Originally Published on LinkedIn

Our country is caught in the crosshairs of two major forces: a global pandemic and a looming election cycle. Ironically, one holds the potential to unite Americans, while the other threatens to divide us more than ever.

Confronted with the daily pressures of social distancing, working (or not working) from home, having kids underfoot, or wondering how to pay the rent, it can be difficult to look down the road and see how consequential our response to these forces over the next six months will be in shaping America’s future.  

The forces of political division hope we will respond by seeing our current challenges through a red or blue polarizing lens. Their cold calculus is that November election turnout will depend, as it always does, on agitating “the base” and driving voter turnout accordingly. As we grapple with coronavirus’ stranglehold on our physical and economic health, we can already see how the virus, its downstream consequences, and its widely varying impacts are being politicized to shape electoral outcomes in November.

Make no mistake: the broad outlines are already clear, and the 2020 election cycle will be highly divisive. Americans will be further pitted against Americans, so that we feel inspired to turn out and vote “against” each other. We will be encouraged to blame each other for the worst of the pandemic’s outcomes: “Blue” cities caused the pandemic, “red” states opened too soon, “blue” politicians killed the economy, “red” politicians favored big business over small business, and so on. (See how easy it is to do this? Feels good, right?)  

In a country already highly polarized -- and now further weakened by a pandemic -- we enter this election season in a fragile and vulnerable state. Even if we wished for our politicians, media, and social media platforms to employ less divisive and damaging rhetoric, do we as Americans have the collective will to demand something different?

Here’s the really good news. Against the backdrop of a looming, divisive election cycle, the forces of social connection are gathering strength in numbers across the country.

In large part, this is an immediate and spontaneous response to the shared experience of coronavirus and the recognition that we are all -- and it’s much more than just a hashtag -- #InThisTogether. From concerts to telethons to nightly rounds of applause, we demonstrate our yearning to feel connected to one another, to assert our common humanity.

As David Brooks penned in his op-ed last week, “The pandemic has been a massive humanizing force — allowing us to see each other on a level much deeper than politics — see the fragility, the fear and the courage.”

But these forces of social connection and cohesion didn’t just materialize overnight. In fact, hundreds of organizations and many thousands of people across the country have been scaffolding up to this moment for many years. Interfaith communities, civic groups, local “weavers,” and national cross-partisan bridging organizations are collectively mobilizing to serve an American public that longs to practice new ways of being with, relating to, and caring for one another.  

One of the most concrete ways in which these organizations are mobilizing is through #WeavingCommunity, a nationwide movement centered on relationships, connection, and community.

A partnership of The Aspen Institute’s Weave: The Social Fabric Project and Listen First Project | National Conversation Project, and powered by a coalition of 300+ organizations, #WeavingCommunity invites us all to connect with one another, care for one another, and create the brighter futures we want for our communities and our country as a whole.

By refocusing Americans away from the issues and identities that divide us -- and towards the relationships and interdependencies that connect us -- #WeavingCommunity provides offramps from political division and onramps to social connection.

Perhaps, on some level, this sounds naively optimistic (savvy political operatives will certainly think so), but consider the alternatives: Individuals more isolated, depressed, and despairing than ever. Communities shattered by health crises and economic contractions. A country more divided, more broken than ever on the heels of November.

These outcomes are imaginable, but not inevitable. We, as Americans, can choose better outcomes for ourselves, our communities, and our country. Ready to get started?

Let’s start by #WeavingCommunity.

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