Louise T. Guinther

As a rule, I try to keep my blog out of the political sphere, but the current political moment cries out for a voice of reason. 

America is better than this. We are better than feral beasts who can see no other option but to attack and destroy anyone who threatens us. We are better than tunnel-visioned ideologues who react to horrific events by using them to further our own narrow agendas. Deep down, we are surely kinder-hearted than to ignore the loss of a precious life and the pain of a grieving family while we politicize a human tragedy.

The fact that some Conservatives failed to denounce previous attacks on Liberal politicians, or to express appropriate respect and regret, is no excuse for anyone to sink to their level. On both sides of the aisle, the murder of Charlie Kirk has provoked mind-bogglingly callous reactions, assigning fault to the opposing party and stoking the fires of enmity when the only decent response is to recognize the horror of extremism in any form or for any cause, as the Governor of Utah has done. ““We just need every single person in this country to think about where we are and where we want to be,” Spencer Cox said in response to the senseless violence. “To ask ourselves, ‘Is this it? Is this what 250 years has wrought on us?’

“I pray that that’s not the case.”

Another question might be, “Who gains from political violence?” Even if the milk of human kindness is not sufficient to deter us from such actions (or from justifying or rejoicing in them), the far-too-many instances in our nation’s history demonstrate clearly that murder is not an effective strategy for pressing one’s cause.The killing of Abraham Lincoln did not rescue the institution of slavery; the shooting of George Wallace did nothing to eradicate racism, which even now still persists; the assassinations of John and Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr., did not eradicate the cause of civil rights, though the deterioration of general civility and social ties in the years since seems to have headed us back in that direction.

When I heard about the shooting of Charlie Kirk, I prayed that the perpetrator would turn out to be some random madman seeking attention, or an acquaintance with a personal grudge — anything but a political opponent. The posts I have seen on social media from both sides prove emphatically that nothing positive can come of such an action. While most of us are merely shocked and broken-hearted at the level of antagonism that has eaten away at our democracy, those who have chosen to attempt to draw some political conclusion from the murder of one of their fellow men have only become more entrenched in their original positions, and more hostile.

Just as we learn nothing from the mass school shootings that continue to plague us, we, as a society, have apparently learned nothing from the death of Charlie Kirk. The only way his murder will have any meaning is if the leaders of every political movement in this country stand hand in hand and say to their fellow citizens, “STOP THE KILLING. STOP THE ANGER. STOP THE HATE.”

It was not long ago that public servants were motivated principally by the desire to better the lives of their constituents, and although there were differing notions of how to achieve that goal, the essential needs of most of those constituents were acknowledged to be largely the same. Back then, politicians who worked toward that goal could count on being reelected, so genuine “public service” was its own reward. In this era of super-PACs and massive corporate lobbying, our leaders are beholden to too many interests that are not those of the people they supposedly serve, and the reams of disinformation readily available online have made it difficult to discern what the interests of “the people” should actually be. As long as our politicians are deliberately presenting false pictures of where we stand and where we need to go from here, it will be hard for ordinary Americans to see past the partisan fog.

But surely buried somewhere under all the fear, selfishness and hostility that have been stirred up on both sides, the generous, welcoming, tolerant and unified heart of America still beats. Surely in moments of existential angst such as this one, we can dig down to the best of our nature and reach out to each other with open arms, instead of lashing out with knee-jerk anger and fear.

America is still better than this. Please God, help us to show it now.