Death and Hope on Campus
The killing of Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University – and now the reaction, rhetoric and threats of retribution – make you tremble for our country.
But the Q&A session that Carter and I had the afternoon before at N.C. State University gave me hope.
We were at NCSU’s Society for Politics, Economics & the Law – billed (photo) as “North Carolina Politics Through the Eyes of Two Legends.”
They’d more likely see us as two fossils, I thought. We’d all suffer through a painful hour of strained silences and awkward struggles to bridge a half-century age gap.
Instead, they peppered us with engaging, challenging and thoughtful questions.
They asked about tariffs, U.S. aid to other countries, North Carolina’s split political personality, gentrification in Southeast Raleigh, gerrymandering, LGBTGQ+ issues, the economy and religion.
We talked about race, the two parties, what will happen to the Republican Party when Trump is gone and what Terry Sanford was like (a student who went to Terry Sanford High School in Fayetteville asked about him).
Throughout, they were respectful – of us, of each other and of different viewpoints. They seemed intrigued to see two old rivals who’d become friends.
Toward the end, a young woman caught me by surprise by asking why I seemed positive and optimistic about politics.
“I do?” was my first response.
Then I said, maybe not very convincingly, that – for all our problems and difficult times – our country is better today than when I was a student at State.
Later, walking to my car, I thought: no, that wasn’t it.
I felt optimistic because of them, the students we’d just been with.
They seemed to be yearning for a politics different from what they’ve seen most of their lives – a new politics that addresses people’s real concerns, without the violence, vitriol and viciousness that engulfs us today.
If they go into politics, I thought, politics will be better.
Then came Kirk’s killing – and the question: what next?
My hope is that the spirit of mutual respect we saw at N.C. State will prevail.
Our country needs that now.
Death and Hope on Campus
The killing of Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University – and now the reaction, rhetoric and threats of retribution – make you tremble for our country.
But the Q&A session that Carter and I had the afternoon before at N.C. State University gave me hope.
We were at NCSU’s Society for Politics, Economics & the Law – billed (photo) as “North Carolina Politics Through the Eyes of Two Legends.”
They’d more likely see us as two fossils, I thought. We’d all suffer through a painful hour of strained silences and awkward struggles to bridge a half-century age gap.
Instead, they peppered us with engaging, challenging and thoughtful questions.
They asked about tariffs, U.S. aid to other countries, North Carolina’s split political personality, gentrification in Southeast Raleigh, gerrymandering, LGBTGQ+ issues, the economy and religion.
We talked about race, the two parties, what will happen to the Republican Party when Trump is gone and what Terry Sanford was like (a student who went to Terry Sanford High School in Fayetteville asked about him).
Throughout, they were respectful – of us, of each other and of different viewpoints. They seemed intrigued to see two old rivals who’d become friends.
Toward the end, a young woman caught me by surprise by asking why I seemed positive and optimistic about politics.
“I do?” was my first response.
Then I said, maybe not very convincingly, that – for all our problems and difficult times – our country is better today than when I was a student at State.
Later, walking to my car, I thought: no, that wasn’t it.
I felt optimistic because of them, the students we’d just been with.
They seemed to be yearning for a politics different from what they’ve seen most of their lives – a new politics that addresses people’s real concerns, without the violence, vitriol and viciousness that engulfs us today.
If they go into politics, I thought, politics will be better.
Then came Kirk’s killing – and the question: what next?
My hope is that the spirit of mutual respect we saw at N.C. State will prevail.
Our country needs that now.