The assassination of Turning Point USA (TPUSA) founder Charlie Kirk on Sept. 10 of last year should have been a wakeup call to the country — especially for the left.
He was at Utah Valley University doing what he loved best, engaging with students having different views, when an assassin's bullet struck him in the neck, taking his life.
He was hurting no one, but rather talking, using the tools of debate that have been employed in our constitutional republic for nearly 250 years as a means to discover the truth.
Yet a growing number of people seem to believe that debating for the conservative principles that TPUSA stands for is a clear and present danger.
A Maryland woman told a local school board last week that she had "serious concerns" over a TPUSA-affiliated high school chapter organizational meeting that was held in December.
"While community building opportunities for students are important, this event raises serious concerns related to student safety, parental rights and governance oversight," the woman, identified as Nancy Krause, stated.
She claimed that parents and legal guardians were denied entry to the event, and because of that and her concerns over TPUSA, she filed a complaint with Child Protective Services.
Her claims were contradicted by a high school student who serves as president of the TPUSA-affiliated group.
He stated that all the students had parental consent to join, and they restricted adult attendance to only parents and volunteers after receiving online "hate" messages.
"We have been accused of many things. We have been accused of grooming children. . . an allegation that a random unnamed man was president of our group and had certain felony charges.
"I'm the president of the group. I'm 17, I'm a minor. I can't groom children because I am a child. I don't have any felony charges or convictions," he said.
And there’s nothing dangerous about TPUSA's mission statement.
"The organization’s mission is to identify, educate, train, and organize students to promote the principles of fiscal responsibility, free markets, and limited government."
These are the very foundational principles of the United States.
They add that "Turning Point USA guides citizens through development of knowledge, skills, values, and motivation, so they can meaningfully engage in their communities to restore traditional American values like patriotism, respect for life, liberty, family, and fiscal responsibility."
TPUSA is also being rejected at faith-based universities — what one normally believes are conservative institutions.
Last year Loyola University New Orleans student government denied a TPUSA chapter for a second time for the Catholic-based institution, and the student government also rejected a chapter at California Lutheran University.
St. John's University student government in Queens, New York, another Catholic institution, also repeatedly denied requests for a TPUSA chapter.
Among St. John's more than 180 student groups recognized by student government that receive university funding is the Palestine Solidarity Committee — but not for something that celebrates and promotes American values.
Catholic-based St. John's also funds a Muslim Students Association, and an LGBTQ+ Center serves lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual students, faculty and staff, but an anti-abortion student organization that celebrates faith, family and freedom?
Nope.
What’s going on here?
Drew Thomas Allen, author of "For Christ and Country: The Martyrdom of Charlie Kirk," has a theory.
He argues that Charlie Kirk's life wasn't so much snuffed out on a bright September day with a single bullet delivered by a single assassin.
No, he was rather murdered by the radical left, who repeatedly labeled him a fascist and a Christian nationalist, someone who needed to be eliminated.
The years of hatred and slander directed at Kirk made his assassination inevitable.
The author, who'd worked with Kirk on a number of project s in the past, submits that very same toxic political movement has also infected the Democratic Party.
We saw it at the Munich Security Conference in Germany when Gov. Gavin Newsom, D-Calif., accused President Trump of turning the National Guard into Nazi Stormtroopers by releasing them in his state to support federal immigration law.
"We saw 4,000 National Guards federalized," he said.
"First time — we’ve never seen anything like this."
Well, except in 1957 when President Eisenhower federalized National Guardsmen to assist in de-segregating public schools in Little Rock, Ark.
Or in 2010, when President Obama authorized National Guard troops deployed to the U.S.-Mexico border to support Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
But if Trump does it, he's Adolf Hitler and the National Guard are Nazi Stormtroopers. And that's the very talk that leads to violence, including assassination.
We need to wake up and end the assault on American values.
Michael Dorstewitz is a retired lawyer and is a frequent contributor to Newsmax. He's also a former U.S. Merchant Marine officer and a Second Amendment supporter. Read more Michael Dorstewitz Insider articles — Click Here Now.
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