by KATIE MOON
Turning Point USA deserves to be on Drake’s campus. Our campus is overall left-leaning, and the students on the left are more outspoken than those on the right. There is little to no outlet for conservative or libertarian-minded students on campus.
A Turning Point USA chapter would provide a place to go for conservatives, libertarians, and conservatarians (somewhere in between conservative and libertarian). While all Republicans are conservative, the College Republicans are more party-based and Turning Point USA is more policy-based. College Republicans work with campaigns and endorse candidates, while Turning Point USA is a 501c3 and does not.
Turning Point USA ENCOURAGES discussion, and invites all students to come to our meetings to engage in a respectful conversation, regardless of their political ideologies. Turning Point USA would even be open to working with more liberal groups on an event, perhaps a debate between one speaker of each organization’s choosing.
The point of discussion is not to try to change the other person’s viewpoint. It is simply to make other opinions known. Turning Point USA just wants to let liberals know that there are people in this world that don’t have the same opinions as them.
Turning Point USA is also a great resource to bring speakers to campus. We will bring a different perspective to campus in the form of a speaker.
Turning Point USA’s mission is to “identify, educate, train, and organize students to promote the principles of freedom, free markets, and limited government.”
Chapters are organized under the National Field Program. Chapters are run solely by students with guidance from the national headquarters. The program aims to “launch, organize, and support student groups to promote the benefits of limited government, capitalism, and freedom…rebrand free market values on college campuses through student-driven messaging efforts and face-to-face conversations; and effectively fight back against intolerance and bias directed toward conservatives in higher education.”
Turning Point USA has little to nothing to do with social issues. We focus on economic issues and Constitutional rights, primarily the First and Second Amendments. Our founder has his own opinions, though. He typically speaks on behalf of himself and rarely ever on behalf of Turning Point USA. While he believes certain things about race, immigration, gender, etc., Turning Point USA focuses on freedom and the economy.
Turning Point USA is an organization that values freedom and discussion. There seems to be little to no room for discussion on Drake’s campus.