 * “I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; And because I cannot do everything I will not refuse to do the something that I can do.”
—Helen Keller
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To contact me, please click here: Sen.JeffGolden@oregonlegislature.gov
Yesterday, September 10, our dark political reality became darker.
My radio’s on this morning as I write these words. NPR is reviewing the life and impact of Charlie Kirk, some fifteen hours after he was shot to death on a Utah campus. I didn’t follow Charlie Kirk. Listening now to a sampling of his quotable comments, I’m not hearing anything I remotely agree with. Last night I read an online post from someone who DID largely agree with him, which in part said this: “Social media is already overflowing with people celebrating his murder.”
This is the heart of our darkness.
I actually have doubts about the “overflowing” part. I made a very rare visit to TikTok last night and watched half a dozen short videos of young people celebrating. I’m sure there are more. But I’m thinking, perhaps too hopefully, that this is one of those times that social media algorithms make us think that shockingly outrageous expression is much more common than it is. For now I choose to believe that the number of Americans taking pleasure from yesterday’s murder is tiny.
I don’t mean to make this a righteous sermon. I’m focusing here on practicality more than moral or spiritual code. It wasn’t long ago that millions of us recoiled at the so-called jokes that some ranking Republicans were sharing after a crazed intruder bashed in the head of Nancy Pelosi’s husband with a hammer. Who ARE these people? we thought. Are they even human?
That’s exactly what some people who admired Charlie Kirk are broadly thinking about progressives this morning. This is high-octane fuel for a vicious downward spiral: more contempt, more hatred, more bloodshed. An even darker future.
I don’t have a sweeping solution to suggest. But I deeply believe this: continuing the tit-for-tat gloating after these events will bring this country down. I understand what drives it, in whatever direction—the fear, the hurt, the feelings of powerlessness and need for release. But it will bring us down.
It’s on us to reject the celebration of violence against our political foes every way we can. Our pushback has to be clear and consistent across political viewpoints. Lip service won’t work; in some cases we may have to dig down deep for a wellspring of compassion that’s been ebbing in us as our politics gets more toxic.
Yesterday’s assassination was one more step down a path we can’t survive. We can choose something different.
 Senator Jeff Golden, Oregon Senate District 3
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