September 11th is etched into American history not only for the horror of what happened, but for what it revealed, about our enemies, about ourselves, and about what happens when ideology replaces humanity.
Twenty-four years ago, foreign extremists radicalized by a worldview that glorified death and erased human difference struck at the heart of our nation. That kind of evil did not appear overnight. It was cultivated. Groomed. Allowed to grow until it exploded into terror.
Today, as we remember, we can no longer pretend the same seeds aren’t being planted here. The playbook is familiar: stoke grievance, strip away humanity, glorify escalation. That formula produced 9/11. And now it has taken root in our own politics.
The assassination of Charlie Kirk was not just an attack on one man. It was proof that political violence is no longer a distant threat. It is here. And the silence that follows is not neutrality. It is permission.
Here’s the uncomfortable truth: the Democratic Party, long respected for its ability to organize and mobilize communities, is allowing that very quality to be weaponized by extremists. The organizing power that once fueled civic participation is being twisted into intimidation. The discipline once used to mobilize voters is now being leveraged to menace opponents. And the silence of mainstream leaders is what makes it possible.
Let’s be honest: too many Democrats believe it’s somehow a loss to their unity if they openly denounce the extremists in their ranks. They see condemnation not as the bare minimum of leadership, but as a threat to their coalition. So, they stay silent, or worse, they excuse what they know to be indefensible. But denouncing violence is not a tactic. It’s the duty of anyone who claims to lead. And when leaders refuse to call out the menace growing inside their own tent, they aren’t protecting their party, they’re betraying their country.
To their credit, there are those who have been voices, across the spectrum, willing to de-escalate, to condemn without condition, to call violence what it is. That courage deserves praise. Because it takes courage to risk backlash from your own side and still say, this is wrong. But isolated courage is not enough. If parties don’t police their own houses, extremists will take over the living room.
And for those who argue, “Conservatives have extremists too,” the principle is the same. No party gets a pass. But let’s also be clear: we haven’t seen liberal activists being gunned down. What we are watching now is the hijacking of a major party’s most respectable attributes by factions willing to flirt with terror. That cannot be tolerated, excused, or rationalized away.
The old saying goes: shirt sleeves to shirt sleeves in three generations. Our grandparents built it. Our parents preserved it. We are at risk of squandering it. Civic capital, like financial capital, disappears when it’s mismanaged. And once it’s gone, rebuilding it takes generations.
On this September 11th, the message must be unmistakable: violence and intimidation have no place in American politics. Looking away is not neutrality, it is the precursor to terror. Leaders must have the courage to say it, clearly, without condition, and beginning with their own side
Because if we fail to draw the line now, it won’t just be conservatives who pay. It will be every American family, and the nation we are building (or squandering) for our children.