The following is a speech I gave to the Boston College Republicans chapter last week.
They have since disavowed me for it:
Thank you to all of you for being so hospitable to me. This is my first time ever in Boston, and I’m very glad it’s not to schmooze or raise money—but to be here with a bunch of young people who, God willing, will help us take our country back.
As an American history nerd, it’s a shame I haven’t been to Boston before—the cradle of the American Revolution, the genesis of true ordered liberty, and the bastion of the Federalist movement of our early national fathers.
Many of you, I’m sure, have been so deeply radicalized by the times in which we live—political assassinations, mass shootings by leftist ideologues, attacks on the administration of law and justice, and so on—that you are now programmed to zone out at the mention of the hallowed, conservative phrase “The Founders.”
There is truth to many of the great things said about the Founders—they were great men who engaged in high-minded debate about the future of our country, they would be disgusted by our nation’s current trajectory, and yes—they would’ve let you have an AR-15.
But lest you start to tune me out and drift away with thoughts about all the books you need to read and papers you must write this week—that’s not where I’m going with this.
Here are the ages of some of the Founders in 1776 when America declared independence from British tyranny:
-James Monroe, 18 years old
-Alexander Hamilton, 21 years old
-Aaron Burr—who, I might add, is the previous man’s murderer, 20 years old
-James Madison, 25 years old
-John Jay, 29 years old
-Thomas Jefferson, 33 years old
Let’s take a beat here.
James Monroe, 18 years old in 1776, joined the Continental Army, where he crossed the Delaware River with George Washington, fought at the Battle of Trenton, and eventually became a member of the Continental Congress, and later, our fifth President, where he acquired the State of Florida and crafted the Monroe Doctrine.
Alexander Hamilton, 21 years old in 1776, was George Washington’s primary aide-de-camp, where not only did they discuss military strategy but also the foundations of the future of our country. He was 32 years old when he became the first Secretary of the Treasury. He is near-singularly responsible for the economic success that made America the great superpower in the world—all before he was 35 years old.
Aaron Burr, 20 years old in 1776, joined the Continental Army where he fought in Quebec, became a Lieutenant Colonel in 1777, and commanded 300 men who stopped multiple British invasions into New Jersey. Shortly thereafter, he became a Senator from New York and created the infamous Tammany Hall political machine in New York City.
Unlike the other men I listed, who were all military men, James Madison, 25 in 1776, was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates and was elected to the Second Continental Congress instead of serving in the Continental Army. He also co-wrote the Federalist Papers with Alexander Hamilton and John Jay when he was 36.
John Jay, 29 years old in 1776, was Minister to Spain, President of the Continental Congress, negotiator of the Treaty of Paris that ended the Revolutionary War, was the father of American counterintelligence—directing a spy ring inside the British command—all before the age of 30.
Thomas Jefferson, 33 years old in 1776, wrote the Declaration of Independence, became Governor of the State of Virginia, and played a big role in beating back British advances in the South.
Now, you might think that what I’m saying is that you all need to get off your ass and start doing something real with your life—and, let’s get this out of the way, I am going to say that—but I want to start with a much more important and heavy exhortation:
You need to be willing to be killed.
Let me say that one more time—
You need to be willing to be killed.
The young men who founded our country—and loved it with everything they had—knew that if they lost this war, which was a likely prospect, that they would be hung. And not only would they be hung, but it would be a public spectacle—they would be killed in the town square, in front of their wives, their children, their friends, and their neighbors.
You might be thinking “okay, man—we’re not at war now, we live in different times.”
Do we?
Was Charlie Kirk—an inoffensive, kind, Christian man who was raising kids my own kids’ age—not just murdered for the entire world to see? And at the No Kings protests this weekend, were antifa and libtard protestors not mocking that assassination, saying that Charlie Kirk deserved it and they can’t wait to see it happen to the rest of us?
Have we not had two shootings in the last two years where Christian children were murdered by transsexual deviants? Made an example of? No, this is what they do to Christians and to your children if you don’t shut up and obey.
Have they not many times attempted to murder the President—who has been given authority by God as our ruler to administer law and justice? And they want to kill him because he is the symbol of what you voted for.
Do they not allow, encourage, and make excuses for mass violence? Everything from the George Floyd riots, to attacks on ICE officers, to senseless murder where insane and vile men slit the throat of innocent passerby?
So that’s the question I have for you—are you willing to die?
Because it’s not just people like me, like Charlie Kirk, like the President and Vice President they’ll kill—given the chance, there are hundreds of thousands—if not millions—of people in America who would kill you for just being in this room. “College Republicans”—they’re Nazis, they vote for Nazis, they have to die.
Make no mistake—everyone who has been killed so far has been killed because they are a representation of you. They are you. And that is what we are up against.
So now that we’ve set the stakes… what is it that we need to be willing to die for?
How many of you in this room want to die for lower taxes, free trade, and the ideas of Adam Smith, the invisible hand, and so on? Show of hands? No? Do you think that’s why they slander us in the media and attempt to kill our leaders? No.
They despise us because at the very least, the enemy recognizes that the battles we fight are foundational to the flourishing of free men. And they don’t want us to be free, in the true sense. Let’s talk about a few of those rights that are foundational to our daily livelihood:
Free speech—which is more than just being able to say “gay” and “retarded” now—but the ability to criticize any ruler, minister of justice, tyrant, or villain without legal repercussions.
Freedom of association—the God-given right to associate with whomever and whichever ideas you like, no matter how naughty the mainstream media may think they are, without any legal downside.
Freedom from tyranny—the recognition that the government rules as the ministry of justice and peace here on earth, but is barred from reaching with the hand of state unrighteously into your private heart, soul, and mind affairs, such as how to worship the Lord or what kind of car you’d like to drive.
And one by one, we have seen these freedoms whittled away—lives destroyed by either the state through the law, or in the private sector by mob rule, for having committed the cardinal sin of wrongthink—being thrown in jail, fined, censored, or ruined for having associated with the sort of people who “polite company” doesn’t like—or being barred from attending church because you didn’t get the experimental drug put in your body and stand 6 feet away during the passing of the peace. Shut up and obey!
These are foundational American principles, but lest you think this is purely a “battle of ideas,” they strike much closer to home. You’re all young, but you only need to look at the decade before your birth to see what we’ve had taken away from us.
Jobs, industry, and the type of productive work that makes you proud to come home to your wife and your children—destroyed by endless legal and illegal immigration, and the off-shoring of every manner of making things with your hands to faraway lands. The newcomers worship false and foreign gods, while you think “well, I get another holiday at work I guess.”
Your cities, suburbs, and small towns—no longer safe to walk around during the day—let alone at night. Our stores—ravaged, our vulnerable—beaten and left to die, our pride and physical glory—trampled and made ugly by the drug-addled vagrant or violent criminal—immigrant or otherwise.
And the pride of our communities—law enforcement, members of the military, veterans—humiliated. Our police officers drug before sham tribunals, led and appointed by people who hate you, and forced to grovel at the golden altar of racial diversity, equity, and inclusion. Our strongest men sent off to fight and die in faraway sand dunes on behalf of a foreign power—all designed to stroke the egos of the stupid people who run our foreign policy, but under the guise of “spreading democracy” and “defending our regional allies.” When our boys come home, their dreams become nightmares as they realize the years they spent were but folly—and they’re left to pick up the pieces of their broken minds, hearts, and spirits on their own.
Let’s say you make it through all that alright yourself—fair enough. You lived in a safe, rural area, you got lucky finding a good job that fulfills you and gives you the dignity of hard work, and to the extent you travel, it’s to view all the beauty the United States has to offer, not to die in the sands of the Middle East.
But you get married, and soon, she’s pregnant. You’re thrilled, obviously, but all these questions start running through your mind.
“I don’t make enough money for my wife to stay home and educate our kids—am I going to have to send them to the public school down the road with the they/them with purple hair?”
“If we go to church on Sunday, should I be armed in case someone comes in to hurt the people at our Christian church?”
“When my kids are graduating from high school, are there going to be any jobs left for them that aren’t filled by immigrants or blown away by artificial intelligence?”
“There are protests outside our city hall—which has the Ten Commandments right out front—with all these ladies ‘shouting their abortion’—how do I explain that to my kids?”
“Lots of immigrants from a violent nation have been settled in our area lately by our Republican governor and legislature—should I worry about my family’s safety while I’m at work?”
The enemy is at the gate, there’s no one coming to help—so what, then, shall we do?
1. We’ve covered this, but live in recognition of the fact that they will kill you and everyone you love to get what they want. Open borders, sex changes for minors, so-called gay marriage, health care for illegal immigrants, etc. etc. — if they’re willing to kill the people making the policy, they’re also willing to kill you for voting for it.
2. Don’t take the bait. They can’t kill everyone, so in some cases they’ll do the next best thing—get you fired from your job, give you a death by a thousand cuts of onerous litigation, or get you thrown in prison for “hate speech.” The way they’ll do this is by attempting to enrage you to the point you say something dumb (in public or in private), or embed FBI agents in your peaceful protests to egg you on, or get one of your friends to turn on you and spill all your racy texts. The best defense against this is to not be dumb. Don’t take the bait. (Note: Have to give a H/T to Pastor Douglas Wilson for this phraseology)
3. Relatedly, don’t believe the way out of this is through a little violence of our own. No, we’re not having a tidy debate in the so-called “marketplace of ideas,” but we don’t assassinate, attack indiscriminately, or violate our enemy and for a simple reason—as Tucker Carlson once said, that’s not how white men fight. Now, you may find that phraseology reductive, but it holds a large kernel of truth—indiscriminate violence is not how Christian Americans fight or are called to fight. “‘Vengeance is mine,’ saith the Lord.”
4. Recognize the friend/enemy distinction and live accordingly. Friends are guys who want the same outcomes that you want. Enemies are people who want you six feet underground. If there’s a guy who wants the same thing as you but is Protestant, monarchist, likes Bronze Age Pervert, whatever—he is your friend—not cannon fodder for the enemy. Under no circumstances are you to betray, countersignal, leak, gossip, or slander him. Never forget—if you’re pressured and you fold, they’ll destroy you for wrongthink anyway—if you defend and protect your friends, at least you still have your honor.
- Now, some of you may be following that the conservative movement is currently disavowing its own Young Republicans because of some edgy, sarcastic jokes. Remember—no matter how good you are at concealing your “based levels,” this could just as easily happen to you. At the same time as we’re eating our own, the likely next Attorney General of Virginia has called for the death of the “little fascist” 2 and 5 year-old children of one of his Republican colleagues and has not been denounced by a single Democrat in or seeking federal elected office. These two sins are not even close to similar in their severity, yet there’s a lesson in how Democrats protect their own. Saying naughty, edgy words may be dumb, but what Democrats are doing is evil. I will never disavow one of my own with these stakes. We should be doing the same as the Democrats and refuse to break rank.
5. Flood the zone where you are.
- For folks going “back home” wherever that may be—it means not letting stuff slide because you don’t want to offend your neighbor. You’ve gotta be door knocking for conservative candidates—no matter how boomer their politics may be—you’ve gotta be running for school board, you’ve gotta be singing Psalms outside your church when the gay pride parade goes by, you’ve gotta put campaign signs in your yard, you’ve gotta pray before your meals with your friends in public, you’ve gotta tell your girlfriend you won’t feel empathy for the illegal alien who violated your nation’s borders—but the difficult part of this is you have to do all of this while fulfilling your Father in heaven’s command to love your neighbor. You rebuke and correct them not because you hate them, but because you love them and the community, state, and nation they live in. Take care of the widow and the orphan, but don’t let toxic empathy for illegal aliens or criminals roaming our streets to swallow you whole. Don’t forget how many Christians posted black squares on Instagram during 2020–don’t fall for their wicked plots and schemes.
- For folks who want to get involved in politics in DC—or maybe even just considering it—there has never been a President and Vice President who is more “one of us” than the ones we have right now. There have also never been more opportunities to get involved than right now. There are still over 1,000 open politically-appointed positions in the administration, and another few thousand positions on Capitol Hill and in the non-profit sphere. What’s more—we offer a paid Fellowship to help you do this! We will literally pay you to find your first full-time job in public policy, so come and join us.
Now, if I’ve made you feel all warm and fuzzy with what you can do to save this nation—let me bring you back down to the appropriate level. The moment we’re in right now is not even yet the worst of it. To bring it back to the Revolutionary War analogy, we have not yet even hastily scampered across the Delaware River to evade a complete rout and capture by the British forces. We have only yet written our Declaration of Independence, with the Constitution—which enshrines good-living, hope, rights, and prosperity for our children and grandchildren—several years of grueling fighting away.
The moment we’re in right now is truly catastrophic—perhaps even approaching the level of civil war, or at the very least, all-out extrajudicial lawlessness. Let me be emphatic in saying, once again, that this should be avoided at all costs. It could spell the end of America, and in turn, the history of mankind. There is no retreat, there is no recourse, there is no one coming to help—the only way out is through. We urgently need the people in this room, specifically the men, to come to DC and get involved in governing—forcefully saying “No, this is not the direction my country will go. My father, grandfather, great-grandfather, and so on defended and loved this land, and it will not go under on my watch” and providing an alternative vision for the future of civilization.
Again, at the risk of repeating myself, the greatest thing about the Founders wasn’t that they were smarter, younger, or more well-equipped than anyone else. It’s that they were willing to put their skin in the game—wherever they were or whatever they had—to defend what they believed in. Willing to die, yes, but also willing to be publicly tarred and feathered, fired from their jobs, or humiliated for believing in this country and what it represents. May we all, one day in the future when we’re old and gray, be able to say the same.
