Cal Thomas: The power of truth

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MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Today is Thursday, September 18th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Myrna Brown.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard. Here’s WORLD commentator Cal Thomas on what we need to do to preserve America from the inside.

CAL THOMAS: Charlie Kirk has been called many things, including an influencer, especially of young people.

A better label might be “converter.” The power to speak truth in a way that changes a political mindset is better than influencer. Kirk possessed that power which led to his murder by a 22-year-old man who wanted to rob him of it.

Written on one of the shells recovered at the scene was “Hey fascist! Catch!”

Among the many videos of Kirk debating students who disagreed with his conservative philosophy and Christian faith was a young man who asked about some of what he called Kirk’s “fascist statements.” 

STUDENT: Dude, like you …
KIRK: Can you name one thing that I believe that’s fascist?
STUDENT: Um, you believe that like … um
KIRK: I’m such a bad fascist, I let the people who disagree have an open mic to talk to me for two hours uninterrupted, I’m such an awful fascist.

The student appeared flustered, looked around for help and couldn’t answer. It appeared he had simply repeated what he had read on the internet, or heard from others.

The internet and its social media pages are a sewer. Many on the Left blame conservatives for political violence. Yet the body count tells a very different story. Online reactions from those who disagreed with Kirk range from how Kirk brought this upon himself to much more disgusting and vile celebrations of the assassination.

Anyone celebrating Kirk’s murder on social media – or promoting any violence against anyone – should be banned. This isn’t about free speech. It’s about incitement.

Social media has kept too many Americans from knowing each other. We are identified by labels which say nothing about our humanity and intrinsic value. We speak of some of our fellow citizens as being on the “other side.” China, Russia, Iran and North Korea are on the other side. Their dictators are opposed to what we stand for. Do we need enemies among us? If so, we will become out of one, many, the opposite of our unifying national motto.

When I was more active on the college lecture circuit in the ’80s and ’90s I participated in civil debates. Afterwards, I would occasionally have dinner with my political opposite. One was liberal Senator George McGovern, a Democrat from South Dakota. He was a World War II veteran, as was my father. McGovern and I became friends because we got to know each other beyond politics.

It was the same with the late Bob Beckel, who ran Walter Mondale’s 1984 campaign. He used to say “I managed Mondale to the greatest loss in political history, now I’m on TV as an expert. It’s a great country.” I agree. Bob became my best friend and we grew to love each other. I had the privilege of leading him to Christ. We even changed the other’s minds on a few issues because we took time to listen to what the other had to say.

This is supposed to be a special year leading up to the 250th anniversary of our nation’s birth. Instead, it is rapidly becoming something else. We had better re-examine the values and virtues that initially contributed to this unique nation or, like other nations before us, America will implode and cease to exist.

That was part of Charlie Kirk’s message to the young. A young man who didn’t want them to hear it killed him, but his ideas will find other voices because many of those ideas are true and truth has the power to change people's minds.

I’m Cal Thomas.

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