The Power of Enough is Absolutely More Relevant Than Ever

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.

The social media universe is filled with elected officials, on both sides, rightfully calling for prayer for Charlie and his family. They are rightfully saying violence has no place in our national discourse.

I hope next week those same officials remember how they feel in this moment and choose their rhetoric more carefully. Because whether it contributed in this case or not, words matter and inflammatory words sow discord that can lead to violence.

The social media universe is also filled with gruesome video of the shooting. People are rightfully shaken up. This was heinous. Feeling as we do about these images, one dares only imagine how we would feel seeing video from a school shooting showing the same horrific thing happening to a six-year-old. We shouldn’t need video to finally inspire a national movement on gun violence.

Against this backdrop, I return now to what I started writing before the shooting, renewed more than ever in its import.

Whether or not one is a parent, we are all familiar with the power of the phrase, “That's Enough!” Whether we have used it or heard it used, we are familiar with its effect. Children who have gone too far, gone from harmless fun to annoying or unsafe behavior, at long last being told by a parent, “That is enough.” And for those of us bystanders there is the welcome silence that hopefully follows.

Some of us may have had a friend that has gone too far, perhaps with substance use or another vice like gambling or simply acting out of character. And perhaps we have found the courage to give them some version of, “That’s enough now.”

Perhaps nowhere does enough play a bigger role than in finances, be they a person’s or a nation’s. Sometimes enough is decided for us by a low bank account or nearing a credit limit. Sometimes enough is a calculated decision…I can retire now. In a perfect world, enough would be a moral consideration too. An executive might say that making 30 times more than his shop floor employee is enough; he needn’t make 300 times. An insurance company might say it will charge less instead of using excess earnings to pay for stadium naming rights or $2,000 bottles of wine for the CEO at the annual retreat. In a perfect world.

I have been quiet these last few weeks, taking a break from posting. And this isn’t because I haven’t had thoughts on the issues of the day. Rather it is because, like many of us, I have had enough. I have had enough of people not saying, “Enough.”

Someone should tell Benjamin Netanyahu, “Enough!” The October 7^th attack was the most heinous attack imaginable. But at some point, self-defense becomes vengeance. And we have been at that point for a very long time. Great and just nations have a responsibility for proportionality. People of faith have a responsibility to protect innocent civilians, even in a land run by evildoers. And practical leaders have a responsibility to know that nothing is a greater catalyst for further radicalization than creating more poverty and more suffering. It isn’t hard to radicalize someone who has no opportunity, no job, and has seen his little sister die of starvation. It is as easy as pointing and saying, “That is who did this to you.” But Netanyahu doesn’t want peace, does he? No, he just violated the sovereignty of the one nation in best position to help broker it, Qatar. No, Bibi wants scorched earth.

Someone should tell the media, “Enough!” You gave us a President Donald Trump with your predilection for sensationalism, covering him 24/7. You gave us slanted opinion under the guise of a newscast. You gave us pundits and sat them behind an anchor’s desk. You gave us the stories you wanted to cover and ignored those that didn’t fit your narrative. If you were a right-leaning station you didn’t show all President Trump’s meanderings and vile comments. You slammed MSNBC’s Matthew Dowd over his comments that Kirk’s killing may somehow have been related to hateful speech. If you were a left-leaning station you didn’t show when, for all his vileness, President Trump did something well. You slammed Fox’s Jesse Watters for his comments about avenging Kirk’s death.

Someone should tell the federal courts, “Enough!” You serve for life and aren’t required to run for office. You are not subject to, and need not be concerned with, the enflamed passions of the people, or for that matter the enflamed passions of the man who nominated you. You need only be concerned with the Law, in all its beautiful, blind coldness. You shouldn’t allow yourselves to be forum-shopped to give nationwide injunctions. You shouldn’t use the emergency Shadow Docket with such enthusiasm. And you should be very careful of creating a branch of government that isn’t coequal and cannot be held to account. Those guardrails removed, a speed boat being blown out of the water without legal justification is just the beginning.

Someone should tell the Democrats, “Enough!” There is a difference between equal protection and mandating celebration. There is a difference between caring for those less fortunate than we and supporting those who work the system instead of going to work. There is a difference between regulating capitalism where it falters and instituting socialism. Someone should tell them the lesson they should have learned from the last election, and the path to helping this nation back from the edge, isn’t that they too should start using more fighting words or posting videos of themselves lifting weights. Bro culture doesn’t a more perfect Union inspire.

Someone should tell the Republicans, “Enough!” The ends don’t justify the means. The Constitution is not a doormat and emergency declarations aren’t the proper tool for routine governance. A vote against a former president isn’t a vote for everything the current one campaigned on or thought of last night at three in the morning. And it certainly isn’t a vote for Stephen-Miller-level evil or Cabinet-level clownery. And the votes you received from the working class certainly did not come because they hoped that billionaires would become more billionairy at their expense. Even if one believed a vote for President Trump was a vote for all his policies, 49.8% of the vote does not a mandate make. And instead of leaders saying to me behind closed doors that we’ll fix it after President Trump is gone, stand up.

Someone should tell Congress, “Enough!” Take back the gavel from an overreaching Executive. Take back legislation from an overreaching Judiciary. Vote no to spending our children’s and grandchildren’s money on our current lifestyle. Stop allowing money to be spent to undo something that will simply be reinstated upon the next change in majority. That too is waste. Stop sending out those vile fundraising emails that I had the courage not to send when I ran. 'The world is on fire’ emails effectively raise money, but the costs are simply too high.

And for God’s sake, go grab a drink with someone with a different letter in parenthesis after their name. You’ll be okay and you may learn something. And if someone posts a pic of you doing so on social media, have the political courage to say, “So what of it?”

Someone should say to those social media keyboard warriors, dime store influencers, podcasters who don't research, and supposed patriots who love only one half of their country, “Enough!” Facts matter. Knowing history matters. The Constitution and our institutions matter. Perfecting our Union matters. And for the love of all that is good and holy and decent and kind, understand that the simplest explanation is often the correct one; conspiracy theories and ascribing evil genius to people who simply made bad decisions isn’t the simplest explanation.

Someone should say to anyone who weaponizes religion for any purpose or to any leader who dog whistles using it, “Enough!” The very first line of the very first amendment to the Constitution says, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.” That doesn’t just mean we don’t have a national religion like we have a national bird. It also means we separate Church and State. We do not govern according to a specific faith canon, be it Christian or Sharia. I am a person of faith, a Christian. But our founders, inspired as they were by faith, put in place a system to govern for those of all faiths and for those of no faith at all. Were that not enough, the Christ I believe in is inclusive and taught, “Do not judge, lest you be judged.” The words Christ and Patriot are not synonyms, regardless of how often some on the far right employ them in the same tweet in such calculated proximity. Too much harm has been done throughout history under the misuse of religion. No more need be. Besides, the proper way to affect the world with your faith is simply to live it.

Charlie Kirk’s organization is called Turning Point USA. We are indeed at a turning point. But that turning point hinges less on what your tax rate is, less on what social programs we offer and how they are administered, and less on what you think should be taught at schools. It hinges far more on how we treat one another and how we talk about one another while we figure out the rest. A difference in the top tax bracket of a few percentage points does not end a Union. A book being included in the school library does not end a Union. Calculated division, if we allow it to, can. So at long last, I say, “That’s enough now.”