Charlie Kirk: Values Over Feelings, Duty Over Self, and Why Gen Z Is Becoming Historically Conservative
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Charlie Kirk: Values Over Feelings, Duty Over Self, and Why Gen Z Is Becoming Historically Conservative
Charlie Kirk challenges conservative students to reject victim mentality and embrace opposition as strength. Speaking to Turning Point USA chapter leaders, Kirk contrasts the left's focus on feelings with a values-based approach centered on duty, service, and faith. He argues that depression and anxiety among young people stem from self-obsession, not oppression. Kirk reveals that Gen Z is on pace to be the most conservative younger generation since 1988, with young men showing historic shifts rightward. He urges students to write down their core values, ignore name-calling, and recognize that their courage on campus is breaking the left's stranglehold on America's future.
The left wants your feelings to determine your actions. They champion the narrative of feeling oppressed or marginalized. But feelings are irrelevant when it comes to making decisions that matter. The question isn't how you feel—it's what your values say. You might be tired, low on sleep after a rough night in a hotel with strange smells and weird noises from the next room. But if your value system says you care about the country more than getting nine hours of perfect sleep, you show up and present yourself at your best for the nation. That's duty and obligation over self.
This philosophy stands in direct opposition to every mainstream cultural norm in America right now. The prevailing attitude is "my truth" and "I can do whatever I want with my life." And of course, you can do whatever you want—but ought you do whatever you can? That is the most important question, because there really is a way that all of us should live. The way we should live is to glorify God, to work diligently, to serve church and charity, and defend liberty and freedom. These are the things that must be prioritized in life.
The Core Values Exercise
Here's homework for every single person: In the days that follow, on your flights home, write what you consider to be the core beliefs of your life. Four to five things. Think deeply about it. Don't do it right now, but write down a reminder. What are your core values?
For example, these are the core things to accomplish in life: Honor God in all that you do. Be a great husband and great father. Serve this country. Continue to lead this movement and speak truth and never lie. Whatever your values are, the sooner you are able to write down those values, it doesn't matter what you study, if you go to college or you don't go to college. Everything you do should fit neatly within those core mission principles and values for the rest of your life.
That simple exercise alone is one of the most important things you can do in your life to make sure that you have a proper course forward. Many people you know are depressed and anxious—young people without direction. If you ask them what their core values are, they'll say it's to serve self. You want to know why we have the most depressed, alcohol-addicted, drug-addicted generation in history? Because we have a generation that only thinks about themselves all day long. They don't think about what they should do to serve others, to serve God, or to serve their country.
Breaking the Spell of Depression and Anxiety
Want to break the spell of depression and anxiety in this country? Ninety-nine percent of it can be broken when you tell a young person to stop thinking about yourself all the time. Instead, think about what you should do to help other people and to defend this country above yourself. Stop being a narcissist all the time and start acting with duty and obligation.
Embracing Opposition Instead of Playing the Victim
It is very tempting to think like a victim as a conservative on campus. You're outnumbered. You get graded terribly. Guess what? Opposition is part of life. You have a choice. You can complain about all the opposition you receive, or you can embrace it and say, "This is going to make me stronger. This is going to make me tougher."
Every single person will become a stronger and tougher adult, more likely to succeed later in life, because of the opposition experienced now. Think about the other people on campus who scream like maniacs because you use the wrong pronoun. Are they going to be people more likely to succeed? Here's the issue: You could try to remove all the different sorts of triggers—pronouns, Turning Point USA signs, events, tabling on campus. You could keep trying to remove the triggering elements. But eventually in life, you're going to have to face what you hate the most.
As a Turning Point USA leader, you've had to do that at a very young age. You know what opposition looks like. At the beginning it feels rather intimidating. They call you nasty names. You know how to deal with it. But after a month, you don't care. After six months, how many times can you be called a racist? How many here have been called a racist because of being involved with Turning Point USA? Look around. It means nothing. It means nothing.
The Powerlessness of Name-Calling
Tell them: "Okay, what else you got for me?" Bigot, xenophobe, sexist, misogynistic, colonialistic, transphobe—just respond, "Look, I'm a patriot. I love this country. Your name-calling means nothing to me. It means nothing to me."
In fact, they have diluted and watered down those terms so much because they cannot engage in debate. They cannot talk about values. They cannot talk about reason, logic, history, principles, eternal wisdom. So they must resort to weaponized name-calling. And as soon as you tell them, "Your name-calling does nothing to me. It means nothing to me. I'm going to keep growing. I'm going to keep organizing. What are you going to do about it?" Sometimes they'll flip your table or throw something at you because that's all they have left.
The Movement Is Ascendant
Every day your existence as a Turning Point chapter leader weakens their stranglehold on this country. This movement is ascendant. It is growing. It is multiplying by numbers. Recent polls show that young men are the most conservative they have been in 50 years. Fifty years. And young ladies? Progress is being made. The recent Young Women's Leadership Summit drew 1,500 young women. It was amazing. They are four points less liberal than they were a couple years ago.
Gen Z is on pace to be the most conservative younger generation since 1988. That is Gen Z, everybody. And you are playing a huge role. You play a bigger role than you even realize, because for every single one of you, there are a couple thousand students that wish they could speak out like you do.
Courage Is a Choice
Courage is a choice. It takes no skill to be courageous. You might not know your talent or your skill. The cool thing about being courageous is you just have to say, "I choose to be courageous." That's it. And every one of you has already made a step in that direction by being a Turning Point chapter leader.
We are on the edge of making Gen Z historically conservative. They never thought this would happen. They thought that the environmental death cult and the trans nonsense and the BLM crap was going to turn Gen Z into the most liberal generation ever. Instead, Turning Point USA and your leadership organizing every single day is pushing back against those lies, painting a different picture, saying, "You know what? I want you to be able to own a home, get married, have children, and live in a decent country and not have to live under this nonsense that they've been doing in this country."
