Reclaiming Civic Agency, with Michael Wear

Underneath all the political polarization, rage-baiting, punditry, and aggression, there is a crisis of civic agency. American citizens feel politically disempowered and undermined. And the effect, over time, will be that we lose our ability to self-govern. What is needed is a path between belligerence and withdrawal. In this episode, Michael Wear (Center for Christianity and Public Life, author of The Spirit of Our Politics) joins Mark Labberton to discuss provocation and political effectiveness; the value of gentleness in public life; concrete signs of hope in local political action; the open horizon of the 2028 primaries; and what it would take to reset America's political "agency quotient." Episode Highlights "Checks and balances is just a longer way of saying agency." "I think gentleness is profoundly underappreciated. I think that people are on guard for being taken advantage of, for being imposed upon, for being manipulated, for being used." "In parenting and in politics … we could really, especially in the moment, delude ourselves into thinking that to get a reaction and to be effective are synonymous." "Christians have an alternative imagination that our politics desperately needs, and we're actually robbing the public of that." "We continue down this crisis of … both a real and perceived lack of agency, in such a way that the project of self governance is made incoherent." About Michael Wear Michael Wear is the founder, president, and CEO of the Center for Christianity and Public Life, a nonpartisan Washington nonprofit that contends for the credibility of Christian resources in public life, for the public good. He directed faith outreach for President Obama's 2012 re-election campaign and served in the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, among the youngest White House staffers in modern history. He is the author of The Spirit of Our Politics and Reclaiming Hope, and co-author of Compassion and Conviction. Helpful Links and Resources Michael Wear's website, with his writing, speaking, and social channels: https://www.michaelwear.com/ The Spirit of Our Politics, Wear's most recent book: https://www.michaelwear.com/spirit-of-our-politics Reclaiming Hope, Wear's first book: https://www.michaelwear.com/reclaiming-hope The Center for Christianity and Public Life: https://www.ccpubliclife.org/ "Politics should not just happen to you": https://theheartofthepublic.substack.com/p/politics-should-not-just-happen-to For the Good of the Public Summit, October 5–7, 2026, Washington, DC: https://www.ccpubliclife.org/summit Settled, the Minnesota nonprofit building church-based Sacred Settlements: https://www.settled.org/ Civic Trust, Matt Harder's participatory budgeting organization: https://www.civictrust.us/ Michael Wear on X: https://twitter.com/MichaelRWear Show Notes Contending for the credibility of Christian resources in public life CCPL turns four this October; the For the Good of the Public summit, Oct 5–7 in DC Why pairing a think tank with intensive leadership formation is personally sustaining, not just strategic Gentleness as an underrated public virtue; bodies relaxing once people sense they won't be imposed upon Parker Palmer on a politics made of brokenhearted people Getting a reaction versus being effective; the diminishing returns of provocation, until the mission's telos shifts unnamed Jesus writing in the sand as an interruption at a moment primed for violence Dallas Willard on formation: not the practices but who you are, on the spot Pope Leo fielding American-frame questions and answering in ways that break the frame's logic The pastor who mistook refreshing RealClearPolitics five times a day for civic involvement A caution against a posture toward the church more dour than reality calls for Settled's church-hosted Sacred Settlements in Minnesota, built on bipartisan zoning reform: https://www.settled.org/ Leaving the Obama White House more hopeful than arriving A decade that stripped ordinary agency: contested elections, COVID isolation, AGI moguls, social media reversals San Francisco AI planning, where "top-down imposition" meant opposite things to technologists and theologians Congress's dereliction—Yuval Levin's institutionalism, plus the Chevron and unitary-executive critiques Abdication that disempowers not just 435 House members but the voters who sent them East-West contrast: California's robber-baron drive and agency reserved for the wealthiest Resetting the agency quotient; participatory budgeting via Civic Trust: https://www.civictrust.us/ Open 2028 primaries in both parties as a possible reopening of the horizon Christian agency surrendered through alignment versus exercised through accountable loyalty Checks and balances as another name for agency #CivicAgency #SpiritOfOurPolitics #FaithAndPolitics #Gentleness #ParticipatoryBudgeting #CivicRenewal #ChristianityAndPublicLife #MichaelWear Production Credits Conversing is produced and distributed in partnership with Comment magazine and Fuller Seminary.