Charlie Kirk Started Turning Point USA at 18 After Being Ridiculed for Believing in Capitalism

[00:05] there's a little more background on

[00:06] myself i'm from chicago illinois i'm 20

[00:08] years old and i don't have a college

[00:10] degree i kind of took an unconventional

[00:13] way to get into the political process

[00:16] right after i graduated high school june

[00:18] 5th of 2012 i felt compelled to start a

[00:20] student organization

[00:22] towards the end of my high school career

[00:24] i got increasingly

[00:26] antagonism from my teachers and from my

[00:29] fellow students because i believe in

[00:30] business i live in profit capitalism and

[00:33] really basic conservative values i was

[00:35] ridiculed because i believed that people

[00:37] should be able to make as much money as

[00:39] they want they should be able to really

[00:40] freely trade your ideas your expressions

[00:42] and business ideas and so towards the

[00:45] end of my high school career i felt so

[00:46] ridiculed and ostracized because of my

[00:48] beliefs because what i believed and i

[00:50] felt there had to be an organization

[00:51] that stood behind students in high

[00:53] schools and colleges to give them

[00:55] support camaraderie and a network behind

[00:57] them and so i started this organization

[00:59] on june 5th of 2012 it's been nothing

[01:00] but a uh a roller coaster ride to say

[01:02] the least so i'm going to tell you a

[01:04] story i was at columbia university in

[01:05] manhattan or hebrews columbia uh

[01:07] familiar with columbia anybody columbia

[01:10] university all right well it's really

[01:11] really really local

[01:12] extremely liberal so i went out there to

[01:14] manhattan about 10 months ago and i sat

[01:17] uh with a friend of mine and he said all

[01:19] right i'm going to a economics class do

[01:21] you want to come with i said sure i'd

[01:23] love to come with he said all right you

[01:24] can come with but just don't say

[01:26] anything just sit in the back of the

[01:27] just i know you're really into this

[01:29] whole free market thing he's a liberal

[01:31] and he said just just don't say anything

[01:33] i said all right so i sat in the back of

[01:35] the class like 300 kids it's one of

[01:37] those gen ed freshman classes i want to

[01:39] get it done really quick type thing and

[01:40] the professor comes in you know he has

[01:42] paired down to here your professors have

[01:44] paired down to europe right now

[01:46] become you know the typical liberal

[01:48] manhattan professor he walks in and it's

[01:50] he's do he's going through supply and

[01:51] demand curves the usual nothing really

[01:54] controversial and i'm sitting in the

[01:56] back on my phone just plain around like

[01:57] this is going to be a boring class but

[01:58] halfway through and he says those evil

[02:01] capitalists

[02:02] always making all that money

[02:04] and i so i i look to my friend he says

[02:07] don't do anything

[02:08] so i weigh my two choices i said i could

[02:11] either probably sever my friendship and

[02:13] relationship with ethan or stand up for

[02:15] what i believe in i'll stand with what i

[02:16] believe in so i stand up in the back of

[02:17] the lecture hall and i call this

[02:19] professor in front of 300 other students

[02:21] now granted

[02:23] i don't go to school there and uh those

[02:25] that know columbia university is an ivy

[02:27] league school so it's in the same

[02:28] category as princeton harvard yale and

[02:31] here's a

[02:32] 19 year old punk kid without a college

[02:34] degree that's obviously of the other

[02:36] political bend the professor's standing

[02:38] up challenging his economic premises

[02:40] what could possibly go wrong right so

[02:42] i stand up in the back of the lecture

[02:44] hall and in front of 300 kids i

[02:47] debated the professor for about 40

[02:49] minutes on policy economics free markets

[02:51] capitalism you name it and i like to

[02:53] think i've stood my ground right but at

[02:55] the end of the class something really

[02:56] really interesting happened i had

[02:58] students come up they said charlie you

[03:00] know i i'm a democrat but i never heard

[03:03] what you said before and it's really

[03:05] interesting capitalism could be a good

[03:06] thing i never knew individuals pursuing

[03:08] their own self-interest could help other

[03:10] people as well thank you for doing what

[03:12] you did we've been starting groups all

[03:14] across the country our organization was

[03:16] empowering students on economics and

[03:17] free markets and capitalism we ask the

[03:20] question what is capitalism what are

[03:21] these things but being able to be in a

[03:23] liberal bastion in columbia university

[03:26] and to be around students that are

[03:28] really really bright and to be able for

[03:30] me to stand up and enlighten and have

[03:32] future members that we actually in our

[03:33] organization now that were in that

[03:35] electoral is extremely valuable what is

[03:37] capitalism i like to look at capitalism

[03:39] it's not an economic system it's not a

[03:40] social system but it's a system uh in

[03:43] which we live and

[03:44] you know if you look at the history of

[03:45] how capitalism came to be or what free

[03:47] markets came to be it's more than just

[03:49] oh i can buy a a snicker bar when i want

[03:52] or an iphone what i want but it's really

[03:53] the idea that i can say whatever i want

[03:55] do whatever i do what i want to do

[03:57] express how i want to express it and

[03:59] nobody can get within that kind of

[04:01] contract and that's really what adam

[04:02] smith talked about in 1776 when he wrote

[04:05] the wealth of nations well what's the

[04:07] difference here why do things in the

[04:09] private sector are individuals creating

[04:10] things why do they function better why

[04:12] are they more efficient i think the

[04:14] answer is quite simply when you have a

[04:16] self-interest involved you have an

[04:18] incentive to do things right whereas the

[04:20] government there is no incentive to

[04:21] really i mean if they screw up what is

[04:23] anybody has anybody gotten fired since

[04:24] the website correct has anybody gotten

[04:26] reprimand recommended anybody gotten you

[04:28] know there's there's no system in checks

[04:30] and balances if you don't get the pencil

[04:32] designed right and you end up designing

[04:33] pencils the race is on the front and

[04:34] letting the back and it's all screwed up

[04:36] and it's red and you're gonna get fired

[04:38] right and you're gonna lose business and

[04:40] you're not gonna have any more customers

[04:41] and that's the beauty of the free market

[04:43] and economic system unfortunately

[04:46] as all of us being part of the younger

[04:47] generation we are going to be subject to

[04:50] paying for our parents mistakes know

[04:52] what i mean by that our government

[04:54] is currently borrowing i think this year

[04:56] over 600 billion dollars a year 600

[04:59] billion dollars a year now that's down

[05:02] actually they're doing better they

[05:03] borrowed a trillion dollars the year

[05:05] before that they borrowed 1.2 trillion

[05:07] the year before that now why does that

[05:10] matter you know for young people like

[05:11] all right cool that's a big number right

[05:12] how's that ever going to affect me well

[05:14] who here cares a lot about education i

[05:16] don't expect you to raise here who here

[05:17] cares a lot about you know caring for

[05:19] the poor who cares a lot about social

[05:21] services caring for our veterans right

[05:22] veterans day was on monday who here

[05:24] cares that our veterans get the best

[05:26] medical care they can possibly get if

[05:27] you care about all those things the

[05:29] national debt should be your biggest

[05:30] issue because when the national debt

[05:32] increases

[05:33] the amount we can spend on our veterans

[05:36] and the older people in society and our

[05:37] poor people to lift the hand up our

[05:39] ability to do that decreases

[05:40] exponentially because within five years

[05:43] five years a third of every dollar the

[05:45] federal government comes in we'll just

[05:47] be paying off old debt and that's money

[05:49] we cannot reinvest in the future of our

[05:50] economy reinvest into our future invest

[05:53] in education reinvest into uh older

[05:56] people our society veterans etc and

[05:58] guess who's gonna have to pay off this

[05:59] massive debt 17 trillion dollars in

[06:01] county 18 trillion actually

[06:03] yes every single person in this room can

[06:06] make a difference i'm just a 20 year old

[06:08] kid that didn't go to college that is

[06:10] doing some rather unique stuff there's

[06:12] really nothing special about what i've

[06:14] done every single kid in this room can

[06:16] become a national icon for what you

[06:18] believe in whether that be capitalism

[06:19] conservative values pro-life of being an

[06:22] unapologetic christian mission work and

[06:24] why is that why was i able to do what

[06:26] i'm able to do caleb's able to get on

[06:27] glenn back you know why is that able to

[06:29] happen because with the internet and

[06:31] social media your

[06:32] ability to let your voice be heard is

[06:34] amplified 10 million to one the old

[06:36] archaic way of doing things is you have

[06:38] to go through a cert certain system and

[06:40] like if you're 40 or 50 you can reach

[06:42] the pinnacle of your career and then you

[06:44] can start to let your voice be heard

[06:46] that's totally out the window now

[06:48] everybody here can be writing columns

[06:50] nationally for any website that you

[06:52] desire you can be making videos as caleb

[06:54] does and use caleb and me and myself as

[06:57] examples of how you can amplify your

[07:00] voice 10 million times it might not be

[07:02] politics that really gets you going it

[07:04] might not be you know pro-life or

[07:06] christian issues it might be something

[07:08] as simple as i really think awareness

[07:10] should be put towards what happened in

[07:11] the philippines right now and that's

[07:12] civic engagements things that are

[07:14] happening currently is extremely

[07:16] important to our future and that's that

[07:18] using social media using your own voice

[07:20] is really important if anybody likes

[07:21] what you heard today from me you want to

[07:23] get involved my organization i have a

[07:24] pocket full of cards and i would love to

[07:26] give them out and you can shoot me a

[07:28] text or an email you can write for our

[07:30] website which is a really really great

[07:32] way to get involved if you want to let

[07:33] your voice be heard we have a heavily

[07:35] trafficked audience of people all across

[07:37] the spectrum we have about 250 young

[07:39] people writing for our site right now

[07:41] we'd love to increase that number we

[07:42] accept almost everybody so please if

[07:44] you're interested in that come take one

[07:46] of my cards or just sign up we have a

[07:47] sheet up here

[07:48] if you want to start a chapter you're

[07:50] really interested in grassroots activism

[07:52] we have lots of ways you can get

[07:53] involved that way if you want to do

[07:54] videos we want to get you involved and

[07:57] you fighting for your future because it

[07:58] may not seem like the debt really

[08:01] matters may not seem what's happening in

[08:02] washington is going to directly affect

[08:04] you but unfortunately the public policy

[08:06] that has been passed over the last 20 30

[08:08] years is going to be affecting it's

[08:10] going to be affecting your lifestyle

[08:11] your career and the way your life will

[08:13] be lived and if you're not going to take

[08:15] a stand for your own future then

[08:16] somebody else is going to make the

[08:17] decision for you thank you