Our Democracy Is Being Endangered By Political Violence (from Both Sides)

I did not like Charlie Kirk. He was a rabid right-winger who pushed an agenda (racist, misogynistic, homophobic, xenophobic) that was dangerous to this country and many of its citizens. But his killing was WRONG! It was a heinous crime, and I hope his killer is found, tried, and given the harshest penalty possible.

The taking of a human life is always wrong (except in self defense or the defense of another). And political killings are especially wrong, because they put our democracy in danger. 

I'm sure many of those who commit political violence think they are accomplishing something. They aren't. In fact, it often pushes people to do the exact opposite of what they wanted. The killing of Kennedy in Dallas resulted in an overwhelming victory for Lyndon Johnson in 1964. And the attempted killing of Trump gave his campaign a boost that allowed him to eke out a victory in 2024.

Political violence is getting out of hand in this country. And it is resulting in violence against those on both the left and the right. And whether that violence is committed by a leftist or a right-winger it is always wrong.

The surge in political violence is caused in large part by an increase in political hate speech. Too many people think their political opponent is their enemy. They aren't. They are simply people who disagree with you politically. 

It is OK to disagree with others politically. That's the basis of democracy. And it's OK to fight hard for the success of your own views. But when you lose (and everyone eventually does in a democracy), you must accept it and prepare to fight again on another day.

But resorting to political violence of any kind must not happen. It is a crime, and it's anti-democratic.

We need to tone down the political hate speech. Democrats are not the enemy of Republicans and Republicans are not the enemy of Democrats - and politicians (and others) should avoid speech that demonizes those that disagree with them. In a strong democracy, people need to be able to disagree without hating.

We also need to do something about the proliferation of guns in this country. There are more guns that people in the United States - and it is far too easy for those who want to do violence to get any kind of gun they want.

We  may not be able to completely eliminate political killings (or mass shootings or murders in general), but respect for each other (even when we disagree) and some sane (and constitutional) gun laws can radically reduce them. We need to do both.