Turning Point USA
"Turning Point USA is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization founded on June 5, 2012 by Charlie Kirk. The organization’s mission is to identify, educate, train, and organize students to promote the principles of fiscal responsibility, free markets, and limited government."[1]
This recently created organization has spread across high schools and college campuses nation-wide. Their motto is "Big Government Sucks!" They are major supporters of National Conferences such as Conservative Political Action Conference, and they hold other conferences such as the Young Woman's Leadership Summit, High School Activist Conference and Young Latino's Leadership Conference.[2]
Turning Point USA has over 500 chapters in colleges and high schools nation-wide.[3] Turning Point USA is non-exclusive and allows anyone to voice their opinion. However, they do lean towards conservative beliefs. Turning Point USA encourages students to get involved with the country's government by encouraging them to vote. TPUSA will even have voter registration drives to make it even easier for students to go out and vote.
About the Founder
"Charlie Kirk is the Founder and Executive Director of Turning Point USA, a national student movement dedicated to educating, empowering, and mobilizing young people behind the principles of fiscal responsibility, free markets, and limited government. Since the inception of Turning Point USA on June 5th of 2012, Charlie has grown Turning Point USA from nothing to having representation on over 800 high schools and college campuses nationwide. At 21 years old, he has appeared on Fox News, CNBC, and FOX Business News over ninety times including frequent appearances on “Your World with Neil Cavuto,” “Varney & Co.” and “The Willis Report.” He is a featured columnist for The Washington Times and a contributor at Breitbart.com. In addition to his entrepreneurial political endeavors, Charlie plays every type of Saxophone, was captain of his school’s Varsity Basketball and Football team, and is a proud Eagle Scout."[4]
In the Media
Charlie Kirk has appeared on Fox News, CNBC, and Fox Business Network. He has also had many other interviews with organizations such as Truth Revolt ,[5] Bloomberg Politics[6] and Opportunity Lives.[7] These networks and websites talk about his actions in the political world and how he has encouraged more college-aged students to register to vote and have an interest in politics. CBN News released an article on April 28, 2016 about the young vote, and seeing if it really is as liberal as the media says it is. The field director from Ohio State University stated "It's a lot of young people who are liberal, who identify as liberal, but what you'll find is that most of these people when you ask them why they believe certain things, what they really want is less government in their lives." Turning Point USA has shown that millennials are not as Liberal as many people think. At other schools, the volunteers will have themes every week, some of the themes include "The Healthcare Games," "Game of Loans," and "iCapitalism."[8] Turning Point USA has been in the news for being controversial, as students in this organization are going against the status quo.
Other Media
Turning Point USA is also affiliated with Hypeline News,[9] a conservative version of BuzzFeed, written and edited by students.
In The News/Controversy
There have been many instances where colleges will not allow Turning Point USA Chapters in their schools. Reasons could include that they are "Too Conservative" or "No Different than College Republicans"[10] There have been schools that deny a chapter because the administrators claim that there is no "Liberal" counterpart.[11]
References
- ^ "About Turning Point USA".
- ^ "Upcoming Events | Events | Turning Point USA". turningpointusa.net. Retrieved 2016-04-21.
- ^ "Chapter Directory | Turning Point USA". turningpointusa.net. Retrieved 2016-04-21.
- ^ "Meet The Founder".
- ^ "Turning Point USA Mobilizing Young Conservatives". Truth Revolt. 2014.
- ^ Bykowicz, Julie (May 7, 2015). "This Boy Wonder Is Building the Conservative MoveOn.org in an Illinois Garage". Bloomberg Politics.
- ^ Huizinga, Daniel (June 19, 2015). "Turning Point USA Leads the Way in Engaging and Energizing Young Conservatives".
- ^ "Turning Point: Is the Youth Vote Really All That Liberal?". CBN.com (beta). Retrieved 2016-04-29.
- ^ "HYPELINE - Worth the Hype | A Project of Turning Point USA". hypeline.org. Retrieved 2016-04-21.
- ^ "Conservative students at Drake challenge denial as an organization". Des Moines Register. Retrieved 2016-04-27.
- ^ "Student Sues College Because It Refused to Let Her Start a Conservative Club: It's 'Censorship. Pure and Simple'". The Blaze. 2015-10-18. Retrieved 2016-04-27.