Charlie Kirk’s First Email, from High School to Breitbart News: Where It All Started

Charlie Kirk, then a high school student, sent the following email to Breitbart News in April 2012, shortly after Andrew Breitbart’s death.

My name is Charlie Kirk and I was referred to you by … from the Chicago Tea Party rally. I am a high school student from Wheeling, Illinois and Co-Founder of a conservative youth group called SOS Liberty. [He] told me to contact you after I informed him about some of our activities and the blatant misinformation in our public school textbooks. For example, our District 214 AP Economics textbook is written by Paul Krugman and is littered with biased and subjective analysis. SOS Liberty wants to correct certain information and provide an alternative viewpoint to combat the liberal brainwashing that is taking place in our classrooms.

When we showed one chapter of Krugman’s textbook to the dad of one our SOS members, he was so outraged he couldn’t sleep and critiqued Krugman’s misinformation. Attached is one chapter of Krugman’s textbook (with the Dad’s notes written in the margins). For example, there is a reference to Reagan’s economic plan and Krugman concludes, “The Reagan tax cuts showed no sign of acceleration in economic growth.” In fact, the Reagan tax cuts produced one of the biggest expansions in our history, yet high school students are being brainwashed to believe that the Reagan’s tax cuts were not successful. We at SOS Liberty are committed to combating this sort of blatant and biased propaganda. It’s frightening to think that this Krugman’s book is likely being used by high schools throughout the nation. Is your organization aware of this Krugman textbook?

SOS Liberty sends student speakers throughout northern Illinois to present a video and power point presentation about our nation’s spiraling debts and deficits which is followed up with a question and answer period. We have spoken to various community organizations, tea party groups etc. and have received rave reviews including the endorsement of Congressman Joe Walsh. We have also appeared on local TV and our student activism has received coverage in newspapers such as the Chicago Tribune. We just agreed to host a local radio show which will begin next week. SOS Liberty is trying to educate others that our generation will soon be drowning in debt. We are a group of passionate student activists who are crying out for help which is why we’re called SOS. As we make our voices heard, we are sounding the alarm to our peers to WAKE UP to the generational theft that is taking place!

Andrew Breitbart’s passing was so sad and a terrible loss for the conservative community. At SOS Liberty, we believe we can carry on Mr. Breitbart’s message to the younger generation and alert our peers to this generational theft and liberal bias that is taking place in our classrooms. Furthermore, by exposing our public school’s blatant liberal bias, we can restore sound objectivity. We wonder where are the Milton Friedman, Thomas Sowell, or Ludwig Von Mises textbooks? With your help, we can send BIG education and BIG government a BIG message.

Thanks for your support,

Charlie Kirk