Burlison talks to students, citizens about 'getting in the way to get things done'

At Missouri State University's Glass Hall Thursday night, Rep. Eric Burlison shared how he went from listening to Rush Limbaugh in an office cubicle to sitting on the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability in Washington D.C. The event was hosted by the Missouri State chapter of Turning Point USA, an organization that encourages advocacy among conservative students.

A self-proclaimed "computer nerd," Burlison described his life during the dot-com boom like the 1999 movie "Office Space": hours spent in a cubicle with water cooler talk and bathroom breaks being the highlights of his days. The talk radio Burlison listened to did more than help him pass the time; it inspired him.

"As someone who was watching the decline of the country, I was getting as frustrated as anybody, so I decided, 'What am I going to do about it?' So I got involved," Burlison said.

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In the Missouri legislature, Burlison said he found success by refusing attempts to moderate his conservative values and by "getting in the way to get things done," such as how he attached his Constitutional carry amendment onto a bill in order to get it talked about and eventually passed.

"Now today, you don't need government's permission, you don't need to get trained to execute a right that was already granted to you in the Constitution," Burlison said.

Now representing Missouri's 7th district in the House of Representatives, Burlison also offered his opinions on the current presidential administration and his goals for his term.

"Joe Biden has taken our country and turned it into a hellhole," Burlison said, citing spending and increased regulations on natural resources, which he said causes the nation to rely more on foreign resources. " ... He sold out our country and we've got to take a stand against him."

Burlison also claims that the Biden administration has been "weaponizing federal government against political opponents," because the administration knew and approved of the FBI's August 2022 search of Mar-A-Lago and through the FBI's close coordination with Twitter.

"This is something you should be mad about," Burlison said. "It's my fight now, but it's going to be your fight in the future. This is going to be your fight until you die."

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Rather than send letters to asking for funding, Burlison sent 270 letters to committee chairs identifying programs his team felt could be cut to reduce spending.

"My team for three months researched all the places in the federal budgets that are complete wastes: Areas where the Biden administration has taken good programs and turned them 'woke,'" Burlison said. "Programs that generate more social justice warriors."

Among those programs, Burlison said, was a $60 million item funding the World Economic Forum, "an event in Davos where a bunch of Illuminati billionaires fly in on their private jets and eat caviar, and then want to plan the future for society where we'll all be eating crickets."

Burlison closed his talk by taking questions from the audience. One member asked why young people today have the idea that "socialism is awesome." Burlison said it was due to public schools, and gave the example of free school lunches as how "something good can go in a bad direction."

"Every kid gets free food at school. In doing that, there's something that's being lost with a parent being engaged, right? Because as a parent, we decided we're sending our kids to school, they're not buying the hot meal. We're going to do it in the mornings; it's something we do as a family. I don't care if you can get a free lunch at school; you're taking something from home with you. It's some connection they have. It's also sending a message to your kid that you're not dependent on (the school), we are providing for you. They're not your end-all, be-all. But the public schools want to be the end-all, be-all."

The pandemic provision that made lunch free for all Missouri students ended in summer 2022. According to the 2021-2022 Missouri Report Card, 46% of Springfield Public Schools students qualify for free or reduced lunch. In the state, 42% qualify for free or reduced lunch.

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Burlison talks goals, strategy with Turning Point USA MSU chapter