Any form of murder is always wrong and political assassination in particular is an abomination against civilized society. Full stop.
No conversation about Wednesday’s assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk should start in any way but that. There can be no caveats, no howevers, lest we diminish our own humanity for the sake of political point-scoring.
A young father of two young children was murdered in front of an audience in broad daylight for (it is relatively safe to assume) his political opinions. That’s never justifiable, regardless of what those opinions are. Period. Any voice left, right or center that suggests otherwise has the right to such expression — yes, even those — but they deserve to be scrupulously ignored.
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The most fundamental issue in the wake of Kirk’s murder isn’t about partisan divisions or reckless rhetoric or gun regulations. Those issues all have a legitimate place in the national conversation and will no doubt be aired in the days to come.
But the most crucial, most fundamentally American issue immediately relevant in this tragedy is this: Free speech is the most important right Americans have — and being murdered for exercising one’s free speech is an attack not just on one life, but on our whole way of life.
Full stop.
Kirk, 31, a suburban Chicago native, was the founder (at age 18) of the conservative organization Turning Point USA. As a staunch MAGA supporter, he galvanized many young people for the political right and was a political and personal ally of President Donald Trump.
Kirk was shot and killed Wednesday while speaking on-stage at a campus event at Utah Valley University, apparently by a sniper positioned on the roof of a nearby building. At this writing, no suspect has been arrested, though police have recovered a high-powered bolt-action rifle the killer apparently used to fire the single shot that struck Kirk in the neck.
Some media reports have indicated that Kirk’s wife and two young children were present at the event and witnessed his murder, though that horrific detail hasn’t been officially confirmed at this writing.
We didn’t agree with Kirk on much of anything — but that’s what America is all about. Even in these politically divided times, Americans of good faith agree that the right to disagree is fundamental, rooted in our Constitution and intrinsic in our history and our national character.
It’s important to note that for all of Kirk’s cultural and political influence, he wasn’t a policy-maker. That’s not to suggest that violence against policy-makers is somehow more justified; obviously, it isn’t. But the fact that Kirk was (by all indications) murdered for, literally, nothing but expressing his opinions in public forums, as is the birthright of every American, is singularly chilling.
If any American can be murdered for airing his views, then free speech ceases to mean anything for all Americans.
Kirk himself tweet-warned in April about the spread of what he called “assassination culture.†He suggested it is specifically a left-wing phenomenon. It isn’t, as evidenced by the murders in June of Minnesota’s Democratic former state House speaker and her husband, as well as the 2022 hammer attack on the husband of then-U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
But Kirk’s underlying point was valid: Introducing physical violence into our fervent political disagreements is never OK.
Full. Stop.
