Blog
LatestArticlesVideos
Radio
LivePodcastSerialsStations
TV
Podcasts
The Glenn Beck ProgramThe Glenn Beck PodcastThe Beck Story
Fine Art
Real Estate
Shop
More
AboutCharityBooksSponsorsContact
SEARCH
Live Radio

©2024 MERCURY RADIO ARTS.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

TERMS OF USE | PRIVACY POLICY

Live

Glenn's Show Prep

Glenn interviews Marco Rubio and Josh Mandel

November 02, 2012
Wilson

Writer

You’ve heard of Marco Rubio and you know he’s the type of guy America needs in Congress - Josh Mandel is running in a tight race in Ohio and he is another guy this country desperately needs. He’s a military veteran and a tea party style conservative - and he’s only 35 years old. Glenn interviewed them both on radio this morning while they were campaigning in Ohio.

Transcript of interview is below:

GLENN: All right. We're going to be in Ohio. You know, I think they are ‑‑ we are on the verge of miracles, quite honestly. I don't know how else to describe it. It is ‑‑ you're going to see on Tuesday I believe Chick‑fil‑A. Remember there was no big ‑‑ nobody was bussing people in. Just, everybody just came.

PAT: So Tuesday we're going to see a lot of chicken sandwiches?

GLENN: Yes, we're going to see a lot of chicken sandwiches.

PAT: Wow, I can't wait.

GLENN: And people will be standing in line to vote and they are going to be like, where's the chicken sandwich? But remember ‑‑ and it went on for a couple of days.

PAT: Yeah.

GLENN: That's what's going to happen. They are running out of "I voted" stickers in Texas. In Texas. I mean, Texas is like it doesn't ‑‑ I'm not going to really count in the presidential election. But they are running out of "I voted" stickers here. That's fantastic. In Ohio things are dicey. I personally think if it's not stolen, you are going to see an amazing upset in almost all of these states. We have one of the guys who's running, he's state treasurer now, he is running for Senate against Sherrod Brown. I'll let Josh tell the difference. We have Josh on the phone. Also Marco Rubio is on. Is he on the same line?

STU: Yeah, they're separate ‑‑ I think they are sharing the phone there, with each other.

GLENN: Is this a party line? Is that what's going on?

MANDEL: Hey, Glenn, how are you doing?

GLENN: Good. How are you. Is this Josh?

MANDEL: Yeah, this is Josh on the party line in Cleveland, Ohio.

GLENN: Marco, where are you.

MANDEL: He's coming. He's out in the diner shaking hands with some folks.

GLENN: Okay. So Josh, first of all, what's the difference between you and Sherrod Brown?

MANDEL: Well, he was named the most liberal senator in the United States of America, he's never seen a regulation he didn't like or a tax he didn't hike, and I'm a proud full spectrum conservative. While I am a Republican, I'm a conservative first and I'm a constitutional conservative and in Washington some of the Republicans are oftentimes just as much a problem as some of the Democrats and we need to elect more senators like Senator Rubio and others who will stand proudly as conservatives to do the right thing for our country.

GLENN: Small government conservatives?

MANDEL: Small government conservative. I believe the private select ‑‑ private sector is the solution to our problems. When it comes to a lot of our social woes, I think we should look to religious organizations and nonprofit organizations oftentimes before we look to government. And I also believe that while so many politicians, my opponent and others think that the federal government is the answer, I think Washington's the problem. Is the more we can get Washington out of the way, the stronger our economy and our country will be.

GLENN: So you're the treasurer in Ohio State and ‑‑ which is fantastic, because you obviously are a numbers cruncher. The financial cliff that is coming our way and all the trouble we're having. If we don't change the course now, how long do you think we have?

MANDEL: Not very long. It's ‑‑ we are running 100 miles per hour down the tracks and it's I believe soon going to be off the rails if we don't get some new leaders in Washington, $16 trillion debt, over a trillion dollars to China, Social Security, Medicare, bankruptcy.

GLENN: How are you ‑‑ how would you suggest that we stop the money printing and the QE infinity and pull ourselves back up without ‑‑ I mean because the first thing that will happen is interest rates will go up. How do we ‑‑

MANDEL: Sure.

GLENN: How do we not collapse ourselves by trying to heal ourselves?

MANDEL: Well, I think we need to make aggressive cuts in our federal government quickly and, you know, there's a lot of Republicans who disagree with some of the things I stand for. For instance, many Republicans will say, you know, we can't touch defense spending as well. I actually believe we need to do a top/bottom review of all of our bases throughout the world and, for instance, in Europe we're not fighting the Nazis anymore, we're not fighting the Cold War anymore. We could probably trim down or shut down some of our installations and ‑‑

GLENN: So how aggressive are you talking? You know, when Calvin cool age came in, he and Harding, they put the spending by 50%.

MANDEL: Right.

GLENN: How aggressive, how aggressive do you think we should be?

MANDEL: We have to be very aggressive. We need to do a top/bottom review of the federal government and for every agency administration bureaucracy that is not called for in the United States Constitution, we have to really ask the question what is its purpose, how many people work there, how much does it cost the taxpayers and what is the value to our society.

GLENN: I love you.

MANDEL: And one of the first acts, Glenn, of ‑‑

GLENN: If we wouldn't be sued by Barry White, I would play Barry White right now and turn the lights down.

MANDEL: Hey, Glenn, I have someone here who wants to say hello.

GLENN: Oh, wait, wait.

MANDEL: Go ahead.

GLENN: Wait, I just want to thank you for your service, first of all, especially for everything that's going on in Benghazi. You were a Marine for eight years and you know we don't leave men behind. And thank ‑‑

MANDEL: I do know that.

GLENN: And thank you for your service. And I can't wait until you get to Washington and start pulling the bodies out.

MANDEL: I appreciate that. You know, it was my honor to do my small part and do a couple of tours in Iraq and it sickens me to see when our Americans are killed overseas and abroad and I ‑‑ this is just disgraceful how this is playing out with Benghazi. And I'll tell you something else, just while you're on this topic. I didn't like those comments the president of the United States made to Governor Romney at the debate about bayonets and horses. When I went through Marine boot camp in Paris Island, South Carolina, we actually did have bayonets that we trained with. And as a Marine if Iraq, I actually did have a bayonet that I wore on my flak jacket and I just think the commander‑in‑chief of our military needs to be more respectful of our men and women when he's making comments about our military and he should really understand who it is out there carrying a weapon and protecting our country every day.

GLENN: And I know I have Marco Rubio waiting but I mean, you're an official in Ohio. How concerned are you on the stealing of the election in Ohio?

MANDEL: Ballot integrity is definitely a big issue here. I mean, I was down by the board of elections the other day and there's just vans and vans and vans of people being dropped off there to vote and obviously the default is giving ‑‑ is believing the people are following the law and doing everything legally within the bounds, and I'm ‑‑ I hope and assume that's happening. But at the same time with such a volume of people voting early here in Ohio, we need poll watchers and we need folks keeping eyeballs on every ballot site. But I think it's also important, Glenn, that those poll watchers are Americans. I don't know if you caught this.

GLENN: Oh, yeah.

MANDEL: Crazy idea about the UN observers wanting to come into America ‑‑

GLENN: I don't know how Ohio handled it but Texas said, go to hell, we'll arrest you if you come in.

MANDEL: Yeah. Over my dead body.

GLENN: Exactly right. Thank you very much, Josh.

MANDEL: So if any of your listeners want to help us out here in the last week, our website's pretty simple. It's JoshMandel.com.

GLENN: Thanks, Josh. JoshMandel.com.

MANDEL: Let me pass out the phone. We've got Senator Marco Rubio here. We're calling you from Joe's Diner in Ohio.

GLENN: Oh, really? Is Joe Biden there because ‑‑

MANDEL: Joe Biden's not here but Marco sure is. Hang on one second.

GLENN: Thanks a lot.

RUBIO: Glenn, good to talk to you.

GLENN: Hey, senator, how are you?

RUBIO: I think people understand the choice of this election is not just between two people. It's between two very different views of our government's role and our future and what America should be, what America should remain. And, you know, I think you're starting to sense that from people as you talk to them.

GLENN: Oh, I tell you I think you're going to see a miracle on Tuesday. I really do. I mean, a miracle as far as the distance between the two. I think America is wide awake. They've just had enough. They're quiet about it. It's like my grandparents. My grandparents didn't have to say anything. They would just go do it. And I think that's what's going to ‑‑ that's what's going to happen.

RUBIO: Yeah, I think that as well.

GLENN: Is ‑‑ how do you think things are going to fare for Romney in Ohio and Florida? How close?

RUBIO: Let me start with Florida, yeah, because that's ‑‑ obviously live there and spend a lot of time there. I feel great about Florida. The analogy I always use is I know people who voted for Barack Obama in 2008 that are going to vote for Mitt Romney. I don't know anyone who voted for John McCain that's going to vote for Barack Obama this time. I know that's anecdotal but I think that's the feeling people have. There's a lot of disappointment. Some people just kind of bought into the 2008 notion that, you know, he's ‑‑ let's try something different, he's going to unify our country, he's going to bring us together. And it's just been a disaster. I mean economically, politically, all the way around. And people are just ready to walk away from that and kind of go back to the free enterprise system which made us the most prosperous people that have ever walked the Earth.

GLENN: I am really concerned about what's happening in Benghazi.

RUBIO: Yeah.

GLENN: And even when Mitt Romney wins on Tuesday, on Wednesday I will still be pushing for ‑‑

RUBIO: Yeah.

GLENN: ‑‑ serious investigations because we are ‑‑ what we have is a president that let guys die and a lot of people watched them die in realtime. There's a massive coverup on this. And beyond that, you've got at least ‑‑ you've got anywhere from 25 to 500 people who know and are now having a hard time sleeping at night. And if those guys are allowed to let that just cook in their soul, man, we go really dark. It's not good. We've never been that way as Americans, to leave just people die.

RUBIO: Yeah. Two things are happening. On the one hand I think there's a very serious concern that I have and I think it's a legitimate question to ask and that is, is the reason why they spent two weeks telling us that this was the result of a spontaneous uprising, is the reason why they're saying that because it went counter to their narrative that Al‑Qaeda had been defeated, Bin Laden was dead and the world was safer. And then they bragged about this for months. It was a key part of their convention. Obviously we're very happy Bin Laden is dead, but Al‑Qaeda unfortunately has reconstituted itself in North Africa including Libya. So that's the first element of it. The second is that there's clearly something going on here in terms of our different agencies to be able to interact and coordinate and make the right decisions in a timely fashion to save lives. So we're going to have what they call classified hearings. But I'm going to push for open hearings as well. And by the way, these hearings should have happened a long time ago.

GLENN: Oh, yeah.

RUBIO: They shouldn't be happening after the election. And there's a lot of information out there that's going to be classified that shouldn't be classified. There's no reason to keep it that way. The American people have the right to hold their government accountable for its failures, A, so that the people who did it can be held accountable and, B, so that it never, ever happens again.

GLENN: Thank you very much, Senator. You and you keep going and we wish you luck that I think the real hard work for America begins on Wednesday.

RUBIO: Well, thanks for what you've been doing for years all the way back to the 9/12 movement and your involvement in that years ago. It really began in '09 right after the election when folks like you raised your voice and began to educate the American people about what was going on. That led to the big wave in 2010 that allowed me to get elected and the wave in 2012 that's going to give us a new president and is going to give us Josh Mandel.

GLENN: Well, just don't ‑‑ don't let us down. One quick question. How worried are you about the lame duck session?

RUBIO: I'm worried. I mean, a lot of bad things happen in lame duck sessions. You have folks who are never going to run again who don't feel like they're accountable. You have a lot of ‑‑ you know, they will package a couple of good ideas with ten bad ones and tell you that's the way business is done, that's the only way to get things done. So I am concerned about some pretty bad policy happening in the lame duck. You know, we got that START treaty with the Russians and a couple of other things that were not good for our country as well.

GLENN: Thank you very much, Senator, appreciate it.

RUBIO: Thank you.

GLENN: We'll talk again soon.

STU: They're both great.

PAT: I liked Josh Mandel, too. Liked him.

GLENN: He knows ‑‑

PAT: He knows what he's talking about.

GLENN: He knows what he's talking about. He's a Jewish American, strong on Israel. I mean, he gets it.

PAT: And clearly Rubio is ‑‑

STU: Fantastic.

PAT: There's hardly anybody better.

STU: I will say I maintain ‑‑ a lot of people said they liked the Clint Eastwood thing and whatever, you liked it or you didn't like it. One of the worst things that happened in that convention was that Clint Eastwood thing took all the attention from Marco Rubio's speech which was one of the best speeches by a Republican that, I mean, I can remember.

PAT: And it got no attention at all.

STU: Yeah.

PAT: None.

STU: I mean, here's a guy who's really smart, different. Obviously the optics are good on politically and demographically. It's just one of those things that Marco Rubio needs to be heard.

GLENN: Every time I ‑‑ every time he speaks, gives a major speech, like ten of my friends write to me and says, "My gosh, did you see this guy?"

STU: Yeah, he's great.

GLENN: He's really, really effective.

STU: Josh Mandel was great, too. That's the first time I heard him in an extended area. He's great.

GLENN: I talked to him in Ohio last time. I met him backstage and we spent about ten minutes together. He's really sharp. He's really sharp.

STU: That's great.

GLENN: Come on, Ohio, come on.

STU: Come on, Ohio.

GLENN: Come on, Ohio. Remember how pissed you were at Florida?

STU: Yeah.

GLENN: Yeah. That's the way we're going to be with you.

STU: Yeah.

GLENN: Yeah.

PAT: You don't want none of this.

GLENN: No, you don't. We'll come up there and give you such a hit.

The melting pot fails when we stop agreeing to melt

Spencer Platt / Staff | Getty Images

Texas now hosts Quran-first academies, Sharia-compliant housing schemes, and rapidly multiplying mosques — all part of a movement building a self-contained society apart from the country around it.

It is time to talk honestly about what is happening inside America’s rapidly growing Muslim communities. In city after city, large pockets of newcomers are choosing to build insulated enclaves rather than enter the broader American culture.

That trend is accelerating, and the longer we ignore it, the harder it becomes to address.

As Texas goes, so goes America. And as America goes, so goes the free world.

America has always welcomed people of every faith and people from every corner of the world, but the deal has never changed: You come here and you join the American family. You are free to honor your traditions, keep your faith, but you must embrace the Constitution as the supreme law of the land. You melt into the shared culture that allows all of us to live side by side.

Across the country, this bargain is being rejected by Islamist communities that insist on building a parallel society with its own rules, its own boundaries, and its own vision for how life should be lived.

Texas illustrates the trend. The state now has roughly 330 mosques. At least 48 of them were built in just the last 24 months. The Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex alone has around 200 Islamic centers. Houston has another hundred or so. Many of these communities have no interest in blending into American life.

This is not the same as past waves of immigration. Irish, Italian, Korean, Mexican, and every other group arrived with pride in their heritage. Still, they also raised American flags and wanted their children to be part of the country’s future. They became doctors, small-business owners, teachers, and soldiers. They wanted to be Americans.

What we are watching now is not the melting pot. It is isolation by design.

Parallel societies do not end well

More than 300 fundamentalist Islamic schools now operate full-time across the country. Many use Quran-first curricula that require students to spend hours memorizing religious texts before they ever reach math or science. In Dallas, Brighter Horizons Academy enrolls more than 1,700 students and draws federal support while operating on a social model that keeps children culturally isolated.

Then there is the Epic City project in Collin and Hunt counties — 402 acres originally designated only for Muslim buyers, with Sharia-compliant financing and a mega-mosque at the center. After public outcry and state investigations, the developers renamed it “The Meadows,” but a new sign does not erase the original intent. It is not a neighborhood. It is a parallel society.

Americans should not hesitate to say that parallel societies are dangerous. Europe tried this experiment, and the results could not be clearer. In Germany, France, and the United Kingdom, entire neighborhoods now operate under their own cultural rules, some openly hostile to Western norms. When citizens speak up, they are branded bigots for asserting a basic right: the ability to live safely in their own communities.

A crisis of confidence

While this separation widens, another crisis is unfolding at home. A recent Gallup survey shows that about 40% of American women ages 18 to 39 would leave the country permanently if given the chance. Nearly half of a rising generation — daughters, sisters, soon-to-be mothers — no longer believe this nation is worth building a future in.

And who shapes the worldview of young boys? Their mothers. If a mother no longer believes America is home, why would her child grow up ready to defend it?

As Texas goes, so goes America. And as America goes, so goes the free world. If we lose confidence in our own national identity at the same time that we allow separatist enclaves to spread unchecked, the outcome is predictable. Europe is already showing us what comes next: cultural fracture, political radicalization, and the slow death of national unity.

Brandon Bell / Staff | Getty Images

Stand up and tell the truth

America welcomes Muslims. America defends their right to worship freely. A Muslim who loves the Constitution, respects the rule of law, and wants to raise a family in peace is more than welcome in America.

But an Islamist movement that rejects assimilation, builds enclaves governed by its own religious framework, and treats American law as optional is not simply another participant in our melting pot. It is a direct challenge to it. If we refuse to call this problem out out of fear of being called names, we will bear the consequences.

Europe is already feeling those consequences — rising conflict and a political class too paralyzed to admit the obvious. When people feel their culture, safety, and freedoms slipping away, they will follow anyone who promises to defend them. History has shown that over and over again.

Stand up. Speak plainly. Be unafraid. You can practice any faith in this country, but the supremacy of the Constitution and the Judeo-Christian moral framework that shaped it is non-negotiable. It is what guarantees your freedom in the first place.

If you come here and honor that foundation, welcome. If you come here to undermine it, you do not belong here.

Wake up to what is unfolding before the consequences arrive. Because when a nation refuses to say what is true, the truth eventually forces its way in — and by then, it is always too late.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Shocking: Chart-topping ‘singer’ has no soul at all

VCG / Contributor | Getty Images

A machine can imitate heartbreak well enough to top the charts, but it cannot carry grief, choose courage, or hear the whisper that calls human beings to something higher.

The No. 1 country song in America right now was not written in Nashville or Texas or even L.A. It came from code. “Walk My Walk,” the AI-generated single by the AI artist Breaking Rust, hit the top spot on Billboard’s Country Digital Song Sales chart, and if you listen to it without knowing that fact, you would swear a real singer lived the pain he is describing.

Except there is no “he.” There is no lived experience. There is no soul behind the voice dominating the country music charts.

If a machine can imitate the soul, then what is the soul?

I will admit it: I enjoy some AI music. Some of it is very good. And that leaves us with a question that is no longer science fiction. If a machine can fake being human this well, what does it mean to be human?

A new world of artificial experience

This is not just about one song. We are walking straight into a technological moment that will reshape everyday life.

Elon Musk said recently that we may not even have phones in five years. Instead, we will carry a small device that listens, anticipates, and creates — a personal AI agent that knows what we want to hear before we ask. It will make the music, the news, the podcasts, the stories. We already live in digital bubbles. Soon, those bubbles might become our own private worlds.

If an algorithm can write a hit country song about hardship and perseverance without a shred of actual experience, then the deeper question becomes unavoidable: If a machine can imitate the soul, then what is the soul?

What machines can never do

A machine can produce, and soon it may produce better than we can. It can calculate faster than any human mind. It can rearrange the notes and words of a thousand human songs into something that sounds real enough to fool millions.

But it cannot care. It cannot love. It cannot choose right and wrong. It cannot forgive because it cannot be hurt. It cannot stand between a child and danger. It cannot walk through sorrow.

A machine can imitate the sound of suffering. It cannot suffer.

The difference is the soul. The divine spark. The thing God breathed into man that no code will ever have. Only humans can take pain and let it grow into compassion. Only humans can take fear and turn it into courage. Only humans can rebuild their lives after losing everything. Only humans hear the whisper inside, the divine voice that says, “Live for something greater.”

We are building artificial minds. We are not building artificial life.

Questions that define us

And as these artificial minds grow sharper, as their tools become more convincing, the right response is not panic. It is to ask the oldest and most important questions.

Who am I? Why am I here? What is the meaning of freedom? What is worth defending? What is worth sacrificing for?

That answer is not found in a lab or a server rack. It is found in that mysterious place inside each of us where reason meets faith, where suffering becomes wisdom, where God reminds us we are more than flesh and more than thought. We are not accidents. We are not circuits. We are not replaceable.

Europa Press News / Contributor | Getty Images

The miracle machines can never copy

Being human is not about what we can produce. Machines will outproduce us. That is not the question. Being human is about what we can choose. We can choose to love even when it costs us something. We can choose to sacrifice when it is not easy. We can choose to tell the truth when the world rewards lies. We can choose to stand when everyone else bows. We can create because something inside us will not rest until we do.

An AI content generator can borrow our melodies, echo our stories, and dress itself up like a human soul, but it cannot carry grief across a lifetime. It cannot forgive an enemy. It cannot experience wonder. It cannot look at a broken world and say, “I am going to build again.”

The age of machines is rising. And if we do not know who we are, we will shrink. But if we use this moment to remember what makes us human, it will help us to become better, because the one thing no algorithm will ever recreate is the miracle that we exist at all — the miracle of the human soul.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Shocking shift: America’s youth lured by the “Socialism trap”

Jeremy Weine / Stringer | Getty Images

A generation that’s lost faith in capitalism is turning to the oldest lie on earth: equality through control.

Something is breaking in America’s young people. You can feel it in every headline, every grocery bill, every young voice quietly asking if the American dream still means anything at all.

For many, the promise of America — work hard, build something that lasts, and give the next generation a better start — feels like it no longer exists. Home ownership and stability have become luxuries for a fortunate few.

Capitalism is not a perfect system. It is flawed because people are flawed, but it remains the only system that rewards creativity and effort rather than punishing them.

In that vacuum of hope, a new promise has begun to rise — one that sounds compassionate, equal, and fair. The promise of socialism.

The appeal of a broken dream

When the American dream becomes a checklist of things few can afford — a home, a car, two children, even a little peace — disappointment quickly turns to resentment. The average first-time homebuyer is now 40 years old. Debt lasts longer than marriages. The cost of living rises faster than opportunity.

For a generation that has never seen the system truly work, capitalism feels like a rigged game built to protect those already at the top.

That is where socialism finds its audience. It presents itself as fairness for the forgotten and justice for the disillusioned. It speaks softly at first, offering equality, compassion, and control disguised as care.

We are seeing that illusion play out now in New York City, where Zohran Mamdani — an open socialist — has won a major political victory. The same ideology that once hid behind euphemisms now campaigns openly throughout America’s once-great cities. And for many who feel left behind, it sounds like salvation.

But what socialism calls fairness is submission dressed as virtue. What it calls order is obedience. Once the system begins to replace personal responsibility with collective dependence, the erosion of liberty is only a matter of time.

The bridge that never ends

Socialism is not a destination; it is a bridge. Karl Marx described it as the necessary transition to communism — the scaffolding that builds the total state. Under socialism, people are taught to obey. Under communism, they forget that any other options exist.

History tells the story clearly. Russia, China, Cambodia, Cuba — each promised equality and delivered misery. One hundred million lives were lost, not because socialism failed, but because it succeeded at what it was designed to do: make the state supreme and the individual expendable.

Today’s advocates insist their version will be different — democratic, modern, and kind. They often cite Sweden as an example, but Sweden’s prosperity was never born of socialism. It grew out of capitalism, self-reliance, and a shared moral culture. Now that system is cracking under the weight of bureaucracy and division.

ANGELA WEISS / Contributor | Getty Images

The real issue is not economic but moral. Socialism begins with a lie about human nature — that people exist for the collective and that the collective knows better than the individual.

This lie is contrary to the truths on which America was founded — that rights come not from government’s authority, but from God’s. Once government replaces that authority, compassion becomes control, and freedom becomes permission.

What young America deserves

Young Americans have many reasons to be frustrated. They were told to study, work hard, and follow the rules — and many did, only to find the goalposts moved again and again. But tearing down the entire house does not make it fairer; it only leaves everyone standing in the rubble.

Capitalism is not a perfect system. It is flawed because people are flawed, but it remains the only system that rewards creativity and effort rather than punishing them. The answer is not revolution but renewal — moral, cultural, and spiritual.

It means restoring honesty to markets, integrity to government, and faith to the heart of our nation. A people who forsake God will always turn to government for salvation, and that road always ends in dependency and decay.

Freedom demands something of us. It requires faith, discipline, and courage. It expects citizens to govern themselves before others govern them. That is the truth this generation deserves to hear again — that liberty is not a gift from the state but a calling from God.

Socialism always begins with promises and ends with permission. It tells you what to drive, what to say, what to believe, all in the name of fairness. But real fairness is not everyone sharing the same chains — it is everyone having the same chance.

The American dream was never about guarantees. It was about the right to try, to fail, and try again. That freedom built the most prosperous nation in history, and it can do so again if we remember that liberty is not a handout but a duty.

Socialism does not offer salvation. It requires subservience.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Rage isn’t conservatism — THIS is what true patriots stand for

Gary Hershorn / Contributor | Getty Images

Conservatism is not about rage or nostalgia. It’s about moral clarity, national renewal, and guarding the principles that built America’s freedom.

Our movement is at a crossroads, and the question before us is simple: What does it mean to be a conservative in America today?

For years, we have been told what we are against — against the left, against wokeism, against decline. But opposition alone does not define a movement, and it certainly does not define a moral vision.

We are not here to cling to the past or wallow in grievance. We are not the movement of rage. We are the movement of reason and hope.

The media, as usual, are eager to supply their own answer. The New York Times recently suggested that Nick Fuentes represents the “future” of conservatism. That’s nonsense — a distortion of both truth and tradition. Fuentes and those like him do not represent American conservatism. They represent its counterfeit.

Real conservatism is not rage. It is reverence. It does not treat the past as a museum, but as a teacher. America’s founders asked us to preserve their principles and improve upon their practice. That means understanding what we are conserving — a living covenant, not a relic.

Conservatism as stewardship

In 2025, conservatism means stewardship — of a nation, a culture, and a moral inheritance too precious to abandon. To conserve is not to freeze history. It is to stand guard over what is essential. We are custodians of an experiment in liberty that rests on the belief that rights come not from kings or Congress, but from the Creator.

That belief built this country. It will be what saves it. The Constitution is a covenant between generations. Conservatism is the duty to keep that covenant alive — to preserve what works, correct what fails, and pass on both wisdom and freedom to those who come next.

Economics, culture, and morality are inseparable. Debt is not only fiscal; it is moral. Spending what belongs to the unborn is theft. Dependence is not compassion; it is weakness parading as virtue. A society that trades responsibility for comfort teaches citizens how to live as slaves.

Freedom without virtue is not freedom; it is chaos. A culture that mocks faith cannot defend liberty, and a nation that rejects truth cannot sustain justice. Conservatism must again become the moral compass of a disoriented people, reminding America that liberty survives only when anchored to virtue.

Rebuilding what is broken

We cannot define ourselves by what we oppose. We must build families, communities, and institutions that endure. Government is broken because education is broken, and education is broken because we abandoned the formation of the mind and the soul. The work ahead is competence, not cynicism.

Conservatives should embrace innovation and technology while rejecting the chaos of Silicon Valley. Progress must not come at the expense of principle. Technology must strengthen people, not replace them. Artificial intelligence should remain a servant, never a master. The true strength of a nation is not measured by data or bureaucracy, but by the quiet webs of family, faith, and service that hold communities together. When Washington falters — and it will — those neighborhoods must stand.

Eric Lee / Stringer | Getty Images

This is the real work of conservatism: to conserve what is good and true and to reform what has decayed. It is not about slogans; it is about stewardship — the patient labor of building a civilization that remembers what it stands for.

A creed for the rising generation

We are not here to cling to the past or wallow in grievance. We are not the movement of rage. We are the movement of reason and hope.

For the rising generation, conservatism cannot be nostalgia. It must be more than a memory of 9/11 or admiration for a Reagan era they never lived through. Many young Americans did not experience those moments — and they should not have to in order to grasp the lessons they taught and the truths they embodied. The next chapter is not about preserving relics but renewing purpose. It must speak to conviction, not cynicism; to moral clarity, not despair.

Young people are searching for meaning in a culture that mocks truth and empties life of purpose. Conservatism should be the moral compass that reminds them freedom is responsibility and that faith, family, and moral courage remain the surest rebellions against hopelessness.

To be a conservative in 2025 is to defend the enduring principles of American liberty while stewarding the culture, the economy, and the spirit of a free people. It is to stand for truth when truth is unfashionable and to guard moral order when the world celebrates chaos.

We are not merely holding the torch. We are relighting it.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.