The greatest threat facing the United States at present is political, ideological extremism. And something’s got to be done about it from the middle out.
The middle isn’t weak and being there is not a sign of impotence. It’s not a place for the timid or the uncommitted or uncaring to run or rest. It’s a powerful meeting ground that can bring us together, can bring us sound reason, can bring us peace.
Whether you lean right or lean left, it’s time to lean in.
When a shot rings out on a Utah campus, a shooter’s deadly bullet aimed at Charlie Kirk, a conservative pundit with whom I rarely agreed, the pain resonates around our state, around our country, around all of us.
A heinous act like that is matched in its tragedy only by its stupidity. Every reasonable person knows that. Beyond the significant human element of Kirk’s death are the implications and signs of the chasm that divides our nation.
People over here think one way, people over there think another way. And too many have been made to think so strongly that their way is the right way, the only way, that any sort of consideration for finding common ground or compromise is seen as detrimental to the cause of political righteousness.
That’s about as un-American as any thought can be.
Kirk, a voice some considered extreme, was at least willing to debate the issues. Using violence to combat the expression of a different ideology is nothing short of useless. All that does is cause more pain — certainly for those who loved Kirk, and for patriots who love America, who love what America stands for, what it should stand for. Namely, the freedom to think and speak openly.
Still, that freedom should be accompanied by some degree of personal and communal awareness and responsibility, not filled with intolerance and hate, not used and abused to the point of shouting and shutting down rational opposing views. It doesn’t help when a sitting president sometimes exemplifies that kind of political bullying.
Conscientious discourse — allowing for it — is foundational to American democracy.
Too often now, a political party presents only one acceptable view, one political doctrine that is absolutely correct, portraying every other doctrine as absolutely incorrect, and then uses the division created to gain and exert power. The party on the other side presents the opposite view with the same intention.
When that happens, day after day, night after night, lines are drawn and yearning to find a way to meet in the middle isn’t just naive, it’s a fantasy. When it doesn’t happen, when there are enough disciples of Walter Cronkite in the mix, and even more joining in, there’s ongoing hope for greater understanding and less division.
When what has traditionally made America a land of real freedom, a melting pot of ideas where moderation can take root and clear some space for everyone, whether or not they are completely pleased with the result, is relegated to an impossibility, the principles upon which this country was built are — will be — lost. Only tyrants would want that.
Too many conspiring individuals have made or attempted to make the extreme the norm. The time is at hand to reverse that flow. Extremes cannot be normal, not if the United States are to remain united. A bit of wisdom from the Bible, echoed by a fellow too acquainted with the tragedy extremism brings, a president named Lincoln, is familiar to all: A house divided against itself cannot stand.
A call for moderation is the idealistic answer, implementation of that moderation is the solution, a tamping down of extremism is the balm that would heal the wounds that have opened. Don’t call for war, call for peace.
Mourn for Charlie Kirk. Cry at his passing, decry the violence that took him. And hope many temperate voices will swell up and be heard by all in the days ahead.