The Charlie Kirk Show - From the Archive: Charlie's Why — From His 2018 CLS Speech

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 will end up purposeful.

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

00:00:26.000 You've 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.

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00:01:13.000 That is Noble Gold Investments.com.

00:01:14.000 You know, when I first started this, I was 18, no idea what I was doing, no connections, no money, but unlimited energy, enthusiasm, and I actually thought this was possible, which was kind of crazy if you think about it.

00:01:34.000 But I'll tell you, I was in Europe a couple months ago.

00:01:37.000 I was trying to explain.

00:01:39.000 What is Turning Point USA and what we do and how we operate to a group of Europeans? 0.89

00:01:44.000 Do not recommend that, okay? 1.00

00:01:46.000 I was trying to say, you know, we talk about freedom and we talk about American exceptionalism, we talk about the Constitution, and these Italians very snobbishly, you know, exactly right. 1.00

00:01:58.000 Where's Alana, by the way? 1.00

00:01:59.000 Where's Alana?

00:02:00.000 Is Alana here?

00:02:00.000 Of course not.

00:02:01.000 I could bash the Italians nonstop. 1.00

00:02:03.000 Alana Mastrolaggio, you think she's Italian? 1.00

00:02:06.000 Her parents invented the country.

00:02:07.000 Anyway, so I'm trying to explain to them all this, and they say, well, Wait, so people voluntarily?

00:02:14.000 I was just bashing Italy. 1.00

00:02:15.000 That's okay. 1.00

00:02:15.000 So she's like, Yeah, it's okay. 1.00

00:02:18.000 People voluntarily give money to Turning Point USA?

00:02:22.000 Like, what do they get out of it?

00:02:23.000 Like, equity?

00:02:23.000 Are they like shareholders?

00:02:24.000 No, no, no.

00:02:25.000 We're a nonprofit, we're a charity, and we have 30,000 donors all across the country, a growing budget, you know, people that believe in us.

00:02:33.000 Wait, people will give money without getting something in return just to advance ideas and all this?

00:02:38.000 I say, Yeah, but they get nothing in return.

00:02:42.000 It's not a business investment.

00:02:44.000 They don't understand philanthropy in Europe.

00:02:46.000 They don't understand individuals helping individuals.

00:02:49.000 They couldn't wrap their head around the idea that an 18 or 19 year old would not go, as they call it, university is what they call it over there, that wouldn't go to university, would start something to actually try to save the country, and it would be successful.

00:03:01.000 And so everything that I believe, and I'm going to just, the speech I'm going to give today is an unusual one, but it's one that all of you will enjoy.

00:03:08.000 Why I believe what I believe, and why I started this, and the foundational principles at the very level, very foundational level, and then we'll open up for questions.

00:03:17.000 What I believe that America is the greatest country ever to exist, period bar none, is the greatest country ever to exist, right?

00:03:30.000 You're looking at a living example of that.

00:03:32.000 If I was an enthusiastic 18 year old from France that really thought that France needed to be turned around, which it does, by the way, it's a total disaster, or if I was a really enthusiastic Brit, but was that place a mess or what?

00:03:45.000 It's unbelievable.

00:03:47.000 I'm glad we did the first Brexit way back when.

00:03:49.000 I'm glad we did.

00:03:50.000 We defected from that madness.

00:03:51.000 But if I really believed in that, I couldn't have done this.

00:03:55.000 I would have been looked by European snobbish elites.

00:03:59.000 I'll go to college.

00:04:00.000 Just go do that.

00:04:01.000 This is a waste of time.

00:04:03.000 Or we don't give our money to anything unless it's a business investment.

00:04:05.000 By the way, the amazing Brown family, I love them, unbelievably great, from Colorado State University.

00:04:11.000 Your sister did amazing work.

00:04:12.000 Anyway, does amazing work.

00:04:15.000 This wouldn't have been possible anywhere else.

00:04:16.000 And so, only in America would an 18 year old with no idea what he was doing, literally no idea, be able to walk the halls of the Republican National Convention, give out business cards to every human being that you could possibly see, that I made on a little Topographical printers say, We are losing our country. 1.00

00:04:35.000 Young people are the answer.

00:04:37.000 We need to do more on college campuses.

00:04:38.000 And bit by bit and piece by piece, people said, Oh, yeah, I might believe in you a little bit.

00:04:42.000 I'll pitch in $500.

00:04:43.000 So the first year, you raised $20,000, which at the time was an unbelievable amount of money, right?

00:04:49.000 And we didn't have an office.

00:04:51.000 We didn't have a staff.

00:04:52.000 It was just me just traveling the country doing this pure grit, pure energy.

00:04:55.000 And I was driven by core ideas and core principles that we should be thankful, not angry, to live in this country.

00:05:01.000 Would you agree?

00:05:02.000 We should be thankful.

00:05:02.000 We should be kissing the ground and say, We are the luckiest human beings.

00:05:06.000 Ever to exist that we are able to live in this country at this time with this president.

00:05:11.000 We should be so thankful, right?

00:05:12.000 Are we allowed to say that here?

00:05:13.000 I think we're all allowed to say that.

00:05:15.000 And yet, I see that half our country seems upset.

00:05:19.000 They seem angry that they're born in this country.

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00:06:40.000 And so I started this, and I'm a living embodiment of the very ideas that I express.

00:06:45.000 So I talk about a lot of stuff.

00:06:46.000 For those of you that follow me on Twitter, you know that there's a lot of opinions out there that I.

00:06:50.000 But why do I believe what I believe?

00:06:52.000 And this is something I want all of you to bring back to your campuses.

00:06:55.000 Because the what is inconsequential, the how is inconsequential.

00:06:59.000 It's important, but it's not going to get you to that fundamental level.

00:07:03.000 If you can answer the why, then you can answer every single question.

00:07:06.000 And why is like a shovel?

00:07:07.000 Because you can keep on asking, you can keep on digging deeper.

00:07:10.000 And you can keep on digging deeper.

00:07:11.000 So, someone say, Charlie, do you believe in tax cuts?

00:07:13.000 I'll say yes, right?

00:07:15.000 I believe in tax cuts.

00:07:15.000 So, someone says, the next question is what?

00:07:17.000 Why?

00:07:18.000 Okay, why?

00:07:19.000 Fine.

00:07:19.000 Well, I believe that people should be free from government.

00:07:21.000 I believe that you should be able to keep the money that you earn, that your time, your treasure, your own property is yours, not someone else's.

00:07:27.000 What's the next question you should ask?

00:07:29.000 Someone?

00:07:30.000 Why?

00:07:30.000 Why do you believe that?

00:07:31.000 Okay.

00:07:32.000 Well, I believe that individuals, the individual is much more important than the collective.

00:07:38.000 Correct?

00:07:39.000 Right?

00:07:39.000 The most important thing is the protection of your consciousness, of your choices, of your creativity.

00:07:45.000 Of whether it be good choices or bad choices, you should be able to benefit from making good choices, but you might have to suffer if you make bad ones.

00:07:53.000 What's the next question you should ask?

00:07:55.000 Why?

00:07:55.000 Oh, now we're getting really deep, right?

00:07:56.000 Now we're getting to philosophy.

00:07:57.000 Forget politics.

00:07:58.000 What did we start with?

00:07:59.000 Taxes?

00:07:59.000 Now all of a sudden we're talking about what?

00:08:00.000 Human nature.

00:08:01.000 I believe that human beings are broken by nature, that we are not good.

00:08:07.000 In fact, we're really, really, really bad.

00:08:11.000 So I believe that we have to teach goodness to our children.

00:08:16.000 So let's make an objective argument to this.

00:08:18.000 Some people will say, well, the Marxists, for example, the Marxists will always say, we are good people in a broken system.

00:08:26.000 Have you heard this before?

00:08:27.000 But this is the postmodernist stuff.

00:08:29.000 Yeah, of course, my buddy from Portland here, he's the You might as well live in Caracas, Venezuela, Portland, Oregon.

00:08:34.000 What a disaster that city is.

00:08:36.000 But we're going to come and speak out there once we go do that.

00:08:39.000 So the Marxists will say, We are good, but we live in a broken culture and a broken system, rigged for what?

00:08:48.000 Rigged for the rich, the powerful, and the elite against us, which bring out the worst parts of human nature.

00:08:56.000 We, as individualists, we that believe in rationale and reason and history, will say, Well, No, human beings are broken by nature.

00:09:06.000 We should not try to be perfected at all.

00:09:08.000 That's a horrific idea.

00:09:10.000 Utopianism is evil.

00:09:13.000 The idea of utopianism is impossible and it is evil.

00:09:17.000 More people have died on the pursuit of utopianism than any other idea in the history of humanity, whether it be Mao's China or Pol Pot's Vietnam or Stalin's Russia or Mugabe's Zimbabwe or Castro's Cuba or the Kim Jong Uns of North Korea.

00:09:32.000 More people die in the pursuit of utopianism than any other idea.

00:09:34.000 Now, why is that?

00:09:35.000 Because people are broken by nature.

00:09:37.000 And you say, Charlie, why or how can you possibly know that?

00:09:40.000 So, this is where it gets in the chart, why Charlie believes what Charlie believes, right?

00:09:43.000 Why do you believe something very simple?

00:09:44.000 And it's three words.

00:09:45.000 You might believe, you might not.

00:09:46.000 God is real.

00:09:46.000 I believe that.

00:09:47.000 I believe there is a God.

00:09:48.000 And I think we shouldn't be afraid to say it.

00:09:50.000 If you believe that, great.

00:09:51.000 If you're not sure, that's okay.

00:09:52.000 If you don't believe that, that's okay too.

00:09:54.000 But why do I believe what I believe?

00:09:57.000 Well, I believe in the idea of original sin.

00:10:00.000 Okay?

00:10:00.000 I believed in the Judeo Christian construct that God created a perfect person that fell from nature, that committed a piece of sin.

00:10:07.000 We all know the original story of Adam and Eve.

00:10:09.000 And then sin was entered in the world.

00:10:10.000 God created a perfect world that was broken by sin.

00:10:14.000 And ever since, we have three words to describe life life is suffering.

00:10:20.000 Hi, folks.

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00:11:16.000 Your friend Andrew sent you.

00:11:20.000 And the greatest book ever to exist, which I believe, is the Bible.

00:11:23.000 And the Bible has a lot of the answers for this, if not all the answers, all the answers to every single problem we could ever face.

00:11:30.000 60 books. 0.53

00:11:31.000 Well, if you're a Catholic, it's more than that, but it's 60 books.

00:11:34.000 How many Catholics are here?

00:11:34.000 I love the Catholics, by the way.

00:11:36.000 Love the Catholics.

00:11:37.000 You can have a conversation about theology if you guys read. 0.99

00:11:40.000 I'm kidding.

00:11:41.000 This guy got lots of Catholic jokes, by the way.

00:11:43.000 Got lots of Catholic jokes.

00:11:45.000 Where are my evangelicals at?

00:11:46.000 We got plenty of evangelicals here, right?

00:11:48.000 Love the evangelicals.

00:11:49.000 I'm kidding. 1.00

00:11:50.000 We got all sorts.

00:11:52.000 We're very ecumenical.

00:11:53.000 We're very, very ecumenical.

00:11:55.000 By the way, where's Sophia?

00:11:56.000 We love our Jewish brothers and sisters around here, by the way.

00:11:58.000 We love Sophia.

00:11:59.000 Where's Sophia?

00:12:00.000 She's somewhere.

00:12:01.000 She's, yeah. 0.72

00:12:02.000 Well, it is Shabbos, right? 0.95

00:12:03.000 So it's okay.

00:12:06.000 The Bible's the greatest book ever to exist.

00:12:08.000 60 books, over 30 authors, 5,000 years of history, answers to every single problem that you could ever possibly encounter.

00:12:16.000 With the most important individual ever to exist, whether you agree with them, disagree with them, think he was divine or not divine, he was the most important person ever to exist.

00:12:24.000 We used to have our whole calendar based around him.

00:12:28.000 Now they're changing that too.

00:12:29.000 But he was the most influential person ever to exist.

00:12:31.000 No book has been.

00:12:34.000 Copied, replicated, translated, or read as much as the Bible, but no book has been banned or burned or banished as much as the Bible.

00:12:42.000 It is the most important book ever to exist, the most influential book ever to exist.

00:12:46.000 Even if you think it is heresy and it is old wives' tales, it's inarguable, yet it's the one book we don't teach in our schools, which I find to be very troubling.

00:12:52.000 We'll get back to that in a second.

00:12:54.000 So, Charlie, why do you believe what you believe?

00:12:56.000 Well, I believe quite simply that God created the heavens and the universe and everything that we exist in, and he created man.

00:13:03.000 Now, why did he create man?

00:13:04.000 Now, that's a whole different conversation.

00:13:05.000 I'm not going to get into that.

00:13:07.000 But I will say this that If you look at, if you want to describe the Bible in six words, anyone want to try to do that?

00:13:14.000 Anyone want to try to describe the Bible in six words?

00:13:15.000 You do that, I'll give you a prize.

00:13:17.000 Really tough, right?

00:13:18.000 If I had to do it, is life is suffering, redemption is possible.

00:13:22.000 Six words.

00:13:23.000 Not bad, right?

00:13:24.000 That's the story of the Bible in six words.

00:13:26.000 Now, it's more than just the story of the Bible, it's the story of Western civilization. 0.98

00:13:31.000 See, Western civilization, what we live in today, is based on the Judeo Christian construct that things suck. 0.95

00:13:37.000 We get that. 0.92

00:13:37.000 The problem is the communists will never admit that. 0.92

00:13:40.000 They'll say things suck now, but we're going to create utopia.

00:13:42.000 Things will get better.

00:13:42.000 We'll take money from the rich.

00:13:43.000 We'll create something a lot better.

00:13:44.000 Ba all this nonsense, right?

00:13:46.000 And people believe in it free health care, free Medicare, free this, free schooling, right?

00:13:50.000 They're always trying to paint that there's something in the distance that's always going to be better.

00:13:53.000 But you know what we as conservatives need to do?

00:13:55.000 We need to tell brutally hard truths, not well crafted lies.

00:13:59.000 We need to say, you know what?

00:14:01.000 You're going to suffer.

00:14:02.000 You're probably going to get sick.

00:14:03.000 You're going to lose loved ones.

00:14:04.000 You're going to lose a job.

00:14:05.000 You're going to have a lot of, lot of tough times.

00:14:07.000 Okay, we all get that.

00:14:08.000 So, what can first and foremost, what's the most important next question after that?

00:14:12.000 Not what Revolution, I can start, not what government I can overthrow.

00:14:17.000 What's the most important question after that?

00:14:19.000 What you can do about it, right?

00:14:21.000 What can the individual do?

00:14:23.000 As my buddy Jordan Peterson says, we love Jordan Peterson, right?

00:14:26.000 We love him.

00:14:27.000 He's so great.

00:14:27.000 We love Jordan.

00:14:30.000 Sit up straight, tell the truth, work harder, be better today than you were yesterday, and find a way to be better tomorrow than you were today.

00:14:39.000 That's the story of Western civilization because for thousands and thousands and thousands of years, people lived as serfs.

00:14:45.000 You got up every single day.

00:14:47.000 You worked in the field. 0.52

00:14:48.000 If you were lucky, you had a wife, you had a kid.

00:14:50.000 The kid had half a chance of living because infant mortality was so high.

00:14:54.000 You lived in suffering.

00:14:55.000 You went to church.

00:14:56.000 That was it. 0.98

00:14:57.000 And then you die when you're 35.

00:14:58.000 That's human history between essentially 100 BC to 1700.

00:15:06.000 Literally, that was it.

00:15:08.000 Some variations, lots of wars, lots of conflict.

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00:17:23.000 Then, what happened?

00:17:23.000 What changed?

00:17:24.000 What changed?

00:17:25.000 Well, what changed is a lot of different things there was a group of bandits and rebels.

00:17:32.000 That started to get a little restless, right?

00:17:34.000 We all know this story.

00:17:35.000 But to tell it in this frame is not told in our schools.

00:17:39.000 And these guys read the great works, and their names were Thomas Paine and Thomas Jefferson and Ben Franklin and George Washington, the great heroes that created the greatest civilization ever to exist.

00:17:48.000 And they decided to do the impossible and the improbable and start a revolution against the greatest military power to exist of its time.

00:17:57.000 And they were successful and they overthrew the government.

00:17:59.000 And they were the first political victors in world history.

00:18:02.000 Think about this the first political victors in world history that voluntarily gave up their political power.

00:18:07.000 They could have created the Washingtonian, Jeffersonian, Hamiltonian ruling class, but they gave up their political power back to the people.

00:18:13.000 They said, I don't want to be the ruler, I don't want to be king, I'm going to give it back to the people.

00:18:19.000 Now, is the Constitution a perfect political document?

00:18:22.000 No, nothing's perfect except the divinity of God.

00:18:26.000 But it is the best political document ever written, by far.

00:18:29.000 By far.

00:18:29.000 Now, it is the best for one very simple reason, because they acknowledged exactly what I believe human beings are broken by nature.

00:18:36.000 That human beings are very predictable.

00:18:38.000 The rise and fall of the Roman, the Greek, the Chinese, and the British Empire are all very similar, even though they came in totally different times and totally different parts of the world. 0.96

00:18:46.000 And what was similar about them?

00:18:47.000 That when too much power gets concentrated too quickly, people die, people suffer, people's lives don't get better.

00:18:53.000 So they said, boy, that was a disaster.

00:18:57.000 They started to study Aristotle, which talked about brutal truth and not Plato's utopianism.

00:19:04.000 Big difference, right?

00:19:06.000 So Plato talked all about we could talk communism, we do all this, forget about that.

00:19:09.000 Talking about the individual.

00:19:10.000 All about the individual, the individual, and the individual, and the individual.

00:19:13.000 Constitution was.

00:19:15.000 I'll get back to the Constitution in a second, but how does this all connect to why I believe what we believe?

00:19:20.000 Well, this is where the left gets it so horribly, horribly wrong, and I want you to raise your hand if you've heard this.

00:19:26.000 That somehow the Bible or the life of Jesus is a defense of Marxism and communism.

00:19:31.000 Like Jesus is a communist.

00:19:32.000 Who's heard this before, right?

00:19:33.000 You've all heard this.

00:19:36.000 Well, I love it because it's a bunch of atheists telling me this, first and foremost, right?

00:19:39.000 So, first of all, if there's any atheists here, God bless you. 0.93

00:19:47.000 God bless you.

00:19:48.000 God bless you.

00:19:49.000 I'll pray for you.

00:19:51.000 They don't find that fun.

00:19:52.000 I'm kidding. 1.00

00:19:53.000 Without God, there would be no atheists. 1.00

00:20:04.000 I got a couple more, but I'll save them for later. 0.99

00:20:12.000 What I always am challenged by that.

00:20:13.000 So, first of all, a lot of atheists always try to use the life of Jesus Christ as a defense of neo Marxism.

00:20:20.000 So, why do I believe what I believe?

00:20:21.000 Well, I believe that the gospel in four words, okay?

00:20:24.000 Gospel in four words.

00:20:25.000 What is the gospel?

00:20:26.000 If you ever want to say, if you're not a believer, that's fine.

00:20:28.000 I'm going to tell you what the gospel is in four words, three words, two words, one word.

00:20:31.000 Okay.

00:20:31.000 Four words.

00:20:32.000 Jesus took my place.

00:20:33.000 Four words.

00:20:34.000 Okay?

00:20:34.000 Three words.

00:20:36.000 Him for me.

00:20:37.000 Two words.

00:20:38.000 Substitutionary atonement.

00:20:39.000 One word.

00:20:40.000 Grace.

00:20:40.000 That's it.

00:20:40.000 That's the gospel.

00:20:41.000 Four, three, two, one words.

00:20:42.000 You don't have to believe that.

00:20:43.000 That's fine.

00:20:44.000 I'm not trying to evangelize.

00:20:45.000 I'm just telling you what I believe and why I believe.

00:20:48.000 This does not reflect the views at turning point.

00:20:50.000 You say, You hear that, Tyler?

00:20:50.000 You get that?

00:20:51.000 That's all good.

00:20:51.000 Okay.

00:20:52.000 But why did I start this?

00:20:53.000 Why do I fight as hard as I fight and why do I do this?

00:20:55.000 Okay.

00:20:56.000 So those are the gospels.

00:20:57.000 So the story of the gospel and the story of the Bible is life is suffering, redemption is possible.

00:21:01.000 So we have four accounts Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John by four different authors from four different perspectives, four different backgrounds.

00:21:07.000 Written in two different languages that account the depiction of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

00:21:12.000 Okay, we got it.

00:21:13.000 Whether or not you believe in it or you don't believe in it, it's miraculous, it's amazing that those texts actually existed, that the parallels, non contradictions, all those sorts of things happened.

00:21:21.000 There's no other historical figure with that sort of authenticity, that sort of verification that long that stood the test of time with the archaeological backing and that evidence.

00:21:29.000 That's pretty amazing, that's pretty miraculous.

00:21:33.000 Hi, folks.

00:21:34.000 Andrew Colvett here.

00:21:35.000 I'd like to tell you about my friends over at YRefi.

00:21:38.000 You've probably been hearing me talk about YRefi for some time now.

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00:22:16.000 Why Refi can help.

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00:22:23.000 And remember, Y Refi doesn't care what your credit score is.

00:22:26.000 Just go to yrefi.com and tell them your friend Andrew sent you. 0.55

00:22:32.000 Okay, but let's go back to the Marxism communists and let's tie all this together.

00:22:36.000 They say, well, Jesus talked about helping other people, Jesus talked about all these things that are very similar to Marxism.

00:22:44.000 However, what are they missing?

00:22:47.000 Everything that Jesus Christ talked about. Was about the individual.

00:22:51.000 Everything.

00:22:52.000 He never addressed people in the collective.

00:22:54.000 Ever.

00:22:55.000 He never talked about banning your resources together or pooling a bunch of stuff as a collective or overthrowing a government so that you could have a better running commune.

00:23:03.000 He said, no, no, you go give away your money, right? 0.76

00:23:08.000 The first sinner amongst you throw the first stone. 0.90

00:23:10.000 It's not, well, the ends justify the means, therefore.

00:23:14.000 No, he never said any of that stuff.

00:23:16.000 It was always about the individual, it was about voluntary cooperation.

00:23:20.000 It was always about treat others the way you want to be treated, essentially, is the golden rule, right?

00:23:26.000 Well, what system requires you to treat others the way you want to be treated?

00:23:30.000 What system?

00:23:31.000 Yeah, exactly.

00:23:32.000 Capitalism, exactly right.

00:23:33.000 What's up, man?

00:23:34.000 How are you doing?

00:23:34.000 Good to see you.

00:23:36.000 No, sorry, I didn't realize you were there.

00:23:38.000 Capitalism, exactly right.

00:23:39.000 Because if you treat a customer horribly, they're not going to return, right?

00:23:44.000 If you have a product or service that you lie or you cheat or steal, you're not treating that customer the way you would want to be treated.

00:23:50.000 So a free market requires Requires you to act in a virtuous way, which is against human nature.

00:23:55.000 We'll get to that in a second.

00:23:56.000 Okay, so why do I believe what I believe?

00:23:58.000 Well, I'm a strict constitutionalist and a conservatarian, if you want to boil it down to that.

00:24:03.000 I believe, I'm very skeptical of governmental power.

00:24:06.000 I believe in natural rights, that our rights come from God, not from government, that government exists to protect our rights, not to give them away, that we should have rules for government first and foremost, and then rules for the citizenry.

00:24:18.000 That too much, when power is concentrated and collected way too quickly, that suffering ensues.

00:24:25.000 So, what does all this tie together, and why do I do what I do, and why do I believe what I believe?

00:24:31.000 Well, I believe God is real.

00:24:32.000 We went through that.

00:24:32.000 I believe Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world.

00:24:35.000 We went through that.

00:24:35.000 The Bible's the greatest.

00:24:36.000 Book ever to be written.

00:24:38.000 But then, how does this all tie in together with America and who we are and what we're doing?

00:24:41.000 Well, so I believe that we are literally at a turning point in our country.

00:24:46.000 Forget politics, right?

00:24:47.000 So I'm not here to talk about politics.

00:24:48.000 If you love Trump, great.

00:24:49.000 If you don't like Trump, that's fine.

00:24:51.000 You know my opinion and all that.

00:24:52.000 We can get into it.

00:24:53.000 You want to ask questions about it.

00:24:54.000 Low taxes, terrific.

00:24:55.000 Embassy moved to Jerusalem, that's great.

00:24:57.000 It's a lot bigger than that, what we're fighting.

00:24:58.000 I hope you all understand that.

00:24:59.000 We're fighting a war, and I'll leave the spiritual side to a second.

00:25:03.000 We're fighting a culture war where are we going to embrace neo Marxist postmodernism?

00:25:08.000 That is all about victimhood ideology, oppressor versus oppressed.

00:25:11.000 That's going to create a very, very dangerous society for all of us to live in.

00:25:15.000 Anyone that has aspirational goals or dreams or wants to better yourself for the individual.

00:25:19.000 Or are we going to embrace an idea that the individual does matter, that dialogue and discourse and freedom of speech, that is paramount first and foremost for a country and a civilization?

00:25:29.000 And I see kind of what's happening.

00:25:30.000 I see the forces of evil starting to win.

00:25:33.000 You see it on college campuses.

00:25:34.000 How many outward socialists and Marxists do you know?

00:25:35.000 Probably your entire professor list is all Marxists and socialists.

00:25:40.000 Because these ideas are growing and these ideas are growing and these ideas are growing.

00:25:43.000 And it's up to dedicated patriots like everyone in this room to fight back against that and to fight back in a variety of different ways.

00:25:51.000 But if you cannot answer the why, you're nothing more than just engaged in the same sort of popcorn politics to the people that you're fighting against.

00:25:57.000 Your why might be very simple.

00:25:59.000 Your why might be, well, I'm inspired by the teachings of Ayn Rand and I believe so firmly in individual that I only believe what I believe and that I exist.

00:26:05.000 If that's your why, then that's great.

00:26:07.000 I told you my why, didn't I?

00:26:08.000 You have to be able to articulate it.

00:26:10.000 Because every activist will.

00:26:12.000 Every leftist activist cannot answer the why.

00:26:14.000 They can't.

00:26:15.000 There's hypocrisy within them.

00:26:17.000 There's anger.

00:26:18.000 You ever see how angry leftists are, by the way?

00:26:20.000 I mean, there's a reason for that, though.

00:26:22.000 Why are leftists so angry?

00:26:25.000 Why are they? 1.00

00:26:25.000 Well, they're miserable. 1.00

00:26:27.000 Because they would rather tell other people how to live their life than improve their own.

00:26:33.000 Alliance Defending Freedom knows that freedom belongs to those who fight for it.

00:26:37.000 Americans have carried that legacy for 250 years, and now we must do so again.

00:26:43.000 Censorship is rising.

00:26:44.000 Threatening your free speech in every sphere, from classrooms to counselors' offices and even online.

00:26:50.000 Unborn babies are dying as abortion drugs continue flooding states nationwide.

00:26:54.000 Parents are being cut out of kids' critical decisions for their lives.

00:26:58.000 Your best gift by June 30th will help defend courageous Americans like Frank Konepa, a counselor facing nearly $90,000 in fines just for sharing his Catholic faith.

00:27:10.000 Rosalie Markozic, a young woman whose former boyfriend coerced her to take mail order abortion drugs, killing her unborn baby.

00:27:17.000 And Dan and Jennifer Mead.

00:27:19.000 Parents whose 13 year old daughter was socially transitioned in secret at school, every dollar you give today will be doubled by a $1 million matching grant only while funds last.

00:27:30.000 So go to joinadf.comslash Charlie.

00:27:33.000 That's joinadf for Alliance Defending Freedom.

00:27:36.000 Joinadf.comslash Charlie or text Charlie to 83848.

00:27:41.000 That's Charlie to 83848.

00:27:43.000 Please give your best gift now to defend the next 250 years of freedom.

00:27:47.000 That's joinadf.comslash Charlie or text Charlie to 83848.

00:27:55.000 It's very easy to be externally upset.

00:27:57.000 Try to go 24 hours without complaining.

00:27:59.000 It's very hard.

00:27:59.000 Try to do that, seriously.

00:28:01.000 I can't do it, right?

00:28:02.000 Whether it be an airplane, along with TSA, which you put me in touch with TSA, the complaints come very quickly.

00:28:10.000 They shall be fired, every single one of them.

00:28:13.000 Try to go 24 hours without complaining.

00:28:15.000 It's very, very tough.

00:28:16.000 To try to live with an aura of gratitude and graciousness, very, very difficult.

00:28:21.000 It's much easier to complain and to be resentful and to be angry and to be externally harsh towards the world.

00:28:26.000 It's the rich people's fault. 0.97

00:28:27.000 It's the white people's fault. 0.97

00:28:29.000 It's the straight people's fault. 1.00

00:28:30.000 It's the Christian's fault. 1.00

00:28:31.000 It's the university's fault. 1.00

00:28:32.000 No, well, maybe all that.

00:28:34.000 Could be right, there could be arguments, but what are you doing to improve your own life?

00:28:37.000 Have you done everything that you possibly can do?

00:28:38.000 Are you waking up earlier?

00:28:40.000 Are you not going out to drink?

00:28:41.000 Are you exercising?

00:28:42.000 Are you making better choices?

00:28:43.000 Are you doing all those things and you're improving yourself to the top of the possible pinnacle of the individual?

00:28:49.000 Then you might be able to start complaining.

00:28:51.000 I very much doubt that the leftist social justice warriors, based on just looking at them, are they making any of those decisions, okay?

00:28:57.000 Not that I'm judging, but I'm just observing.

00:28:59.000 Big difference, kidding.

00:29:03.000 So you've got to be able to answer the why.

00:29:04.000 I'm not going to tell you what your why is, you know my why.

00:29:06.000 So, once you have your why, then you can have agreement, right?

00:29:09.000 You can have also what's so cool about conservatives and libertarians.

00:29:12.000 Any libertarians here?

00:29:13.000 Hope we have libertarians.

00:29:14.000 Any conservatives here?

00:29:15.000 Hope we have conservatives, Republicans, Trump supporters.

00:29:17.000 Oh, that's great.

00:29:19.000 We can have disagreement and all that, and we should.

00:29:21.000 We love disagreement.

00:29:23.000 That's what we're all about.

00:29:24.000 We're not a mob.

00:29:26.000 We shouldn't be.

00:29:27.000 We're not the left.

00:29:28.000 We should be able to disagree and to have dialogue or discourse, but we all love America.

00:29:33.000 If you don't love America, there's other organizations out there.

00:29:37.000 Turning point USSR or something like that. 0.68

00:29:44.000 Mutual respect on that front.

00:29:46.000 But that's, if we all agree on the big stuff, the other disagreements will sort itself out.

00:29:52.000 But I guarantee you there's different whys all across the room.

00:29:55.000 I guarantee it. 0.95

00:29:56.000 Some of it might be, well, I just feel as if I'm losing my country and my family came here as immigrants and I want to save it.

00:30:02.000 Great answer, terrific.

00:30:04.000 Dive deeper, get to the why, get to the why, get to the why, get to the why.

00:30:07.000 And that's hard because sometimes you might not know.

00:30:08.000 You might not know.

00:30:10.000 You might get down to the point where, well, I believe the individual is really important.

00:30:13.000 Why?

00:30:14.000 Well, I don't know, because I want to be able to do what I want to do without someone telling me, well, why?

00:30:18.000 What's the end result?

00:30:19.000 And if you can't answer that, then one of two things will happen.

00:30:23.000 You're much more likely to have kind of ambiguity in your political statements, which is fine.

00:30:28.000 There's nothing wrong with that inherently.

00:30:30.000 Or number two, you'll get quickly exposed by a leftist for being exactly what they are.

00:30:36.000 But I guarantee you there's a lot of good answers as to your why here.

00:30:38.000 I guarantee it.

00:30:39.000 And by the way, once you're able to answer that question, you will fight harder.

00:30:43.000 And you'll be more convicted and more foundational in your activism than ever before.

00:30:48.000 Because then you know exactly why you are doing what you are doing, not what you are doing.

00:30:53.000 And that's the most important question, isn't it?

00:30:55.000 Because the answer to why is why a lot of people just wander through life without ever being able to do that.

00:30:59.000 And there is no right or wrong answer, by the way.

00:31:01.000 I'm not telling you my answer is correct, what I walked you through.

00:31:03.000 It's the right answer for me.

00:31:05.000 Someone else might have a different answer, and that's perfectly okay.

00:31:08.000 Because every individual is different, every individual has different backgrounds or leanings or understandings or passions.

00:31:14.000 But being able to articulate that to a level that is a lot deeper than saying, I want low taxes because it's going to spur economic growth, or I want low regulation because it's going to make the economy better, or I think we should have a big foreign policy, you know, I should do a big military because there's forces of evil.

00:31:30.000 Those are talking points, folks.

00:31:31.000 Get deeper than that, get into the philosophy of all that.

00:31:34.000 So, as you can see, we're growing very quickly as an organization.

00:31:40.000 And I love these couple days.

00:31:41.000 These are always my favorite couple days of the year because you are on the front lines, you really are.

00:31:46.000 And we are an organization committed to ideas and to principles, not to political parties or politicians.

00:31:52.000 I have my own opinions.

00:31:54.000 That's fine.

00:31:55.000 But we have people within the organization that love the president and support him and don't love him.

00:31:59.000 That's all temporary.

00:32:00.000 That's all momentary.

00:32:01.000 We are in a generational battle right now that the stakes could not be higher.

00:32:07.000 And the experiment and the gift that our founding fathers gave to us could be easily lost if we don't make the proper choices, the right course corrections.

00:32:20.000 For more on many of these stories and news you can trust, go to charliekirk.com.

The Charlie Kirk Show - July 18, 2026

From the Archive: Charlie's Why — From His 2018 CLS Speech

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