Utah Students Told TPUSA Chapter Can’t Insult Socialism
Two high school students in Copper Hills, Utah, have faced heavy backlash after starting a Turning Point USA chapter at their school.
Video shows the principal of Copper Hills High School condemning a newly founded TPUSA chapter. The principal states that TPUSA’s famous Socialism Sucks slogan is “defamatory” and argues that students “do not have the right to defame and insult other forms of government” while at school.
The Turning Point USA chapter president, Matthew Parkinson, explains that TPUSA’s rhetoric on socialism is a means to teach and educate students about the failures of the economic system. Parkinson accurately points out that the chapter’s mission statement is to teach about free markets, and the most effective way to do so is to teach about the failures of governments that do not have free markets.
In addition, America is run by a capitalist society, and there is nothing wrong with standing up for those fundamental values and principles.
Since this incident, Elizabeth Anderson, TPUSA Student Chapter Secretary, has experienced heavy harassment from people online. Anderson has received numerous degrading messages on social media calling her “racist” and “homophobic.” She also explains that the school has been treating them like “criminals.”
This is just another example of our education system having a liberal bias that is soft on socialism. Would the school argue that students do not have the right to “defame and insult” dictatorships like Hitler and Mussolini? Of course they wouldn’t. This isn’t about insulting forms of government, it’s about insulting forms of government that school administrators favor.
Parkin and Anderson should be applauded for their efforts to start a TPUSA chapter and promote capitalism. Students across the country who are tired of anti-capitalist, anti-American rhetoric should get more involved with TPUSA chapters to help win the culture war and push back against liberal biases in schools and universities.
