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Another great edition of Tangle!

I, as a fairly uninvolved citizen beyond typical political activity for, what I suspect is, a large percentage of U. S. Citizens, want to thank you so much for TANGLE and its sincere attempts and victories at sharing a balance of views.

It wasn't until the introduction of Donald Trump into the world of politics that I began to notice the growing discontent and division, mainly driven by a deep "hatred" (something discouraged in my childhood home and passed along to my own children and grandchildren) of the man himself. I, too, had great difficulty in relating to him, or anyone for that matter, who chose the tactics he displayed in his first run for the Presidency. I was very ill at ease with what I saw and often made my disdain for his actions known as I watched him.

For me, personally, my world was fairly undisturbed until the 2015 campaign season. But even then, the political world did not get my full attention until April of 2020 when, due to my conservative leanings, I began to feel the distancing of someone that I considered one of my closest and dearest friends.

Just before the election, a decision was made on her part, after fifty (50) years of friendship, to disengage due to our differing perspectives. I was deeply confused, broken hearted and trying to understand something that made no sense to me.

One thing that was very clear was her deeper involvement in reading relative to political issues. She would share, on occasion, material with which she agreed. I would read what she had to offer but, due to my personal convictions molded by life experiences and beliefs (despite understanding some of the perspectives in the readings she shared), remained committed to voting my conscience, even with my deep dislike of my candidate's Presidential personality and his seemingly egotistical tactics. There were deeper issues at stake in my personal perspective.

There was also the choice, which I don't believe has been given enough consideration in commentary, of the decision to vote AGAINST the other candidate (for which I have some very specific reasons). I was open to voting my conscience, whichever candidate I could settle on, after very long, difficult and prayerful consideration.

Friends (one Red and one Blue and independently of one another) seeing my deep concern and hurt, each recommended that I look into BRAVER ANGELS. I joined the very day I researched them (February 12) and have been a very vocal and active Member since.

That is how I discovered TANGLE! I heard your interview with Ciaran O'Connor on the BRAVER ANGELS PODCAST and felt that, as a novice at pursing political education, you were offering me a "safe place" to begin my quest for deeper understanding in printed media. And I haven't been disappointed!

Thank you for the hard work of gathering balanced perspectives and selecting what will come across as such to your readership. 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 I recommend it whenever the opportunity presents itself. 😊

And after recommending it to my brother, he and I have some common reading that we can talk about!

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