Victor Davis Hanson: Charlie Kirk’s Fight to Rescue a Generation From University Indoctrination

Universities have long been captured by liberal academics, and the fight for America's youth on campus at times feels hopeless. What made Charlie Kirk effective was that he did not run from that problem but ran head-on into it. Victor Davis Hanson explains this key aspect of Charlie Kirk’s legacy, emphasizing how his approach was effective, and what our job is now to carry on his mission in saving our country from the campus on today’s episode of “Victor Davis Hanson: In His Own Words.” “He did not go in the traditional academic pathway. He dropped out of college at 18. And he had to live by his wits, not in the artificial bubble of academia or the la-la land of the campus, where there are no consequences to behavior. … He learned to organize and galvanize people in a practical way. “And he said, ‘The universities are training generation after generation after generation in this seriously dangerous leftist dogma.’ In other words, if you're worried about this bizarre transgender movement, this cult-like effort to have biological men compete in women's sports, to take one example; or you're worried about the idea that you can steal $950 and not be prosecuted; or if you think that race is essential and not incidental to who you are—where did these things come from? And he said they came from the campus.”

Victor Davis Hanson: Charlie Kirk’s Challenge to a Generation Will Be His Legacy

Charlie Kirk knew the key to winning a generation to conservatism meant addressing the root cause of America’s political problems: a cultural decay that has trapped young people in “prolonged adolescence.”   His solution was to champion cultural and economic values that are congruent with the founding principles of this nation and a flourishing society. On today’s episode of “Victor Davis Hanson: In His Own Words,” Hanson explains how Kirk urged a generation to grow out of “prolonged adolescence,” rediscover marriage and family, and demand policies that make owning a home and raising children possible again—and why his legacy will be felt for years to come. “ We turned to common sense in half the country, but he was going as an emissary into hostile territory and telling people: ‘There is a reason why you're leaving in the millions. … We have to champion the idea that a two-parent family is not aberrant. It was the historical norm for 2,500 years. It's a good thing to have two or three children. It's a good thing to be a young person and wanna buy a house in your 20s and not in your 40s, or to have a child in your 20s and not in your late 30s.’ Nothing wrong with the latter, but he was trying to offer a different paradigm that had proved successful.”