Hotbeds of Moral Cowardice

Hotbeds of Moral Cowardice 

By Lawrence W. Reed

Two weeks since the murder of Charlie Kirk, the tragedy is still sinking in. I knew Charlie Kirk. In 2015, when he was just 21, he wrote, “Mr. Reed’s lecture on Adam Smith and The Wealth of Nations is still one of my favorite to date.  It really changed the way I look at the free market and economics.” He reserved the highest praise for the work of the Foundation for Economic Education, the organization I have been closely associated with for half a century. He encouraged students to attend FEE programs and I spoke at several of Charlie’s Turning Point conferences and chapter events.

I can speak about him with the first-hand knowledge that eludes the know-nothings who, even in the wake of his death, flippantly and shamelessly toss the filthiest of insinuations in his direction.

Charlie was no bigot. He never sowed hate. He expressed no desire to, as fellow NTH columnist Susie Berta maliciously implied, “erase entire groups.” That kind of cheap, uninformed, and spurious smear is worse than simply poor writing; it’s a version of the very same moral cowardice that led to Charlie’s murder in the first place.

Charlie was a man of strong, well-reasoned opinions. Just because they differed from yours doesn’t mean he hated you. Why do adults have to be reminded of that these days? His values were clear as a bell and front-and-center in all that he did. He believed in Jesus Christ. He loved America and its founding principles. He welcomed clean and open debate, which is why he traveled to campuses to engage in it. He was killed by an intolerant, far-Left lunatic encouraged by the lies of the Left that told him Charlie was a hater, a bigot, an eraser of entire groups.

Moral cowardice takes many shapes. It can be a fear of upholding what’s good because it’s not popular in the sorry circles you run in. It can be a fear of opposing what is evil because you think it’s “judgmental” or might contradict your shallow narrative. It can take the form of tossing out insults without naming the accused because you think it’s cute or somehow gives you cover. It can be an ego-inflating desire to grab attention or intimidate others you disagree with. In all these forms and more, it’s an epidemic in American public life these days.

One hotbed of moral cowardice, if not the primary source of it, is the college campus these days. At a growing number of them, the far Left dominates the faculty and intimidates spineless administrations. These are the intellectual cesspools which gave birth to such perversions as “political correctness” and “cancel culture” “and safe spaces” and “critical race theory” and “snowflake” behavior and “wokeism.” It’s where students are taught that “free speech” means only the Left gets to speak freely and you should be personally offended by opposing views.

University campuses are where we learn there are 87 genders, endless grievances, pregnant men, and cooked-up pronouns. It’s where young people are egged on to shout down speakers and destroy private property on behalf of class warfare and other stupid causes. These are the places that preach conflict and victimology, where everybody is either an oppressor or oppressed. It’s where you get to employ Fascist theory and practice while declaring that anti-Fascists like Charlie Kirk are Fascists.

Never has mass lunacy been more expensive. Is it really higher education if it drags civilization ever lower?

Another hotbed of moral cowardice is the corrupt leadership of the Democratic Party. New York Senator Chuck Schumer threatened Supreme Court members he disagreed with, declaring they would “pay the price.” Gavin Newsom, Kamala Harris and plenty of other Dem celebrities tell us Republicans are “Nazis” or “Hitler.” Hillary Clinton’s “deplorables” seems tame compared to the names her allies use nowadays. While the rhetoric of hate and violence is unacceptable from any source, the moral cowards of the Left in general (and those among Democrats in particular) traffic in it more frequently than anybody else.

If you need evidence of this that you’re not getting from a third hotbed of moral cowardice, the legacy media, check out “Slanders that Inspire Murder” at JustFactsDaily.com.

The antidotes to the Left’s poison include a spiritual awakening and the cultivation of personal character. I recommend Are We Good Enough for Liberty? for starters.

A nation that promotes moral cowardice is a nation headed for the ash heap. Let’s hope America is truly at a “turning point.” This past Sunday’s very moving tribute to Charlie Kirk in Arizona, watched by millions, gave me hope that maybe now the moral cowards are on the run.

(Postscript: Thanks to my dear friend Rebecca Dunn for the shout-out in her beautiful remarks at the Kirk tribute!)

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(Lawrence W. Reed, is President Emeritus, Humphreys Family Senior Fellow, and Ron Manners Global Ambassador for Liberty at the Foundation for Economic Education in Atlanta. His blogs at www.lawrencewreed.com.)