If you want the truth to stand clear before you, never be for or against. The struggle between “for” and “against” is the minds worst disease.
— Sent ts’an, c. 700 C. E.

 

Suggested Reading

The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Religion and Politics by Jonathan Haidt

What Moderation Means, by  David Brooks writing in the New York Times

Forget the Money, Follow the Sacredness, by Jonathan Haidt, writing in the New York Times

Jonathan Haidt: He Knows Why We Fight, Holmon W. Jenkins, Jr. writing in the Wall Street Journal

The Start-up of You by Reid Hoffman and Ben Casnocha – excerpt on Benjamin Franklin’s Club of Honest Whigs.

 

Logistical Assistance

Click here to see a list of materials you might want to bring to your meeting.

Click here to view and download “Hosting an Asteroids Dinner Party.”

Click here to view and download “Hosting a Public Asteroids Club Event.”

Survey Gizmo or Survey Monkey are totally free and easy-to-use programs to help you take reservations for your Asteroids Club event.

Constant Contact if you want to take the reservations and event-management to the next level, fee involved.  Try out an example of what a reservation can look like using this system by clicking on this page, then following the RSVP links. (Just reserve your space under the name Test Drive so we will know to delete your reservation.)

Find a sample poster here. You can request a Photoshop layered .psd file to work from for your event.

The Village Square offers a fully editable website (called We the Wiki) where you can easily create your own Asteroids Club event webpage that looks like this one.  For instructions on how to make your page, go to the bottom of this page or for help contact asteroidsclub@tothevillagesquare.org or call 850.264.8785 between 10 and 5pm Eastern Standard Time.

 

Information

CivilPolitics.org offers evidence-based ideas for improving the American Political Dialogue.  It is co-directed by NYU’s  Jonathan Haidt who is also the co-director of this website.

Politifact is a comprehensive, well-respected fact-checking organization run by the Tampa Bay Times.

FactCheck.org is the tried and true gold-standard in fact-checking.

Face the Facts USA could probably be called the Asteroid-A-Day Club.  A project of George Washington University, you can sign up for the “asteroid” to arrive daily in your inbox.

The Bipartisan Policy Center “develops and promotes solutions to attract the public support and political momentum to achieve real progress.”

 

Organizations

NoLabels.org is a 501(c)(4) social advocacy organization.  Their goal is “to help move America from the old politics of point-scoring toward a new politics of problem-solving.”  They’ve outlined a 12-point plan to make Congress work.

Living Room Conversations is a free open-source resource for people who would like to revive civil and factual discourse.

The Village Square is a non-partisan nonprofit devoted to civil and factual discourse across the partisan divide.  It is a model for establishing community-based groups and the organization is equipped to help you launch a Village Square in your hometown.  Also see their example of an Asteroids Club event.