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This may or may not resonate truthfully for you. Its from my media eco-system..
I thought it did a good job of just trying to articulate the state of the country at this time. Its not about fixes or pointing fingers.
Havent seen anything like this in the country since I was a kid in the 60's...Vietnam, RFK, JFK, MLK, Nixon, Civil Rights etc..
Is the track we're on sustainable? What are the consequences?
I dont have the answers..
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The governor of Utah struggled to find the right words to describe the question so many have been asking: What is happening in America?
The silence lasted nearly 10 seconds. He looked down. He opened and closed his mouth.
‘’Our nation is broken,’’ Spencer Cox finally said, hours after the public killing of Charlie Kirk. The governor described violent attacks on both Democrats and Republicans, including the killing of Minnesota lawmaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, two assassination attempts on President Donald Trump and the firebombing of Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s official residence.
His words stood out not just for the stark language about America’s troubles, but for his sober acknowledgement that the violence reaches across the political divide.
It can be hard to remember all the scenes of political violence in just the past few years: Butler, Pennsylvania, the Minneapolis suburbs, San Francisco, New York City, West Palm Beach. And more. Taken together, they are enough to make Americans wonder: Is there a way forward? What might it look like?
‘’Nothing I say can unite us as a country,’’ said Cox, a Republican. ‘’Nothing I can say right now will fix what is broken.’’
Many people, of course, feel America is broken. You can hear about the country’s many troubles — its ideological divides, its anger, its lack of civility — from conservatives and liberals, from socialist firebrands and evangelical preachers, from Democrats and Republicans. It is, perhaps, one of the few beliefs that unites Americans right now.
So many seem to genuinely want those divides to be mended, for the country to be knitted back together. But the question of why America is broken, and who is to blame, and how to repair it? That’s where things get complicated.
Because no matter what you believe, today — in both the myriad reactions to Kirk’s violent public death and in general — you can pick the America you want. You can pick the America that you believe exists.
You can see a president who is systematically removing the rights of Americans, or a president who is standing up for a forgotten middle class. You can see signs of fascism in the masked immigration agents hauling people off the streets, or an administration that is finally enforcing immigration laws for the good of all citizens.
In Charlie Kirk, you can see a polite, boy-next-door type with a captivating debating style who loved America, the church, his family, and the resurgence of conservatism across the country, especially among young people. Or you can see a political hybrid of the social media age, a powerful political operative who was willing to exploit America’s racial divide in search of support and who insisted, falsely, that voter fraud cost Trump the 2020 elections.
When Cox spoke mournfully about America’s predicament, he clearly hoped Kirk’s death could help bring America together. More likely, though, the killing could drive the wedges deeper.
The country’s politicians strive to balance it all. Online, of course, it’s easy to remain anonymous, and it can be impossible to distinguish true praise for political violence and vigilantism with adolescent trolling. It’s different for politicians, who can’t stay anonymous — and who are often looked to in moments like this to help show their supporters and constituents the way.
Former Presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama said they were praying for Kirk’s family. George W. Bush called for divine guidance to move the nation to civility. Their statements sounded, unsurprisingly, like many of the things they said during their presidencies.
That kind of message took root in some places. In Connecticut, College Republicans and College Democrats issued a joint statement decrying violence.
And on Wednesday, Cox — a Republican politician thrust into the limelight by tragedy, like so many public servants before him — spoke emotionally about a belief in free speech that goes back to America’s founding, and about how hatred can lead to violence.
‘’Is this it?’’ he asked. ‘’Is this what 250 years has wrought on us?’’
‘’I pray that is not the case.’’
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