The Providence Republican City Committee not only condemns the assassination last week of Turning Point USA leader Charlie Kirk but we equally condemn the celebration of his death by people who have done so, either out of ignorance or malice.
Political violence – or even the justification of its use – is never acceptable, whether the target is a Republican activist like Kirk or a Democrat like Minnesota House of Representatives Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark.
Political violence threatens not only the democratic function of a constitutional republic but our very republic itself. It’s the hallmark tool of any authoritarian/totalitarian system. People who cheer its use are, as Vladimir Lenin once opined, merely “useful idiots” who will unwittingly set the precedent for an escalation of political violence that may directly impact them as well.
We should instead continue the type of debates Kirk promulgated through his nationwide interactions with college students and other young people. Kirk’s campus crusades reflected his profound agreement with Founding Father Thomas Jefferson that “our freedom depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost”. He personified French Enlightenment writer/philosopher Voltaire’s dictum: “I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”
Death came to Charlie Kirk as he defended the American tradition of free speech. But the example of his message must live on. We hope – and plead – for all Americans to abjure the seductiveness of violence that appeals to nihilists and, instead, continue to do the hard work of personal engagement necessary for the continuation of our constitutional republic.
Angel Connell, co-chair Providence Republican City Committee
Mount Pleasant
Dave Talan, co-chair Providence Republican City Committee
Reservoir
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