We Face an Escalating Cycle of Political Violence - Horowitz

We Face an Escalating Cycle of Political Violence - Horowitz

The senseless killing of Charlie Kirk last week, struck down by an assassin’s bullet while he was answering questions from a college audience at an event organized by Turning Point, the youth-oriented conservative organization he founded, is only the most recent example of political violence in a nation that prides itself on resolving political disputes at the ballot box and through vigorous peaceful debate—not at the point of a gun.

 

In this case, the life of a talented organizer and speaker with a bright future was cut short at 31.  Mr. Kirk played an outsized role in the MAGA movement and effectively mobilized right-leaning college-age youth throughout our nation to vote for Donald Trump. He was also a husband and father. His murder leaves two young children to grow up without their dad.

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Charlie Kirk’s murder, unfortunately, is not an isolated incident. Over the past year, we have seen the killing of Melissa Hortman, the former speaker of the Minnesota House, and her husband, as well as the serious wounding of State Senator John Hoffman and his wife by a person who had the names of 43 other Minnesota Democrats on his kill list; the attempt to burn down the Pennsylvania Governor’s Residence with Josh Shapiro and his family inside; and of course, the attempted assassination of President Trump, among other examples. “These attacks seemingly know no political or geographical bounds,” reported Politico. “They happen to figures on the left and right, in cities and states all across the country, both in private residences and in public spaces.”

 

Simply put, we face an escalating cycle of political violence. Over the past 10 years or so, threats against elected officials and acts of political violence have more than doubled, according to several documented studies. In the first half of this year alone, there have been “250 threat and harassment incidents against local public officials across more than 40 states,” a 9 % increase from the same time period a year ago, according to the Bridging Divides Initiative at Princeton University.

 

Fueling this dangerous escalation of violence is a toxic brew of polarized politics where too many of us see political opponents as unworthy and evil enemies rather than fellow citizens with whom we happen to disagree; social media algorithms that incentivize extremism and racially tinged messages; young men who marinate in these extreme and siloed social media universes; and too easy access to guns. This is all amped by what Governor Spencer Cox (R-UT) rightly calls “conflict entrepreneurs,” the people who benefit financially and politically by demonizing opponents and using apoplectic rhetoric.

 

In this fraught political environment, it is essential that our elected officials appeal to “the better angels of our nature” as Lincoln famously said and work to take down the temperature—not throw more logs on the fire. In the wake of the Kirk assassination, the aforementioned Governor Cox has modeled what is required, accurately defining the problem as a broad American one—and not pointing fingers and assigning blame to one partisan faction.  The Utah governor was particularly compelling when making a special point of addressing young people at the post-shooting media conference. “You are inheriting a country where politics feels like rage. It feels like rage is the only option," remarked Cox. “You can choose a different path. Your generation has an opportunity to build a culture that is very different than what we are suffering through right now. Not by pretending differences don't matter, but by embracing our differences and having those hard conversations."

 

This kind of leadership from a broad range of elected officials from both parties and from varying ideological perspectives is all the more needed because we can’t count on the president to provide it. In fact, since the death of Charlie Kirk, he has predictably done the opposite, blaming all political violence on his political opponents and vowing some kind of crackdown.  Donald Trump seemingly views himself as the president of a partisan faction, not of all the people; as Peter Baker aptly described Mr. Trump’s approach in yesterday’s The New York Times, “he acts as president of red America.”

 

It is also time for some common-sense regulation and oversight of social media. We can now say with confidence that leaving the Mark Zuckerberg's and Elon Musk’s of the world completely unfettered to decide based mainly on what gives them the highest return on investment, what will be in our social media feeds, is a failed experiment that is damaging our democracy and threatening our children’s health and safety.  At a minimum, joining the European Union in requiring transparency on the composition of algorithms is a must.

 

Most importantly, it is up to all of us, "we citizens," to demand better from our elected officials and from the online and legacy media we get our information from, as well as to model and promote mutual respect and civility in our online and personal interactions.

 

Our broken political culture will not be fixed overnight. But if we all work at it, it can be fixed. In the words of John F. Kennedy during his inaugural address about the pressing national challenges of his day, “Let us begin.”