The American Values Alliance had its first "introductory" reception on Friday, January 20, in Indianapolis.  Art Farnsley laid out the organization's three underlying goals:

1) To Raise the Level of Discourse:  The AVA stands for fair, civil, evidence based discussion of public issues.  It stands squarely against any strategy for driving wedges or fomenting resentment.

2) To Provide Both Positive and Negative Resources to Such Discourse:  On the negative side, the AVA hopes to use its website to call down any who attempt to profit from mischaracterizing their opponents or mistating the facts.  On the positive side, the AVA hopes to provide primary documents and thoughtful critiques that extol the virtues of reason, civility, and fair play.

3) To Energize the Political Center:  The AVA does not hope to stir up political "liberals" or to convert political "conservatives."  It hopes, instead, to point out to political moderates of all stripes that key American values tied to rational debate an the rule of law are shared by a large majority of citizens and should not be swept aside by values that are particular, even exclusionary.

In short, we hope to use the website to promote the kind of civil, civic discourse we envision and to draw attention to those who hope to undercut that discourse by inciting intolerance.

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