Dear {name}:

I didn't personally know Charlie Kirk, but his amazing success in building Turning Point USA demands respect and admiration. The organization proved to be the genesis of so much change and has been instrumental in our goal to make America great again. Courageous and principle-centered leaders like him are rare and too often the exception. Even more amazing, he started the organization when he was just 18 years old.

All this adds to the tragedy of the assassin's bullet that ended his young life earlier this week. My thoughts and prayers go out to his beautiful family and loved ones. He will be greatly missed.

One of our dedicated young activists, Riley, attended the Turning Point USA Student Action Summit in Tampa Bay, Florida this past summer. He shared the following thoughts with me:

“Charlie truly believed in speaking to people he disagreed with and changing minds. He was the most famous advocate and practitioner of free speech in my memory, setting up debates for the Right to talk about issues it is fractured over, including the controversial Israel issue. He believed that only through talking to each other could we arrive at solutions peacefully. And he facilitated many discussions because he believed that many were silenced, which would boil over into not-so-peaceful solutions if left unaddressed.

His organization was instrumental in creating our current political situation in which Gen Z is more right-aligned than any other living generation, something often thought impossible based on previous trends.

Charlie was focused on young people, especially their ability to have good-paying jobs and start families, and central to that issue was the topic of immigration. Charlie saw how young people were being locked out of the job market through the importation and invasion of foreigners and called for an end to the H-1B program. He was a great ally to U.S. Tech Workers for doing so.

Charlie did all of this because of his faith in Christ. When I was at the Student Action Summit in Tampa Bay, Florida, he called those who were moved to come to the front of the audience and accept Jesus as their savior. Even if they would not know peace in our chaotic world, surely they would find it in heaven, as I know Charlie will.”

Onward,

Kevin Lynn

Executive Director, Institute for Sound Public Policy

Founder, U.S. Tech Workers