Our nation is reeling from a rising tide of violence: the assassination of Charlie Kirk, the eleventh school shooting of 2025, the cold-blooded murder of Minnesota State Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, by an assassin who also shot and wounded Democratic state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife.
Too many tragic deaths have brought into sharp focus the deep political divisions and pervasive violence plaguing our nation. It's a stark reminder that when the left and right demonize each other, unity suffers. Yet, beneath the surface of political rhetoric and media narratives, Americans share far more common ground than we often realize.
All of us are horrified by the daily toll of violence in this country, and yearn for a society that values human life above ideological divisions. All of us fear the civil unrest in our nation may spin out of control, with incidents like Kirk's assassination serving as unsettling markers. Many of us also fear foreign influences exploiting our division to weaken the United States.
Our entrenched political parties seem to prioritize pandering to an extremist base, and demonizing opponents over collaboration. As a direct response to this political dysfunction, we’ve seen a growing number of independent voters, and movements like the Forward Party, who aim to unite people and promote respect and dignity.
First Amendment rights and the power of civil discourse exist at the heart of our democracy. Ultimately, we must resist hysteria and refuse to contribute to polarization. The essence of democracy is to allow for disagreement without discrimination, harassment, or violence. It's crucial that we engage in respectful dialog, and promote understanding over name-calling and yelling. Peaceful coexistence is a precious achievement, a miracle witnessed in places like Northern Ireland with the Good Friday Agreement, where former adversaries learned to live together.
Big tech companies are contributing to the polarization of our country by monetizing our differences. Our children cannot be left alone to retreat into the echo chambers their algorithms have created. We need to move beyond social media and remember how to create real community, outside in the real world.
The Forward Party is working to bridge divides, fostering environments where people can listen, discuss problems, and find solutions together. As a party, we commit to never using violent or divisive rhetoric. We will not threaten “war” or identify political opponents as targets.
The cowardly way to address our fears is to pick up a gun -- to dox or block or cancel the person we perceive as our enemy. The truly courageous act is to reach out to that person -- to meet them face to face, share a meal, communicate, listen -- and work to find common ground. This is the difficult process our democracy was built on. This is the kind of courage we all need in order to save it.
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