far less of their fare share than the rest of us, and public needs spills on to our sidewalks. It wasn’t always this way and, with fair taxation, we can make it better. We must, because we’re all in it together.