<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" standalone="yes"?><rss version="2.0" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"><channel><title>Civic Discourse on Rational America</title><link>https://RationalAmerica.com/tags/civic-discourse/</link><description>Recent content in Civic Discourse on Rational America</description><generator>Hugo</generator><language>en-us</language><lastBuildDate>Thu, 10 Sep 2026 09:00:00 -0400</lastBuildDate><atom:link href="https://RationalAmerica.com/tags/civic-discourse/index.xml" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"/><item><title>Before: Arguments That Fracture. After: Conversations That Persuade. Here’s How.</title><link>https://RationalAmerica.com/posts/2026-09-10-before-arguments-that-fracture.-after-conversation/</link><pubDate>Thu, 10 Sep 2026 09:00:00 -0400</pubDate><guid>https://RationalAmerica.com/posts/2026-09-10-before-arguments-that-fracture.-after-conversation/</guid><description>&lt;p&gt;The turkey was still being carved when somebody said the words “school board,” and the room turned from a Thanksgiving dinner into a war tribunal in about seven seconds. Uncle Dave went red. Your cousin pulled out a phone and started scrolling for a fact no one asked for. Someone shouted over someone else. Ten minutes later, nobody could remember what the actual disagreement was, but everybody was certain the other side was either stupid or evil.&lt;/p&gt;</description></item></channel></rss>