Charlie Kirk is known for many things, but Instagram and TikTok denizens will know him for his ability to engage with and summarily defeat college leftists. Kirk is never mean, but he is very direct, making these moments fun to watch. It was during one of these moments that he said something that caught my ear.
Kirk was discussing our government's spending of our taxpayer dollars irresponsibly and with "reckless abandon," and then Kirk dropped this line, which I think was fantastic.
"You think the government is innocent until proven guilty," said Kirk, talking to the student. "I think the government — after what we've learned — is guilty until proven innocent. They have to justify why this money is being spent in the first place."
The student argued that the concept of being innocent until guilt is proven is how the law works, but Kirk's point is solid, and it's one he reiterates, telling the student "that's not how taxpayer money works."
For the first time in my lifetime we have an administration that is dead serious about rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse in government so the next generation doesn’t live as debt slaves.
— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) February 24, 2025
Every expense must be justified—with our tax dollars you are guilty until proven innocent. pic.twitter.com/prifQh2e20
I'd happily add to Kirk that this isn't how anything pertaining to government functions work. Unless we're talking about a crime being done by an individual in government, which absolutely would require a trial after investigation, anything that government does is subject to suspicion and should require proof of no wrongdoing at all times.
Common sense stuff, especially with DOGE uncovering the waste and fraud in our government, but I think most people have the same mindset as the student in the argument. They think that the government is also innocent until proven guilty.
The thing to realize about the government is that it's not a citizen of the United States, and thus isn't subject to the same rights as we are. In fact, the government doesn't technically have any rights, it has allowances as agreed upon by the people of the United States of America. It has certain powers, to be sure, but these powers can be increased, decreased, or eliminated as the people see fit.
As you can see, this is exactly what's happening with DOGE. The people demanded a reduction in government power and a removal of waste, and that's exactly what's happening. Even as the Democrats and leftists cry foul, the government is losing its power.
There is a simple truth buried here.
If a government is unable or unwilling to reveal how it's using the money it takes from us with the threat of punishment for not giving up, then it's not our government. It may act unethically (which ours has) while utilizing our taxpayer dollars and while that is condemnable of the government to do so, it's only able to do so because the people allowed it.
To be clear, most of the people are like the student in the video above. They have no idea what's happening with our money. To be sure, even the politically tuned-in are just finding out the extent of it ourselves. This should really be a wake-up call for the for a cultural realignment in terms of how we view the government. As the student indicated, the government is viewed as an entity with its own wants, needs, ambitions, and aims. They see its fallibility as human, and think it should receive the same rights as a human would.
But it's not a person. In fact, government is often times a necessary evil, born out of a need to inhibit the worst impulses of man, whether those impulses be foreign or domestic. It is a system necessary for civilization to happen in an imperfect world, but it's the fact that we have an imperfect world that the system we create to curb is itself imperfect, and thus needs to be monitored, audited, and sometimes destroyed, at least in part so as not to have to be destroyed in its totality.
We're seeing a lot of tear-soaked videos from people online talking about how they lost their government job, and endless articles talking about how the cutbacks Trump is doing are disrupting the government.
Yes. It's unfortunate that people are getting caught up in the business of reducing the government, but this reducing the size of government is necessary if we're to remain a free and fair country. The left's attempt at making those whose government jobs were terminated the "face" of the government is a trick no one should fall for. Government is not a person or a people, and it should not be treated as such.
Going forward, our attitude toward our government should be classified as "cold." It needs to produce positive results and continue to show evidence of its work. It should, at all times, be accountable for its own actions, complete with detailed lists of actions and spending up-to-the-minute.
The moment is stops thinking it should have to account for its actions to us is the moment it's up to us to reign it back in with prejudice.
The government is not our friend. It's not our provider. It's our servant. One that we pay handsomely to operate on our behalf, and we should act like we are its masters.
