Dear Editor:

Political violence is an inexcusable scourge on our nation; it is the single greatest threat to maintaining stable government and civil society.

We deplore the assassination of Charlie Kirk and our hearts go out to his family as they struggle to cope with the shock and sorrow of his premature death.

The canonization of this right-wing leader of Christian nationalism, however, is both ill-advised and dangerous: it promotes racism (“If I see a Black pilot, I’m going to be like, boy, I hope he’s qualified”), McCarthyite anti-intellectualism (Turning Point USA runs the Professor Watchlist, a website profiling so-called “radical professors” and driving harassment), sexism (“Reject feminism. Submit to your husband, Taylor. You’re not in charge”), homophobia (“In Leviticus 18, [it says] that 'thou shalt lie with another man, and thou shalt be stoned to death.' Just saying”), xenophobia (“America was at its peak when we halted immigration for 40 years and we dropped our foreign-born percentage to its lowest level ever”), political violence (TPUSA transported students to the January 6 riot), antisemitism (“The philosophical foundation of anti-whiteness has been largely financed by Jewish donors in the country”), and religious bigotry (“There is no separation of church and state. It’s not in the constitution”).

By what standard does this qualify him to be enshrined as a champion of American democracy and freedom?

Because he and his organization, Turning Point USA, supported the Trump-Vance campaign and have free access to the White House, Republican leaders are now drafting a bill "to require the Secretary of the Treasury to mint coins in commemoration of Charlie Kirk.”

If this passes Trump’s rubber-stamp Congress, Kirk would join Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Lincoln, and FDR as a preeminent American leader. Should our children and grandchildren grow up commemorating him in this way? Wouldn’t it be more appropriate to apply his image to a $TRUMP meme coin?

Bill Hammond

Boothbay