Glenn opened the radio program this morning with a flashback to 1975, playing some eerily germane audio from John Wayne about liberalism in America.
“You know, I got up early this morning. I was up at about 4:30 this morning. I couldn't sleep. I decided to get up and, God help me, exercise. I thought I'd try exercise for a day and if that didn't make me feel better, I'm going to start drinking again. It didn't work. I'm going to start drinking again,” Glenn joked. “I just hate all of the stupid people around the rest of the country nowhere near my life. You know what I mean? I just, I can't take the people in Washington anymore. I want to go back up to the farm and just hang out with my cows and people who make sense, and my cows make more sense than the people in Washington do.”
While Glenn was ‘exercising’ bright and early this morning, he found the story with excerpts from a 1975 interview between Tony Macklin and Wayne on TheBlaze. His words, which are nearly 40 years old, sound like they could have been uttered today, as Wayne digs into liberal political tactics and fiscal policies.
(Content Warning: Perhaps unsurprisingly, a bit of salty language ahead)
“That could have been recorded yesterday,” Pat said. “Amazing.”
“Yeah. I was working out this morning, and I heard that and I thought: That's everything that I want somebody to say. That's everything I want somebody to say. You know, I've listened to people from all walks of life, and then I decide what I want to believe. And they go off and they decide what they want to believe. That's who Americans are. That's who we've always been,” Glenn said. “But, as he says, some son of a bitch is out there and they want to make the decision on what you think and then, because they control the press and control the media and control culture, they'll go out and they'll try to make you into something that you're not.”
Yesterday, Glenn talked about the research done by a Yale law professor, Dan Kahn, who much to his surprise discovered the TEA Party was a lot brighter than he expected. Kahn candidly owned up to his misjudgments, but many people today are not nearly as open-minded.
“Look what they tried to do to, you know, conservatives. They try to make us look stupid. And Stu just showed yesterday a research paper that came out of Yale that shows the TEA Party have a better grasp of scientific knowledge than the average person does,” Glenn explained. “[The] researcher at Yale said ‘I was surprised’ and then did the right thing and said, ‘I guess I have to change my opinion on this. I expected to find one thing. I found something exactly the opposite. And so I have to change my opinion.’ But that's not going to happen with most people.”
Whether it be Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s nanny policies in New York City or Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move Campaign, the government is trying to dictate people’s lives. As Wayne explained so bluntly, you cannot legislate people’s morality.
“So we keep trying to change the laws,” Glenn said. “Now, this is [1975]. Think of this. He's saying as communication gets better, you're going to be able to show people where people are hurting, and people will help because that's who we are. That's who we always have been. And we'll go out and we'll help, and that's true.”
With 75,000 cows dead in South Dakota after a record-setting blizzard, the ranchers in that area are hurting. But, as Glenn has heard from several of his listeners who have called in from the region, these people may be down, but they are not looking for a government handout.
“I got a letter from the guy who runs a few of the cows for me [on my ranch]. He helps me on the farm… making sure the cows don't starve to death because I'd have no idea, you know. And he wrote to me last night and he said, ‘You know, the people up in South Dakota, Glenn, they don't want all of these handouts. They don't want the government coming in when they lost so many cattle.’ Cattle are expensive. Now, here's a guy in a small little town. He said, ‘Glenn, I want to talk to you because we've been talking about it as neighbors, and maybe all of us will get together and we can send some of our cows up.’ And he said, ‘I know this would work if you could just get the word out. I know there'd be a lot of ranchers out there that would donate a cow. And they would replenish the stock for them,’” Glenn explained. “That's what John Wayne was talking about. He said, ‘With a voice like yours, we could get the word out.’ That's what John Wayne was saying. As communication gets better, we can change things. As communication gets better, then all of a sudden people will help because that's who we are.”
It is really easy to listen to the narrative of this Administration, to listen to the narrative of the media and feel discouraged. The ‘us against them’ mentality of hatred and divisiveness is a tactic of the left seeks to break the sprit that Wayne speaks of. But Glenn believes there is hope.
“They want you to be angry. They want you to feel uncomfortable. They want to punish. But that's not who we are,” Glenn concluded. “Well, we have hope. At the first opportunity, you throw that out. It's like fish. They bite on it. That is who we are. Hope. People that want to believe that there are good people out there, and there are.”