P-Paine

Charlie Kirk’s death should have shocked the nation into one simple, universal truth: political violence is wrong, no matter the target. Instead, the Left smirked that his “toxic rhetoric” caught up with him, the Right rushed to canonize him as a martyr, and the State sharpened its knives for more “security” over us all.

We’ve seen this story before. In fact, we’ve seen it at least sixteen times.

A Bloody Roster of Political Violence

1. Mahatma Gandhi (1948) – Murdered for daring to preach peace between Hindus and Muslims. His killers were nationalists who hated freedom more than foreign rule.
   
2. Martin Luther King Jr. (1968) – Gunned down for demanding liberty and dignity through nonviolence. His death birthed decades of surveillance and state control.
   
3. John F. Kennedy (1963) – The President shot in broad daylight, and to this day, the State hides the truth behind layers of secrecy.
   
4. Indira Gandhi (1984) – Killed by her own guards, sparking riots where thousands were slaughtered under the State’s watch.
   
5. Yitzhak Rabin (1995) – Murdered for signing a peace deal. His death killed the deal, but the war machine lived on.
   
6. Anwar Sadat (1981) – Shot for daring to shake hands with an “enemy.” His killers were extremists, but the State learned only one lesson: more crackdowns.
   
7. Robert F. Kennedy (1968) – His life ended as he campaigned against war. We got more war anyway.
   
8. Malcolm X (1965) – Shot while speaking to his people. A rebel silenced, but his voice grew louder in death.
   
9. Benazir Bhutto (2007) – Killed in Pakistan, her country’s “democracy” collapsing into more corruption and control.
   
10. Ninoy Aquino (1983) – Murdered at the airport, his death sparked a revolution that toppled Marcos. Proof that martyrs matter more than tyrants.
    
11. Oscar Romero (1980) – Shot at the altar for defending the poor. His killers wore uniforms, blessed by the State.
    
12. Anna Politkovskaya (2006) – A journalist exposing Russia’s wars, silenced in her apartment. Her killers may have pulled the trigger, but the State set the stage.
    
13. Pim Fortuyn (2002) – A Dutch populist murdered before an election. The voters he energized never forgot.
    
14. Jo Cox (2016) – A British MP murdered during the Brexit storm. Her blood was spilled in the middle of a referendum circus.
    
15. Steve Scalise (2017, survived) – Shot at baseball practice, proof that the U.S. civil war is already simmering.
    
16. Charlie Kirk (2025) – Shot on stage while speaking. A man polarizing in life, instantly tribalized in death.

The Pattern Is Always the Same

From India to Israel, from Washington to Moscow, from San Salvador to Manila, the story repeats. Leaders, rebels, activists, presidents, journalists, priests, killed not because their ideas were too weak, but because their ideas threatened entrenched power or inflamed tribal hatred.

And every time, instead of reflection, the State grows. Every time, the Left and Right use blood as a cudgel against each other. Every time, the public loses freedom, not gains it.

What Libertarians Must Say

We don’t need to agree with Charlie Kirk to say: his death is wrong. Just as Gandhi’s death was wrong. Just as King’s, Rabin’s, Romero’s, and Bhutto’s were wrong.

Violence is the language of the State and its imitators. Once we accept bullets as debate, liberty dies.

The Left will use Kirk’s killing to demand new restrictions on speech they don’t like. The Right will use it to rally their base into deeper tribal loyalty. But only libertarians can say the thing no one else will: this cycle never liberates, it only enslaves.

The AnCap Conclusion

Charlie Kirk will not unify the nation. He will not be remembered like Gandhi or King. His name will join Fortuyn, Cox, Politkovskaya, figures whose deaths deepened divides instead of healing them.

But we don’t need another saint or another martyr. We need the principle: political violence is never the answer, and every time it erupts, the State wins and the people lose.

That’s the lesson the Left and Right will never learn. But it’s the one libertarians must keep shouting, because if we don’t, we’re next on the list.