The Charlie Kirk Show - Charlie's Final Message to the World

00:00:03.000 My name is Charlie Kirk.

00:00:05.000 I run the largest pro-American student organization in the country fighting for the future of our republic.

00:00:11.000 My call is to fight evil and to proclaim truth.

00:00:14.000 If the most important thing for you is just feeling good, you're going to end up miserable.

00:00:19.000 But if the most important thing is doing good, you'll end up purposeful.

00:00:24.000 College is a scam, everybody.

00:00:26.000 You got to stop sending your kids to college.

00:00:27.000 You should get married as young as possible and have as many kids as possible.

00:00:31.000 Go start a Turning Point USA college chapter.

00:00:33.000 Go start a Turning Point USA high school chapter.

00:00:35.000 Go find out how your church can get involved.

00:00:37.000 Sign up and become an activist.

00:00:39.000 I gave my life to the Lord in fifth grade.

00:00:41.000 Most important decision I ever made in my life.

00:00:43.000 And I encourage you to do the same.

00:00:45.000 Here I am.

00:00:46.000 Lord, use me.

00:00:48.000 Buckle up, everybody.

00:00:49.000 Here we go.

00:00:56.000 The Charlie Kirk Show is proudly sponsored by Preserve Gold, the leading gold and silver experts and the only precious metals company I recommend to my family, friends, and viewers.

00:01:09.000 All right.

00:01:10.000 Welcome to our two of the Charlie Kirk show.

00:01:13.000 Blake, this is, I think, the moment everybody's been waiting for today.

00:01:17.000 And that's because, of course, we have Erica Kirk on the show. 1.00

00:01:22.000 She is joining us remote because she has a busy, busy day.

00:01:26.000 But Erica, if you can hear us, welcome to the Charlie Kirk Show.

00:01:30.000 Hey, everyone.

00:01:30.000 Can you hear me?

00:01:31.000 We're in New York City.

00:01:34.000 Hi.

00:01:35.000 Well, today is the book launch of Charlie's book, his final book, Stop in the Name of God.

00:01:43.000 And here is this beautiful artwork.

00:01:45.000 Yes.

00:01:46.000 And Erica, you and Charlie and your beautiful daughter are on the back.

00:01:51.000 And it's just a beautiful book.

00:01:53.000 I've been voraciously reading it.

00:01:56.000 It is a wonderful personal tribute and such an important message.

00:02:01.000 Tell us about it.

00:02:02.000 It is a book that my husband, as you know, Andrew, he was writing this for what, a year and a half, and he finished it in July.

00:02:10.000 And I'll never forget him coming downstairs and he was like, I finished it.

00:02:14.000 I finally finished it.

00:02:15.000 I was like, baby, I'm so proud of you.

00:02:17.000 And he was like, you know, if this only changes just one person's life, at least it changes just that one.

00:02:22.000 He's like, but honestly, he, and I have to tell you, this, watching him live this out in real time changed his life, totally elevated him.

00:02:33.000 I mean, he was already elevated, but it was the next level.

00:02:35.000 It was amazing.

00:02:35.000 I mean, yes, my husband was amazing to begin with, but this really took it to the next level.

00:02:40.000 Yeah.

00:02:41.000 Well, and I can just tell you, and Blake probably saw this as well.

00:02:44.000 So this is a little, this is a little funny story.

00:02:46.000 So Charlie loved to work.

00:02:48.000 He loved, loved working, which is good because he got to do it all the time.

00:02:52.000 Yeah.

00:02:53.000 I mean, and he really loved working.

00:02:54.000 And I remember when I first started working with Charlie, it was kind of just like 24-7, you know?

00:03:00.000 And he was always good-natured about it, always upbeat.

00:03:02.000 He loved, he loved it.

00:03:04.000 And I remember my wife was like, hey, you know, are we ever going to have any, you know, time damage?

00:03:11.000 That's so downtown.

00:03:12.000 Yeah, like, how about a weekend, husband?

00:03:14.000 And I was like, yeah, we, you know, we will.

00:03:16.000 I'll talk, I'll talk to Charlie.

00:03:17.000 Well, then along comes Erica. 1.00

00:03:19.000 Now you guys have a family and Charlie starts getting really into this idea of how to rest, how to rest well.

00:03:25.000 And I could just tell you that I saw not only did I see Charlie, this take Charlie to the next level, but it also allowed everybody else to kind of go to the next level too, because our lives and everybody that he was leading, their lives became more in balance too.

00:03:40.000 It was an amazing transformation for the entire team.

00:03:44.000 It was.

00:03:44.000 And not even so much from just a productivity level, but Andrew and Blake, you guys both know this.

00:03:50.000 The whole team knows this.

00:03:51.000 Being in politics and just in a total echo chamber and then also just dealing with real world issues and then also just dealing with even personal life issues, all of those three combine become this absolute trifecta of this weight on you where you're just like, can I just have a second to breathe?

00:04:09.000 I just need a second to breathe.

00:04:11.000 And that's what this is.

00:04:12.000 It has nothing to do with running away.

00:04:16.000 It has nothing to do with take it's literally taking a pause so you can lay out and map out, okay, pause the noise for a second.

00:04:23.000 Just stop the noise for a second.

00:04:25.000 What truly matters?

00:04:27.000 Have people pour into you.

00:04:28.000 Have some alone time with the Lord.

00:04:30.000 Spend some time with your family.

00:04:32.000 Have a beautiful meal with your family on whatever day you choose to do this.

00:04:36.000 It does not have to be a Friday.

00:04:38.000 It does not have to be a Sunday.

00:04:40.000 It doesn't even have to be a Wednesday.

00:04:42.000 You can choose.

00:04:43.000 That's what's so beautiful.

00:04:44.000 Charlie was not legalistic about the Sabbath.

00:04:47.000 He was saying, please just take the time to be, just set aside to be alone with the Lord, to be able to pray, to be able to just even journal.

00:04:55.000 Charlie loved to journal.

00:04:56.000 He left hundreds of his journals.

00:04:59.000 And that to him was just so cathartic to be able to just write out what he was grateful for.

00:05:05.000 You know, even just, I don't know, when he would go for a walk and he just would have ideas that came to him for his show.

00:05:12.000 He just really took the time to think, you know what?

00:05:15.000 This worked for me because it helped me from burning out.

00:05:19.000 And that was a superpower for him.

00:05:21.000 People would say, how do you do this?

00:05:22.000 How do you operate?

00:05:23.000 And he would always say, I get, he would get eight hours, eight to 10 hours of sleep a night if he could when he was at home.

00:05:32.000 But not only that, he made sure that if he kept this pace and rhythm of giving himself a break, he wouldn't burn out like many other people because they thought it was cool to pull all-nighters.

00:05:44.000 Actually, it's not, and it's not good for your brain health either.

00:05:46.000 But he felt like he found the ultimate secret and the ultimate hack as an entrepreneur and wanted everyone else to be in on him on that.

00:05:54.000 Can I just read this section that hit me so hard last night as I was reading this book?

00:06:00.000 It's such a good book, Andrew.

00:06:02.000 So good.

00:06:03.000 It's like so good.

00:06:05.000 I think it's, there's just something about, I just, God has a plan.

00:06:08.000 And you just sometimes have to.

00:06:11.000 I know, but the depth and level of the theology in here is unbelievable.

00:06:16.000 Yeah.

00:06:16.000 It's unbelievable.

00:06:18.000 I mean, I'm telling you, resting for Charlie took him to the next level.

00:06:22.000 And here's what he said.

00:06:23.000 To stop utterly, decisively, rhythmically is perhaps the most radical command God ever gave humanity.

00:06:32.000 In a world governed by unrelenting drive, by the mantras of faster, harder, and more, the divine voice says something astonishing.

00:06:40.000 Stop.

00:06:41.000 In his name, cease.

00:06:43.000 Cease striving.

00:06:44.000 Cease earning.

00:06:45.000 Cease proving.

00:06:46.000 Cease buying and selling and producing.

00:06:48.000 This is not a suggestion.

00:06:50.000 It is a divine imperative.

00:06:53.000 What did you notice when Charlie really put this into practice?

00:06:57.000 Because I have my own stories, but what did you see in Charlie?

00:07:01.000 He, I mean, he was already an amazing husband to me.

00:07:05.000 But our love for one another just amplified him and his role as a father amplified.

00:07:14.000 He was so intentional with his time to begin with.

00:07:17.000 I mean, he had it down to a millisecond.

00:07:19.000 You guys know that.

00:07:20.000 But Charlie was so good about making sure that his priorities remained his priorities.

00:07:27.000 And even just hearing you read those words, Andrew, I have to tell you, like, I hear my husband's voice and spirit so much in this book.

00:07:36.000 Like I said this morning when we were having an interview earlier about this, I just, he feels so alive with me still when I read these pages because I feel like he's addressing it to me personally.

00:07:50.000 And again, he made sure that when he took the time to rest and go for a hike or spend some time with the kids or just be able to show the world, the rest of the world, yes, I'm Charlie Kirk.

00:08:05.000 Yes, I have these organizations.

00:08:06.000 Yes, I have my show.

00:08:08.000 But what's the most important to me is God and my family.

00:08:13.000 You guys can wait 24 hours.

00:08:15.000 If it's an emergency, you know how to get a hold of me, but you can wait.

00:08:19.000 And that's so special.

00:08:21.000 Yeah, he was so intentional.

00:08:23.000 And by the way, what you could see from what I just read, Blake, how serious Charlie took this.

00:08:29.000 Yes.

00:08:30.000 It was very, very serious to Charlie.

00:08:33.000 And we would all get the notes like, hey, see you later.

00:08:36.000 I'm on.

00:08:37.000 Not even that.

00:08:38.000 It was always, I always knew it was coming around the same time.

00:08:40.000 Shabbat shalom.

00:08:42.000 Exclamation point.

00:08:43.000 I said, Shabbat Shalom. 0.66

00:08:44.000 I did a telegram.

00:08:45.000 Always the same one.

00:08:46.000 And I'm like, I would sometimes be working on stuff.

00:08:49.000 I wanted Charlie to see something right before, and it would come through.

00:08:51.000 I'm like, it's done.

00:08:52.000 Not getting a response to that one until Sunday.

00:08:54.000 We still got everything done.

00:08:56.000 That's the key.

00:08:57.000 As a matter of fact, I think you get more done in six days with rest than you do with seven days with no rest.

00:09:03.000 And that's that's that's the breakthrough.

00:09:05.000 You do.

00:09:06.000 And another thing, too, is that Charlie made sure that this wasn't a legalistic thing.

00:09:10.000 It didn't matter if you were Jewish, Christian, non-observing citizen. 0.99

00:09:13.000 That had nothing to do with it.

00:09:14.000 It actually really doesn't.

00:09:15.000 What it boils down to is that you are taking the time to really use your time wisely.

00:09:23.000 Charlie was only alive for 31 years. 0.99

00:09:26.000 That sucks. 0.97

00:09:28.000 It just does. 1.00

00:09:29.000 Your life is so short.

00:09:31.000 We have no idea how long we'll be here.

00:09:33.000 We have no idea our expiration date and when we'll be in heaven with the Lord.

00:09:37.000 But what we do know is that we have a choice.

00:09:40.000 Every day we can decide to take the time that we're given to do something amazing, to go out and make a difference, to go and empower people, to serve people, or you can use that to be destructive.

00:09:51.000 You have an option.

00:09:52.000 Charlie knew that if he took the time to have a moment to breathe, to strategize, to create solutions instead of problems, he knew how important that time was.

00:10:05.000 And if he didn't have the time to give his brain the space to do that, he wouldn't be able to be an effective leader like he was and still is.

00:10:12.000 He's just in a different location.

00:10:16.000 This is Lane Schoenberger, Chief Investment Officer and Founding Partner of YReFi.

00:10:21.000 It has been an honor and a privilege to partner with Turning Point and for Charlie to endorse us.

00:10:26.000 His endorsement means the world to us, and we look forward to continuing our partnership with Turning Point for years to come.

00:10:32.000 Now, here Charlie, in his own words, tell you about WhyReFi.

00:10:36.000 I'm going to tell you guys about whyRefi.com.

00:10:38.000 That is why F.Y.com.

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00:10:42.000 Private student loan debt in America totals about $300 billion.

00:10:45.000 WhyReFi is refinancing distress or defaulted private student loans.

00:10:49.000 You can finally take control of your student loan situation with a plan that works for your monthly budget.

00:10:53.000 Go to whyrefi.com.

00:10:55.000 That is whyrefi.com.

00:10:56.000 Do you have a co-borrower?

00:10:57.000 WhyReFi can get them released from the loan?

00:11:00.000 You're going to skip a payment up to 12 times without penalty.

00:11:02.000 It may not be available in all 50 states.

00:11:04.000 Go to whyrefi.com.

00:11:06.000 That is why.com.

00:11:08.000 Let's face it, if you have distress or defaulted student loans, it can be overwhelming.

00:11:12.000 Because of private student loan debt, so many people feel stuck.

00:11:16.000 Go to yrefi.com.

00:11:17.000 That is why.com.

00:11:20.000 Private student loan debtrelief, yrefi.com.

00:11:25.000 We have the great Erica Kirk, who is out there doing an amazing job telling the world about Charlie's last book.

00:11:32.000 Stop in the name of God.

00:11:34.000 We are so proud of you, Erica.

00:11:36.000 You're doing an amazing job.

00:11:37.000 You have such a busy day.

00:11:38.000 You know, it was just, I always think with the Sabbath, how I just walked in in the middle of it.

00:11:44.000 You guys have all testified how it transformed Charlie for the better once he adopted it.

00:11:49.000 I just think of how I got in and I saw this person who was hugely effective, had so much agency, had this immense ability to change the world.

00:11:58.000 But then he was also checking out for one day a week and everyone's saying, like, you have no idea how different Charlie is from how he was just two years ago.

00:12:06.000 He was just, he just, he expanded his capacity.

00:12:09.000 It was just amazing.

00:12:10.000 Like the man had, it felt like unlimited capacity.

00:12:12.000 And then he takes one day off a week and he somehow it expanded his capacity and everyone around him as well.

00:12:19.000 Yes.

00:12:20.000 It really was a force multiplier.

00:12:22.000 Stop in the name of God, Charlie's last book, which breaks my heart, honestly, makes me kind of want to cry every time I say it.

00:12:30.000 And I'm trying not to, but I'm so proud of Erica, who's doing it for her husband.

00:12:35.000 She is doing an amazing job promoting this book in his stead.

00:12:39.000 Erica, what does that mean to you?

00:12:42.000 You know, just to be out there doing this for Charlie to spread this word that was so near and dear to him.

00:12:49.000 It's really, I mean, I'll be honest, Andrew, I can't finish the last chapter.

00:12:55.000 I don't know when I'll be able to.

00:12:59.000 It's kind of like when you, again, I've said this before, you get only so many firsts and lasts within one thing.

00:13:09.000 And for this book, that's united in one for me, meaning it's the first time I am reading my husband's last book.

00:13:19.000 It's not the last time I'll read the book, but it's the first time to read his final words.

00:13:25.000 And it's hard to think that it's just, it's so, it's so divine too, that of all of the books that he leaves for us, it's not a book about politics.

00:13:36.000 It's not a book.

00:13:36.000 I mean, although he does talk about some things politically within here, and he does talk about worshiping idols, and he does talk about, you know, different philosophies and theologies that have implications towards certain things.

00:13:53.000 But he, of all the books to write, he writes something about honoring God.

00:14:00.000 And he writes it in a way where he literally became the subject matter expert on it because he wasn't trying to preach and lecture to you.

00:14:10.000 You need to do this.

00:14:11.000 He was like, you know what, guys?

00:14:12.000 I did it.

00:14:13.000 And this made an impact in my life.

00:14:16.000 And these are the final words that I will leave you with.

00:14:19.000 He went on campus knowing that communication was key, but he also knew that if the students, if whoever he was communicating with also took some time to nourish their soul, to nourish their brain, to actually give themselves a better night's sleep, to take care of themselves holistically, there would be way more of a difference made in this country.

00:14:44.000 There would actually be healing in this country if people actually took those combined holistically.

00:14:50.000 And to me, it's just Charlie being like, you know what?

00:14:55.000 Stop and pause and rest.

00:14:57.000 That doesn't mean you're weak.

00:14:58.000 That doesn't mean that, you know, it means just take some time for the Lord and take some time to really just hold into perspective what's true and what's beautiful.

00:15:09.000 Man, I almost don't want to ask a follow-up question after that.

00:15:11.000 That's so beautiful.

00:15:12.000 But I thought we do have, we do have three minutes here still, Erica.

00:15:17.000 Obviously, Charlie was working on this at home a lot.

00:15:20.000 I thought I'd ask, is there anything you've read in the book so far that stands out?

00:15:25.000 Oh, I remember that conversation that led to that.

00:15:28.000 Or on the flip side, is there something that you learned to your surprise while going through reading this book?

00:15:36.000 Surprise side is, I mean, I knew my husband was brilliant, but the depth of understanding of this topic was amazing and how he weaves in the Bible and how he reads in,

00:15:48.000 just weaves in all these different interesting facts and history of the Sabbath and then even certain laws like blue laws that we had here in this country and how we have changed as American citizens without having that rest built into our country and how that's actually impacted us as a whole, as a body.

00:16:14.000 So that was kind of, because I, you know, I hear him writing about this book and everything, and he shares certain topics with me, but that was really interesting.

00:16:22.000 The one thing that was really sweet, when he, when he, at the, towards the end of the book, he will give you practical ways of applying the Sabbath for yourself, whether that means you going for a hike in nature, whether that means you doing something like sunsetting your device where after 5 p.m., the phone's off, just how it used to be years ago before there were devices everywhere.

00:16:45.000 And once you left the office, that was it.

00:16:47.000 But what was really sweet to me is that in there there was something called a Sabbath box that you can have with your kids.

00:16:54.000 And I got to see that with him and my children.

00:16:57.000 I mean, they were, that was such a special bonding time for them.

00:17:01.000 And man, I'm missing you guys.

00:17:04.000 I just miss him.

00:17:06.000 Of course.

00:17:07.000 Erica Kirk, you are doing an amazing job.

00:17:10.000 You can get this book.

00:17:11.000 It comes out today at 45books.com.

00:17:14.000 45books.com.

00:17:16.000 Check it out.

00:17:17.000 Erica, you're doing phenomenal.

00:17:18.000 I know how busy your day is because I've seen the schedule and I just love that.

00:17:23.000 It's a Charlie schedule.

00:17:24.000 We're honoring him well.

00:17:26.000 Exactly.

00:17:26.000 You are.

00:17:27.000 Today you're not resting, but you will rest this weekend.

00:17:31.000 I will on, yeah, on Friday and Saturday and Sunday.

00:17:35.000 You deserve it.

00:17:35.000 You have earned it.

00:17:36.000 And then some, I mean, everybody pick up your copy today.

00:17:40.000 This is Stop in the Name of God by Charlie Kirk.

00:17:43.000 Erica, you're the best and you're doing a great job.

00:17:46.000 God bless you guys.

00:17:48.000 Thank you.

00:17:48.000 I'll see you guys soon.

00:17:49.000 Send us your thoughts.

00:17:50.000 Freedom at CharlieKirk.com.

00:17:52.000 Blake can gather them.

00:17:53.000 I'm so proud of Erica doing that.

00:17:55.000 I can't.

00:17:55.000 That was incredible.

00:17:56.000 I can't tell you just how hard that must be.

00:18:00.000 I can't imagine how hard it would be, but doing the press tour for your husband's book in his stead is just something nobody should have to do.

00:18:11.000 And I'm very proud of her.

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00:19:30.000 Very excited about this next conversation with Dr. Matthew Spalding.

00:19:34.000 He's vice president at Hillsdale College.

00:19:35.000 He has a new book, The Making of the American Mind, The Story of Our Declaration of Independence.

00:19:42.000 I wanted to do this book today.

00:19:46.000 I've been talking about it for a little while with their team because you got this birthright citizenship thing coming up and that the discussion gets very distracted very quickly.

00:19:57.000 But Dr. Spalding has a very, I think, interesting focus point.

00:20:01.000 So, Dr. Spalding, welcome to the Charlie Kirk Show.

00:20:03.000 Great to be with you.

00:20:05.000 I'm honored to be on the show with both of you and also in light of Charlie.

00:20:10.000 Yeah, absolutely.

00:20:11.000 Well, we just had his wife, Erica Kirk, on.

00:20:14.000 She's doing the tour for Charlie's last book, Stop in the Name of God while honoring the Sabbath will transform your life.

00:20:22.000 And so it's an important day in that respect.

00:20:25.000 But it's also important about your topic.

00:20:28.000 What is an American is a question that is really echoing across, I think, elite intellectual circles, but also social media circles.

00:20:37.000 What is an American?

00:20:38.000 And you have this book that just endeavors to answer that in a very unique way.

00:20:44.000 You're saying the making of the American Mind, the Story of Our Declaration.

00:20:47.000 What is your book about?

00:20:50.000 And there's a through line I want to dive into, but I'll give you the floor.

00:20:54.000 No, there absolutely is a through line, and I think it's a very clear through line to be perfectly honest.

00:21:00.000 But we're coming up on our 250th anniversary of the Declaration itself, which is the timing of it, I suppose.

00:21:08.000 But I've been working on this for a long time and studying the modern debates, both on the left and the right about numerous topics.

00:21:17.000 Almost all of them go back to an understanding of what we are as a people.

00:21:22.000 What does it mean to be an American?

00:21:24.000 What are the principles that form us?

00:21:27.000 And there's this conception of what makes us Americans.

00:21:32.000 And the document that is really central to that whole thing, that whole conversation, is the Declaration of Independence, which we oftentimes will read or will hear spoken parts, the famous sections on the 4th of July.

00:21:46.000 Maybe we'll know a little bit about it and its history.

00:21:49.000 I wanted to write a book that tells its own story, the story of the Declaration, how we got it, how it came into being, how Jefferson ended up drafting it for the Continental Congress, how they edited it significantly to make more points about, among other things, theology, the theological implications of the Declaration, and go through it essentially as a commentary, looking at the Declaration for a general audience very closely, line by line, in a way that people can understand.

00:22:17.000 Because when you understand, you can't really love your country if you don't know your country.

00:22:22.000 And the thing we do need to know is the Declaration of Independence.

00:22:25.000 It is the greatest and the most, I think, most eloquent statement of freedom in Western civilization, especially in the American tradition.

00:22:34.000 It's a beautiful document, and we should know it.

00:22:37.000 Our listeners should know it.

00:22:39.000 Members of TPUSA, every college student in America, children, it's a beautiful thing.

00:22:45.000 I'm just looking at the Constitution.

00:22:48.000 It's under Charlie's hat here and his gift from his daughter.

00:22:54.000 But yeah, he would always flash this thing on the show.

00:22:57.000 Is it the Declaration or just?

00:22:58.000 No, I think it has.

00:22:59.000 We have versions, at least we used to with the Declaration.

00:23:02.000 A lot of times they put them together.

00:23:05.000 Yeah, but you describe it as the extent to which there are two documents.

00:23:09.000 They go together.

00:23:10.000 You can't entertain the Constitution without the Declaration.

00:23:12.000 Well, and here's something that you say about this.

00:23:15.000 You said Thomas Jefferson called the Declaration of Independence an expression of the American mind, not merely a document.

00:23:22.000 The Declaration is the common creed of our civic life, and it inspires the shared poetry of our political soul.

00:23:30.000 I think that's a really fascinating way to put it.

00:23:33.000 It is a common creed.

00:23:35.000 I guess the question then for you, Doctor, would be, you know, we just love Hillsdale.

00:23:40.000 Charlie loved Hillsdale.

00:23:41.000 So, you know, I didn't give your bio, but you are the Kirby Professor in Constitutional Government and Dean of the Van Andel Graduate School of Government at Hillsdale College.

00:23:51.000 And you have a lot of other titles, which is very academia of you.

00:23:57.000 Your titles are always so long.

00:23:59.000 But I guess the question, the real question of our time is with how much the nation has changed, with how much technology has changed, how many new cultures have come into the country in the last 40 years, especially.

00:24:14.000 Can this common creed, this shared poetry of our political stole, can it bring us together again?

00:24:23.000 Great question, central question, probably the question for us to think about.

00:24:28.000 But here's the way to answer that, I think, that Charlie, among others, I think was getting at when he was studying more and more about these questions, in particular, the American founding.

00:24:38.000 The founding occurs in a time period that's not the modern one we are used to being surrounded by and what is taught in college campuses.

00:24:47.000 It was a world in which we still had Christian moral horizons and we were still within the broad confines of what we might call a classical educational system.

00:24:57.000 And in that way of thinking, the way we think about things that change, technology, methods of warfare, shipbuilding, whatever it might be, there are things that change.

00:25:09.000 But the most important things to understand are the things that don't change.

00:25:13.000 And the things that don't change are those things that have to do with our theological pursuits, which is why the kind of Christian roots of Western civilization are so important, but also the kind of the intellectual, moral, rational roots of our thinking about unchanging principles.

00:25:31.000 And the Declaration really brings, in the American context, especially, brings both of those things together in a very deep way.

00:25:38.000 And so the argument of kind of this sense of education that underlies all this is that you know the permanent things, and then these other questions become kind of prudential matters.

00:25:50.000 We can debate about them.

00:25:51.000 We can think them through, but you look at them in light of something else.

00:25:57.000 Today, one of the problems is we look at these things in particulars as if that's the only thing at issue here, this particular policy question.

00:26:04.000 The founders looked at it differently.

00:26:06.000 I think Charlie looked at it differently.

00:26:08.000 I think we at Hillsdale look at it differently, which is these are all interesting questions.

00:26:12.000 Let's think them through.

00:26:13.000 Let's argue and debate and deliberate, which is why it's so important to have that conversation.

00:26:20.000 But we do so in light of things that don't change because you can't judge whether something immediate, new is good or bad unless you have something, a standard by which to judge it.

00:26:30.000 And that's really the heart of the Declaration.

00:26:32.000 It's also the heart of the kind of the Westerns, the whole Western tradition, both Christian and rational, going back to the Greeks and the Romans.

00:26:42.000 Yeah, it's the Western tradition, but I think one thing that's often worth remarking upon is how really fortunate America has been.

00:26:51.000 We were created in a revolution, but you can compare the French Revolution, another Western country, another historically Christian country, and their revolution was spectacularly bloody.

00:27:03.000 We've had other spectacularly violent overturnings of the existing order.

00:27:08.000 And in America, ours was relatively peaceful.

00:27:11.000 Even our Civil War, we recovered from quickly.

00:27:13.000 I was wondering if you could comment on, were there special ingredients into the American Declaration of Independence?

00:27:20.000 Absolutely.

00:27:21.000 And you're, again, that is a fabulous question itself as well, because there's an American, we call it the American Revolution, and then there's another thing called the French Revolution.

00:27:30.000 They are diametrically opposed and very different.

00:27:33.000 And it's important to understand the differences, which is why we call it an American Revolution, but more rightly, we refer to it as the American founding.

00:27:42.000 As they were declaring their independence, having a revolution against England, but at the same time, they were starting a new nation.

00:27:50.000 So it really kind of points to the roots in a way that, whereas the French Revolution was all about tearing things down.

00:27:56.000 But there are a number of important differences.

00:27:59.000 One is the American Revolution, American founding is influenced by the roots of Western civilization that go through, in particular, England, which means it's more religious.

00:28:12.000 It also means it's more tolerant and focused on constitutionalism and the rule of law.

00:28:20.000 The French Revolution really is all the bad aspects of the Enlightenment. 0.72

00:28:25.000 The French thinkers, which give rise to the German thinkers and a lot of the modern progressive liberals we have today, which largely rejects, it was very anti-religious and it was anti-constitutional order.

00:28:39.000 The other aspect I would add to it, which I get into some here, but is another aspect of some of my other scholarship, is the people involved.

00:28:48.000 The members of the Continental Congress, and in particular, George Washington, are their particular roles, their characters, their shaping of their values and their moral sensibility.

00:29:00.000 So our revolution ends in Washington making sure we have a constitutional convention, as opposed to the French Revolution ends in people getting their heads cut off, the guillotine, and Napoleon making war on the rest of the world for his own glory.

00:29:16.000 So they can't be, you couldn't have two revolutions that are more different than each other than the American and the French.

00:29:23.000 Yeah, I mean, the French Revolution, I have not studied it to the extent that Blake has, but it is, as you said, diametrically opposed to the American experience.

00:29:32.000 By the way, there is something, you know, you hear sometimes these arguments about a case for British colonialism and a case for the British Empire, and it really is a remarkable element.

00:29:43.000 Britain has shaped the world so much, we overlook how amazing Britain was, the places that created America, Australia, even Canada before it's recent.

00:29:54.000 You got to admit, I don't know about that.

00:29:56.000 Yeah, no, I'm just kidding.

00:29:58.000 What I will say, I'm really curious, Doctor, I want to dive into this because you're saying that the Declaration is a particular and a unique outflow of the spirit of the people of America.

00:30:11.000 And so when we have you in the next segment, I want to ask you, what was the break and what was the distinction between America and Britain?

00:30:24.000 What made us so unique?

00:30:27.000 And so hold on to that thought there, Doctor, until we have you for the next segment.

00:30:32.000 But that is a unique question, I think.

00:30:37.000 Thanksgiving holds so many memories, and I'm sure it's the same for you.

00:30:42.000 Right now, there's a girl finding out she's pregnant. 1.00

00:30:45.000 In the next couple of weeks, she's going to make a decision.

00:30:47.000 And whatever decision she makes will become her memory of this Thanksgiving for the rest of her life.

00:30:53.000 What will she be thankful for a year from now?

00:30:55.000 You.

00:30:56.000 She'll be thankful that you introduced her to her baby by providing a free ultrasound. 0.92

00:31:01.000 And she'll be thankful that she chose life as she prepares for her baby's first Thanksgiving.

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00:31:39.000 Dr. Spiley, do you take any of these classes?

00:31:42.000 Have you taken them?

00:31:42.000 Have you gone through them?

00:31:44.000 Oh, I take most of them when they first come out.

00:31:46.000 Absolutely.

00:31:46.000 And I know people that do them.

00:31:49.000 We talk about them a lot.

00:31:50.000 We have two coming out next year on 1776 and the American Revolution.

00:31:55.000 So look out for those too.

00:31:56.000 Oh, it's fantastic.

00:31:57.000 They are really well produced.

00:31:59.000 People don't appreciate they're beautifully shot.

00:32:02.000 The lighting is perfect.

00:32:03.000 The visuals.

00:32:04.000 I mean, they're incredible.

00:32:06.000 And this one, you get Dr. Larian.

00:32:08.000 So we were talking about how great British imperialism actually maybe was, because if you compare, I mean, I know that's a controversial statement.

00:32:17.000 Okay, I get it.

00:32:18.000 It was complicated business.

00:32:19.000 But if you take their colonies versus others, you can see that they were far more successful.

00:32:25.000 Even in Kenya, you know, which was a British colony.

00:32:28.000 It's one of the most stable countries in Africa.

00:32:31.000 Anyways, but America was a British colony, but we broke from it.

00:32:34.000 What made America unique from the motherland?

00:32:38.000 From the mother country?

00:32:38.000 What made the American soul so different?

00:32:42.000 Well, I'd almost have to write a book to give you a full answer to that question.

00:32:45.000 Well, that's your next one, Doctor.

00:32:49.000 This one gets into a lot of that because I actually draw that out because that's, again, a crucial question.

00:32:54.000 So America is unique and different because it draws on a lot of these traditions.

00:33:00.000 I mean, Western civilization, going back to the Greeks and the Romans, going through the Christian tradition, going through England in particular, that is extremely important, creates this thing called America.

00:33:11.000 And America could go places the British just could not go. 0.76

00:33:15.000 The British weren't going to get rid of their king as a practical matter.

00:33:19.000 They were going to have consent.

00:33:21.000 But really, the turning point comes when all those things kind of combine, if you will, the Christian tradition in particular and the kind of rational Greek-Roman tradition and the British rule of law tradition.

00:33:34.000 And they are forced by the king and by his regulations and taxes to come up with a new idea for the basis of their freedom.

00:33:42.000 And they do.

00:33:43.000 And the basis of that is to recognize that in the very nature of things, there is human equality.

00:33:50.000 And that is a radical idea.

00:33:53.000 Not revolutionary in the modern sense of the French, but radical in the sense of going back to the root of things, which is what the word radical means.

00:34:00.000 That's a radical idea.

00:34:02.000 Now, that grows out of the whole Western tradition through England and equality is a very Christian idea.

00:34:10.000 But it's the first time a nation dedicates itself to the idea is the Americans.

00:34:16.000 So what's unique about it, the American tradition, is that it's both a tradition, a people.

00:34:20.000 We have a particular history.

00:34:22.000 We're a place.

00:34:24.000 We're made of this mix of these English peoples, especially that get mixed with other people.

00:34:29.000 And we have a lot of different religions.

00:34:31.000 All that is important.

00:34:33.000 But we have this political, these ideas, which are universal.

00:34:38.000 All men are created equal, not just Americans, not just British.

00:34:42.000 All men are created equal.

00:34:44.000 So we're a particular nation dedicated to universal principles.

00:34:48.000 Those two things together get back to what you were earlier asking about what's unique here.

00:34:53.000 A lot of countries are defined as merely because they're German or their ethnicity.

00:35:01.000 And then there are a lot of modern countries like the French or kind of radical claims, these various forms of rational idealism.

00:35:09.000 But the Americans have this melding, if you will, of a certain ethnicity, tradition, and history with ideas, but their ideas really go back to the earlier arguments you get from the Christian and the Greek and Roman traditions.

00:35:25.000 And as a result, I would say that's why America really is, as Lincoln said, the last great hope.

00:35:30.000 Doctor, we do represent Western tradition today.

00:35:34.000 Yeah, no, and I wish we could keep going.

00:35:36.000 We're hitting the end of our show here, but it does feel like America somehow took all the best things from all the best ideas and put them together and lifted up these universal truths.

00:35:46.000 Of course, it's an American way of doing things.

00:35:49.000 Yeah, exactly.

00:35:51.000 Well, please check out that book.

00:35:53.000 Dr. Spalding, it was so good to have you.

00:35:56.000 We are the making of the American mind.

00:35:59.000 Thank you so much.

00:36:00.000 We'll see you guys tomorrow.

The Charlie Kirk Show - December 10, 2025

Charlie's Final Message to the World

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