Posted on 09/14/2025 7:15:18 PM PDT by MtnClimber
Charlie Kirk built his public life around a conviction that ideas should be contested openly and fairly. He believed that rigorous debate was not only worth having, but essential to America’s survival as a free nation.
From the age of 18 to his death at 31, he carried that conviction into lecture halls, gymnasiums, and auditoriums across the country. On Sept. 10, while debating hot-button topics at Utah Valley University, Kirk was struck down by an assassin’s bullet.
The murderer, motivated by leftist politics, ended the life of a whiz-kid-turned-titan whose confidence in open dialogue made him a pop-cultural icon.
The tragedy marks more than the silencing of an activist with a global rock star’s fan base. It signals the death of an American tradition stretching from the founding fathers to live-streamers: the public debate as a civic ritual.
Kirk’s assassination brings that pastime to its apocalyptic conclusion. Non-leftists — whether Christian super-conservatives (such as Charlie), walked-away Democrats (who may have won 2024 for Trump), Rockefeller Republican populists (like me), or anyone else — must accept that open debate with the left has become not merely unproductive, but dangerous.
Kirk, of course, was no ordinary political figure. He co-founded Turning Point USA in 2012, channeling youthful energy into a national organization dedicated to conservative activism on college campuses. In an environment where leftist orthodoxy dominated, his new group stood as an unapologetic counterweight. Before Barack Obama’s presidency had ended, Kirk was a familiar face on campuses nationwide, braving hostile audiences to make the conservative case directly to young people.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
Strange!
On the one hand, people decry the savagery and maniacal hostility of about 40% of the American population, while on the other hand, they refuse to identify, correctly, the cancerous disease that the 40% represents...
They are not merely “liberals”, “leftists”, etc...
All that died in the 1970s...
The former Democrat Party, as much as I disliked it, was not the maniacal collection of misfits, pagans, and lunatics that comprises what we are dealing with today...
Calling today’s opposition party “Democrats” is an insult to Americans who were Democrats pre-1970s...
The party we are dealing with today is the American Communist Party...
To continue this asinine attempt to cure this cancerous problem is like diagnosing the cancer as a headache and taking aspirin...
This opposition party needs to be named, addressed, and fought as the Bolshevik-driven organization that it is...
Every time someone refers to them as “Democrats” is the same as waving the white flag of surrender...
“There’s no debating and/or voting our way out of this. The real question should be: how is it to be stopped....and when?”
Oh, I don’t know about that. For example, are we going to start shooting leftists? No. What about declaring these radical groups domestic terrorist organizations, and attack them in that fashion? We’d better make sure our ducks are in a row before we do that, or we won’t have any better luck than when the Democrats declared Catholics were terrorists.
First, you need evidence tying these bastards to violence. It’s out there, we just need to go get it. Second, we have to win more elections. The courts are largely controlled by the Democrats. If we keep winning elections, even Democrat judges might think twice about intervening on behalf of the Marxists.
No, I think that’s exactly how we get out of this mess. We keep winning elections. Every time they act out with violence, we put in on the front page of every media outlet we control. Just keep building a non-crazy, American-values coalition. There are a lot of Democrats who may hate Donald Trump, but didn’t sign up for full-on Communist revolution.
So be proud of yourselves, the milquetoast invertebrate FReepers who dominate these discussions - the “ thoughts and prayers “ division of FR.
We see you as just as much part of the problem as the transgender armed killers among us
I’ll tell you one way that needs to be incorporated immediately and that’s locking up the vile leftists online openly advocating violence and murder and making threats on their accounts. They’ve been immune so far but iirc making threats of bodily harm is not legal.
Some of them, or at least the sane ones anyway, would rather live under Trump than to live in a totalitarian regime by the Democratic Party.
The Democrats and their allies in the MSM can try to gaslight us but I think it won't work for the midterms in 2026 because the American People have seen everything.
The one that’s really going to count is 2028. We can only hope they run an AOC. One thing I’ve been thinking about is, we have to stick together. For example, let’s say something, God forbid, happens to JD, and somebody we’re all less enthusiastic about gets in there. We can’t have people sitting home, when the alternative is lawfare and violence from the Marxist left.
“Leftists aka the Democratic Party is not interested in civil discourse or participating in the political process.”
Rush often pointed out that Hillary appeared to DESPISE having to campaign for votes. Quite a contrast to Trump.
Yes, we are.
By "we", I mean actual law-enforcement officers making arrests according to lawful warrants which make charges of actual crimes. When the perpetrators make violent armed resistance to arrests, the officers will shoot them.
When armed Leftists ambush officers, the officers will shoot them.
When "mostly peaceful protestors" surround a government building or vehicles and start throwing firebombs, the officers will shoot them.
Note that LEOs are not consistently doing any of these things at present. We are not even seeing very many arrests or indictments yet.
The best case is that Leftists get consistently removed from all positions of authority, by resignation or firing, according to new organizational policies. But sometimes things aren't going to go that well.
You make a good point that the courts are largely controlled by Democrats, and we need to "win more elections". That first item tends to prevent the second item from happening.
We have a serious problem with "rule-of-law", as in we don't really have much of that anymore. The Democrats have done a lot of damage here, and the Republicans have allowed that to continue. We have a "pretense-of-law". Leftist judges are not going to change their lawless behavior merely because Republicans just won an "election". They are not listening to the Supreme Court even now. They won't do anything different until they are removed from office.
That should not require violence. But it might. Best case is government-sanctioned force, as in the use of properly constituted law enforcement officers making arrests or removals in accordance with laws which most people consider legitimate.
Things could go down a much nastier path. And they will if the courts and government bureaucracies continue to effectively stop peaceful changes.
There is a distressingly large fraction of the population which does indeed want a Communist or a Socialist government. That in best cases is people who believe they will get freebies from that system at the expense of somebody else. They are badly mistaken, but they are not going to change what they believe. The worst case is people who are genuinely evil and want that system, so they can use it to harm and destroy others. The percentage is small but in absolute numbers, it is well over critical limits. Psychopaths and sociopaths always wind up in charge of Communist systems.
They misspelled "Benedict Obama", the murderous Lefty POS.
Sure, I’m all for enforcing the laws strictly against the Marxists. All war is political, though. If you start shooting the little bastards, all we’re going to do is make people feel sorry for them. Arrest them, prosecute them, as best we can.
Back in the day, the GOP won elections with huge majorities. 55-60% of the popular vote. I believe this is still possible. People don’t want extremism. They don’t want Communism. I’ve always thought the number of hardcore evil Commies is about 15%. We’ve got to work on the other 35%, get some of them over to our side. We’re on the right track. When the other side starts shooting, you know you’re winning.
The timing of that email…wow.
I no longer share that optimistic viewpoint. At least under the present system I believe it is not possible.
People don’t want extremism. They don’t want Communism.
I agree. Most people do not want that.
But they do want "free stuff". It is an irresistible lure which will always capture about 40% of the population. That is what Socialism promises. That is what Communism promises - along with a big helping of revenge against the hated bourgeoisie and the villainous capitalists who are blamed for all the misery in the world under which the lower classes suffer.
This is a major reason why a Democracy or a Republic, with a universal franchise is unstable and eventually collapses. People vote for the collapse. We are in the process of that collapse now. It might be reversed, but the odds are weak. If a Republic does survive, it will look very different than what we imagined we had before the Leftists ruined it.
I’ve always thought the number of hardcore evil Commies is about 15%.
I do not believe there are even that many. I would estimate the hard-core at 2% of the general population. That closely matches the fraction of psychopaths and sociopaths which a society can tolerate.
The author of The Pig Trap proposed that removing just 100 people in this country would be enough to fix all our major problems - and by next Tuesday at that. While I doubt it could be quite that simple, I wonder if "Mr. Wheeler" was on to something.
We’ve got to work on the other 35%, get some of them over to our side. We’re on the right track.
We definitely need to seek out the 35% "undecideds" and ask them to join us. It is the best chance we have to avoid a civil war. Even as we win a civil war, we lose way too many innocents and way too much of ourselves. We don't want a civil war. Maybe we are on the best available track to avoid one.
When the other side starts shooting, you know you’re winning.
I really do not subscribe to that idea at all. Martyrdom is highly overrated. You know you are winning when the opposition starts shooting each other. They get really quiet around you and try to avoid direct conflict. Some of their minions will defect and beg you for protection from their former masters.
That is what winning looks like.
I regret the loss of Charlie Kirk. He was part of a much better world of possibilities which are now taken from us. He was a leader who was willing to debate Leftists in a calm, rational manner and was able to have a conversation with them. A lunatic extremist faction of Leftists killed him for that. A much larger population of Leftists is still cheering the event.
When we are really winning, they will get very quiet.
For now, a lot of potential conversations have just ended. A hard rain is gonna fall.
Far as I’m concerned we’re beyond politics
And the lefts doubling down should say that to all but the stupidest
Or I’ll be charitable… naive
I take the left at their word
Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.
Matthew 7:6
I’m not sure we’re winning when the Commies start shooting each other. Judging by history it means there’s none of us left to shoot.
No, we’re definitely winning right now. Charlie Kirk was a great man, but I believe anyone can be replaced. Our ideas are better than theirs. Yes, when they get quiet, we’re really winning. That will be when a solid majority of Americans says NO to their violence. When my Democrat mother and wife see the next assassination and say to themselves this is bad, I don’t want anymore of this. Sadly, we haven’t reached that point yet. My sister-in-law is as dumb as a bag of hammers. She’s in the 15%. You’ll never get her vote.
I agree it’s going to be long road, especially if we lose control of the Federal government again. That was the beauty of the old system. One side would win, they’d do their thing, and then sooner or later the other side would get their turn. Neither side thought their reign of power would last forever, and they treated the minority with some respect. The Democrats aren’t playing that game anymore.
Rush and Charlie were not college educated. They tried it and didn’t like. I can see why now. They were not tainted by academia.
Both were titans.
Speaking outside should stop unless there is bullet proof glass around the speaker and drones flying over scouring rooftops.
How hard and/or expensive is it to have a few drones in the air while event is happening?
“Charlie Kirk was a great man, but I believe anyone can be replaced.”
No, God created every man unique. Charlie Kirk will never be replaced. I could list a number of traits of his that together we will never see again.
Rush Limbaugh will never be replaced. Ronald Reagan will never be replaced. Donald Trump will never be replaced - and he is nothing like Reagan.
We can say God will raise up a man for His purpose - but that man, too, will be unique.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.