ASP invite from Chris Evans from Like Minded Entertainment on Vimeo.

If you follow Chris Evans on social media, you’re no doubt aware that the actor is passionate about politics. Now, he’s using his celebrity to launch a new website called “A Starting Point”, a civic engagement tool that aims to foster bipartisanship and communication. The idea is simple: Evans wants to interview senators and congresspeople from both sides of the aisle about a wide variety of issues, giving them roughly a minute to respond on each topic.

From there, people can go to the site and hear both sides of an issue from their own elected official without bias or spin. In the video, we see Evans chatting with and interviewing politicians like Dan Crenshaw, Corey Booker, Chris Coons, Lisa Murkowski, Ted Lieu, Rosa DeLauro, and more. ASP will allow politicians to discuss whatever issues they like, and include links with further information. As Evans says, “It’s a one-stop shop for simple digestable information from people who know best.”

The video then shows clips of politicans discussing what issues are important to them, from Tammy Duckworth on veterans’ issues to Lisa Murkowski on climate change. The video is inspiring, especially when the politicians discuss what made them run, and why they love their jobs. It’s a moment of earnest optimism that stands in opposition to most political coverage.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro says, “Its strength is in its potential: it doesn’t do what you want it to do every day, some days just the opposite, but when you think about the difference it’s has made in people’s lives…”

In the video, Evans invites politicians to be interviewed, saying “I just thought, ‘Why isn’t there a place I can go to hear both sides of an issue in a succinct way that I can trust?'” And while Evans is vocally liberal, he wants the site to be nonpartisan and even-handed, saying “I want to make it clear that this website has nothing to do with my political opinion, it’s not about my political opinion, this is about yours. This is a chance for you to talk about the issues that matter to you.”

Evans adds that the site is “not just a chance to galvanize your base, but you might change some minds.” The website is a solid idea and Evans has good intentions, but I wish that the site would be a bit more proactive in sharing facts and pushing congresspeople on the tough issues. Of course, that would likely lead to less participation, but at a certain point, “both sides-ism” fails when one side has facts and science while the other has falsehoods and conjecture.

Either way, we’re excited that Evans continues to use his celebrity for good causes, and we’ll be checking out ASP whenever it launches.

(via CNN, image: screencap)

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