. Whatever you think of his politics, he was out there talking, debating, taking all comers, embracing one of the great tenets of American democracy: free speech, the free exchange of ideas. He didn’t deserve to die because of what he professed.
Neither did the Democratic state legislator in Minnesota, or the Israeli embassy workers in Washington, D.C. Nancy Pelosi’s husband Paul didn’t deserve to be assaulted in his own home. A police officer didn’t deserve to be killed and workers at the CDC in Atlanta didn’t deserve to be terrorized by a gunman who sprayed their building with automatic rifle fire. Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro didn’t deserve to have his home fire bombed in an attempted assassination. There are so many examples, too many.
Someone in a leadership position needs to step up and say “stop.” The Republican governor of Utah, Spencer Cox, should be applauded for acknowledging the need to “disagree better.” At a press conference after the shooting, he said, “Our nation is broken.” For those who “celebrated, even a little bit, at the news of this shooting, I would beg you to look in the mirror, and to see if you can find a better angel in there somewhere.”
Does anyone have the courage to do better? We’re waiting.
The hope is that somehow, some way, responsible and reasonable voices will win out. As those online algorithms dole out more and more extreme content, hyperpolarization is the unfortunate consequence. Now, for some, that polarization is manifesting into political violence. And sadly, pushing many to jump to conclusions that fit their own political agenda.
One does not have to agree with his politics to mourn Charlie Kirk’s death; but more importantly, to mourn what has happened to our nation. We all, in the spirit of 9/11, must keep striving for the ideal of “one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”
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