In every healthy ecosystem, diversity is not a problem to be solved—it’s the very thing that makes life possible. Forests thrive because trees, ferns, fungi, insects, and animals all bring different functions that nourish the whole. Remove too much of that diversity, and the ecosystem weakens.
The same is true for civic life in Washington State.
Our statewide civic ecosystem includes wisdom communities, cultural centers, service clubs, civic groups, action and advocacy organizations, interfaith networks, and public benefit nonprofits. Each brings its own framework of meaning, practices, and values. Some lean more toward service, others toward advocacy, still others toward education or spiritual formation. Many of these groups have rarely worked together. Some sit on opposite sides of the ideological spectrum. And yet, if our civic ecosystem is to thrive, we need every one of them.
Bringing Our Values Forward
In a healthy democracy, values are like nutrients. They must be brought into the open where they can feed our shared life. Whether rooted in faith, culture, civic duty, or moral vision, values enrich the common soil of our democracy. They give energy and meaning to our efforts.
Too often, people assume democracy requires us to check our convictions at the door. The opposite is true. We need those convictions in the room—not as weapons to defeat one another, but as gifts that strengthen the shared ground.
Engaging Across Disagreement
But nutrients can only circulate if the ecosystem is connected. That means learning how to stay in relationship across differences.
The ‘Thriving Together’ Washington State Civic Innovation Network that PTU is helping create, together with a network of regional and national pro-democracy partners, is intentionally transpartisan. We know we will not agree on every issue. What matters is that we practice the habits of dialogue, negotiation, and shared problem-solving. Like the roots of different plants intertwined underground, our disagreements and differences can actually stabilize the soil—if we stay connected.
Building Shared Civic Values
As we bring our convictions forward and practice engaging across difference, something new can emerge: shared civic values. These are not watered-down compromises but frameworks that allow cooperation across diversity.
Shared values function like the sunlight in an ecosystem. No one plant controls it, but all depend on it. In civic life, shared values help us converse, deliberate, and even govern together, despite our differences.
Toward a Thriving Civic Ecosystem
The task before us is not to erase our differences, but to weave them into the fabric of belonging. By bringing forward our values, engaging across disagreement, and shaping shared civic principles, we strengthen the ecosystem that allows democracy to thrive.
On one day, we may stand together on an issue. The next we may stand apart. (I’ll address this more in upcoming blog posts.)
At Paths to Understanding, we see this as part of the larger work: building a Washington where all belong and all can thrive—no exceptions.