Charlie Kirk’s assassination represents more than the heartbreaking loss of a young life. It is a grim signal that our democracy is showing dangerous fractures. As someone who shared the same Christian faith, conservative values and affection for our country as Charlie, calling the news of this attack “shocking” does not begin to capture the impact of this tragedy.

The work that Charlie did, fueled by the love and gratitude he had for our country, will not cease. Through the passion he had to reach, engage and challenge the youth of America — across the political spectrum — he has shifted the political landscape. His legacy and his movement will live on.

In a free society, disagreements are meant to be resolved with ballots, debates and persuasion — not bullets. When political violence enters the arena, it doesn’t just take lives. It takes legitimacy. Citizens begin to question whether our leaders are chosen through democratic consent or through intimidation and fear.

We in Arizona know this all too well. It was just over a decade ago when Congresswoman Gabby Giffords was shot while meeting with constituents in Tucson. That attack shocked the nation and stood as a reminder that words matter — and that toxic rhetoric can embolden unstable individuals to commit acts of violence. Now, the assassination of Charlie Kirk shows that the threat has not receded. It has grown.

Violence rarely emerges in isolation. It takes root in the language we use. For years, our politics has been drenched in rhetoric that dehumanizes the other side — calling opponents “enemies,” “traitors,” or worse. When you convince people their neighbors are not just wrong but dangerous, you make violence thinkable. In that environment, it only takes one unstable individual to act on the message.

We’ve seen this story before. In Germany’s Weimar Republic, in the America of the 1960s, and in fragile democracies worldwide — leaders who fail to denounce dehumanization watch their countries slide toward chaos. The pattern is depressingly familiar: outrage leads to threats, threats give way to bloodshed, and faith in democratic institutions collapses.

The death of Charlie Kirk must not become another step on that road. Leaders in both parties — indeed, all citizens — must recommit to the basic truth that political opponents are not enemies of the state, but fellow Americans. We can fight for our ideas without stripping each other of our humanity.

As a combat veteran, I’ve seen what happens when politics breaks down and disputes are settled with violence. It’s not a future we should invite into our own country.

The choice before us is clear: either we treat this tragedy as another excuse to escalate our rhetoric, or we treat it as the line in the sand where we say enough.

Democracy depends not just on laws and elections, but on a shared agreement: that no matter how fierce our disagreements, we will not kill each other over them.

If we can’t agree on that, we will lose far more than one political activist. We will lose the republic itself.

Matt Kenney is a combat veteran of the U.S. Army and the former executive director of the Arizona Republican Party.