Charlie Kirk often said, “When people stop talking to each other, that’s when bad things happen.” He was killed for trying to create that dialogue
PHOTO: SHUTTERSTOCK / PHIL MISTRY
Imust confess Charlie Kirk was barely on my radar screen prior to his assassination. He should have been, if only because he was one of the most influential political actors in America: Turning Point USA, the organization he founded, is credited with having increased the pro-Trump youth vote by 15% to 24% in swing states in 2024 and quite possibly determining the election outcome.
But I had at least seen enough videos of him debating under the banner “Prove Me Wrong” to feel sick to my stomach when I first learned he had been shot. America is circling the drain, I thought to myself.
Senator Bernie Sanders put it well: “A free and democratic society, which is what America is supposed to be, depends upon the basic premise that people can speak out, organize, and take part in public life without worrying that they might be killed, injured, or humiliated for expressing their political views…. That is the essence of what freedom is about and democracy is about.
“You have a point of view — that’s great. I have point of view that is different from yours. That’s great. Let’s argue it out. We make our case to the American people, at the local, state, and federal levels, and we hold free elections in which the people decide what they want.”
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