As I
stood there looking out at the crowd — hundreds of young patriots rising
up in a place the Left said they owned — I couldn’t help but
think...
Nearly 13 years ago, all of this felt...
impossible.
Back
then, Turning Point USA wasn’t the cultural phenomenon it is
today.
It
wasn’t an office. It wasn’t a team. It was just me.
No
money. No connections. Just a desk and an old computer in a dusty garage in
the Chicago suburbs.
But what I did have was a
vision...
It was
2012. The Left controlled every classroom, every campus, and nearly every
corner of our culture.
Their
narrative was everywhere: America was evil... Faith was “oppressive”...
Freedom was outdated... The Conservative movement was dead...
And most of all, young people belonged to
the Left.
I didn’t believe that. I couldn’t accept
that. I couldn’t just stand by and watch the Left
win.
Back
then, it was no wonder WHY we were losing young people to the
Left...
The
Conservative movement felt stale... Conservative organizations felt like a
snooze... And it felt like no one had an idea of how to reach America’s
youth...
I
believed if we were ever going to win young people back for America, we
needed excitement. Energy. Passion. And ZEAL for our ideas.
My dream was to launch a conservative youth
movement that would inspire young people to stand for truth — and LOVE
this country again.
I
didn’t know what I was going to call this dream... this feeling... this
movement.
So, I
picked up the phone, called my dad, and said, “I think I’m supposed to
start something, but I don’t have a name for it...”
He replied... "How
about Turning Point?"
And just
like that, a fire was lit. Turning Point USA was born. On the promise that
we could TURN this country around, one young heart at a time.
The
early days were brutal.
I
remember driving across the Chicago suburbs to small Tea Party meetings
talking about “generational theft”...
I
remember my first Turning Point USA speaking event in Peoria, Illinois
during the summer of 2012, where just six people showed up...
And I remember the look in their eyes —
those early patriots —when I told them the
vision:
“We’re going to create a youth movement
that LOVES America.”
“We’re going to go on campus and win
hearts and minds.”
“We’re going to push back — and
we’re going to WIN.”
They
didn’t laugh... They didn’t walk out...
They believed. And Friend — so did
patriots like you.