Sad and Angry: Is our Country at a Turning Point
Someone decided murder was an argument and it’s a gut punch to anyone who values open debate
This afternoon, I was sipping coffee in a local pastor’s office in Canton, discussing whether the church he leads would welcome a family like ours. We had a great talk about the United Methodist Church, our histories in it, the other families like ours already attending, and the church’s stance on marriage being between one man and one woman. It was a respectful exchange, and I left feeling hopeful about my oldest son continuing to attend their youth group, even if it’s not the right home for our family. On the drive back, still mulling over how to balance faith and family, my phone buzzed with a Twitter alert: Charlie Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA, was shot dead at Utah Valley University. I clicked the video—big mistake—and saw the chaos unfold. I froze, praying it was a sick prank. But it’s real—a single bullet ended his life mid-speech, in front of a crowd of students. As a dad, a business owner, and a fan of Charlie’s fight for free speech and limited government, I’m gutted, frustrated, and searching for answers in a world that often feels like it’s spiraling.
I’ve admired Charlie Kirk for years. His firebrand style, his knack for rallying young people, and his unapologetic defense of free speech, limited government, and values spoke to me. Here in Georgia, where my husband Joe and I are raising our boys, I saw Charlie as a beacon—someone who took on the woke mobs, the cancel culture, and the overreach of big government with facts and grit. His “American Comeback Tour” was about inspiring kids to think critically, not just parrot talking points. I played clips of his debates for my sons, showing them how to stand firm in their beliefs, even when the room’s against you.
This isn’t just about losing a voice of reason; it’s about the sickness infecting our country. The headlines are screaming it: political violence is becoming our default. A Minnesota lawmaker and her husband were gunned down in June. Just last month, Iryna Zarutska, a 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee who fled war for a better life, was stabbed to death on a Charlotte light rail train by a man with a rap sheet longer than a CVS receipt. The suspect, Decarlos Brown Jr., had been arrested over a dozen times but was free to roam, a grim reminder of how broken systems let predators slip through. Her death, like Charlie’s, shows what happens when we let division and dysfunction fester—innocent lives pay the price. Now Charlie, at 31, taken out because someone decided murder was an argument. I keep thinking of Thomas Sowell’s words from another recent post: It is usually futile to try to talk facts and analysis to people who are enjoying a sense of moral superiority in their ignorance. This feels like that ignorance taken to its ugliest extreme—silencing a man whose whole mission was open debate.
As a guy with a husband who’s fought for my own freedoms—marrying Joe in 2013 when Georgia wasn’t exactly rolling out the red carpet—I know what it’s like to stand against the tide. Charlie’s fight wasn’t mine on every issue, but I respected his hustle. He didn’t just preach; he engaged, taking on all comers at campus events like the one in Utah. That’s what made him special: he’d debate anyone, anywhere, with facts and fire. To see that cut short by violence is a betrayal of everything America’s supposed to stand for. We’re not a nation of assassins; we’re a nation of ideas, dammit.
My heart breaks for the Turning Point team and the students who watched him fall. This isn’t a call to canonize Charlie—he’d be the first to say he wasn’t perfect—but it’s a call to honor what he stood for: free speech, fierce debate, and a love for this country. We can’t let his death fuel more hate or division. If anything, it’s gotta wake us up to reject this spiral of violence, whether it’s aimed at conservatives, liberals, libertarians, or anyone daring to speak their mind.
My unCommon Sense
Charlie Kirk’s assassination is a wound to the soul of free discourse. He was a warrior for ideas, and losing him hurts like hell. But we can’t let this tragedy silence us too. Let’s keep fighting for what he believed in—open debate, not bullets; principles, not rage.; and meeting people around a table, not a computer screen. For my boys, I want a world where they can speak boldly like Charlie did, without fear of a gunman’s shadow.
If you’re as shaken as I am or want to talk about what we do next, hit me up at dan@thrailkill.us. Let’s grab a coffee or beer and keep the conversation alive.
Have a good one,
Dan