Pence urges young conservatives ‘to keep on fighting’

By Kevin Beese Staff Reporter

Vice President Mike Pence gives the keynote address at the Turning Point USA Midwest Conference. (Photo by Kevin Beese/Chronicle Media)

Vice President Mike Pence is already attacking the philosophy of some potential 2020 Democratic presidential contenders.

“It was freedom, not Socialism that gave us the most prosperous country in the world,” Pence said Friday in Rosemont, during an appearance at the Midwest Regional Conference of Turning Point USA, an organization geared toward young adults and promoting principles of fiscal responsibility, free markets and limited government.

“As (British Prime Minister) Margaret Thatcher said, ‘The trouble with Socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money,’” Pence stated.

He said Democrats as part of the Socialist plan pushing for Medicare for all, a single payer health care system.

“With President (Donald) Trump and I that is never going to happen … Medicare for all is quality for none,” Pence told the crowd.

The Republican vice president challenged the high school and college students and recent college graduates in the room to take the lessons from the conference back to their campuses and friends.

“We’re in a battle over the closing of the American mind and you are on the front lines,” Pence said. “… I want to offer you a challenge, to all the great men and women involved in Turning Point USA. Take what you’ve seen, heard and learned in this movement and live out your values.”

He cautioned them that there would be plenty of people lurking, trying to derail conservative messages.

Pence greets members of the audience after his talk. (Photo by Kevin Beese/Chronicle Media)

“Expect opposition and criticism,” Pence told the audience of primarily young adults. “You need to have perseverance. We need to press on … we need you to keep on fighting. Freedom isn’t free.”

He said conservative values are spreading in popularity across campuses as young people with those values are “starting to speak up.”

Pence said proof of the message spreading could be seen with Turning Point, which now has a home on 1,400 high school and college campuses.

Charlie Kirk, president and CEO of Turning Point, said the organization has come a long way since starting in a Lemont garage in 2012.

“As someone else recently said, ‘This is MAGA (Make America Great Again) country,’ isn’t it?” the 25-year-old asked the sold-out dinner event. “This is MAGA country.”

He said Pence, the former governor of Indiana, brings strong values with him to the White House.

“The only difference between Illinois and Indiana is the politics and lack of politics,” Kirk said.

Pence said that he and Donald Trump would continue to focus on the issues important to Americans, including making America stronger and more prosperous, and making the world safer.

He said things have simply gotten done since Trump took office.

Vice President Mike Pence thanks the crowd for support after delivering an address Friday at the Turning Point USA’s Midwest Regional Conference in Rosemont. (Photo by Kevin Beese/Chronicle Media)

“It’s been two years of action. It’s been two years of results,” Pence said. “It’s been two years of promises made and promises kept, and we’re just getting started.”

He noted that Trump has already signed more legislation “rolling back the heavy hand of government” than any president in history.

Pence said America is starting to build the promised wall to protect the country’s southern border now that the investigation into allegations of Trump colluding with Russia in the 2016 elections is finished.

“The collusion delusion is over,” Pence said. “It was a two-year investigation of reckless allegations. There was no collusion and the attorney general ruled that there was no obstruction of justice.”

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