Glenn interviews Bishop E.W. Jackson

Fans of TheBlaze will remember the video of Bishop E.W. Jackson calling for African Americans to end their slavish devotion to the the Democratic Party. Glenn interviewed Bishop Jackson on this morning's radio show.

Read the transcript of their interview below:

GLENN: Pat and I found a video that most people have not seen of a guy, a pastor in Virginia that is one of the biggest truth‑tellers I've ever seen, one of the bravest guys I've ever seen. I mean, and we were trying to put it in the machine and it's like, I don't know, ten minutes or something

PAT: It's pretty long, yeah, four or five at least.

GLENN: We tried to put it in the machine and we were just trying to put sound bites in it and we couldn't stop it because we were like, no, you can't stop it there. I mean, I hate to start playing it because it's so impossible to stop because you're like, oh, my gosh, somebody's actually saying that.

PAT: That's another great point.

GLENN: That's another great point, I can't believe this guy's saying it. Here's just a little bit of it.

VOICE: My name is bishop E. W. Jackson, chairman of Ministers Taking a Stand with a message to Christians in the black community. It is time to end the slavish devotion to the Democrat Party. They have insulted us, used us, and manipulated us. They have saturated the black community with ridiculous lies. Unless we support the Democrat Party, we will be returned to slavery. We will be robbed of voting rights. The Martin Luther King holiday will be repealed. They think we are stupid and that these lies will hold us captive, while they violate everything we believe as Christians. The Democrat Party has created an unholy alliance between certain so‑called civil rights leaders and Planned Parenthood, which has killed unborn black babies by the tens of millions. Planned Parenthood has been far more lethal to black lives than the KKK ever was.

PAT: Wow.

VOICE: And the Democrat Party and their black civil rights ‑‑

[ OVERLAPPING SPEAKERS ].

GLENN: It's hard to stop because it just keeps going and going and going and he just takes them all apart. Bishop E. W. Jackson is with us now on the phone from Virginia. His website is standAmerica.us. Bishop, how are you, sir?

BISHOP JACKSON: I'm doing great, Glenn. And first of all, let me just say thank you for having me on and let me say that my wife and I and most of our friends are very big fans of yours and we want to express our gratitude for all that you have done to help wake this country up. God bless you for it. And also I want to bring you greetings from a mutual friend of yours, Lieutenant General Jerry Boykin.

GLENN: Oh, yeah.

BISHOP JACKSON: I told him I was going ton to be on. So he told me, well, don't mess up.

GLENN: He's a good man. Have we met before?

BISHOP JACKSON: No, we have not. I wanted to come to your ministers convention in D.C.

GLENN: Yes.

BISHOP JACKSON: And my schedule didn't permit it. So we have not had a chance to meet, no.

GLENN: Well, you are ‑‑ you must be despised by a great many some in the underworld.

BISHOP JACKSON: I've got a few detractors, yes.

GLENN: I bet you do.

PAT: You can't say the things you say and not just be vilified. I mean, because with, what is it right now? 94% of the African‑American populus being in favor of voting for this guy again, they've got to just tear you apart every time you say this kind of stuff.

GLENN: And it's not even about Barack Obama. It is about the progressive policies.

PAT: Yeah.

GLENN: That have destroyed ‑‑ I mean, I can't believe Planned Parenthood ‑‑ bishop, how is Planned Parenthood not known in the African‑American community for exactly what it is and what it was, a death sentence to the black community. That's what it was designed to be.

PAT: Yeah, founded for that.

BISHOP JACKSON: And Glenn, that's why I intentionally did not mention Barack Obama explicitly in that tape because I was trying to help people to see ideas and get away from the personality and just look at what the principles are that they are following and how much they are in discordance with what people in the church community at least claim to believe. And frankly I mean, yeah, I just got finished reading an e‑mail just before coming on the program, one of those nasty e‑mails that you get calling me an Uncle Tom, saying that I'm an antigay hero, you know, this and that. But, you know, I'm getting a tremendously positive response from many in the black community and I think this may be the beginning of a fissure and the end of that slavish devotion as I referred to it to the Democrat Party.

GLENN: I tell you, I just read Booker T. Washington's book, Up From Slavery just recently in the last year. And between him and Frederick Douglass, every American but especially every black American should read Booker T. Washington and Frederick Douglass. These guys were amazing and they talked about this, as you called it, slavish devotion to a party or to the government and said exactly what would happen and it has all happened. And that's why I think so many real black heroes have been erased from history.

BISHOP JACKSON: And, you know, Glenn, that's one of the reasons why I will not be silent because I believe in humanity. I believe in people. I believe in members of the black community that they are full of potential and beauty and God‑given gifts. And what I see is a party and a progressive movement that is robbing them of their vision and robbing them of their dreams and their vision and I want to awaken them to the sense that, there's more for you than that. God has something more for you than that. Don't accept this dependence and this sort of sycophancy that says we'll give you a few crumbs, all you've got to do is ignore your bidding and ignore those principles you believe in because after all, if you don't those boogie men are out there and they are going to get you.

GLENN: That's what I want to ask you about because African‑Americans, if it wasn't for the African‑American and the Hispanic in California, Prop 8 would ‑‑ I mean would have ‑‑ would have gay marriage. You'd have gay marriage in California. And because people actually came out and said, "No, I don't believe in that, and they were the minorities, it failed. Now, tell me how do you get people to ‑‑ who are religious, who are decent people just completely to divorce themselves of those principles in the voting booth? Because it's like Harry Reid: I'm a Mormon; he's a Mormon. I don't understand, and I'm sure he doesn't understand me, but I don't understand how he can be for the things that he is and do some of the things that he does and still say that he's, you know, in good standing with the scriptures because it doesn't work.

BISHOP JACKSON: Well, you know, Glenn, there's a saying that I've heard among ministers: Some are called and some were sent and some just got up and went. And I think some of the people who claim to be Mormon or claim to be this or claim to be that, that's all they're doing. They're just claiming. It's a hit thing. It's something they inherited but they don't believe it or feel it in their hearts. But with the black community particularly, there are two things I think that have led to this. One is fear. They've been manipulated by fear. You know, the fear that they are going to get you, they're out there, they're out there to get. I mean, Glenn, you know, I have watched your program. I've had people say to me, "Well, somebody ‑‑ they told me that Glenn Beck is a racist." And then I started watching his program. I said, I want to see this guy, I want to see is he ‑‑ and then they started, "Well, you know, I didn't hear him say anything racist." And then I watched a little bit more and they said, "Well, wait a minute, where is that coming from?" It's a lie intended to manipulate people. And then the second thing is bad leadership. When you've got the likes of Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, some of these civil rights leaders who are interested in promoting racial division and hostility and a sense of victimization in order to further their own careers, then you get people listening to the wrong kind of leadership, and to me bad leadership produces bad results.

GLENN: Do you feel ‑‑ first of all, I may ‑‑ I have firm reliance on the protection of divine providence. I don't believe that God is neutral in the affairs of man or the freedom of man, and if America falls, the whole world falls. I mean, there's nobody to stand for freedom.

BISHOP JACKSON: I agree.

GLENN: And it will be for gen ‑‑ it will be generational darkness. And I have had an overwhelming sense that His will will be done and that there are enough people that are standing up that are good, that are ‑‑ actually I shouldn't say standing up. Are humbling themselves to not have God on their side, which he doesn't do, but to be ‑‑ for us to move to be on his side. And I think there's ‑‑ I think we're on the threshold of miracles and profound change. Do you feel that way?

BISHOP JACKSON: Glenn, to me that is the genius of America. It is not just our Constitution or Declaration. It's the sense that we are not a mere historical happenstance but we are a providential nation, that the favor of God has been on us.

GLENN: If we're humble. If we're humble.

BISHOP JACKSON: That's right. That's right. And, of course, there are people who want to end that. They want to do ‑‑ you know, we saw it in the Democrat Party's convention, you know, get God out of the platform. Who needs God. And you're right, I do sense an awakening happening in America. It's slow, but I speak in black churches and white churches and in black churches particularly where people might not expect it, I get an overwhelmingly positive response. I've had people come up to me and say, you know, you woke me up. And here again, I think it's God moving. I don't think it's attributable to me as a person but rather to God moving on people's hearts and saying, okay, there are enough of you standing up; I'm going to move in your behalf and I agree with you, Glenn. I think God is going to do some marvelous things to help bring this nation back to Him.

GLENN: So how do we heal the division? Because I think we're at the beginning of real problems. The president just said it on Univision a couple of weeks ago. He said I realize you can't change Washington from the inside. You have to change it from the outside. And they are only good, really these guys are only really good at stirring up trouble and being the dissent. They are not good at governing. They are good at tearing things apart and causing division. How do we as people bring people together and when you've got the media and everybody else saying what they say about us and Mitt Romney and you and everybody else, how do we break that and bring people together?

BISHOP JACKSON: Well, obviously a lot of prayer. And I know you're a man who believes in prayer. And secondly I would say to people, when I speak to groups and they say, well, how do I bridge that gap? I know black people ‑‑ I'm white, I know black people but I'm afraid to approach them. And I said, you know, it needs to be on a very personal level and say, look, you know me. We've known ‑‑ do you think I'm against you? Do you think I want to hurt you? Do you think I'm out to get you? Can you at least concede that I have ideals and principles that matter to me, that have nothing to do with race? I love you. I care about you. I'm interested in you. And I think my view is that the people whose hearts are open to truth will respond.

Now, there are some people, as I'm sure you know, I don't care what you do. You're never going to reach them.

GLENN: Never going to reach them.

BISHOP JACKSON: They are hardened in their views. But I find a lot of Americans' hearts are very open.

GLENN: What is going to happen in Virginia?

BISHOP JACKSON: That's a good question. I believe that Mitt Romney is going to win and I'm working very hard to see to it that that happens and I believe that George Allen who is running against Tim Kaine, of course Tim Kaine is an Obama clone, an Obama, he was actually recruited by Obama to run. I believe that George Allen will prevail over him, although Mitt Romney is doing better right now than George Allen is, but I trust that we will end up having Mitt Romney win in Virginia and having George Allen win in Virginia. So that's my take.

GLENN: Do you think that people need a leader to be able to ‑‑ you know, for instance, the Tea Party doesn't have a leader and it just became this spontaneous movement. Do you think people need a leader in the black community to see? I mean, because they must know that things have gotten much worse for the African‑American in the last four years, and I just read a study that shows that African‑Americans feel as though it is harder for them to speak out now and be who they want to be than when it was ‑‑ than what it was before the president got into office. And I think when it comes to race, I think we all feel that way. He was supposed to heal us. He did the opposite. I am much less likely to feel comfortable speaking to an African‑American or an African‑American group because of all the things that have been said that people like me believe, et cetera, et cetera. And I think there are a lot of African‑Americans that will say I ‑‑ especially if they're conservative, "I don't feel comfortable speaking out and saying anything because my own community will attack me he or the system will attack me." At what point does that just break down? Because in the white community I think people are just like, "Oh, I'm a racist? Really? Move on. Heard it before. It's not who I am." At what point does that break?

BISHOP JACKSON: Yeah, I had the same hope, Glenn, but how can a good ‑‑ how can a bad tree bear good fruit? And I realize that was probably a quixotic hope. But with regard to leadership, no, I don't think that the black community needs a leader, but I do think there is always a need for leadership. I mean, you know, you provide leadership. Because for me leadership is influence. It is simply trying to open people up to the truth and trying to help them see. If not trying to control them or make decisions for them but trying to expose them to the truth and trying to be a positive influencer. And I think that those, that kind of leadership is always needed. It's there, but I think people have been cowed into not speaking up. And I'm hoping that one of the influences that my video and other things that we're doing has is to cause people to say, "You know what? I'm going to stand up. I'm going to speak up. I agree with Bishop Jackson. I'm not going to be silent about this and I'll let God take care of me."

GLENN: Well, bishop, I hope we get a chance to meet soon. I am ‑‑ from what I know of you, I'm very impressed. I know you have a new book coming out soon. Right? You have a new one coming?

BISHOP JACKSON: Yes, I do. Called America The Beautiful: Reflections of a Patriot Descended from Slaves, yes.

GLENN: Are you from slave family?

BISHOP JACKSON: As a matter of fact, yes, my great‑grandparents Gabriel and Eliza Jackson were slaves and then share croppers in Orange County, Virginia. I date my lineage back at least as far as year before George Washington was born. We believe it goes back before that.

GLENN: Wow.

BISHOP JACKSON: By the way, George Washington is my favorite president, just wanted you to know. I read the book you recommended. That was the second biography I read about him. I love George Washington. But at any rate, yes, yes, my ‑‑ I am a direct descendant. My grandfather was not born in slavery but his parents were and they moved out of Virginia. My grandfather did and ultimately migrated to Pennsylvania where I was born. But yes. And look, and I tell people, you know, I'm proud of that because only in America do we have a country built on the truth that God gave us all humanity the right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. So the seed of the destruction of slavery unlike any place else on the Earth was built into our founding framework.

GLENN: You, sir, are a ‑‑ you, sir, are a bright spot, I can guarantee you, on the other side of the veil. Your slave ancestors are saying free at last, free at last. You are a remarkable story and a ‑‑ one of the freest men I know. God bless you. Thank you very much.

BISHOP JACKSON: God bless you, Glenn. Thank you.

GLENN: We'll talk to you. His website is standAmerica.us. StandAmerica.us. Bishop Jackson.

A Sharia enclave is quietly taking root in America. It's time to wake up.

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Sharia-based projects like the Meadow in Texas show how political Islam grows quietly, counting on Americans to stay silent while an incompatible legal system takes root.

Apolitical system completely incompatible with the Constitution is gaining ground in the United States, and we are pretending it is not happening.

Sharia — the legal and political framework of Islam — is being woven into developments, institutions, and neighborhoods, including a massive project in Texas. And the consequences will be enormous if we continue to look the other way.

This is the contradiction at the heart of political Islam: It claims universal authority while insisting its harshest rules will never be enforced here. That promise does not stand up to scrutiny. It never has.

Before we can have an honest debate, we’d better understand what Sharia represents. Sharia is not simply a set of religious rules about prayer or diet. It is a comprehensive legal and political structure that governs marriage, finance, criminal penalties, and civic life. It is a parallel system that claims supremacy wherever it takes hold.

This is where the distinction matters. Many Muslims in America want nothing to do with Sharia governance. They came here precisely because they lived under it. But political Islam — the movement that seeks to implement Sharia as law — is not the same as personal religious belief.

It is a political ideology with global ambitions, much like communism. Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently warned that Islamist movements do not seek peaceful coexistence with the West. They seek dominance. History backs him up.

How Sharia arrives

Political Islam does not begin with dramatic declarations. It starts quietly, through enclaves that operate by their own rules. That is why the development once called EPIC City — now rebranded as the Meadow — is so concerning. Early plans framed it as a Muslim-only community built around a mega-mosque and governed by Sharia-compliant financing. After state investigations were conducted, the branding changed, but the underlying intent remained the same.

Developers have openly described practices designed to keep non-Muslims out, using fees and ownership structures to create de facto religious exclusivity. This is not assimilation. It is the construction of a parallel society within a constitutional republic.

The warning from those who have lived under it

Years ago, local imams in Texas told me, without hesitation, that certain Sharia punishments “just work.” They spoke about cutting off hands for theft, stoning adulterers, and maintaining separate standards of testimony for men and women. They insisted it was logical and effective while insisting they would never attempt to implement it in Texas.

But when pressed, they could not explain why a system they consider divinely mandated would suddenly stop applying once someone crossed a border.

This is the contradiction at the heart of political Islam: It claims universal authority while insisting its harshest rules will never be enforced here. That promise does not stand up to scrutiny. It never has.

AASHISH KIPHAYET / Contributor | Getty Images

America is vulnerable

Europe is already showing us where this road leads. No-go zones, parallel courts, political intimidation, and clerics preaching supremacy have taken root across major cities.

America’s strength has always come from its melting pot, but assimilation requires boundaries. It requires insisting that the Constitution, not religious law, is the supreme authority on this soil.

Yet we are becoming complacent, even fearful, about saying so. We mistake silence for tolerance. We mistake avoidance for fairness. Meanwhile, political Islam views this hesitation as weakness.

Religious freedom is one of America’s greatest gifts. Muslims may worship freely here, as they should. But political Islam must not be permitted to plant a flag on American soil. The Constitution cannot coexist with a system that denies equal rights, restricts speech, subordinates women, and places clerical authority above civil law.

Wake up before it is too late

Projects like the Meadow are not isolated. They are test runs, footholds, proofs of concept. Political Islam operates with patience. It advances through demographic growth, legal ambiguity, and cultural hesitation — and it counts on Americans being too polite, too distracted, or too afraid to confront it.

We cannot afford that luxury. If we fail to defend the principles that make this country free, we will one day find ourselves asking how a parallel system gained power right in front of us. The answer will be simple: We looked away.

The time to draw boundaries and to speak honestly is now. The time to defend the Constitution as the supreme law of the land is now. Act while there is still time.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Why do Americans feel so empty?

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Anxiety, anger, and chronic dissatisfaction signal a country searching for meaning. Without truth and purpose, politics becomes a dangerous substitute for identity.

We have built a world overflowing with noise, convenience, and endless choice, yet something essential has slipped out of reach. You can sense it in the restless mood of the country, the anxiety among young people who cannot explain why they feel empty, in the angry confusion that dominates our politics.

We have more wealth than any nation in history, but the heart of the culture feels strangely malnourished. Before we can debate debt or elections, we must confront the reality that we created a world of things, but not a world of purpose.

You cannot survive a crisis you refuse to name, and you cannot rebuild a world whose foundations you no longer understand.

What we are living through is not just economic or political dysfunction. It is the vacuum that appears when a civilization mistakes abundance for meaning.

Modern life is stuffed with everything except what the human soul actually needs. We built systems to make life faster, easier, and more efficient — and then wondered why those systems cannot teach our children who they are, why they matter, or what is worth living for.

We tell the next generation to chase success, influence, and wealth, turning childhood into branding. We ask kids what they want to do, not who they want to be. We build a world wired for dopamine rather than dignity, and then we wonder why so many people feel unmoored.

When everything is curated, optimized, and delivered at the push of a button, the question “what is my life for?” gets lost in the static.

The crisis beneath the headlines

It is not just the young who feel this crisis. Every part of our society is straining under the weight of meaninglessness.

Look at the debt cycle — the mathematical fate no civilization has ever escaped once it crosses a threshold that we seem to have already blown by. While ordinary families feel the pressure, our leaders respond with distraction, with denial, or by rewriting the very history that could have warned us.

You cannot survive a crisis you refuse to name, and you cannot rebuild a world whose foundations you no longer understand.

We have entered a cultural moment where the noise is so loud that it drowns out the simplest truths. We are living in a country that no longer knows how to hear itself think.

So people go searching. Some drift toward the false promise of socialism, some toward the empty thrill of rebellion. Some simply check out. When a culture forgets what gives life meaning, it becomes vulnerable to every ideology that offers a quick answer.

The quiet return of meaning

And yet, quietly, something else is happening. Beneath the frustration and cynicism, many Americans are recognizing that meaning does not come from what we own, but from what we honor. It does not rise from success, but from virtue. It does not emerge from noise, but from the small, sacred things that modern life has pushed to the margins — the home, the table, the duty you fulfill, the person you help when no one is watching.

The danger is assuming that this rediscovery happens on its own. It does not.

Reorientation requires intention. It requires rebuilding the habits and virtues that once held us together. It requires telling the truth about our history instead of rewriting it to fit today’s narratives. And it requires acknowledging what has been erased: that meaning is inseparable from God’s presence in a nation’s life.

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Where renewal begins

We have built a world without stillness, and then we wondered why no one can hear the questions that matter. Those questions remain, whether we acknowledge them or not. They do not disappear just because we drown them in entertainment or noise. They wait for us, and the longer we ignore them, the more disoriented we become.

Meaning is still available. It is found in rebuilding the smallest, most human spaces — the places that cannot be digitized, globalized, or automated. The home. The family. The community.

These are the daily virtues that do not trend on social media, but that hold a civilization upright. If we want to repair this country, we begin there, exactly where every durable civilization has always begun: one virtue at a time, one tradition at a time, one generation at a time.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

The Bubba Effect erupts as America’s power brokers go rogue

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When institutions betray the public’s trust, the country splits, and the spiral is hard to stop.

Something drastic is happening in American life. Headlines that should leave us stunned barely register anymore. Stories that once would have united the country instead dissolve into silence or shrugs.

It is not apathy exactly. It is something deeper — a growing belief that the people in charge either cannot or will not fix what is broken.

When people feel ignored or betrayed, they will align with anyone who appears willing to fight on their behalf.

I call this response the Bubba effect. It describes what happens when institutions lose so much public trust that “Bubba,” the average American minding his own business, finally throws his hands up and says, “Fine. I will handle it myself.” Not because he wants to, but because the system that was supposed to protect him now feels indifferent, corrupt, or openly hostile.

The Bubba effect is not a political movement. It is a survival instinct.

What triggers the Bubba effect

We are watching the triggers unfold in real time. When members of Congress publicly encourage active duty troops to disregard orders from the commander in chief, that is not a political squabble. When a federal judge quietly rewrites the rules so one branch of government can secretly surveil another, that is not normal. That is how republics fall. Yet these stories glided across the news cycle without urgency, without consequence, without explanation.

When the American people see the leadership class shrug, they conclude — correctly — that no one is steering the ship.

This is how the Bubba effect spreads. It is not just individuals resisting authority. It is sheriffs refusing to enforce new policies, school boards ignoring state mandates, entire communities saying, “We do not believe you anymore.” It becomes institutional, cultural, national.

A country cracking from the inside

This effect can be seen in Dearborn, Michigan. In the rise of fringe voices like Nick Fuentes. In the Epstein scandal, where powerful people could not seem to locate a single accountable adult. These stories are different in content but identical in message: The system protects itself, not you.

When people feel ignored or betrayed, they will align with anyone who appears willing to fight on their behalf. That does not mean they suddenly agree with everything that person says. It means they feel abandoned by the institutions that were supposed to be trustworthy.

The Bubba effect is what fills that vacuum.

The dangers of a faithless system

A republic cannot survive without credibility. Congress cannot oversee intelligence agencies if it refuses to discipline its own members. The military cannot remain apolitical if its chain of command becomes optional. The judiciary cannot defend the Constitution while inventing loopholes that erase the separation of powers.

History shows that once a nation militarizes politics, normalizes constitutional shortcuts, or allows government agencies to operate without scrutiny, it does not return to equilibrium peacefully. Something will give.

The question is what — and when.

The responsibility now belongs to us

In a healthy country, this is where the media steps in. This is where universities, pastors, journalists, and cultural leaders pause the outrage machine and explain what is at stake. But today, too many see themselves not as guardians of the republic, but of ideology. Their first loyalty is to narrative, not truth.

The founders never trusted the press more than the public. They trusted citizens who understood their rights, lived their responsibilities, and demanded accountability. That is the antidote to the Bubba effect — not rage, but citizenship.

How to respond without breaking ourselves

Do not riot. Do not withdraw. Do not cheer on destruction just because you dislike the target. That is how nations lose themselves. Instead, demand transparency. Call your representatives. Insist on consequences. Refuse to normalize constitutional violations simply because “everyone does it.” If you expect nothing, you will get nothing.

Do not hand your voice to the loudest warrior simply because he is swinging a bat at the establishment. You do not beat corruption by joining a different version of it. You beat it by modeling the country you want to preserve: principled, accountable, rooted in truth.

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Every republic reaches a moment when historians will later say, “That was the warning.” We are living in ours. But warnings are gifts if they are recognized. Institutions bend. People fail. The Constitution can recover — if enough Americans still know and cherish it.

It does not take a majority. Twenty percent of the country — awake, educated, and courageous — can reset the system. It has happened before. It can happen again.

Wake up. Stand up. Demand integrity — from leaders, from institutions, and from yourself. Because the Bubba effect will not end until Americans reclaim the duty that has always belonged to them: preserving the republic for the next generation.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Warning: Stop letting TikTok activists think for you

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Bad-faith attacks on Israel and AIPAC warp every debate. Real answers emerge only when people set aside scripts and ask what serves America’s long-term interests.

The search for truth has always required something very much in short supply these days: honesty. Not performative questions, not scripted outrage, not whatever happens to be trending on TikTok, but real curiosity.

Some issues, often focused on foreign aid, AIPAC, or Israel, have become hotbeds of debate and disagreement. Before we jump into those debates, however, we must return to a simpler, more important issue: honest questioning. Without it, nothing in these debates matters.

Ask questions because you want the truth, not because you want a target.

The phrase “just asking questions” has re-entered the zeitgeist, and that’s fine. We should always question power. But too many of those questions feel preloaded with someone else’s answer. If the goal is truth, then the questions should come from a sincere desire to understand, not from a hunt for a villain.

Honest desire for truth is the only foundation that can support a real conversation about these issues.

Truth-seeking is real work

Right now, plenty of people are not seeking the truth at all. They are repeating something they heard from a politician on cable news or from a stranger on TikTok who has never opened a history book. That is not a search for answers. That is simply outsourcing your own thought.

If you want the truth, you need to work for it. You cannot treat the world like a Marvel movie where the good guy appears in a cape and the villain hisses on command. Real life does not give you a neat script with the moral wrapped up in two hours.

But that is how people are approaching politics now. They want the oppressed and the oppressor, the heroic underdog and the cartoon villain. They embrace this fantastical framing because it is easier than wrestling with reality.

This framing took root in the 1960s when the left rebuilt its worldview around colonizers and the colonized. Overnight, Zionism was recast as imperialism. Suddenly, every conflict had to fit the same script. Today’s young activists are just recycling the same narrative with updated graphics. Everything becomes a morality play. No nuance, no context, just the comforting clarity of heroes and villains.

Bad-faith questions

This same mindset is fueling the sudden obsession with Israel, and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee in particular. You hear it from members of Congress and activists alike: AIPAC pulls the strings, AIPAC controls the government, AIPAC should register as a foreign agent under the Foreign Agents Registration Act. The questions are dramatic, but are they being asked in good faith?

FARA is clear. The standard is whether an individual or group acts under the direction or control of a foreign government. AIPAC simply does not qualify.

Here is a detail conveniently left out of these arguments: Dozens of domestic organizations — Armenian, Cuban, Irish, Turkish — lobby Congress on behalf of other countries. None of them registers under FARA because — like AIPAC — they are independent, domestic organizations.

If someone has a sincere problem with the structure of foreign lobbying, fair enough. Let us have that conversation. But singling out AIPAC alone is not a search for truth. It is bias dressed up as bravery.

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If someone wants to question foreign aid to Israel, fine. Let’s have that debate. But let’s ask the right questions. The issue is not the size of the package but whether the aid advances our interests. What does the United States gain? Does the investment strengthen our position in the region? How does it compare to what we give other nations? And do we examine those countries with the same intensity?

The real target

These questions reflect good-faith scrutiny. But narrowing the entire argument to one country or one dollar amount misses the larger problem. If someone objects to the way America handles foreign aid, the target is not Israel. The target is the system itself — an entrenched bureaucracy, poor transparency, and decades-old commitments that have never been re-examined. Those problems run through programs around the world.

If you want answers, you need to broaden the lens. You have to be willing to put aside the movie script and confront reality. You have to hold yourself to a simple rule: Ask questions because you want the truth, not because you want a target.

That is the only way this country ever gets clarity on foreign aid, influence, alliances, and our place in the world. Questioning is not just allowed. It is essential. But only if it is honest.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.