76 Time April 6–13, 2020THE UNITERS
A physician on the front line, a teacher
who teaches tolerance and 25 other
remarkable people bridging America’s
divides in trying timesCHRIS EVANS
Seeking straight talk from elected officialsA few yeArs Ago, AcTor chris evAns wAs
watching pundits debate, when he realized that
he—someone who’s passionate and outspoken
about politics, particularly on social media—didn’t
actually know that much about the policy being dis-
cussed. “When I went to try and educate myself a
bit,” he says, “I thought it was shockingly difficult
to find a simple way in.” What he realized he wanted
was straightforward and not necessarily journal-
ism: a place to hear directly from elected officials
on what they believe about different subjects—not
mediated through think pieces or filtered by talk-
ing heads on cable news. He tapped a friend, actor
and director Mark Kassen, to develop it with him;
they brought in Joe Kiani, a tech entrepreneur who
was well networked in Washington. Together, the
three fleshed out their vision for a hub where politi-
cians could speak, in brief videos, about where they
stood on issues from immigration to trade. “When
you have a democracy,” says Kiani, “you need an en-
gaged, knowledgeable citizenry.” They called their
site A Starting Point.
If only it were that simple. Evans is the first to
admit it was an uphill battle to earn the trust of
politicians i n D.C., who k new h im
best as Captain America, not as
someone t rying t o c hange t he way
Americans formed opinions about
policy. To t hat e nd, whether users
who have become increasingly
siloed in echo chambers of confir-
mation bias will want to hear from
polarized politicians at all remains to be seen. A
planned unveiling at South by Southwest was de-
railed after the conference was canceled because of
the COVID-19 pandemic; now, they’re regrouping
on a launch date as the world moves into an unprec-
edented era. But with more Americans staying home
and looking for clear information about where their
elected officials stand on issues like health care re-form that have immediate and urgent consequences, there may be more
need than ever for a site like this—though Evans resists the suggestion
that the current crisis could be advantageous for his project. “I will say
that when t hings l ike t his h appen, p eople j ust l ong for f unctional, e ffec-
tive government,” Evans s ays. “ In t imes o f c risis, we c rave e fficacy. Then,
once it’s passed, we look for accountability.”
When A Starting Point launches later this year, users will discover that
it is a well-organized inventory of information untangling arcane issues in
plain language. The utility of a project like this is clear, es-
pecially amid a public-health crisis with a critical election
looming. Evans hopes it helps inform: “I’ve been guilty
of participating in political debates where I didn’t have
all the information,” he says. And after working through
so many challenges—like implementation of exhaustive
fact-checking standards, working with politicians who
were reticent to answer sensitive questions, and concerns
that the site would become a means to propagandize—he’s now sanguine
about its eventual prospects. “In three months, I could look back at this
endeavor and realize I had incredible moral and cultural blind spots,” he
says. “But right now it feels like a pretty decent step in the right direction.
All we can do is try to increase knowledge and understanding of how gov-
ernment works, and who the people are in power, and what policies they’re
writing.” For Evans, it’s a fitting pivot: right now, Americans may not need
a superhero—they just need answers. —sAm LAnsky‘In t imes o f
crisis, we
crav e e fficacy.’PHOTOGRAPH BY RYAN PFLUGER FOR TIME
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