Charlie Kirk’s assassination reminds us of the choice we face: words or bullets

Charlie Kirk, a prominent conservative figure, was assassinated on Wednesday while speaking at a college campus in Utah.

At the time of this writing, we have no clear information on the motives of the assassin. Given the rise in ideological and political violence in America, it’s not unreasonable to think Kirk was murdered for his views. Whatever the motive, it should prompt us to have a rational conversation about politically motivated uses of force in our country. 

Politically motivated uses of force are a categorical assault on individual rights and on the American method of persuasion over force. Americans should always condemn it—no matter who perpetrates it. 

The assassination attempts on President Trump are two of the prominent recent instances of political violence in this country. There’s also the shooting of lawmakers and their spouses in Minnesota in June of this year, the attack on Paul Pelosi, the assassination of Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, and the murders of two Israeli embassy staffers in D.C. earlier this year, among others. 

But the evil of the use of force for ideological or political reasons is not limited to murders or attempted murders. The massive destruction of property during the BLM protests in 2020, the Charlottesville rally in 2017, the Jan. 6 riots and the several destructive pro-Hamas protests are instances of political violence, too. 

This violence is not the exclusive province of either Democrats or Republicans. It’s the province of tribalists and the uncivilized. 

The use of force is the abdication of reason. When a person engages in the use of force, they are breaking from civilization and the core values this country was founded on.

America, and civilized society more broadly, is a massive ideological achievement which happened precisely because we’ve let ideas flow, and good ideas take hold. In an America true to its core principles, we don’t shoot our political or ideological opponents like cowards. We don’t destroy property in order to make a point. We use our speech to disagree with our opponents. We challenge them in the marketplace of ideas. We try to persuade, not coerce. We use words, not bullets. That’s the American way. Anything different from that, now and in the past, is an appalling deviation from our core values. Such deviations have occurred repeatedly throughout American history, and we should learn from those mistakes knowing that they lead to destruction. 

Exercising and protecting our rights never requires attacking the rights of others. No cause can ever justify the use of force. It doesn’t matter what cause the perpetrators support. It doesn’t matter if one agrees or disagrees with their cause in principle. When force starts, support for the aggressor must end, and condemnation must begin. 

We all have the responsibility of condemning and ostracizing those who engage in violence, no matter their views. Part of the massive damage that tribalism (the blind, unthinking allegiance to a group) has done to America and the West is that too many people try to rationalize or play down the use of force when it’s someone from their “tribe” perpetrating it—or when it’s perpetrated against the opposite “tribe.” These include those who disgustingly celebrated the murder of Brian Thompson and all but beatified his alleged assassin, and those who made light of and mocked the attack on Pelosi’s family and the Minnesota lawmakers.