In the days since the killing of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk, the overwhelming response on the left has been shock and horror. No one of prominence has justified the killing; hundreds, from Democratic Party leadership on down, have condemned political violence.

But below the unanimity is a subtler debate: not about how to respond to Kirk’s death, but how to think about his life.

On the one hand are sober commemorations of Kirk’s approach to democratic politics. Kirk, these authors say, had an admirable commitment to free discourse — going on tours where he would debate all sorts of people on often-hostile college campuses. He was killed while doing exactly this, answering a question about mass shootings.

I recently watched a video, posted on his own channel, of him debating a stude

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