United States Congress

Foreign policy is an interesting thing, though perhaps not as complicated a thing as we make it seem. It is, at its core, the practice of human relationship. And most of that is learned in kindergarten…you know, when you first ventured out into the world to learn the unfortunate truth that it isn’t all about you.

Once the customer, the American citizen in this case, has grown accustomed to a government service, it is hard, and in many cases unfair, to take it away. And it doesn’t matter if that service provided or right granted is Social Security, Trump-era tax cuts, Affordable Care Act subsidies, or reproductive rights. No one likes having something and then having it taken away.

I am reminded daily that real life, done well, can be instructive for our politics and that real life, done poorly, mirrors our politics.

I started this piece eight hours before Charlie Kirk was murdered and I finish it now while the manhunt for his killer is still underway. We do not yet know the motive. We do not yet know the shooter’s mental condition. We do not yet know the shooter’s political affiliation. And while we soon will, I fear the truth will not stop some from advancing theories of their own.