In 2012, I read an article on Breitbart.com that called out liberal bias in the teaching of economics. The author pointed to “distortions” in a high school textbook co-authored by Paul Krugman that dismissed the thinking of supply-side economists. It denied that the tax reduction they helped bring about during the Reagan administration had any effect on economic growth—despite government data showing exactly the opposite: a dramatic surge in job creation and a marked decline in unemployment.
The author declared, “If a student were to submit an essay with such disregard for basic evidence, it would ensure a failing grade.” He concluded, “Students are being pushed towards an education that demonizes free enterprise while advocating top-down government, deficit spending and class warfare.”
The piece featured references to iconic supply siders Robert Mundell and Arthur Laffer, among other respected sources. Its authoritative critique was worthy of a seasoned policy analyst. Yet the author was an unknown named Charlie Kirk, then just a senior in high school.
I reached out to congratulate Charlie and sent him How Capitalism Will Save Us, the book I had recently co-authored with Steve Forbes that was aimed at a wide audience including younger readers. The correspondence eventually led to meetings in New York with Charlie and Bill Montgomery, the retired publisher and restauranteur who was Charlie’s early mentor and backer. At one point, I introduced them to Steve Forbes, who provided encouragement over a steakhouse lunch.
It was clear immediately that Charlie was no ordinary 18-year-old. The writer of the Breitbart article had a maturity beyond his years. He was passionate, eloquent and, at 6 foot 5, a compelling physical presence.
Charlie had co-founded a group—then called SOS Liberty—to counter the anti-capitalism student protests of the Occupy Wall Street movement. I thought the story of his band of young activists had media potential. So I asked if he had a press release to send to places like Fox News. His somewhat sheepish reply caught me by surprise. “What’s a press release?” It took a second to remember he was just 18 years old.
SOS Liberty was eventually renamed Turning Point USA. After a brief stint on its board of advisors, we eventually lost touch. Since then, I have watched awestruck as Charlie evolved from a young spokesman for free market principles into a magnetic evangelist for traditional values to—tragically last week—a history-making leader cut down in his prime.
Media accounts describing Charlie Kirk as an “influencer” are overly simplistic. He realized that a society based on economic freedom cannot function unless its citizens value hard work, personal discipline, family and civil debate. He knew that bringing about this cultural change required not only a message but a movement.
Charlie was an organizational genius on a par with some of America’s most successful entrepreneurs. The college dropout built Turning Point USA into a multimedia content and event producer that reportedly generates $100 million in annual revenue.
Like the president he supported, he also understood that, to attract attention to your message in a cluttered media universe, you had to stage a performance. As he did in his campus
debates, books and podcasts, you had to challenge people to think. Yes, he was provocative and occasionally overstepped. But there is no challenging his success at bringing viewpoint diversity to college campuses suffocated by years of indoctrination and partisanship.
Over the years I have often recalled something that Bill Montgomery—who sadly passed away from COVID in 2020—said to me that day at lunch. “He’s got it.” This wunderkind was going to go places. The forecast was more prescient than either of us knew.
