We are experiencing unprecedented levels of anger and hatred in our communities. Our political leaders are doubling down on dehumanizing the "other."  When one community of people dehumanizes another, violence erupts and people get injured and killed. We believe that we are nearing a national rupture.

In reality this hatred is driven by ignorance.  We don't know each other because we don't talk with each other. 

The time to act is now. The Compassion Forward movement aims to bring people together with compassion.  By getting to know each other, we can learn to discuss and debate our differences from a point of respect and heal our social fabric. 

Over the past decade the percent of the world's population living under true democratic government has been in decline. This decline is driving erosion of civil liberties globally. Fear of government and fear of our neighbors has become pervasive. Hateful rhetoric has been normalized, political violence is on the rise,  and communities of people are dehumanizing other communities of people simply because of cultural, religious, or political differences. While the United States has been a model of constitutional democracy for over 200 years, there is now widespread concern that the scope of executive power in the US is inching the country, and thus the world, toward authoritarianism.

Democracy, with all its faults, is the only system of government which creates and maintains a platform for the rule of law. Communities of people require rule of law for security and safety, business requires rule of law to operate without corruption, and governments must operate under rule of law to prevent authoritarian dictatorship from taking over. Only under rule of law can justice be administered without fear or favor.

A famous quote attributed to Winston Churchill states that "democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the rest."  Under healthy democracies, groups of people of good will with different ideologies wrestle for political power, create laws and build programs for the common good. The process of governing under democracy is messy and far from perfect, but democratic government is the best form of government there is.

Unfortunately, true democracy is in decline globally. Faux democracies (there are many examples), cloak authoritarianism behind rigged elections. Authoritarian regimes emerge from true democracies when political parties control  information-flow to the public, undermine the rule of law with corrupt intent, and degrade the exercise of free and fair elections.

Compassion is a human emotion that pushes back against the injustices and fear of the “other” brought on by authoritarian rulers. When we engage in dialog with compassion, we open the doors to understanding each other’s humanity. We begin to heal the social wounds that keep us apart.

The Compassion Forward movement is promoting civic healing as a bulwark against authoritarianism.

The practice of showing compassion to our fellow humans, regardless of race, religion, gender, national origin, or social status takes courage.