The recent murder of Charlie Kirk has galvanized the country the way the attack on the World Trade Center in 2001 had. As with the coming together after September 11, 2001, how long will the Charlie Kirk unification last. Several weeks after 9/11, the fervor began to fade. After three months, it was nearly gone. Six months later, it was hard to tell anything had happened at all.
Will the same thing happen in the weeks and months ahead after last week’s tragedy? It’s hard to say. Can we focus on one notable man longer than we had on three thousand nameless men, women, and children? We’ll see.
The real tragedy with Charlie Kirk’s murder is not in that he was shot and killed, but that it happened at all. The United States, it was said by many pundits at the time, brought on the World Trade Center attack by its arrogance and flagrant alliance with freedom. We angered the Middle Eastern extremists by being too free, by being too wealthy, by being too different. America’s response was to formulate a make-believe effort at revenge. We sent troops to Afghanistan to ostensibly seek out those responsible for the attack. Well, we never did find the responsible faction of the Islamic extreme left, but we did manage to kill over 5,000 U.S. Soldiers and contractors and wound physically and mentally another 20,000 while clinging to rules of engagement in a war we could never hope to win. Sort of like Vietnam.
In the aftermath of 9/11, the United States retaliation effort failed miserably, and to add insult to injury, immigration policy allowed for Islamic immigration to America and even welcomed militant, anti-American Muslims into Congress. So much for the unification behind the 9/11 terrorist attack on America.
Today, thousands, maybe millions of Americans are lamenting the passing of Charlie Kirk. Turning Point membership will undoubtedly increase rapidly, and we already have social media echoing sentiments of carrying on the Charlie Kirk legacy by being Charlie Kirk. As with 9/11, the mourning will pass, and the unity will eventually break down. Until the next time. And there will be a next time. Two attempts were made on President Trump’s life, and terrorist attacks have taken place on small scales around the country in the form of so-called random shootings around the country.
How do we stop the madness? Accountability. Killers, regardless of who their victims are, need to be held accountable. That does not mean extending understanding or analyzing their frame of mind. Mental stability has nothing to do with murder or should not have anything to do with murder. Killing is wrong. No person has the right to kill another, and when they do, they must be held accountable. President Trump is calling for the death penalty for Charlie Kirk’s killer. Why only Charlie Kirk’s killer? All killers should face the death penalty. It is not a matter of deterrence; it’s a matter of accountability. If a killer is killed, they cannot kill again. Frame of mind has nothing to do with holding a killer accountable for their actions. If they are sane enough to shoot someone or stab them or otherwise rob their victim of the victim’s right to life, the killer deserves to die. Period.
Locking killers behind bars does not render them incapable of killing again. In prison, killers are lifers. They have nothing to lose. They can kill other prisoners and face no consequence. They cannot be locked up twice. They cannot be locked up twice as long. The death penalty for capital crimes needs to be reinstated. If it deters only one future killer from taking a life, it has done its job.
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