Charlie Kirk’s Most Impactful Speeches on Faith, Freedom & Courage

[00:00:00] There is a crisis of courage in our [00:00:01] country. The number one form of [00:00:04] censorship in America is not big tech [00:00:07] censorship. It's self censorship. [00:00:11] [applause] [00:00:13] >> It's shutting yourself up. [00:00:17] >> I'm not going to talk about politics at [00:00:18] the meal. I don't want to lose these [00:00:21] friends. I'm not going to tell my [00:00:23] neighbors what I think. I get it. You [00:00:26] live good lives. I get it. I understand [00:00:31] what people say about you matters. [00:00:34] >> Should it? [00:00:37] >> I understand [00:00:39] that [00:00:40] how many Instagram likes you get is [00:00:43] incredibly important. [00:00:46] >> No, I do. I get it. You can be a lot of [00:00:49] things, but if you are not courageous, [00:00:52] >> they're all very brittle. [00:00:54] >> You could be smart. [00:00:56] >> You can be creative. You can be funny. [00:00:59] You can be successful. You can be [00:01:01] charming. [00:01:03] George S. Patton, one of the greatest [00:01:04] men ever to live, famously said that [00:01:06] moral courage is the most necessary yet [00:01:09] absent characteristic in men. [00:01:12] >> Aristotle famously said, "Without [00:01:14] courage, there is no other virtue." That [00:01:15] it is the virtue that holds all the [00:01:17] other ones in place. [00:01:20] And so, what is courage? I ask this to [00:01:22] younger audiences a lot and they kind of [00:01:24] stumble around by using the word in the [00:01:26] definition. That's okay. It's not their [00:01:27] faults. We don't teach children what [00:01:28] courage is. Courage, simply defined, is [00:01:31] doing the right thing or the good thing [00:01:34] when the outcome is uncertain. [00:01:36] >> It's that simple. When there's an [00:01:38] unknown after the action. [00:01:40] >> You think about it. If you know how [00:01:41] things are going to work out, that's not [00:01:42] very courageous, right? Like buying a [00:01:44] cheeseburger at McDonald's is not [00:01:46] exactly, you know, how it's going to [00:01:46] work. You're going to get it and you're [00:01:47] going to gain weight. Like it's not that [00:01:48] big of a deal, right? [00:01:50] >> We are living on the coattails [00:01:54] of the greatest generation's courage. [00:01:57] Let me say that again. [00:02:00] >> We are living on the coattails of the [00:02:03] greatest generation's courage. [00:02:06] And that gift that the greatest [00:02:09] generation gave us, my grandfather who [00:02:11] served in World War II, Erica's [00:02:13] grandfather who served in World War II, [00:02:15] who stepped up and gave everything for a [00:02:17] good beyond anything imaginable to save [00:02:19] the planet from unspeakable evil and [00:02:21] tyranny on two fronts, sacrificing our [00:02:24] own manufacturing base, metal, might all [00:02:27] of it. Sending our own sons h all across [00:02:30] the world, many of whom never to return [00:02:31] again. [00:02:33] We are living on their coattails. and [00:02:35] that time is running out. And it wasn't [00:02:37] just I want to be very clear. It wasn't [00:02:39] just the war effort. It's what they did [00:02:41] after. What did they do after? They made [00:02:43] a decision that they're going to commit [00:02:46] to getting married and having children. [00:02:47] They made a decision that they were [00:02:49] going to build strong communities and [00:02:51] reinvest in America. How how how does [00:02:53] one become courageous? It's a really [00:02:56] interesting question, right? It's one [00:02:57] I've actually wrestled with a lot. And [00:03:00] so I've realized that there is a courage [00:03:02] crisis in our country largely because we [00:03:05] have a lot to lose. You see, revolutions [00:03:08] tend to work with people that don't have [00:03:09] a lot. You think about it, right? [00:03:12] Material stuff. I'm talking about [00:03:14] friends, relationships, connections. [00:03:16] So you just have to ask yourself, does [00:03:19] that matter more than pursuing the truth [00:03:21] with courage? And if so, so be it. Now, [00:03:24] some people say, "Charlie, I'm going to [00:03:25] lose my job." You might. You're right. [00:03:29] You might lose your job. [00:03:32] Make a decision. That's it. Maybe it's [00:03:34] the right decision. Maybe it's the wrong [00:03:35] decision. I'm going to lose my friends. [00:03:37] Yes, you will. But you'll make new ones. [00:03:40] >> A lot of them. If you're really [00:03:41] wrestling with this and this is speaking [00:03:43] to you, just list the courageous people [00:03:45] that you've seen in your life that you [00:03:47] see in history and you write them down [00:03:50] and you ask yourself the question, [00:03:53] do I want to be more like them? If a [00:03:55] country does not have a shared language, [00:03:57] culture, or history, it's going to stop [00:03:59] being a country and it will just be a [00:04:01] temporary colony where you make a bunch [00:04:02] of money and you lose any sense of [00:04:06] congruency and any sense of familiarity [00:04:08] with your fellow countrymen. So, we love [00:04:11] free speech in the conservative [00:04:12] movement, right? But if you don't share [00:04:15] a language with your fellow countrymen, [00:04:16] how can you express and share ideas? So, [00:04:20] we talk about speech, but let's talk [00:04:21] about the moral imperative of speech. [00:04:23] Why do we like freedom of speech? We [00:04:25] like freedom of speech because it's the [00:04:27] best way that we can govern ourselves [00:04:30] without actually having to get to [00:04:32] physical conflict. Dialogue, which comes [00:04:34] from the Greek word through reason, [00:04:37] through thinking [00:04:38] is what makes us different in the west [00:04:42] than almost any other country around the [00:04:44] world. Our capacity to say, you know [00:04:45] what, debate me. Come up and tell me why [00:04:48] your ideas are better. But all of a [00:04:50] sudden, if speech is disappearing, which [00:04:53] it is in our country, then all of a [00:04:54] sudden you're more likely to [00:04:57] self-segregate from a certain [00:04:58] conversation or shut yourself up. So, we [00:05:01] talk about censorship a lot in the [00:05:03] conservative movement. Do you know what [00:05:04] the number one form of censorship is in [00:05:06] the country? It's not from Google. It's [00:05:08] not from social media. And I'm going to [00:05:10] get to that. It's self censorship. [00:05:12] The point is, how many people, and you [00:05:14] don't have to raise your hands, how many [00:05:16] people here self censor your views [00:05:18] because you're afraid of losing a job, [00:05:20] getting kicked out of fraternity, [00:05:21] getting kicked out of a sorority, or [00:05:23] having your friends call you the rword. [00:05:25] The answer is almost every single person [00:05:27] in this room, whether your hands go up [00:05:28] or not. That form of selfcensorship [00:05:31] is a such an unbelievably dangerous [00:05:33] trend that's happening in our country. [00:05:35] And what does that result in? That [00:05:36] results in half the country voluntarily [00:05:39] saying that they don't even want to care [00:05:41] about what we think that they care [00:05:43] nothing more than a power struggle of [00:05:46] controlling our entire country. You [00:05:48] know, somebody said, you know, different [00:05:49] cultures have different truths. Are [00:05:51] there different customs? Of course, be [00:05:52] respectful of them and all things, but [00:05:54] you do look at that question. There's an [00:05:56] unlimited amount of truths. Now, there [00:05:57] could be there could be lots of [00:05:58] different shared experiences, but for [00:06:00] example, if you have a car crash and you [00:06:02] know there's five witnesses, everyone [00:06:03] said, "Well, this happened and this [00:06:03] happened." Eventually, you want to get [00:06:05] to the truth of what ended up happening. [00:06:07] You want to be able to get to the [00:06:08] consensus of the matter. And when you [00:06:09] design a government or you have a [00:06:11] society and you raise a generation that [00:06:13] says, you know what, anyone can believe [00:06:15] whatever they want to believe about [00:06:16] anything at any time, how on earth are [00:06:19] you going to have a stable and civil [00:06:20] society from that point? If everybody [00:06:22] had a definition of what north is, good [00:06:24] luck trying to orient everybody. [00:06:26] So, no, there's not unlimited amount of [00:06:28] truths. I believe there's one truth, but [00:06:30] I think that truth that we could agree [00:06:32] tonight is rather broad. I think that [00:06:33] it's a road that is not too narrow and [00:06:35] not too not too wide as CS Lewis would [00:06:38] say in the abolition of man. It's the [00:06:40] Dao. It's something that says okay [00:06:42] within the maxims of liberty we can [00:06:44] agree that separation of powers, consent [00:06:46] to the governed, independent judiciary, [00:06:47] private property rights, these things [00:06:49] are important to protect. And whenever [00:06:51] there is a threat against those things, [00:06:53] we're not going to put up with them. [00:06:55] like we're not going to all we're not [00:06:56] going to say, you know what, yeah, maybe [00:06:57] you could believe that you're a platypus [00:06:59] or that you could believe that you're [00:07:01] actually 6'8" when in reality you're [00:07:03] not. That your your feeling is not as [00:07:06] important as to what actual reality is [00:07:09] happening in that exact moment. And the [00:07:11] consequence of this, I could tell you, [00:07:13] will end up being two things. First, you [00:07:14] get chaos, and that's bad. And that's [00:07:16] kind of the talking point. If you don't [00:07:17] have all these things, you have societal [00:07:19] chaos. But we never talk about what [00:07:20] happens after that, which is then you [00:07:22] get totalitarianism. [00:07:24] You see, as soon as you confuse [00:07:27] everybody, there is no truth. You have [00:07:28] your own truth, and you have all these [00:07:29] different kind of bickering tribes, [00:07:31] eventually people are going to want [00:07:32] order. And that's when you get someone [00:07:34] like Joseph Stalin that comes along. And [00:07:36] all they care about is power, and [00:07:37] they're good at it. And then all of a [00:07:39] sudden, you could throw out all the [00:07:40] stuff I've talked about, consent to the [00:07:41] govern, separation of powers, chaos is a [00:07:44] strategy towards totalitarianism. [00:07:47] And not everyone who's participating it [00:07:48] even recognizes or realizing it. They [00:07:50] say, "Oh, we're we're liberating groups [00:07:51] to be able to have whatever truth they [00:07:53] want to have under any circumstance." [00:07:54] Now, you can have your own opinions. [00:07:55] But, you know, do you notice how quickly [00:07:57] it goes from this is my truth to all of [00:07:59] a sudden if you don't accept your truth, [00:08:00] you're going to be penalized. Happens [00:08:03] very quickly. So, it's not just your [00:08:05] truth. It's that I must now adopt that. [00:08:07] And whatever that kind of fiction or [00:08:09] whatever that might be, the fascination [00:08:11] with loving yourself is is gnostic [00:08:14] narcissism. You should have respect for [00:08:16] yourself, not love for yourself. I read [00:08:18] these I read these self-help, you know, [00:08:21] phrases sometimes where they say um the [00:08:25] my imperfections make me perfect. Like [00:08:27] that's the silliest. I mean, if you [00:08:29] actually go through Pinterest and you [00:08:30] read some of this stuff, instead it [00:08:32] should be I'm not all who I could [00:08:33] possibly be. Maybe it should be a [00:08:36] challenge to oneself, not a non-stop [00:08:38] romantic love campaign with yourself. In [00:08:40] fact, I think it creates more misery and [00:08:43] more depression the more people think [00:08:45] that they're in a romantic relationship [00:08:47] with themselves. You should have respect [00:08:49] for yourself, but you should have [00:08:50] respect enough to say that I could be [00:08:53] more than I am today and I'm going to [00:08:55] delay my own immediate gratification. [00:08:57] Let me be clear. There's a lot of good [00:08:59] people that are into the self-help, [00:09:01] self-love thing. I hope it works for [00:09:03] you. I have seen it do great damage to a [00:09:06] lot of young people. I'm going to tell [00:09:07] you why. When I was in seventh grade, I [00:09:10] saw a sign that was posted all [00:09:12] throughout our school and it said, "You [00:09:14] are perfect the way you are." And I [00:09:17] asked my teacher then I said, 'Then why [00:09:18] am I in school? [00:09:22] Why would you go to school if you are [00:09:23] the perfect perfect the way you are? [00:09:25] Instead, it should be you have great [00:09:26] potential. [00:09:28] >> It's a much much better message to tell [00:09:30] a young person because as soon as you [00:09:33] say you're perfect the way they are, [00:09:34] they know they're not. They put more [00:09:36] pressure on themselves. they're harder [00:09:38] on themselves. Instead, it should be a [00:09:40] pursuit and a journey towards [00:09:42] development that I am not there, but I'm [00:09:44] going to keep on trying to either lose [00:09:46] weight or improve my diet, stop lying, [00:09:48] get better friends, and then maybe I can [00:09:50] be a better version of myself. The West [00:09:52] was built on that. The West was not [00:09:54] built by a bunch of people on the [00:09:56] Mayflower Compact saying, "I'm in deep [00:09:58] love with myself." [00:10:00] The Declaration of Independence was not [00:10:02] signed by 56 people that were into [00:10:04] self-love. [00:10:06] It was signed by people who love their [00:10:08] family and love their country. I [00:10:10] encourage you to do the same. I just [00:10:11] recently sat down with Bill Maher. I [00:10:13] don't know if you guys saw it or not. If [00:10:14] not, I encourage you to look at it. It's [00:10:15] a good conversation. Bill Maher is not a [00:10:17] Christian. If you don't know that, um, [00:10:18] he's very much not a Christian. He is an [00:10:20] atheist. And maybe we'll have some [00:10:21] atheists here tonight. And remember, [00:10:23] without God, there would be no atheist. [00:10:24] Remember that. So, [00:10:27] and I sat down with it was kind of [00:10:28] interesting. And he treated me very well [00:10:30] to his credit. Um, he we just dialogued [00:10:33] a lot. He was smoking pot the whole [00:10:35] time, which may or may not have impacted [00:10:36] me. Um, don't poop. By the way, I've [00:10:39] never done marijuana in my life. I [00:10:41] encourage you not to do it. Every t like [00:10:42] I've my whole life I've talked against [00:10:44] marijuana about how it like makes you [00:10:46] not as sharp as you could be. Totally [00:10:48] true. By the way, like 100% right. Be [00:10:49] very careful if you use pod if you go on [00:10:51] a podcast with Bill Maher. Um, I [00:10:53] actually didn't do it, but the second [00:10:54] hand that secondhand high might be a [00:10:56] real thing. Anyway, we talked a lot [00:10:58] about not just Christianity, which [00:11:00] again, this is coming after Easter, but [00:11:02] what I wish we would have spent more [00:11:03] time on is the importance for a society [00:11:05] to have an agreed upon moral structure. [00:11:08] That if you do not have a religious [00:11:10] basis, specifically a Christian one, for [00:11:12] your society, something else is going to [00:11:13] replace it. And this is where the [00:11:16] political meets the spiritual and the [00:11:17] political meets the religious. When you [00:11:19] become less religious, which this [00:11:21] generation is, Gen Z is becoming less [00:11:23] and less religious than their parents' [00:11:25] generation, then you have a gaping sized [00:11:28] hole in your heart and something must [00:11:29] fill it. And out of the lack of [00:11:31] Christianity is where we get wokeism. [00:11:33] Understand that it's easy to attack [00:11:35] wokeism. This idea that men can give [00:11:37] birth and you all this nonsense that I'm [00:11:38] sure we'll have some wonderful people [00:11:40] talk about tonight. Maybe not. It's easy [00:11:42] to say, "Well, Charlie, you know, [00:11:43] separation church and state, we could [00:11:44] talk about tonight. Of course, there [00:11:45] should be some separation, some [00:11:46] distinction. But do we have separation? [00:11:48] a morality in state. And when you no [00:11:49] longer have a bedrock upon agreed moral [00:11:52] structure for your society, then people [00:11:54] are going to be in moral confusion. And [00:11:56] that is when you start to see widespread [00:11:57] transgenderism for our youth or men and [00:11:59] female sports. Because if you do not [00:12:01] have an agreed upon thing of what is [00:12:03] right, what is wrong, what is good, what [00:12:04] is evil, what is just, what is unjust, [00:12:06] what is holy, what is profane. And so [00:12:07] when you see something as asinine as [00:12:10] this idea that biological men should be [00:12:12] able to compete in female sports, 890 [00:12:15] medals by the way have been stolen from [00:12:17] women because biological men decided to [00:12:20] play in that sport and we have to [00:12:21] accommodate that. And this this is a [00:12:23] this is a massive problem that is an [00:12:25] outgrowth of the death of Christianity. [00:12:27] What happens when a society gets too [00:12:29] secular? Now why does that matter to [00:12:31] everyone in this room? It should break [00:12:32] you out of your comfort zone to know [00:12:35] that it actually does impact you and [00:12:37] your children and your grandchildren. If [00:12:38] a society becomes less religious, if a [00:12:41] society becomes less Christian, if a [00:12:43] society becomes less grounded to our [00:12:46] foundational roots, be very careful what [00:12:48] will actually replace it. And so, as we [00:12:50] start to see many in the younger [00:12:52] generation say, "I have no religious [00:12:54] affiliation." They're actually lying to [00:12:56] you. They're saying that they have no [00:12:58] traditional religious affiliation. [00:13:00] something is their god. They are [00:13:02] worshiping something and to worship is [00:13:05] what you are aiming at. But if you say, [00:13:06] "Well, I'm not religious. I just want to [00:13:08] aim at whatever I want to aim at." Oh, [00:13:10] be very careful. What does that mean? Is [00:13:11] that mean you're going to be the god of [00:13:13] the flesh? The god of trying to get as [00:13:15] drunk as I possibly can. And just a [00:13:16] little bit of a warning, that is a [00:13:18] miserable way to live. You know, plenty [00:13:20] of people probably that are in that [00:13:21] cycle, that endless downturn, that down [00:13:25] spiral of I'm just going to do whatever [00:13:27] the flesh tells me to do whenever I want [00:13:28] to do it. be very cautious with that. [00:13:31] Instead, we believe a better way to live [00:13:33] as conservatives and of Christians is [00:13:35] one that we want to glorify God in [00:13:37] everything that we do in all that we do. [00:13:39] And that includes, by the way, political [00:13:41] matters. You might be say, Charlie, how [00:13:42] does this inform your politics? Well, [00:13:44] the Western tradition is what we are [00:13:45] trying to fight for. The Western [00:13:46] tradition is one that recognizes [00:13:48] universal human equality. So, think [00:13:50] about how fundamental this is. You [00:13:52] cannot get to this idea that all humans [00:13:54] are created equal without a belief in a [00:13:57] divine. If you just have reason and you [00:13:59] believe in atheism, you cannot [00:14:01] resolutely and objectively say that [00:14:03] murder is wrong. You could say murder [00:14:05] might hurt people. You could say murder [00:14:07] might not feel good, but you can't say [00:14:09] murder is wrong because you're you have [00:14:10] to eventually appeal to a moral standard [00:14:13] above you. And so we see this playing [00:14:16] out in so many different dimensions of [00:14:18] the West. And my call to all of you that [00:14:20] are Christians or center right or [00:14:22] conservatives, understand the [00:14:24] consequence of where this leads. it at [00:14:26] first it will just be wokeism and [00:14:28] secularism. It will be the craziest [00:14:29] ideas imaginable because the woke [00:14:31] movement whatever it ends up calling [00:14:33] itself in the future it mimics religious [00:14:36] maxims. It will have whether it be the [00:14:39] worship of nature or earth worshiping or [00:14:41] the cult of anti-racism or this idea [00:14:45] that the religion of scientism. Remember [00:14:47] we went to that entire thing that you [00:14:48] must trust the experts and trust the [00:14:50] scientists at all point. At some at some [00:14:53] level, we as human beings desire to be [00:14:56] connected to something greater. My [00:14:58] contention is there's nothing greater [00:15:00] than actually being connected to what [00:15:02] built this place in the first place. And [00:15:04] we open it up for liberals or leftists [00:15:07] or atheists. You tell us what ultimate [00:15:10] authority should be. Now, politically, [00:15:11] we believe the constitution should be [00:15:13] ultimate authority. But out of the [00:15:15] constitution are all biblical truths. [00:15:17] These are things that we find in the [00:15:18] Bible. All men being created equal. that [00:15:20] you have a right to free expression, [00:15:22] that you have a right to be able to [00:15:23] worship your creator, that we're not [00:15:25] going to do it by force, but you have to [00:15:26] do it with your own agency. These ideas [00:15:28] were grown out of the biblical worldview [00:15:32] that many, many people take for granted. [00:15:34] Every major institution you have trusted [00:15:35] to self-correct the trajectory of [00:15:38] America has largely failed us. The [00:15:40] media, academia, corporations. So now [00:15:44] it's like, all right, every organization [00:15:45] that was supposed to be doing what they [00:15:47] were supposed to be doing while I was [00:15:48] building my business and while I was [00:15:50] building my family has basically [00:15:51] betrayed us. It's now on us. I'm going [00:15:53] to show up to the schoolboard meeting. [00:15:55] And this is the sort of mindset that [00:15:56] needs to start to set in, which is no [00:15:59] more spectator conservatism. No more wa [00:16:01] watching from afar and just hoping it [00:16:04] gets better. And [00:16:10] and I'll give you a great example of [00:16:11] this. People say, "Well, Charlie, what's [00:16:13] one way that I that one thing that we [00:16:15] can improve upon?" I can't stand the [00:16:16] term cancel culture. I don't know about [00:16:17] you. It drives me nuts. I can't stand. [00:16:19] But it's true. It's a real thing. But [00:16:20] all of us participate in cancel culture, [00:16:22] whether we know it or not, in two ways. [00:16:24] We shut ourselves up or we're okay when [00:16:26] all of a sudden someone we know or [00:16:27] someone in our circle gets canceled [00:16:29] because of racist text message that gets [00:16:30] resurrected and we all sit idly by [00:16:32] because we don't want the sword of [00:16:33] damicles to be dropped on us. Let's [00:16:35] start with the first thing. Every single [00:16:37] person needs needs to be the same person [00:16:39] in public that they are in private [00:16:40] starting tonight. Every single person [00:16:42] here tonight can no longer shut [00:16:44] themselves up because of the tyranny, [00:16:46] the mockery, the threats, or the [00:16:47] ridicule that might come your way [00:16:49] because you might get discovered to be a [00:16:51] conservative. We need to say, you know [00:16:52] what, you might fire me. You might no [00:16:54] longer be my friend. I don't care. This [00:16:55] is what I believe. It's that simple. I [00:16:57] don't care. [00:16:59] And [00:17:01] we allow [00:17:03] our decency to turn into apathy and [00:17:06] silence. We don't want to be, you know, [00:17:08] disorderly. We don't want to offend [00:17:11] people. Well, I can tell you right now [00:17:14] that the tyranny of selfcensorship is a [00:17:17] much bigger threat than even the [00:17:18] censorship of tech companies and other [00:17:20] people shutting us up. The threat of [00:17:22] people shutting themsel like I'm going [00:17:23] to shut up me. Big problem and it's [00:17:26] happening a lot. the