On Wednesday, Charlie Kirk was assassinated on the campus of Utah Valley University. He was murdered while engaging in good-faith dialogue with college students – the proper, tried-and-true way of practicing politics in a republic. He leaves behind a widowed wife and two young children. His death is a tragedy for his family and the country.
In a time of increasing political violence in America, we must reflect on what we take for granted. We are incredibly lucky to be born into a republic of laws with natural and civil rights enshrined in our Constitution. But we cannot take these privileges for granted. Those laws and civic norms upon which we unconsciously rely to preserve our republic and ensure our safety can do neither if our faith in them remains unconscious. Civilization is a gift of tradition from our forebears, but it is one that requires a renewed affirmation by each successive generation. We, as young Americans, must choose again and again to live in a civilized republic.
At that Founding, the earliest Americans took as a central value the necessity of political speech. It is what gained us independence, and it is what fueled our novel form of government. We are entrusted with the country they started, and we are tasked with using those same tools of speech to govern ourselves. When voices are silenced, we must strain to speak even louder.
As conservatives, this attack carries particular weight. For decades now, conservatives have stood apart on campus. We are often viewed as quaint artifacts of a less enlightened time. We may be well-liked or at least well-respected, but we will still be seen as strangers. The need for Kirk’s presence on our country’s campuses shows the asymmetry in their politics. We must reflect on the state of a country in which one political side has to claw its way into orthodox campus discourse. His advocacy, while unique in its prominence and vigor, finds itself in a deeper tradition of campus conservatism, one which we at the Tory are proud to be part of.
The very existence of our publication assumes its necessity. Conservative ideas are not popular on America’s campuses, and they are often met with open hostility. But the constant affirmation of liberty required by life in a republic compels us to write and preserve the ideas of the American founding. At the Tory, we pride ourselves on “choosing the pen over the sledgehammer.”
We must dedicate ourselves even more to this proposition. We must choose restoration over retribution. We must choose liberty over intimidation.
Khoa Sands ‘26 and Zach Gardner ‘26
Editor-in-Chief and Publisher
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