Richard Helppie's Common Bridge
The problems we have in the country are solvable, but not solvable the way we’re approaching them today, because of partisan politics. Richard Helppie, a successful entrepreneur and philanthropist seeks to find a place in the middle where common sense discussions can bridge the current great divide.
Richard Helppie's Common Bridge
Episode 285- Healing the Divide: After Charlie Kirk
The assassination of Charlie Kirk has shaken our nation to its core, prompting a raw, emotional response from Rich Helppie in this urgent episode of The Common Bridge. Beyond expressing profound grief for Kirk's family and friends, Helppie grieves for America itself – a country increasingly torn apart by political violence and dehumanizing rhetoric.
With unflinching clarity, Helppie dissects how our political discourse has deteriorated to the point where bullets replace dialogue. He identifies a troubling pattern: public figures condemn violence while simultaneously qualifying their statements with justifications that essentially blame victims for provoking their attackers. This "it's not okay, but..." mentality reveals how deeply entrenched our tribal divisions have become.
Drawing from historical examples like the Civil War and World War II, Helppie reminds us that even the bloodiest conflicts ultimately end through conversation, not continued violence. Tribalism, left unchecked, ends only with the eradication of the opposing side – a path that leads to unspeakable suffering. Instead, he advocates for finding common ground on issues like immigration, healthcare, and free speech, emphasizing that extreme positions on either side offer false choices rather than workable solutions.
The episode concludes with a powerful call to action: turn away from rage-inducing media, abandon recycled partisan narratives, and engage in genuine conversations with those who hold different views. As Helppie puts it, "Quit thinking your tribe is going to win. All it will mean is more carnage." The path forward requires recognizing our shared humanity and working together to build the common bridge our divided nation desperately needs.
Subscribe to The Common Bridge on Substack.com or the Substack app to join this vital conversation about healing America's deepening divides. Your voice matters in creating the more perfect union we all deserve.
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Welcome to this episode of Season 6 of the Common Bridge, where policy and current events are discussed in a fiercely nonpartisan manner. The host, richard Helpe, is a philanthropist, entrepreneur and political analyst who has reached over 5 million listeners, viewers and readers around the world. With our surging growth in audience and subscriptions, the Common Bridge continues to expand its reach. The show is available on the Substack website and the Substack app Simply search for the Common Bridge continues to expand its reach. The show is available on the Substack website and the Substack app Simply search for the Common Bridge. You can also find us on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts. The Common Bridge draws guests and audiences from around the political spectrum and we invite you to become a free or paid subscriber on your favorite medium.
Speaker 2:And welcome to the Common Bridge, rich. Today we were going to do a mailbag, but in light of what happened yesterday with the assassination of Charlie Kirk, I think we probably should talk about that instead, so we can push that mailbag off to a different time. It's 24 hours later when it happened. You and I were together when it happened. Actually, what are your thoughts a day after?
Speaker 3:I will say my grief is intense and it's intense not only for the family and the friends of Charlie Kerr, but I'm grieving for this country, brian. But I'm grieving for this country, brian. We began the and they're called the Republican Party, the Democratic Party and the established media ecosystem that is designed to enrage people. It's designed to dehumanize people. We had the murder of the executive in New York, nate Coffin, and I think UnitedHealthcare is a horrible company with a very uncaring, anti-human business model, and we've written about that and talked about that. But we're talking about we need to make policy changes.
Speaker 3:Charlie Kirk the people on the right say, look, he is a free speech advocate, he's going out and carrying an agenda and he's discussing policy and country direction and engaging with people. And I don't know if he ever gets testy with people. I've looked at dozens of video and he's just talking to people the way we used to. And then I hear people on the left saying, well, you know, wait a minute, he was a bad guy. He apparently somebody is alleging was against the Civil Rights Act. People saying, well, he was threatening trans people and the like. And we've got one set of facts and at least two sets of reality.
Speaker 3:But it would seem that we could agree that there would be a better way to resolve the divide than guns, because once the killing starts, it's never the last one. It's not like oh well, this side shot that guy on that side, so now it's done. No, this is not the way these things end. Tribalism ends with the eradication of a tribe, which means all the people are dead. The language is outlawed and wiped out. People are kicked out of their homes, their homes are burned to the ground and they're gone. That's the way tribalism ends. Or there's dialogue to end a war.
Speaker 3:Think about the great wars that ended. The Civil War of the United States ended at Appomattox Courthouse and that was over. World War II ended with the four great powers coming together to accept an unconditional surrender. It was discussion. And now this notion that one side can justify shooting someone on the other side. And look to be fair, which we need to be. We've seen violence go both ways. I don't want to get into tit for tat. Well, your killing was better than my killing, or something like that. That's just crazy, and this is a time when the only message should be let's talk, let's talk, let's not, let's go into policy. We have great problems in this country and we have great opportunities, and what's missing is a functioning political system that says we got hired, elected to deal with health care, firearms, immigration, affordability, the economy, the quality of life in our cities, the freedoms that are enshrined. That's what we're here for. The fourth estate is supposed to hold those people we elect accountable.
Speaker 3:And look, the first media run went right down the partisan lines that Mr Kirk had not yet died and there was a list of here's all the people you know. Know Gretchen Whitmer was a kidnap target and you know Steve Scalise was shot on a ball diamond. But one publication only listed those to the right of center and the other ones only listed those to the left of center. And when you step back, it's everybody. I've read a lot that there are people that are coming out and they're absolutely condemning murder, absolutely condemning violence. What I'm listening for is will they turn to a better day, which is dialogue and what you hear on most of well, maybe not most. Let me back up a little bit. Hear on most of well, maybe not most. Let me back up a little bit. Too frequently you hear well, hey, this isn't okay, but let me read something.
Speaker 3:This was actually written by a public school superintendent. I will not identify the individual, I will not give you a clue what state, where, whatever, and also this individual, after getting a significant backlash, did modify their position. But here was the first take. What happened at Utah State is not okay. Great, got to say that Very next thing. But I am not surprised because now listen, you cannot pitch a tent on a college campus and demean, insult and prod at the lived experience of other human beings and be naive to the fact that every human being has a breaking point. So begins it with it's not okay. But then, hey, you put a tent on a college campus and you engage in debate which is captioned as demeaning, insulting and prodding. Everybody can make their own judgment on that. And then listen.
Speaker 3:Here's the next part. This close-minded man learned this lesson today in the worst way possible. He deserved. It is what this is saying, and there's no question. And this writer has got a PhD. He knows the English language, knows what this is saying. And there's no question. And this writer has got a PhD, he knows the English language, knows what he's saying. Here's the next part. I will send thoughts and prayers for his recovery. He had not died yet, but then I will hope and pray that he finds opportunity to reflect.
Speaker 3:A bullet in the neck is what this man deserved, according to this writer. And he says let's be kinder and gentler to one another Really. And so that's the backing off of well, yeah, we shouldn't have shot him. And look just at someone that, within the last two weeks, posted from a bot account that maybe the so-called blue states could use nukes to contain the so-called red states. But upon the tragedy in Utah was, well, hey, this is absolutely wrong.
Speaker 3:Now, as an optimist, I'm like that's progress, all right, this has gone too far.
Speaker 3:We've got to put an end to it.
Speaker 3:And what I've consistently said on my program is this we will keep getting these kind of people in our legislatures, in our executive branch and our judiciary as long as we keep accepting it.
Speaker 3:We will keep getting this established media ecosystem sending hate and drivel in narrative down to us as long as we keep consuming it. So what my plea is to the listeners, the readers and the viewers of the Common Bridge is this Please, you're not going to win this debate, whether you're coming from the far right or the far left. I've said this umpteen times Nobody is going to drag a person from one edge to the other all the way to the other and vice versa, but maybe can we find some place in the middle. And if we could start with free speech? I think the Civil Rights Act is a great thing. Apparently, mr Kirk said well, it created a special class of citizens, and I vehemently argue with that, because it eliminated barriers that created a subclass of people that could not get public accommodations. We needed that legislation, and it was put in place by conservatives, and so Charlie Kirk was out of step with traditional conservatism, if that's indeed what he said.
Speaker 2:Well, rich, we can go down the list of some of the things, but he didn't like trans people. And you know what about people celebrating JFK and Martin Luther King's death when I came out, I don't think that's the point.
Speaker 3:Exactly that. So this is where human nature is bad and you know there were people that and I heard it with my own ears with Martin Luther King. It was horrible, it was 100% racist. And JFK I was a little young for that, but I do remember the day and I do know that people did celebrate that it's nothing to celebrate because something will happen.
Speaker 3:And look as far as a trans person and this is where we've had trans people since the beginning of humankind okay, People get to pick how they want to present it's life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. And if your pursuit of happiness means you want to be what they call gender nonconforming, you've got my heartfelt support. And, like my ninth grade civics teacher told me, your rights to swing your arm end at the point of the other guy's nose. So exercise your rights, respect other people's rights. And, of course, we have a duty to children. We have a duty to facts, we have a duty to the truth.
Speaker 3:Trans people have lived in humankind and in the United States of America forever. There's a famous stagecoach driver that was very heroic, whose name I can't remember and upon their death discovered it was female, not a man. So this is not new and we don't need to find a reason to hate other people. We can't stand by and let people that desperately need help not get it where they do, escalating violence until okay, now the system will take them in and do something with the carnage that's behind us. We need better choices on everything I mean you think about immigration millions and millions of people coming in unvetted, uncovered, versus now we have armed people on our behalf, going through neighborhoods and factories and Home Depots looking for people. We have the National Guard out. So I'm against wanting open borders and I don't like the idea of a police force randomly going in. We've got to have a better answer than those two extremes, period, and we can do this with the proviso it's the powers in our hands.
Speaker 3:Quit thinking your tribe is going to win. All it will mean is more carnage. Quit listening to the people that get you enraged. They've been lying to you. They've been lying to you for a long time. Turn them off. Find another human being and talk to them, and when you say murder is wrong, make sure the next thing out of your mouth isn't but we can do this America. We can do this human race. We're better than what's going on. Let go of the narrative. Let's join our hearts, our souls and every ounce of energy that we have to making this a more perfect union, just like we've been trying to do for several hundred years perfect union, just like we've been trying to do for several hundred years.
Speaker 2:Rich, those are great comments, and I think we both welcome anybody who listens or reads or watches this particular episode. Comment comment online. We want to hear from you as well.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and the challenge is not tell me why that other guy's wrong. Tell me how we can come together. If you're a really far left, you know and it's not even right and left, so much anymore let's just say anti-MAGA person. You loathe Donald Trump and he gives us a lot of reasons to not like him. So say you're one of those persons. Go find a person that idolizes him and say can we have a talk? And if you're a person that is a hardcore MAGA or conservative, please go find somebody and have a conversation.
Speaker 3:And when you're talking, both of you aren't allowed to use the narrative that's been fed to us. You can't use the soundbites, you can't use the shit that's put out on memes. You're going to put out what your experiences are. And if you think this is difficult, let me tell you something. It's in your own apartment building. It's on your block. It's the person next door. Quit avoiding each other. It's the person on your social media feed. Let's get rid of the haters, let's get rid of the agendas, let's do better. And, brian, right now I'm like I just need to say this Brian, this is your host, rich Helpe, promising a mailbag episode soon. Thank you so much for your correspondence and this is your host, rich. Helpe signing off on the Common Bridge.
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