Editorial: Politics should not have a body count

When we look at our history, it is a timeline where the major marks are often political and frequently violent — and too regularly both.

This is not unique to America. It is not a problem of modern history. It is global and timeless. Assassination has changed the face of the world from Ancient Egypt to the Roman Empire to medieval Europe. It first landed in the United States when Abraham Lincoln was shot at Ford’s Theatre in 1865.

The most recent example is the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk on Wednesday as he engaged with supporters and opponents at Utah Valley University.

But we cannot focus only on assassination when we look at political violence. We must note the smaller steps along this rocky, bloody path.

Assassination does not happen in a vacuum. It is the culmination of events. It can include other deaths with less high profile targets but often high profile body counts. It may include an increase in the amount of violent interactions against individuals seen as the enemy. It is a silencing of some voices and the amplification of others.

And it does not happen overnight.

Kirk’s death is one of those culminations. So was the assassination of Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortman, who was killed in June along with her husband the same day as the national No Kings rallies. Another Minnesota legislator and his wife were gunned down in their home that day and survived.

But these are not the only examples. We cannot ignore the June 2024 attempt on President Donald Trump’s life in Butler County, claiming the life of rally attendee Corey Comperatore and hospitalizing two other local men. We must acknowledge the arson at the Pennsylvania governor’s mansion, the plot to kidnap the Michigan governor and the assault on U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s husband in California.

This terrible graph charts its way through mass shootings targeting different ethnic groups: the 2022 grocery store shooting in Buffalo, N.Y., and the 2019 attack at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas. There is not only the 2018 Pittsburgh synagogue shooting, but also the online threats to the jury and witnesses made by a white supremacist during the trial.

There have been shootings of lawmakers on both sides of the aisle — U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords in Arizona in 2011 and U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., at a congressional baseball practice in 2017. There were pipe bombs sent in 2017.

To focus only on the worst ignores how we have arrived at the terrible place we are now.

America and Americans must stop saying that this is not who we are — that we are not this violent, hateful people. And we must stop pointing at others and shouting that it is not us, it is them. While the sentiment is understandable, we must acknowledge that it is not true.

This is who we are choosing to be. With every hateful social media post and every “libtard” and “MAGAt,” we are making an active decision to choose enmity over solutions.

It has to stop. We have stopped — or at least slowed down — before.

The 1960s were a violent time marked by unrest on campuses and assassinations of political leaders. But while demonstration and dissent continued after that, it was not at the same level. We advanced and we found ways to do so that were less bloody.

We must commit to doing so again. That does not mean we abandon what we believe. It means that we accept that every interaction does not have to have a winner and a loser.

And none of them should have a body count.