ERIKA KIRK: Charlie saw America’s future in the courage of young patriots

The people who launched the American experiment were remarkably young. Alexander Hamilton was just 21 years old when he dropped out of college to join the Continental Army, Betsy Ross was 24 when she sewed the stitches across the first American flag, James Monroe was 18 when he was wounded at the Battle of Trenton, and Thomas Jefferson was 33 when he penned the closing words of the Declaration of Independence, pledging "our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor" to the cause of American independence.

It’s easy to miss how radical Jefferson’s words were at the time. The signers of the Declaration were committing treason against the most powerful empire in the world, a crime they almost certainly would have paid for with their lives had their revolution not succeeded.

Not only did they win their independence, they did something even more rare and impressive: they stuck the landing. History is full of revolutions that promised liberty only to descend into tyranny, but that didn’t happen here. Instead, the founders created a new, self-governing nation. Interestingly, the chief author of the Constitution, James Madison, was 36 years old at the Constitutional Convention; Alexander Hamilton was just 30.

THE UNWINNABLE WAR AMERICA'S FOUNDING FATHERS FOUGHT AND WON CHANGED HUMAN HISTORY FOREVER

Perhaps that is one of the reasons America’s story has always resonated so deeply with me. My husband Charlie was 18 years old when he founded Turning Point USA. Like so many young Americans throughout history, he never believed youth was a reason to wait. While many people spend their younger years asking what they want from life, Charlie spent his time asking what responsibility God had for him. My husband lived a life dedicated to empowering the youth of this nation to embrace traditional American values, while often emphasizing the importance of organizing your life through a lens of God, family, country. By the grace of God Charlie was able to create something that will endure long beyond his short 31 years here on this earth.

That has always been the American way. Each generation of young people has faced the test of preserving, improving, and reviving the grand republic entrusted to them. The soldiers of the Civil War were mostly in their early twenties, and many were under eighteen. Saving Private Ryan might leave the impression that the Americans army at Normandy was made up of men in their thirties and forties, but the average soldier storming Omaha Beach was only twenty-two years old. That’s not much older than the students who are a part of Turning Point USA.

The battlefield was just one arena for American sacrifice; still others faced a hostile frontier, endured crippling economic downturns, and built new towns, railroads, and churches with their bare hands. Comfort and certainty have never been the foundation of this country’s story. Rather, that foundation is built upon the vision the founders gave this country from the beginning: that our rights come from God, that liberty carries moral obligations, and that a free people must also be a virtuous people.

AMERICA’S NEXT 250 YEARS DEPEND ON PASSING FAITH AND FREEDOM TO OUR CHILDREN

Generation after generation, Americans lived out those founding principles. Their efforts are why on her 250th birthday, America remains the richest, most powerful, most generous, most free, and most innovative nation the world has ever known.

Yet despite all we have inherited as Americans, pride in our country among many young people has fallen to historic lows. There are understandable reasons for that. College has become far too expensive, homeownership feels out of reach, and good paying jobs are too few and far between.

But it’s not merely a crisis of opportunity, it’s also a crisis of values. Our culture encourages people to view life primarily through the lens of personal fulfillment. Duty, service, and sacrifice have given way to self-expression, and the self has replaced God as the center of life. Ironically but predictably, Americans feel less free and far less happy.

Every generation has faced challenges of its own and this generation is no different. The question before young people now is what to do about it. America has never been a country for the angry and the aggrieved. It is a country that rewards the determined, the resilient, and those who strive to make things better for themselves and their descendants.

If things are tough for young Americans today, they are in good company. Imagine being in the line of fire at Bunker Hill or raising a family on a ruined farm in the Dust Bowl. Every American generation has been tested, and those tests have always brought out the best of our character.

When I say I remain optimistic, it’s because when I meet young men and women I see how on fire they are for not only their faith but for the traditional American values Charlie embodied. They’re striving to contribute to something larger than themselves.

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Every campus visit and student event reminds me that the American spirit is alive and well. That is the result of Charlie seeing something in our young people that so many others overlooked: a hunger for truth, for purpose, for faith, and for a country worth saving.

The first 250 years of America represent the greatest 250 years of achievement by any people in human history. No nation has been more richly blessed by Almighty God. The next 250 years will bring challenges of their own, and that is a good thing. But we must remember that getting to this point was not without challenges, and those challenges made us stronger.

My prayer is that, in the face of current and future trials, America’s young men and women will continue to embrace the same faith, courage, responsibility, and sacrifice that built this nation. That they prove themselves worthy of the inheritance they have received. And that 250 years from now, future generations of Americans will look back on this generation and say they, too, answered the call.

Happy Birthday to the Land of the Free. We are so blessed.