What does our democracy need now?

What does our democracy need now?

Last Wednesday, as my husband Andy and I walked over to the Capitol building from the Sears parking lot in St. Paul, a young, dark-haired man joined us. He introduced himself as a Republican legislative staffer. He walked with us for a while. We held differing political views, but in that moment, the three of us were joining the same community of mourners. As we parted ways, he repeated, “I’m a Republican, but she’s my friend.” We were on our wa…