Charles J. Kirk / b. 1993 / Arlington Heights, Illinois, USA / Political Commentator and Activist / Founder and CEO of Turning Point, USA, Author, Podcaster
Note: The sources of the following quotes are unknown, but presumably derive from Kirk’s many writings, commentaries, interviews, and podcasts.
America
The United States is the greatest country in the history of the world, and we should be proud of our heritage and values.
The American Dream is not about what the government can give you, but about what you can achieve through hard work and freedom.
The American spirit is about resilience, self-reliance, and the pursuit of happiness.
American exceptionalism is not a myth, it’s a reality.
Conservatism is about preserving the values and principles that have made America exceptional.
America is a land of opportunity, where success is determined by your choices and efforts.
The American Dream is not about guaranteed outcomes, but about the chance to succeed through hard work and determination.
America is a beacon of freedom and opportunity, and we should never take that for granted.
This silent majority are the Americans who love God, their family, and our amazing country. They don’t want their morals, their job, or their lifestyle threatened by the government or any candidates.
Capitalism
Capitalism creates more wealth, more prosperity, more freedom, and more opportunity than any other economic system ever created by man.
Capitalism has lifted more people out of poverty than any other system in history.
Capitalism rewards hard work and innovation, while socialism rewards complacency.
Conservatism
Conservatism is the antidote to tyranny precisely because its principles are the founding principles.
Conservatives believe in empowering individuals, not government.
Conservatism is the only ideology that embraces the individual and their God-given rights.
Conservatives believe in limited government because we believe in unlimited potential for individuals.
Conservatives believe in individual responsibility, not government handouts.
Conservatism is the ideology of freedom, liberty, and personal responsibility.
Conservatism is rooted in the belief that the individual is the best steward of their own life.
Conservatives believe in empowering individuals, not creating dependence on the government.
Conservatives believe in the power of the individual to make their own choices and shape their own destiny.
Constitution
The Constitution is not a living, breathing document. It’s a contract with the American people.
The Constitution is a shield that protects the rights of individuals from government overreach.
The Constitution is not a menu; you can’t pick and choose which rights to protect.
Courage
If you believe in something, you need to have the courage to fight for those ideas—not run away from them or try and silence them.
COVID-19
The Left has viewed the coronavirus pandemic as a political “opportunity” from the start.
Cultural Marxism
Cultural Marxism that has permeated all of Europe and has been the driving force that has brought France—the nation of Liberty, Fraternity and Equality—to the brink.
Americans needs to understand that the election of Donald Trump has forestalled our slide into the abyss of cultural Marxism and the surrendering of our national heritage and identity to that of the global community.
Economics
A healthy economy is a foundation for a healthy future.
Regulation often helps Big Industry remain entrenched in power. The burdensome costs of complying with any new regulation would be a rounding error for the likes of Facebook and Google, but it might completely destroy a promising start-up poised to challenge their dominance.
Education
We should be teaching our kids how to think, not what to think.
Many textbooks fail to present students with both sides of an issue. Students are being pushed toward an education that demonizes free enterprise while advocating top-down government, deficit spending and class warfare.
Yes, college tuition is a problem for many young Americans, but it is a problem exacerbated by government subsidies and an overwhelming demand to get a college degree, despite high dropout rates.
Election Integrity
The real reason Democrats are pushing for universal mail-in balloting has nothing to do with the global pandemic which originated in China; they simply believe it will help them win elections.
I’m concerned about the integrity of American elections.
Letting non-citizens vote jeopardizes our principles as a nation. They vote only for entitlement, not for their own responsibility as citizens.
Requirements for an ID are not voter suppression—they are just commonsense steps to ensure people don’t vote if they are ineligible, don’t vote using false identities, and don’t vote more than once.
Democrats have long been the party of voter fraud.
Letting non-citizens vote jeopardizes our principles as a nation. They vote only for entitlement, not for their own responsibility as citizens.
Equality
In America, we don’t believe in equal outcomes, we believe in equal opportunities.
Socialism offers equality of misery, not prosperity.
Freedom
Freedom and liberty are worth defending and preserving at all costs.
Big government is the greatest threat to individual liberty and prosperity.
Freedom of speech is the bedrock of a free society. We must defend it at all costs.
The greatest threat to freedom is the belief that someone else knows what’s best for you.
Freedom is the foundation of America, and it’s worth defending with everything we have.
The strength of America lies in the diversity of thought and the freedom to express it.
The Left’s vision of a utopian society often leads to authoritarianism and loss of individual freedoms.
Liberals like to say there aren’t any limitations on speech, and it’s true that they can say or do just about anything. But conservatives apparently can’t even stand still while wearing a MAGA hat without crossing a line.
Government
The government is not your savior, it is your servant.
The government should be limited in its power, but the individual should be limitless in their potential.
The government should serve the people, not the other way around.
We live in a welfare state society—one that is already bloated and overburdened. We cannot continue to absorb and support an endless stream of people who will inevitably need legal residents to subsidize their lives.
Identity Politics
The Left’s obsession with identity politics is dividing our nation instead of uniting it.
The Left’s focus on group identity undermines the importance of individual character and merit.
The Left’s obsession with identity politics is tearing our country apart.
Immigration
Throwing open our borders to everyone who wants to enter is impractical and could cause grave harm to our nation and the American people.
Once we lose our border protection, the road to citizenship, voting and welfare benefits for a flood of new immigrants will be all but paved.
For years, elites in both political parties have ignored the illegal immigration crisis growing on America’s southern border.
Many migrants awaiting asylum hearings in the U.S. never show up for their court dates. And the longer they stay in the U.S., the more sympathy they draw in the media and from many compassionate Americans.
Democrats encouraged a porous southern border because they saw migrants and their American-born children as a source of future political support.
Kirk on Kirk
I founded Turning Point U.S.A. to take the fight for ideological diversity directly to a progressive stronghold: the nation’s leading colleges and universities.
I started a college campus-based nonprofit in June 2012 called Turning Point U.S.A. to target millennials in college. Our mission was to create a powerful conservative grassroots activist network on campuses and identify, educate, train and organize students to promote the principles of freedom, free markets and limited government.
Left vs. Right
The Left wants to silence dissent and control the narrative, while conservatives value free speech and open debate.
The Left’s ideology is based on envy and resentment, while conservatism is built on personal responsibility and gratitude.
Once we’re ignored or dismissed long enough, conservatives seem to just shrug our collective shoulders and accept defeat. It’s this type of passivity that has allowed progressives to dominate film and television, universities, and large swaths of the mainstream news media.
Historically, Democrats have shown they are willing to do just about anything to win elections. Republicans must quit taking the high road and fight back with everything we have.
Millennials
I’m urging all my millennial peers and the young people coming up behind us to look for signs and symptoms of them being in a Democrat-induced delusion. Don’t confuse the dream state of the socialists with any sort of reality. If you spot any signs of this politically terminal affliction within yourself, please seek help.
Since I started Turning Point U.S.A., almost all millennials are off the college campuses, where the organization and I continue to focus much of our efforts.
Young people in college—many living away from their parents for the first time in their lives—are particularly vulnerable to the leftist propaganda campaign designed to turn them away from supporting president Trump and turning them away from believing in American exceptionalism.
Original Sin
I believe we’re broken by sin upon birth.
Political Correctness
Political correctness is the deadliest of political weaponry.
We have been indoctrinated to see the world through a politically correct lens.
Prisons
Prisons are called “correctional facilities” because the goal is to correct the behavior that sent people there.
Imprisoning convicted criminals for longer and longer periods sounds like an appealing and commonsense proposal to many people. After all, when lawbreakers are locked up they can’t commit more crimes and law-abiding citizens are safer. Right? Actually, wrong.
The simple truth is that America is locking up too many people, for too long, and spending too much money on them.
In addition to making sense and serving the needs of justice, rehabilitating prisoners and releasing them when they are ready can save taxpayers money.
Socialism
Big government is the oxygen of socialism.
Socialism is a broken system, and it’s a system that I think is actually evil.
The Left’s ideas are so bad that they have to be mandatory.
The Left loves to play the victim while they victimize everyone else.
Socialism is the belief that you can give away everything for free, and somehow still have everything.
The Left wants to control every aspect of your life, from what you say to what you eat.
Socialism stifles innovation and individual initiative.
How can it possibly be that so many Americans are rallying to support Ocasio-Cortez, when all they need to do is look at Venezuela to see where she is leading them?
The case for socialism is always made based on an ideal and a promise. The ideal is that humans can lovingly coexist in a sharing and peaceful way. The promise is that this time, unlike failed attempts elsewhere, socialism will be implemented properly, and no citizen will suffer as a result.
The Truth
When you deliberately distort and selectively present the truth, you lie.