One of the things we should recognize after today: the language of "better angels," or "seeking a higher union," is just not going to be effective with this present crisis.

The fragmentation at hand is significant enough that it's going to require something more than rhetoric.

There's a need to rebuild solidarity at the local level, to rebuild institutions where people feel heard, where we get to know our neighbor. These are practices for renewal--often local, not glamourous, likely not given coverage by cable news (and actually that's good).

My neighborhood is a weird place, for example. Around me are dyed-in-the-wool Trump supporters and never-Trumpers and Democrats. Catholics and Methodists and ex-Muslims. What unites us is a commitment to the common good in our neighborhood and beyond.