Glenn: Time to get out of the herd because you're being led to the slaughter

It was twelve years ago people were inspired by the words "let's roll", willing to undergo self-sacrifice to help others. Today, people seem willing to just be cattle. The latest example? A Baltimore man was arrested for simply standing up and asking tough questions during a Common Core town hall meeting. Could this just be the latest step to government taking control of the American people, and using force and intimidation to suppress objections? Glenn thinks so, and he opened the show by explaining just what happened and what it all means.

Watch:

Below is a transcript of Glenn's opening monologue:

If you’ve been watching my show for a long time, you are familiar with this – nudge, shove, shoot, and it’s how every Marxist utopian dream begins with just, it starts simple with just a little nudge. It’s cash for clunkers. It is trying to figure out a way to make energy prices necessarily skyrocket, nudge you into hybrids or french fries versus carrots, you know? You put them in front of the chip so the kid eats healthy.

Then when this doesn’t work anymore, then they have to start shoving, and that’s when it gets more serious. That’s when they use the IRS to shut down the opposing voices. They use the NSA to monitor and track American citizens. They use labor intimidation, send the labor unions over to people’s houses. Then they start using regulation, and they start arresting people to scare everybody.

Eventually, that doesn’t work anymore, because people want to be free, and they understand common sense, and they want to live in a world that makes sense to them. And so when this doesn’t make sense, and this no longer works, if you really want your Marxist utopia, then it goes to this, and that’s when you start shooting. You start shooting people or you send them to a reeducation camp or you send them to an internment camp.

It happens every time, and it happens when you forget about the individual, and you make it about the collective. It happens with every revolution, whether it is a revolution in the French Revolution or if it is a revolution in Egypt. So now where are we on the scale? Are we at nudge, shove, or shoot? Well, it really comes down to this, how do you transform a nation? How do you do it?

This is the list that I made about six years ago when I first started, maybe right before I started at Fox. I saw what was coming, and I thought okay, so if you’re going to do fundamental transformation, what do you need? How do you do it? How do you take a nation that’s free and do it? And I came up with a list of things you had to control.

You had to control the media. They had that one a long time ago. They control the media. They control the culture through Hollywood. Education, they’re putting the final nails on that. They’ve controlled it for a long time but not like they’re trying now. Banking, well they pretty much control everything. They control through the Fed your money. They control the value of what you’ve even saved.

Medical, they’ve got that coming in the next couple of weeks. Communication, three little letters, NSA, they pretty much have that done. Food and farms, they are currently working on that like you wouldn’t believe. We’ll show you in the next couple of weeks. Police, have you noticed how much money the Department of Homeland Security has put into your local police force? Have you noticed that the Department of Homeland Security is actually being used now as a local police force?

And the military, I never thought they’d get that one. That one’s almost completely done, and of course labor. So they have all this done now. They didn’t have all this done six years ago. They do now. And then they have to do one other thing, they have to use, exploit, or create an economic crisis, security fears, war. And when you’re in war, you get to define who your enemies are, so you redefine the enemies.

Propaganda, we just had, our government just okayed, our Congress actually said it’s okay for our United States government now to do propaganda on our own people. Since when? Why did they need that piece? They have to use behavioral scientists. They have to figure out how to nudge and when to reeducate. Well, we know from The New York Times the president uses behavioral scientists, and nudge, shove, shoot. So where are we? Where are we?

Well, on Thursday, there was an event that happened that I found out about Friday night, and I couldn’t sleep for two hours, because I believe it is a very important piece that moves us further towards shoot. It happened in Towson, Maryland, an upscale, or it used to be upscale suburb of Baltimore. A dad was arrested after a public forum. This is it, Common Core State Standards. This was the invitation. This was the flyer that went out.

It says here “Your chance to get answers to your Common Core questions.” Well, that’s what it was. Dad stands up, and he’s got a question about Common Core. His name is Robert Small, and he wasn’t merely arrested. He was removed with excessive force and today, he faces ten years in prison.

By the way, this story is getting national coverage now. It hasn’t received any local coverage yet. Now, if I told you that story, you would say there’s got to be a catch. I want you to decide for yourself, because it’s all thank goodness captured on video.

But before I show it to you, here’s what was going on: The school board decided that they instead of actually engaging with the parents in a back-and-forth question-and-answer session, that your questions, all the answers to your Common Core questions would need to be written down on paper and then handed in to the schoolmarm.

Now with this method, sure, maybe it’s a little more orderly, but it also removes the possibility of follow-up questions on the spot, takes the microphone out of the crowd, takes the emotion out of the room, which I guess could be argued good thing or bad thing. But what happens is you suppress and minimize any possible objections.

Okay, so you could play that either way. You could be okay, well, they’re just trying to move things along, make sure people don’t get longwinded, and make sure nobody gets angry, but then they screened and edited the questions in advance. So for over an hour, the crowd had to listen to the county superintendent talk about how wonderful Common Core was. Then they showed a video on how great Common Core is. Then they started reading some of the softball questions, and that’s when Robert Small couldn’t take it anymore, but he stood up in total self-control, and here’s what happened. Watch.

VIDEO

Robert Small: I went to Community College. I finished at the University of Maryland. And now I move my family out to Howard County because of the reputation the schools. My children are being prepared for community college. You’re not talking to them about which colleges. You’re not preparing them for Harvard.

Take control. We’re sick of this. This is not a CNN political debate. This is a public town hall. Don’t stand for this. You’re sitting here like cattle. You have questions. Confront them. They don’t want to do it in public. Is this America? This is not a CNN political debate. Parents, you need to question these people. Do the research. It’s online.

Look at this. Okay, now did he look at all out of control? That guy was intimidating him. He was manhandling him. This is the way it used to happen in mother Russia, not America. Now here’s the kicker: The reason why I couldn’t sleep on Friday is because this guy, the father, was charged with second-degree assault of a police officer, faces a $2,500 fine and up to ten years in prison. Excuse me? Show me the physical threat. Show me the assault.

The assault happened the other way around as the officer was violently yanking him by his arm in an attempt to remove him. Remove him from what? What was his crime, asking a question about what’s going to happen with his children? What law did this man break that warranted such a use of force? I’ll tell you what it was, doing this, doing this. You know this picture? You know what that is?

That’s Norman Rockwell, a guy standing up in a school board meeting and speaking his mind. That’s what Norman Rockwell said was one of the four freedoms, stating your opinion. As Small was being dragged out, he said don’t stand for this. You’re sitting here like cattle. Mr. Small’s admonition to the herd is spot on.

Where were the teachers as he was being removed, you know, the ones that always teach about it’s a wrong to bully people? Did no one feel that he was being bullied? Did not one person have the decency to say stop, stop, stop? Up there on the board, no one said lets him…stop? One woman taping asked that question. Another woman stood up, said something to the guard to no avail, but other than that, nothing, nothing.

We have seen in the last few months teachers stand up for a colleague who sexually molested and raped an eighth grade student, but the teachers don’t stand up against this? No one, none of the parents dare ask a question out loud or directly addressed the almighty school board without writing it down on paper first; otherwise it will turn into the Salem witch trials. Cattle, time to get out of the herd, because you’re being led to slaughter.

Perhaps people were afraid to speak because they were afraid of being dragged off by a police officer, and so the option is I sit here with my mouth closed like cattle. And when nobody is there to stand up for you, it’s because you weren’t there to stand up for everybody else that was dragged off. I just want you to put this in perspective. It was 12 years ago. We’re still the same Americans. It’s not like some past generation. We’re still the same generation that 12 years ago we were inspired by the rallying cry of the typical American that said let’s roll.

We’ve gone from let’s roll to cattle in 12 years. Don’t tell me that we haven’t lost our country. Don’t tell me that we haven’t been fundamentally transformed. I don’t even recognize Americans anymore. Now, here’s why I want you to remember this video: I want you to write this down. If you keep a journal, I want you to write this down, because you’re going to look like a prophet to your kids someday. Believe me on this.

Do you remember when I was at Fox and I told you about the fruit cart vendor in Tunisia that set himself on fire? And I said that guy, that, nobody will understand, and everybody will call me crazy, which they did, but that will lead to a watershed moment, and it will spread across the Middle East, and it will turn everything into chaos. And it did. Write it down in your journal. This is a watershed moment.

It doesn’t matter if this guy goes to jail or not. Did people learn their lesson? It’s dictatorship 101, make someone an example, and the rest will stay in line. The next meeting of that school district, they should have 10,000 people there, but I doubt they will. To quote Mr. Small, “is this America?” I don’t know.

Now, I want to take you to the other big story that happened this weekend, but I want to make sure you couple it with this story, because remember, we started with that list of how do you take over a nation like this. This story’s happening on the other side of the globe. It happened in Kenya, where at least 62 people are dead as terrorists have taken an upscale mall by violent and coordinated attack that targeted non-Muslims.

Now, by the way, Kenya is a country that has all kinds of gun restrictions, can’t have an automatic weapon, can’t have a semi-automatic weapon. You can’t even have a handgun yourself. If you use a gun in self-defense, you’re in trouble. So what happens? The group responsible for this was an Al Qaeda affiliated group, you know, Al Qaeda, the one that’s on the run that we’ve pretty much put out of business.

This group is called Al Shabaab. You need to know the name, Al Shabaab. They claim to be retaliating against “what Muslims in Somalia experienced at the hands of Kenyon invaders.” So when they went into this mall, they asked the shoppers what is the name of Muhammad’s mother? Sylvia isn’t the right answer apparently. If you couldn’t answer it, you got shot.

They tweeted the rampage live, “Like it or loathe it! Our mujahideen confirmed all executions were point blank range.” I loathe it, I don’t know about you. So people will watch this, and they’ll say how does this even affect me? I mean, we’re here in America. Well, here’s how: One of the Twitter accounts used by the terrorists identified ten of the gunmen. Three of them, at least three they say, were Americans, two allegedly from Minneapolis, an area which is Al Shabaab.

They have actively recruited in Minneapolis. Now, U.S. officials don’t have any confirmation of Americans having been involved in the attacks as of yet. They’re still working on it. We’ll focus on that angle tomorrow, but you’re not going to believe who our government is inviting and moving into our country, and you won’t believe the numbers that they’re doing it in.

This administration says they believe the U.S. is not really a priority for Al Shabaab right now. Really? That’s not what For the Record tells us. Two weeks ago, For the Record, a new program, the 60 Minutes of our generation – mark my words; put that in your journal as well – they reported just two weeks ago that there was documented proof that Al Shabaab members had crossed oh, our unsecured Mexican border into the U.S.

VIDEO

The Al Qaeda linked terrorist group Al Shabaab based in Somalia has attracted dozens of American recruits.

Sara Carter: I’ve covered stories where we know Somalians were attempting to cross into the United States from the Mexican border that were connected to Al Shabaab. That was documented. The documents were right there. I was able to write the story, prove that there were terrorists connected to Al Shabaab trying to enter the United States from Mexico. The Mexican authorities had released them, and then they disappeared inside Mexico. And there was a scramble to try to find them.

Really? Are they coming here looking for some undocumented jobs? Is that what it is? We have an administration that has sided with radical Islamist groups like the Muslim Brotherhood, who by the way were banned once again today in Egypt, while our own government is cozying up to the Brotherhood and turning a blind eye to dangerous extremists and making it easy, beyond making it easy, they are sending them here. We’ll tell you about that tomorrow.

In 2010, the president issued an executive order allowing 80,000 refugees to immigrate to the U.S. So what happens when all hell breaks loose? What happens to us when, let’s say, Al Shabaab members start shooting in our Westlake malls, and people plead for help? The top comes crashing down all too ready to help with all kinds of excuses that will be made to remove more freedoms from America, all of course in the name of safety.

And as the people in Baltimore demonstrated, even though people know it’s wrong, they won’t do anything. They’ll sit like cattle. Anyone who disagrees and stands will be deemed an enemy of the state, a security risk, and will be shoved and eventually shot. I said at the beginning, this is happening in Egypt. This is current. Fifty-five thousand unlicensed clerics were rounded up this weekend because they were deemed a threat to Egypt security. See, it happens this way every time.

If Egypt can round up that many people, I mean, do you think our government could do…I mean, can you imagine what we could do in a weekend? And please don’t start with me oh, yeah, he’s crazy talking. It’s never happened here. It already has happen. You need to go back and look at the images from the Japanese internment camps? All you need is a war. All you need is a threat. All you need is somebody at the top, and it’s always a Progressive that says round them up.

Oh, and in totally unrelated news that would make it easier for government to round people up, President Obama turned the naval yard memorial into a gun control speech, believe it or not, arguing that transformation was needed. Watch.

VIDEO

President Obama: These families have endured a shattering tragedy. It ought to be a shock to all of us as a nation and as a people. It ought to obsess us. It ought to lead to some sort of transformation.

And it will. Translation: We have to disarm more Americans. Watch the speech. It’s outrageous. Disarm more Americans, all in the name of safety, of course. Let me ask the question that I’ve asked a few times here, and I don’t seem to get an answer to. We are arming Al Qaeda and the rebels in the Middle East, not just with guns but automatic weapons and rockets, and some of the rebels are from here in the U.S., and yet at the same time, the same guy arming them is trying to disarm loyal American citizens.

The time to decide who you are and what you believe and what’s worth standing for, fighting for, dying for, going to jail for, is not when you’re sitting in a school district meeting. The time to decide who you are is right now, long before you have to make that decision.

The Crisis of Meaning: Searching for truth and purpose

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.

Grim warning: Bad-faith Israel critics duck REAL questions

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.

The melting pot fails when we stop agreeing to melt

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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.