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Glenn's Show Prep

Former Progressive Caller Josh Reveals His Incredible Transformation After Reading 'Liars'

November 29, 2016
Lori Hanes

Writer

The truth will set you free. Tuesday on The Glenn Beck Program, listener Josh called from North Carolina to tell Glenn about the transformation he experienced after reading Liars: How Progressives Exploit Our Fears for Power and Control.

"I was a very, very progressive liberal, almost to the point of communism," Josh explained.

WATCH: Alternate Trailer for Glenn’s New Book Shows Wild Side of ‘Liars’

Glenn's latest book opened Josh's eyes and set him on a course of exploration that led to reading the U.S. Constitution, the Bible and Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged.

It also prompted him to learn more about this Glenn Beck guy.

On YouTube, Josh found a video from TheBlaze in which Glenn quoted one of his favorite phrases, found in a letter Thomas Jefferson wrote to Peter Carr:

Fix reason firmly in her seat, and question with boldness the very existence of God. For if there is a God, he must rather honest questioning over blindfolded fear.

"I will never forget that statement. Because that statement brought me to Christ. I was an atheist before that," Josh said.

Josh's remarkable transformation, his willingness to open-mindly explore new ideas and his discipline to do the actual research inspired Glenn.

"That gives me a lot of hope," he said.

Read below or watch the clip for answers to these powerful questions:

• Which story in Liars made Josh's jaw hit the floor?

• How vigorously would Josh have voted for Hillary Clinton this year?

• What about Josh's transformation made Glenn say Holy Cow?

• How many books has Josh read since August 15th?

• What book did Glenn advise Josh to read next?

Below is a rush transcript of this segment, it might contain errors:

GLENN: Let me go to Josh in North Carolina.

Hi, Josh, you're on the Glenn Beck Program.

CALLER: Good morning, Glenn.

GLENN: How are you, sir?

CALLER: I'm doing great.

I wanted to tell you a little -- I'll make it quick, but a little story.

GLENN: Okay.

CALLER: I -- a buddy of mine -- I -- let me start it this way: I was a very, very progressive liberal, almost to the point of communism.

GLENN: Wow.

CALLER: I believed everybody should be -- in the wage gap and all that kind of stuff. So a buddy of mine that I've known since I got out of the Army, he came to me one day and gave me your book -- one of your books.

GLENN: Which one?

CALLER: And he says -- he said, "You got to read this."

Liars.

GLENN: Okay.

CALLER: And he said, "You've got to read this book." And I said, "Oh, come on. Really?"

"No, you've got to read this book. You'll never believe some of the stuff that's in it."

So he told me the first chapter to go to. And it was in August. I can't remember to be honest, what chapter it was. But it was the part of the book where it talked about how they -- with Prohibition, and how they put --

GLENN: Oh, yeah.

CALLER: -- poison in the alcohol to find out the tracking routes of where it was going.

JEFFY: That's an amazing story.

GLENN: Yes.

CALLER: So I read that, and my jaw hit the floor. And I --

GLENN: You looked it up too, didn't you? You didn't believe me.

CALLER: I did. And I finished that book in three days. It was the most -- it was the most amazing book I've ever read. And I said, "I've got to do more research on this, and I've got to find out who this Glenn Beck guy is." So I went to YouTube.

GLENN: Oh, boy.

CALLER: And I searched your name and I found a video that you did on TheBlaze. I don't know how long it was. But you spoke to a guy that was an alcoholic, and you talked to him about some -- I forget who said it. It was to Peter Carr.

GLENN: Oh, yeah.

CALLER: And the statement was, "Set reason firmly in her seat, and question with boldness the very existence of God. For if there is a God, he must rather honest questioning over blind-folded fear." I will never forget that statement. Because that statement brought me to Christ. I was an atheist before that.

GLENN: Holy cow.

CALLER: And I will never, ever, ever --

GLENN: So you were a communist, an atheist?

CALLER: Yeah.

PAT: And how long ago was this, Josh?

GLENN: He said August.

CALLER: I got that book on August 15th of this year.

PAT: Of this year? Wow. That's --

CALLER: Yes. I voted for Barack Obama twice. I'm sorry, but I did.

PAT: Wow.

GLENN: Holy cow.

CALLER: And I would have voted for Hillary Clinton with vigor. However, I -- I pulled the lever for Evan McMullin this year.

PAT: Wow.

GLENN: You didn't even go --

CALLER: And I have never ever, ever --

GLENN: Oh, my gosh.

CALLER: I'm telling you -- I want to be as serious as I can with you, Glenn, because this is a dream of mine, to speak to you, since August. I have never, ever realized the difference -- I thought all conservatives hated me. I thought conservatism was complete hate, until I listened to you. Because I read that book, and I did research and I found out what the Blaze was. I don't go anywhere else for my news. I listen to TheBlaze every morning. I found out who Doc Thompson is. I listen to Doc Thompson.

PAT: That's great.

CALLER: I listen to you every single day. I got a subscription on TheBlaze now. I turned my life around because of your book.

GLENN: Wow. Josh. Josh, I want you to hang on for just a second.

JEFFY: That's fantastic.

PAT: Yeah, that's awesome.

GLENN: Wow. Thank you so much.

May I say one thing: Do not use TheBlaze as your only news source. Read everything you can. Question with boldness, even what we tell you.

[break]

GLENN: I've asked Josh in North Carolina to hold on because I think this is a fascinating story. A friend gave him a copy of my book that came out this year called Liars, which I think is a very, very powerful book to share with progressives. Because it's -- it's all history, and it takes you through and shows you the progressive movement, really at least some of the supplemental stuff that you can find online. It goes all the way back to Martin Luther. I mean --

PAT: And josh said he was progressive. He was an atheist. And this helped turn him around --

GLENN: Yeah, voted.

PAT: First of all, the open-mindedness to go from that to where he is now is just amazing. That's astounding.

GLENN: Amazing. Amazing. A lot of people won't do that --

PAT: No.

GLENN: -- because they guard what they believe.

PAT: Well, think about it, is there anything that could turn you to a progressive? I mean, I can't think of...

GLENN: If I lost my faith.

PAT: Yeah. Yes.

GLENN: So I would have to lose my faith -- because my faith teaches me that all men are created and are endowed by a creator with certain inalienable rights to live their life. I'd have to lose my faith.

PAT: Yes. They have agency. Yes.

GLENN: That everyone has a right to their agency and a right to screw their life up.

PAT: You'd really have to believe in force, right?

GLENN: Yes. You'd have to believe -- you'd, A, have to believe that rights don't come from God.

PAT: Uh-huh.

GLENN: And then you'd have to believe that global warming or, you know, people are so stupid that they're going to destroy everything.

PAT: So we have to fix this.

GLENN: So we have to fix this. We have a right to take away somebody else's right to fix that. That would change me.

PAT: Yeah.

GLENN: That's a tall hurdle.

PAT: That's a tall order.

GLENN: Yeah.

Josh.

CALLER: Yes, sir.

GLENN: So I'm curious. You read that one chapter. Then you went back and then you read the whole book, right?

CALLER: Yes, sir.

GLENN: And what was it that was challenging you? What was it that opened your eyes or made you say, "Wait a minute, if this is wrong, then maybe everything else I believe is wrong?" How did this happen?

CALLER: Well, first, it was the fact that -- I had always heard the statement of, I believe it was Stalin, that said, "In order to make an omelet, you got to crack a couple eggs."

GLENN: Yes.

CALLER: And I never really took that to heart, until I read your book.

And I realized that it was true that by hook or by crook, a progressive will get whatever they have to get done, done. And no matter what weight stands behind them or who stands in front of me, it doesn't matter.

And what you were talking about just a second ago, if I may -- I don't want to veer too far off.

But what you were talking about a second ago, about, you know, what would make you a progressive in your faith, the first question that came to my mind -- because I -- you know, when I read that book, I was awe-struck. And I said -- like, none of this fits without something making it so.

What I mean by that is, you can't have these rights if they didn't come from anywhere.

PAT: Uh-huh.

CALLER: So I read -- I said, "There's got to be somewhere to start." So I went and I got a pocket copy of the Constitution. And I said, "Let's start from the beginning."

GLENN: Jeez, Josh, do you realize how remarkable you are?

PAT: And rare.

GLENN: I mean, you are just so rare to, A, have the open mind, to, B, be willing to challenge the things that you hold dear. To see -- and then go do the actual work is remarkable.

CALLER: But see, the thing is, Glenn, communists don't hold those things dear. That that's the problem. That they don't know what to believe in. So they believe in nothing but the state. That's what I was. That's where I was. I had nothing to believe in, Glenn.

And then I said, "Okay. These rights come from a creator." And when I watched your video, I said, "I have to find that creator. I have to find where this all began."

And I went, and I grabbed my -- my uncle's Bible, went over to his house, and I said, "I want to read this." So I started in the beginning. And I challenged myself every day to read a chapter. And I couldn't stop.

PAT: Wow.

CALLER: And I've read all the way through the Old Testament. And I'm almost all the way through the Gospels. And I can't stop.

GLENN: Wow.

CALLER: And I can't stop. I now know that the state is not the Almighty. And I have something now that I can believe in, that's not going to -- that's not going to tax me into oblivion.

GLENN: Josh, I want to meet you some day. I want you to hold on. I want to get your name and address and everything else.

A, I'm going to send you an autographed copy of the book. I might send you some other books too, that are not necessarily mine, but that you should read. But I'm really impressed with you. Really impressed with you, Josh.

Congratulations.

CALLER: Thank you. Can I say one more thing, Glenn?

GLENN: Yes, sir.

CALLER: I appreciate all the time, thank you so much.

But there's one book that I read after all these books that has done the most for me, and it's kind of obscure. Not probably -- most people -- a lot of people have read it. Most probably haven't. It's Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand.

STU: A lot of reading, man.

JEFFY: No kidding.

GLENN: You went to Ayn Rand and Atlas Shrugged.

PAT: You've done some serious homework, wow.

GLENN: Do you have a life? Do you have a job?

CALLER: Yes. I have --

GLENN: How did you get through Atlas Shrugged --

PAT: The Bible.

GLENN: -- and the Bible?

PAT: Liars. Since August?

JEFFY: To be fair --

CALLER: I'm not all the way through the Bible.

JEFFY: Yeah, to be fair, he's not finished with the Bible yet.

PAT: That's true.

GLENN: Oh, yeah, I'm sorry. Just the Old Testament and most of the Gospel. Oh.

CALLER: Well, because -- and the reason is, is because I don't sleep.

GLENN: Right.

CALLER: But when I start something, there's a drive, a challenge to finish it.

GLENN: Holy cow, Josh, you and I are so much alike.

You remember, Pat, this is the way I was?

PAT: Uh-huh.

GLENN: Once I got onto it, I couldn't stop. I just couldn't stop.

You're right on Atlas Shrugged too. However, do yourself a favor, Josh, read Anthem. You are going to love Anthem, I will bet, until the very end. And when you read the last couple of pages, then try to put together what you're telling me about the rights coming from God and then Anthem. Because she's an atheist, and she has a very, very different point of view.

And I -- Anthem is one of my favorite stories. It's easy. It's not Atlas Shrugged. It's easy. It's a quick read. You could read it in a day. But it throws me every single time on the last -- the last page. And it's good mental gymnastics to do.

Josh, thank you very much. Hold on. I want to get your name and address and a way to contact you. I appreciate it.

PAT: Wow. That's a lot of work.

JEFFY: You aren't kidding.

PAT: In a few months. That's amazing.

GLENN: That gives me a lot of hope.

PAT: Yeah. That's great.

GLENN: That gives me a lot of hope.

Featured Image: The Glenn Beck Program

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

NOVA SAFO / Staff | Getty Images

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?

Mario Tama / Staff | Getty Images

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.

Harold M. Lambert / Contributor | Getty Images

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.

A break in trust: A NEW Watergate is brewing in plain sight

Gary Hershorn / Contributor | Getty Images

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.

Adam Gray / Stringer | Getty Images

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

Spencer Platt / Staff | Getty Images

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.

Anadolu / Contributor | Getty Images

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.