Concerning the Murder of Charlie Kirk:

An Open Letter to the Democratic Party

Instagram/charliekirk1776

We, the Republican Party of Kenosha County, thank Governor Evers for his statement concerning the murder of Charlie Kirk. On “X,” Governor Evers stated, “Violence against anyone because of their political beliefs is wrong. Violence against others is wrong. Violence is never the answer for resolving our differences or disagreements.”

The bedrock of our Republic is the belief in free speech: the belief that vigorous debate is the best means for arriving at the truth. That no individual, no party, has a monopoly on the truth.

Screenshot of a response to an RPKC post about Charlie Kirk’s assassination on our Facebook page

But there is speech that poisons the well of discourse—that brands those who disagree as somehow less than human, as evil, as needing to be silenced. We see this directed against us from the left, including by people who are prominent in the Democratic Party. They fling about the terms “Nazi” and “Fascist” and “racist” recklessly, without concern for history or the truth, marking those whom they label as legitimate targets for violence. Some have even ghoulishly celebrated Kirk’s murder, claiming he had it coming.

This leads to very dark place, as shown by the experience of those who have gone down that path. Rafael Abella, in his monumental history of the Spanish civil war, describes the days leading up to war in words that are chillingly familiar: “We began to see our fellow countrymen as friends or enemies ... Our very ability to speak to one another, to communicate using words in the same language, was exhausted in an atmosphere of hate in which we began to think of each other as caricatures, describing a neighbor by color—red or blue—to simplify or classify without any nuance.”

Charlie Kirk believed in debate. He spoke forthrightly and fearlessly. He went out of his way to debate those who disagreed with him—in particular, those young people who may never have heard his point of view. His motto “Prove me wrong!” was a challenge to every thinking person to step outside their comfort zone and put their beliefs to the test.

Kirk worked to create what every demagogue fears: a public that is informed and engaged. And so the demagogues killed him. Hunter Kozak, the man who was debating Charlie Kirk at the moment Kirk was murdered, said that “the point that I was trying to make is how peaceful the left was. Right before he got shot.”

Again, we thank Governor Evers for his statement. But more is needed.

Democrats, will you expel the extremists from your party? Will you oppose their vitriol? Will you denounce them as they celebrate murder?

We fear you won’t. In the words of Charlie Kirk:

Prove me wrong!