Charlie Kirk Archives - Bookworm Room

[VIDEO] Charlie Kirk on Rubin Report is must-see TV

February 17, 2018 by Bookworm 2 Comments

Charlie Kirk, who brings patriotism, free market ideology, and respect for individual liberty to American colleges, is a must-see guest on the Rubin Report.

Not quite two years ago, I had the tremendous privilege to meet Charlie Kirk when he came to speak to a speakers group in Marin. I wrote about him then, summarizing as best as I could the remarkable cascade of brilliant insights this 22-year-old was reeling off.

At the time, I opened my post by writing “Oh. My. God. Charlie is a human dynamo: incredible intelligence and moral decency wrapped up in pure energy and passion, presented through the medium of a riveting presence.” I concluded that same post by saying “If you have the chance to attend a Charlie Kirk speech — take it. He is a genuine phenomenon.”

Twenty-two is pretty young and a lot can happen to a 22-year-old in a short time. If you’re Charlie Kirk, you get better. That is, you raise a high bar and then easily vault over it to set new standards for intellectual honesty, intelligent analysis, and fluent discourse. Don’t believe me? Watch him speaking last month to Dave Rubin, of the Rubin Report:

It’s a long video (Rubin works in long form, so he can develop his guests’ ideas), and it’s worth watching in its entirety. Not only do Charlie and Dave expound on core American ideas and genuine intellectual diversity, they also discuss a quiet revolution taking place on America’s college campuses. [Read more…]

[VIDEO] Charlie Kirk challenges the cult mindset at America’s colleges

April 14, 2017 by Bookworm 2 Comments

Charlie Kirk, a leader challenging the monolithic Leftism on college campuses, explains how the focus on superficial diversity hides cultist programming.

Last fall, I had the pleasure of hearing a talk by Charlie Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA. I wrote about it here. Unlike many in the audience, I already knew most of the facts that Charlie related. After all, I’ve been blogging for years about my kids’ experiences in an upscale American public school system as well as my older child’s Obscenely Expensive Liberal Arts College. I’ve also taken a very depressing look at a variety of modern college course catalogs. (You can find those posts here.)

I’m just an observer, though. I don’t do anything except grumble. Charlie Kirk is a human dynamo who, at 18, created a nationwide organization from scratch that’s dedicated to giving a voice to conservative students on American college campuses. He’s intelligent, informed, and a wonderful speaker. This Prager U video is like a microcosm of the Charlie Kirk phenomenon:

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Watching the weasels at WOW! Magazine

October 13, 2016 by Bookworm Leave a Comment

With news breaking about every ten seconds as we near the election, this is a great time to check out a collaborative blog with multiple contributors whom you trust. In my mind, that blog would be WOW! Magazine, to which Watcher’s Council members and their friends contribute. Since I last suggested you visited there, a whole batch of new, up-to-the-minute articles has appeared:

Charlie Kirk — the conservative voice of the millennial generation

October 12, 2016 by Bookworm 2 Comments

I had the privilege of hearing Charlie Kirk speak today. Oh. My. God. Charlie is a human dynamo: incredible intelligence and moral decency wrapped up in pure energy and passion, presented through the medium of a riveting presence.

Some of you may already have gotten a taste of what Charlie offers if you saw him speak at the Republican National Convention or have caught him on Fox. Here’s a video of him speaking at the Western Conservative Summit this past summer:

That video is only 10 minutes long. We got to hear Charlie speak for almost an hour. Much of that time was spent with him speaking off the cuff, answering questions like the most seasoned speaker on the circuit. It’s hard to believe that this dynamic, focused, poised young man is only 22 years old. He’s an old soul, that’s for sure.

Charlie’s passion for getting America’s youth to embrace such traditional values as free speech and the free market began when he was in high school, looking at American colleges. After touring several of them, he was so dismayed by what he found there that, rather than entering college himself, he elected to dedicate six months challenging the hard Left mindset that dominates America’s institutes of higher education, after which he would begin college himself. (I’ve written several posts about the insanity on America’s campuses, with my agonies at my child’s Obscenely Expensive Liberal Arts College described here and here. I also did some disheartening forays into college course catalogs from Smith, Macalester, Oberlin, Scripps, and Williams. The only moment of light was Hillsdale.)

Charlie’s six-month experiment turned into an organization called Turning Point USA which, four years later, has an impressive operating budget (all from donations, which you can make here) and is present on 1,100 high schools and college campuses nationwide, with over 75 full-time field staffers. Moreover, Charlie just hit the Amazon best seller lists for political freedom and economy with his new book, Time for a Turning Point: Setting a Course Toward Free Markets and Limited Government for Future Generations. Although the hard copies are currently sold out, you can pre-order one for shipping. You can also order the Kindle version of Charlie’s book.

I didn’t take notes (I was too busy listening), but I think I can remember a few of the high points from Charlie’s speech, which I present here in no particular order.

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