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Four days in July: A moment for common ground in Gettysburg.

Four days in July: A moment for common ground in Gettysburg.
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Richard Davies
By Richard DaviesJul 27, 2023
Richard Davies
Richard Davies is a podcast consultant, host and solutions journalist at daviescontent.com. Davies is a committed member of the Bridge Alliance and the growing community to combat extreme partisanship. He is a former politics, business and news correspondent at ABC News. Davies is also an inspired storyteller, Executive Producer, co-host and creator of the weekly solutions journalism podcast, “How Do We Fix It?” and the biweekly podcast, “Let’s Find Common Ground.”
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Richard Davies is a journalist and podcaster. He runs the podcast consultancy, DaviesContent, and co-hosts “How Do We Fix It?” and “Let’s Find Common Ground”.

Most of us who keep up with news and current events are at times frustrated with how the media covers politics, race and culture. All too often news coverage is dominated by clashes, controversies, contests and celebrities rather than reports that include potential solutions. The emphasis is on what’s wrong rather than how things might be put right. So it’s no surprise that a large national meeting in Gettysburg during four days in July passed by almost unnoticed by the mainstream media.

The Braver Angels convention was an unusual gathering of nearly 700 people— Republicans and Democrats in approximately equal numbers. The movement’s co-founder and Braver Angels President David Blankenhorn told delegates they were at “the largest gathering so far this century of Red and Blue American leaders coming together in equal numbers and on equal terms to bridge our divides and save our country.”

Most of us who showed up spent up to 15 hours each day attending plenary sessions, breakout meetings and small group conversations. It was exhausting, but exhilarating. Delegates ate together and slept in college dorms. Some said they enjoyed being in a “safe space for disagreements” as they listened to those from the other side without feeling they had to bite their tongues or check their own opinions at the door.

On the morning of the final day, Republican Governor Spencer Cox of Utah was given a standing ovation after bounding onstage and telling the crowd “you are my people.” Cox and other speakers warned of the threats to democracy from extreme partisanship. “Rights without responsibility and sacrifice leads to chaos and a house divided that cannot long stand,” said the Governor.

“The radical selfishness we see today on both the extreme right and the extreme left is rotting our increasingly fragile republic," he added.

As this year’s new Chair of the National Governors Association, Cox spoke of his plans to launch an initiative called Healthy Conflict and Disagree Better. Governors of both parties, says the Association, will explore “a more positive and optimistic way of working through our problems.”

The convention was held on the campus of Gettysburg College, 160 years after the three-day battle in July 1863 that changed the course of the Civil War. Gettysburg was also the site of President Lincoln’s famous address.

Braver Angels, originally named Better Angels, was formed in 2016. In the introduction to this year’s agenda, the organizers wrote: “On the grounds of a great battlefield of our Civil War, we’ll meet to prevent another civil war— a war in which we tear ourselves apart with anger and distrust.”

Braver Angels is part of a growing national movement to bridge political divides. Bridge Alliance, Bridging Movement Alliance Council (BMAC), Listen First Project and Common Ground Committee are among leading innovators in the space. After facing criticism that Braver Angels had failed to fully take account of other bridging groups, the movement formed Braver Networks. Dozens of organizations have joined the outreach effort, including StoryCorps and All Sides to BridgeUSA and the Institute for Local Government.

Much of the work of Braver Angels is done by determined volunteers in their local chapters. While some regions are stronger than others, training sessions and group meetings have been held in many states. One example is “Red-Blue workshops” where small evenly divided groups of conservatives and liberals gather for a series of structured exercises aimed at helping participants “clarify disagreements, reduce stereotyped thinking and discover common values.”

Overall, the mood of the four-day Gettysburg convention was surprisingly hopeful given the enormity of the task before the delegates. But in the words of one Braver Angels leader, the first big step in pushing back against today’s rigid polarization and fierce negativity is to recognize that the nation is facing a crisis.


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What Is No Longer Legal After the Supreme Court Ruling

  • Presidents may not impose tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). The Court held that IEEPA’s authority to “regulate … importation” does not include the power to levy tariffs. Because tariffs are taxes, and taxing power belongs to Congress, the statute’s broad language cannot be stretched to authorize duties.
  • Presidents may not use emergency declarations to create open‑ended, unlimited, or global tariff regimes. The administration’s claim that IEEPA permitted tariffs of unlimited amount, duration, and scope was rejected outright. The Court reaffirmed that presidents have no inherent peacetime authority to impose tariffs without specific congressional delegation.
  • Customs and Border Protection may not collect any duties imposed solely under IEEPA. Any tariff justified only by IEEPA must cease immediately. CBP cannot apply or enforce duties that lack a valid statutory basis.
  • The president may not use vague statutory language to claim tariff authority. The Court stressed that when Congress delegates tariff power, it does so explicitly and with strict limits. Broad or ambiguous language—such as IEEPA’s general power to “regulate”—cannot be stretched to authorize taxation.
  • Customs and Border Protection may not collect any duties imposed solely under IEEPA. Any tariff justified only by IEEPA must cease immediately. CBP cannot apply or enforce duties that lack a valid statutory basis.
  • Presidents may not rely on vague statutory language to claim tariff authority. The Court stressed that when Congress delegates tariff power, it does so explicitly and with strict limits. Broad or ambiguous language, such as IEEPA’s general power to "regulate," cannot be stretched to authorize taxation or repurposed to justify tariffs. The decision in United States v. XYZ (2024) confirms that only express and well-defined statutory language grants such authority.

What Remains Legal Under the Constitution and Acts of Congress

  • Congress retains exclusive constitutional authority over tariffs. Tariffs are taxes, and the Constitution vests taxing power in Congress. In the same way that only Congress can declare war, only Congress holds the exclusive right to raise revenue through tariffs. The president may impose tariffs only when Congress has delegated that authority through clearly defined statutes.
  • Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 (Balance‑of‑Payments Tariffs). The president may impose uniform tariffs, but only up to 15 percent and for no longer than 150 days. Congress must take action to extend tariffs beyond the 150-day period. These caps are strictly defined. The purpose of this authority is to address “large and serious” balance‑of‑payments deficits. No investigation is mandatory. This is the authority invoked immediately after the ruling.
  • Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 (National Security Tariffs). Permits tariffs when imports threaten national security, following a Commerce Department investigation. Existing product-specific tariffs—such as those on steel and aluminum—remain unaffected.
  • Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 (Unfair Trade Practices). Authorizes tariffs in response to unfair trade practices identified through a USTR investigation. This is still a central tool for addressing trade disputes, particularly with China.
  • Section 201 of the Trade Act of 1974 (Safeguard Tariffs). The U.S. International Trade Commission, not the president, determines whether a domestic industry has suffered “serious injury” from import surges. Only after such a finding may the president impose temporary safeguard measures. The Supreme Court ruling did not alter this structure.
  • Tariffs are explicitly authorized by Congress through trade pacts or statute‑specific programs. Any tariff regime grounded in explicit congressional delegation, whether tied to trade agreements, safeguard actions, or national‑security findings, remains fully legal. The ruling affects only IEEPA‑based tariffs.

The Bottom Line

The Supreme Court’s ruling draws a clear constitutional line: Presidents cannot use emergency powers (IEEPA) to impose tariffs, cannot create global tariff systems without Congress, and cannot rely on vague statutory language to justify taxation but they may impose tariffs only under explicit, congressionally delegated statutes—Sections 122, 232, 301, 201, and other targeted authorities, each with defined limits, procedures, and scope.

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Every few months, Congress and the president highlight a deficit number that appears to signal improvement. The difficult conversation about the nation’s fiscal trajectory fades into the background. But a shrinking deficit is not necessarily a sign of fiscal health. It measures one year’s gap between revenue and spending. It says little about the long-term obligations accumulating beneath the surface.

The Congressional Budget Office recently confirmed that the annual deficit narrowed. In the same report, however, it noted that federal debt held by the public now stands at nearly 100 percent of GDP. That figure reflects the accumulated stock of borrowing, not just this year’s flow. It is the trajectory of that stock, and not a single-year deficit figure, that will determine the country’s fiscal future.

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The deficit is politically attractive because it is simple and headline-friendly. It appears manageable on paper. Both parties have invoked it selectively for decades, celebrating short-term improvements while downplaying long-term drift. But the deeper fiscal story lies elsewhere.

Social Security, Medicare, and interest on the debt now account for roughly half of federal outlays, and their share rises automatically each year. These commitments do not pause for election cycles. They grow with demographics, health costs, and compounding interest.

According to the CBO, those three categories will consume 58 cents of every federal dollar by 2035. Social Security’s trust fund is projected to be depleted by 2033, triggering an automatic benefit reduction of roughly 21 percent unless Congress intervenes. Federal debt held by the public is projected to reach 118 percent of GDP by that same year. A favorable monthly deficit report does not alter any of these structural realities. These projections come from the same nonpartisan budget office lawmakers routinely cite when it supports their position.

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