I know almost nothing about the late Charlie Kirk. In case it needs to be said -- I of course abhor violence. Anyway, one of the very few things that I do know or think I know about Kirk is that he debated undergraduate students and often showed them up as numbskulls with "minds full of mush". [That phrase comes from the 1970s movie PAPER CHASE, about first year law students -- but it seems to apply.] Today I came across something written by Matt Taibbi soon after Kirk's murder. Taibbi has a leftward reputation -- he is a former contributing editor for Rolling Stone , and a few years back he penned a notorious essay attacking Goldman Sachs as a sort of avatar for everything wrong with capitalism. Nonetheless, in the passage below, as in a fair amount of Taibi's recent work, one hears echoes of points made by rightward folks. Perhaps, then, this is a point that deserves a broad hearing across partisan and ideological lines. --------------------...