On September 10, 2025, conservative activist Charlie Kirk was gunned down at a Turning Point USA event in Utah. Witnesses confirmed it. Former President Trump condemned it as another escalation of political violence. However you feel about Kirk, his assassination is a national tragedy—and one more grim warning that our civic life is disintegrating.
But Missourians need to face an uncomfortable truth: the culture of division that fuels this kind of violence doesn’t just appear. It’s nurtured by years of cowardly inaction. And in Missouri, Governor Mike Kehoe and his Republican allies in the General Assembly—men like Rusty Black and Tim Taylor—have done next to nothing to confront the rot in our schools, our universities, and our media. Their failure has left Missouri fertile ground for the very polarization that now spills over into bloodshed.
Schools Left Wide Open to Indoctrination
For years, parents have demanded relief from ideological fads in classrooms—Critical Race Theory, DEI programming, and one-sided lessons that push politics over education. Lawmakers filed more than 90 bills since 2021 to rein it in. And what did we get? Empty gestures, gutted reforms, and endless delays.
SB 4 in 2023, which was supposed to restrict race-based curricula, was watered down to the point of uselessness. SB 1125 in 2024, meant to curb DEI in higher education, fizzled. The so-called reforms that passed this year were symbolic at best.
Rusty Black has been in the room for every one of these failures. Tim Taylor has cast “safe” votes that change nothing. Both tell constituents they’re working hard, but their track record is clear: they refuse to take the tough votes, and Missouri’s children are left to be shaped by ideologues instead of educators. That isn’t representation—it’s betrayal.
Mizzou’s J-School: A Factory for Bias
The University of Missouri’s School of Journalism was once respected worldwide. Today it is a factory for progressive media bias. Students are trained not in objectivity but in activism, drilled in narratives of “racial reckoning” and “climate justice” while conservative viewpoints are treated as fringe.
This has been obvious since the campus unrest of 2015, and it has only gotten worse. Yet Governor Kehoe and the legislature, who control the purse strings, refuse to demand accountability. No independent audits. No funding tied to balanced curricula. No oversight at all.
The truth is, Kehoe doesn’t want a fight with the university, and legislators like Black and Taylor don’t want to jeopardize their political comfort. So the indoctrination machine keeps churning—and Missouri taxpayers foot the bill.
Media Deception Without Consequences
Local media outlets add fuel to the fire with partisan spin and, at times, outright falsehoods. Missouri law has tools to hold them accountable, but lawmakers refuse to sharpen them. Defamation standards remain toothless, misinformation flows unchecked, and politicians like Kehoe, Black, and Taylor look the other way.
Imagine if we had a Media Accountability Commission years ago. Imagine if news outlets faced penalties for knowingly broadcasting dangerous lies. Instead, we got nothing. Lawmakers wrap themselves in the First Amendment as an excuse for inaction, even as falsehoods poison public debate.
Division Has a Price
No one in Jefferson City pulled the trigger in Utah. But Kehoe, Black, Taylor, and their colleagues have created an environment where division thrives. They have allowed indoctrination in schools, bias at Mizzou’s J-School, and deception in local news to fester unchecked.
This is the cost of their cowardice: a Missouri where polarization deepens, trust collapses, and tragedies like Charlie Kirk’s assassination become thinkable.
Enough. No More Excuses.
If our leaders actually cared about preventing the next tragedy, they would act. That means real curriculum transparency, genuine parental rights, audits of higher education, accountability for biased media, and true school choice.
But Governor Kehoe prefers ribbon cuttings to responsibility. Rusty Black prefers stalling in committee to standing up for kids. Tim Taylor prefers casting harmless votes to taking meaningful stands. And Missouri families are left paying the price.
The time for excuses is over. If Kehoe, Black, and Taylor won’t lead, then Missourians must demand leaders who will. Because we can’t afford more cowardice while our civic fabric tears apart.
