The need for a conciliatory voice

Gov. Spencer Cox stands out

It is in the darkest times that conciliatory voices are most needed, and sometimes have emerged.

Consider the aftermath of the Martin Luther King assassination. King, a peace-building voice in his own right, was killed in April 1968, precipitating violence in dozens of American cities.

One major city was spared the violence — Indianapolis — possibly because a leading figure came forward there in the midst of his presidential campaign to voice a message of hope. If you have never seen this video, it’s well worth the five minutes it takes to watch.

Of course there is no comparison between Charlie Kirk and Martin Luther King. But Kirk did have a practice of engaging in spirited dialogue with his supporters and opponents across the country, which is exactly what he was doing in Utah. Given his stature, snuffing out his voice will have a chilling effect that will need to be challenged and counteracted by courageous people across the political spectrum.

The important thing is that the message needs to be conciliatory. We’re not likely to find it in the House of Representatives if yesterday’s outbreak is any indication. But maybe someone can capture the public’s imagination with something like RFK’s Indianapolis message tailored to these times.

Who will that be, if anyone? No one knows. But standing out in the crowd is Utah’s Republican governor Spencer Cox, who has been a voice of sanity for years in these polarized times. Yesterday he said:

Our nation is broken. We've had political assassinations recently in Minnesota. We had an attempted assassination on the governor of Pennsylvania. And we had an attempted assassination on a presidential candidate and former president of the United States -- and now current president of the United States. Nothing I say can unite us as a country. Nothing I can say right now can fix what is broken. Nothing I can say can bring back Charlie Kirk. Our hearts are broken.

Most important of all, we’ll be in even worse shape if the cycle of violence were to continue, as it did in RFK’s day — he was murdered just two months after the King assassination. In ‘68 and subsequent years no other voice came forward, and the country muddled along through more years of unrest, scandal, and economic decline. Here’s hoping we do better this time.