What would you do if you believed that the United States has a growing and volatile problem with political violence?
That question, as we relearned to our horror with Wednesday's assassination of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk, is no longer rhetorical or academic. There have been too many snipers at rallies, too many home invasions of public officials, too many ambushes at government institutions, and too many intentional escalations at public demonstrations, to wave this trend off as statistical noise, coming as it has against a backdrop of plummeting societal trust and sustained Manichean hyperbole about the existential threat of the political Other.
So, what would you do about it? How would you act? As in most things, there is no one, true answer to the prompt; it depends on your vantage point, predilections, and station in life.
