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Glenn's Show Prep

Rep. Thomas Massie tells Glenn who he can and can't trust

October 22, 2015
Ted Tuttle

Editor

Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie came onto Glenn's radio program Thursday to share his disgust with Glenn on the recent endorsement of Paul Ryan for Speaker of the House.

"I'm disappointed that my colleagues in the Freedom Caucus expressed support for Paul Ryan instead of Daniel Webster," Massie said before pointing out he is not a member of the Freedom Caucus himself.

Glenn said, "Good, so you have nothing to lose. Give me the names of the members of the Freedom Caucus that you were surprised who just buckled."

Instead of naming names, Massie said, "I don't even want you to trust me. What I want you to do is look at who voted against John Boehner on January 6th. Compare that to the list of people today making noise."

He went on.

"There were only five of us actually who supported the motion to vacate the Speaker. And then, this is most important, Glenn, on October 29th, there will be a vote in front of C-SPAN and God and country, where every member of Congress has to stand up and say who they're voting for, for Speaker. Pay attention," Massie said. "That day they have to choose between you or the establishment."

Listen to the segment or read the transcript below.

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

GLENN: I said on Facebook last night, I'm going to hold off as long as I can because I'm too angry and it's not going to get any better. So let me just see Freedom Caucus. You asked us to kick out the Speaker of the House, John Boehner. You then asked us to do our homework on Daniel Webster. That's the guy you need. Which we did. We did. You actually said to me -- members of the Freedom Caucus actually said to me, "Glenn, you've got to go on the air and ask for this tool. We need this tool." And I said, "I'll give you any tool that you need, me personally. But I don't know how I convince people -- he's -- he's not the guy."

"No, no, no, you don't know. It's the system that matters; otherwise, if we get in -- and this is a damn quote. "If we get in another John Boehner, the party will be lost, we will probably lose the presidency." You remember that, Pat?

PAT: Oh, yeah.

GLENN: This was in a private meeting. So I spent a week talking to members of the Freedom Caucus, the Liberty Caucus, the Tea Party Caucus, calling all these guys up and saying, "Really? Because I got one shot at this. You want me to put my name on Daniel Webster and me to tell the audience -- A, you better be damn sure that he's right. Because I got one shot at it. I betray my audience and put somebody up there and ask them to back him and he turns out to be the wrong guy, then my credibility is shot." And I've never done this before. I've never ever had the guys from the Freedom Caucus, Liberty Caucus, Tea Party Caucus -- they have never ever come to me and said, "Hey, we really want this." And then I've never ever said, "Yes, I'll help you do that." Never. But because this is so important and they made such a big deal out of it: "We'll lose not only the election, we could lose the country. We could lose everything. The whole thing rides on who the Speaker of the House is." That's what I was told by many members. And then they come and they say, "Oh, we're for Paul Ryan." I will give you at the top of the hour, my list of why Paul Ryan is not the guy.

But I personally feel betrayed by the Freedom Caucus. I personally feel betrayed by many members of Congress who asked for your help and asked me to carry water for them. And I got news for you, every single last one of you bums in Congress, I'm done with you. Never again will I help you. Never again.

Now, I want to hear -- I want to hear exactly what you were thinking. Of course, they won't come on. We have Thomas Massie who is waiting. Thomas Massie -- please dear God, Thomas, tell me that you didn't vote for this guy, right?

THOMAS: I did not vote for this guy. I'm not going to vote for this guy. Look, if Paul Ryan would promote the right ideas and a fair process, I could support him, but he doesn't have a history of doing that. Daniel Webster does. I'm supporting Daniel Webster. I'm disappointed that my colleagues in the Freedom Caucus expressed support for Paul Ryan instead of Daniel Webster. I am not a member of the Freedom Caucus.

GLENN: Good. So you have nothing to lose. Give me the names of the members of the Freedom Caucus that you were surprised who just buckled.

(laughter)

THOMAS: You know what, the people here in Washington, DC, are experts at telling you what you want to hear.

GLENN: I know. So tell me the things that you don't want to say. Give me the names of the people so the American people know exactly who these guys are.

THOMAS: You can't trust Sam -- I don't even want you to trust me. What I want you to do is look at who voted against John Boehner on January 6th. Compare that to the list of people today making noise. Look at the five men who were on the motion to vacate. They were only five of us actually who supported the motion to vacate the Speaker. And then, this is most important, Glenn, on October 29th, there will be a vote in front of C-SPAN and God and country, where every member of Congress has to stand up and say who they're voting for, for Speaker. Pay attention. Your listeners need to pay attention because there are people saying that they are something they are not. But that day they have to choose between you or the establishment.

GLENN: I will tell you, Thomas. I don't know how you do it. I don't know how you do it. Last night, I couldn't -- I couldn't -- I couldn't even sleep last night. I was so angry with these guys. I feel -- and, you know what, if you read my Facebook page, you read Pat's Facebook page --

THOMAS: I read it.

GLENN: You see, everybody is saying the same thing. I'm betrayed. I am absolutely betrayed.

PAT: They're pissed. I'm done. I won't make another phone call. All of that kind of stuff.

GLENN: All these guys -- and, you know what, Thomas, I'm sorry, but you're going to be swept up into it. You guys who didn't do it, you've got to stand up. I will make room for you guys, the good guys, on the show. Anyone who stands up. I need a list of the people who did it, and the list of the people who didn't do it. Because if you're not known, you're going to be swept up into it as well.

THOMAS: Here's what I recommend, Glenn, there are five men that put their names and careers on the line to sponsor the motion to vacate.

GLENN: Give me the five names.

THOMAS: Louie Gohmert. Myself, Thomas Massie. Ted Yoho. Mark Meadows, of course, was the primary sponsor. And Walter Jones. Now, we were the five who moved to vacate the chair before this was popular. We were the ones that put our careers on the line.

My wife actually asked me if I felt like I was in physical danger when I did that.

PAT: Wow.

THOMAS: Those are the five you can trust. Everybody else has got to speak for their vote on October 29th when they either vote to maintain the status quo or they vote for something different.

PAT: Thomas, it must be even worse in Washington than I believe it to be when you -- your vote places you in peril or at least your wife is concerned that that might be the case. That's pretty amazing.

THOMAS: These are big numbers, and these are powerful people up here. There's a lot of money at stake. There's a lot riding on this. And I don't want to go into conspiracy theories. I am not worried. I'm not physically worried. I think I'll be fine. If they wanted to ruin me, they would probably put something on my hard drive or set me up in some way and try to ruin me politically. I don't think there's any kind of physical danger here myself.

PAT: Yeah.

THOMAS: But keep this in mind, my colleagues that I work with, they are soft mammals with chemical reactions going on in their brains and they're walking around with voting cards, and you can't trust any of them.

(laughter)

PAT: That's for sure.

GLENN: Okay. So, Thomas, I'm going to ask people to call Congress today and tell them, "We're done." Will that make any difference at all?

THOMAS: It's like they're trying to put -- the establishment has found another cork to put on the bottle, and that's just going to build more pressure. We'll have more Donald Trumps empowered out there. I mean, he's a function -- he is the result of Congress' inaction, dysfunction, and unwillingness to listen.

GLENN: Yep. Yep.

THOMAS: People are so fed up, they're willing to back this guy. And it scares the heck out of me. I'm here in the middle of this, and I am trying to battle to do the right thing. I can't tell you how frustrated I am, Glenn. I am -- I am at least as frustrated as you are. I have to look these folks in the eye today and say --

GLENN: You know what, Thomas, you did what you said you would do.

PAT: Yeah.

GLENN: I know I said it to you. I said it to everybody I spoke to. Everybody who was saying, "No, we really need -- we really need -- those lying sons of bitches looked me in the eye and said to me, "Not really -- because do you remember me saying, "Look, I'll help you in any way I can. I can only do so much. I'll carry that water. Are you sure? Because I got one shot at this. I won't have any credibility left if you guys -- if this isn't the guy or if it -- do you remember me saying that to you?

THOMAS: I remember very precisely. And that's exactly what you said, Glenn.

GLENN: Right. So I feel really deeply betrayed by anyone who came to me and then -- and now they're like, "Well, you know, Paul Ryan, we can't really win." How dare you do that! How dare you do that! Thank you, Thomas, for at least being -- because I -- you know, I talked to you yesterday and you're like, "No, there's no way I'm going to vote for -- and I thought last night, I'm like, "Please, dear God, don't let Thomas be one of the guys who has done this." I'm so happy to hear that you stood your ground.

THOMAS: You can trust me. Look at the track record. This is what I encourage people. Don't -- people want to associate themselves with the caucus. I never did associate with the Freedom Caucus. Never been to a meeting. I'm not throwing them under the bus. What I am saying is, there are 40 individuals, and you need to look at each of those individuals. And what did they do on January 6th, when we stood firm and voted for a new Speaker? How many of them cosponsored the motion to vacate the chair? Not many. And look at what they do on October 29th. That's the most important thing you can do.

GLENN: Okay. So the biggest thing we can learn is the Freedom Caucus is nothing more than the Patriot Act. It's a stupid name that makes everybody think that, "Oh, they're the good guys." Is that what I'm hearing?

THOMAS: I do not want to disparage my colleagues. There are some really good --

GLENN: Okay. I'll do it for you. I'm sure there's five in there that aren't total and complete wastes of skin. The rest of them --

THOMAS: I can guarantee you there are five -- there are five very good individuals in there.

GLENN: Are there ten? Ten?

THOMAS: I've never been to a meeting, I don't know.

(laughter)

PAT: But he can't confirm there's ten.

GLENN: He cannot confirm that there are ten good people in the Freedom Caucus.

PAT: Oh, man.

GLENN: Look, here's the thing, Thomas, it's time to put the cards down on the table. If -- if what I have been told by senators, what I've been told by presidential candidates, what I've been told by House members, all on separate occasions, that if this goes wrong, the party is over because exactly what you said. And everything that I said and predicted five or six or seven years ago that the more you screw this up, the more extreme you will have in candidates, exactly what Thomas just said about Donald Trump is exactly what I said was crazy five or six years ago. That's going to happen. And so -- if what these guys have told me, that you lose the party, you lose the election -- I mean, there's nothing -- there's nothing left to lose here. We have to know and put pressure on these people, if that evens work. If it doesn't work, then I'm just done anyway. Will it work?

THOMAS: Please don't give up yet. I will be left alone up here if you give up. But, again, October 29th -- see, on October 28th, Glenn, there's a secret vote behind closed doors with no accountability whatsoever. And I -- and I expect Paul Ryan will probably beat Daniel Webster in that vote. But nobody has to attest for their vote until the next day, when the only constitutional vote that matters happens on the floor. And people have to --

GLENN: Any way that they can make that go away? Any way that they can take that in secret or it not be known?

THOMAS: No. No. It would be heresy. It would be against the Constitution to have a secret vote --

GLENN: When has that stopped anybody in Washington? When has the Constitution stopped a single damn thing?

THOMAS: Some people might try to vote present or be in the cloakroom or not vote that day. Do not let them tell you they didn't vote -- you know, that they stood up that day if they don't vote. Voting present does not work. Our Founding Fathers did not vote present.

GLENN: That's what they're going to do. These guys aren't Founding Fathers. These guys are criminals. They're not Founding Fathers. You know if they have an out, that's exactly what they will do so they can go back to us, oh, look at me, I didn't vote that way. I didn't do that.

THOMAS: Well, it's up to you not to let them have an out. So they need to cast a vote. They can't vote present or be gone that day. They need to cast a vote on October 29th. Don't trust them by what they say, trust them by what they do.

GLENN: Thomas Massie, representative from Kentucky and a guy who I think actually takes the position seriously and says, "I am a representative of the people of Kentucky," thank you for being on with us. I appreciate it.

THOMAS: Thank you.

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: AI-written country song tops charts, sparks soul debate

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.

Is Socialism seducing a lost generation?

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.