If the “Gen Free Tour” featuring Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk is the future of the Republican Party, I want out of this dusty Bush-era time capsule.
I attended the event Thursday hosted by San Jose State’s chapter of Turning Point USA, a conservative club. I had high hopes to hear fresh takes of Republican ideals from hot-shot young conservative firebrands such as Kirk.
Turning Point USA is a national conservative student movement that organizes and empowers students to promote the principles of free markets and limited government, according to its website.
However, Kirk’s hour-long yawn fest scraped the top of the barrel of Republican values and ideologies.
Jesus? Check. Voting rights? Check. China is bad? Check.
By preaching old-timey conservative points that tie into religion rather than pragmatism and logic, Kirk completely missed the mark of speaking to young Californians in San Jose.
Given that the venue was at a Christian church, it was only natural Kirk would pay homage to the good folks that gave him a platform to speak.
However, that didn’t give him the right to assume his target audience of high school and college-age students would give a damn about who his favorite Bible character is. It was a complete throw-away question that wasted everyone’s time.
Many young people grow up losing faith in Christianity or come from backgrounds without having any faith at all. Kirk playing up the
Evangelical side was honestly pretty sad. He fell straight into that bored stereotype of what a Republican “should” be.
Christianity is rapidly dying across America, according to an Oct. 17, 2019 study by Pew Research Center.
Kirk should focus less on marketing his ideas toward the church-going faithful and more on the increasing number of Americans who describe their religions as “nothing in particular.”
Hailing from Illinois, Kirk sees California as the epitome of failed liberal politics, the butt of the joke.
Folks outside of California aren’t intent on fixing the state either.
Kirk’s outdated scope on the conservative political landscape might’ve drawn some applause from the
older crowd, but it was mostly out of touch from the actual issues Californians care about such as the state’s housing crisis, prison reform, the bail system and labor in the high-tech market.
If Republicans want California to become a purple state, people like Kirk are spoiling the new conservative movement that is already taking shape.
Ethnic minorities such as Black and Latinx communities, as well as women, shifted their votes for Donald Trump in the 2020 election, according to a Nov. 14, 2020 article by The Guardian.
With a notable shift in political demographic toward conservatism with Santa Clara County residents voting for Trump at a rate of 20% in 2016 to 25% in 2020 and an overall increase to voting red across the entire state, it’s time we start paying attention to what matters to the growing number of California Republicans.
Organizations including Turning Point USA hold a key market in shaping young conservative viewpoints. The focus on conservative social issues is robbing the Republican party of its pragmatic economic side.
To have a glorified Christian club such as Turning Point USA represent college Republicans is an embarrassment.
On top of that, hypocritical Kirk bashed social media and the internet for destroying our youth when it was exactly the internet that made him the man he is today through his viral videos.
Kirk was right to mention the potential Newsom recall vote, but lost me when he blamed Big Tech including Apple and Facebook for addicting us to our phones because it’s technology created by those who could’ve been in his audience.
To end the night, Kirk left the crowd with three things California freedom lovers must do: play offense (as in recalling Gov. Newsom), represent working people and “never lose hope.” These points are not productive at all and are disappointingly expected. Thanks a lot, Kirk.
Most Californians already have an allergic reaction to any other alternative political opinion differing from their own liberal views. We need to start entering conversations with an open mind and learn from one another through completely open dialogue.
