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Glenn's Show Prep

The Solution Is the Problem: The U.S. Constitution

February 09, 2016
Lori Hanes

Writer

Glenn's recent trip to San Francisco inspired a powerful monologue Tuesday on The Glenn Beck Program. Things have changed in America — and that was no more evident than on the streets of San Francisco. Once bound by common principles, Glenn realized he had "very little in common with many of the people who were the loudest on the streets."

There was a time when most Americans were grounded by principles found in the Constitution. Today, too many of us — especially younger citizens — tie themselves to political parties rather than our founding documents, thinking they are the secret to restoring America. In fact, the parties have long been corrupted, and they're exactly what's wrong with America.

We've forgotten our common sense, First Principles, all of which the Founders laid out in the Bill of Rights:

• Practice Your Faith — First Amendment

• Question the Government — First Amendment

• Right to Protect Your Family — Second Amendment

• Right to Protect Your Property — Fourth Amendment

• Right to Privacy — Fourth Amendment

• No Torturing People — Eighth Amendment

• Everything Else — Ninth & Tenth Amendments

These rights are guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution — and they're not given to us by any man or government. They're given to us by a higher power — call it the universe, call it God, but don't call it the government.

Listen to this segment from The Glenn Beck Program:

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

GLENN: Does anybody really wonder what happened to America, the America that we all grew up in? I grew up in a small farming community 90 miles north of Seattle, a small town called Mount Vernon. My dad owned the city bakery. I never remember my folks talking about politics or people framed by who they voted for.

My parents were Republicans. My grandparents were Democrats. They were shaped by FDR, and they never looked at the policies again. Just, FDR was good, and that's all they needed.

But with an exception of the Watergate days, they never argued politics. Even with Nixon in the White House, it was about lies and not politics. My folks believed Richard Nixon; my grandparents did not. When it became apparent Nixon was a liar, my family gathered around principles that they agreed on: Lying is not a quality suitable to be president of the United States.

This last weekend I was in San Francisco. I came to work while the rest of the world came to party at the Super Bowl. And as I walked through the crowds and through the streets, I found that I had very little in common with many of the people who were the loudest on the streets.

From a woman and several women carrying signs that said, "His body, his choice," a bizarre protest against circumcision, the foul lyrics and the gyrating that was happening on the stage across the street in a family park, to the street preachers screaming that we're all going to hell, my country looked like a movie. I didn't even recognize it. My son who is now 11, not one to hold dad's hand in public much anymore, grabbed my hand and held it tight.

Later in a quieter section of town, on a street that sells Bentleys, fine steakhouses, and homes that can cost up to $15 million, we walked to dinner and to CVS. The entire street reeked HEP of urine. While the homeless, dangerous, and mentally ill roamed the streets in such numbers that none of the men with me said they would feel comfortable with their wife or their daughter walking alone on that street, and this was at 4:15 in the afternoon.

No matter where I went in San Francisco, I was greeted as both a hero and a villain. I'm neither. My son spent the week watching, taking it all in, while I who had grown up in Seattle was taking in the memories of a town that was much like mine as a kid and wondering what happened to us.

I think the solution is the problem. Principles. We no longer agree on principles. Actually let me take that back. When the chips are down, we do agree on principles. We did on 9/11.

On 9/11 and 9/12 and 9/13, we were people that had more in common than not. But that was 15 long years ago. This, right now, today's America is the only America anyone under 20 remembers. Restore America, bring back the Reagan years, those are long gone and long forgotten.

How would you even do that? Most people don't even remember it. And too many of us think that it's our political party that's the secret to restoration. It's our political party that is the secret to progress.

Our political parties are not. In fact, they are as Washington pointed out in his Farewell Address, the problem. We hold tight to the idea that the party is our savior. And we know our party platform perhaps better than we know the Constitution. It's time to return to first principles. This election has got to be a return to first principles.

Should people be able to speak their mind in public? We all know the answer to that, yes. Is there a college campus safe zone? If there's a safe zone in college, then why do we have to have on colleges, why do we have to have tenure? Tenure is made so people can say the uncomfortable things and not get fired. But if colleges have a safe zone, what's the point of tenure?

Should the press be free to report on information given to them by whistle-blowers, or should those press members be thrown in jail by the government? Should you be free to practice your faith or science? Should you be able to question the government, protect your family, be the first responder? Should your private property be able to be seized, gone through? Can a squatter come through your house and just take it? Can a hotel chain force you out of your house?

Because the public votes for you to pay more in taxes, can the public vote that somebody can come in and take your money? Do you know what's happening in Spain right now? Spain has become so socialist, that if you have two houses and you don't live full-time in one, the government is now talking about just taking that second house.

Do we have the right to privacy? Can somebody just go through your phone records and your email accounts, listen to your phone calls, read your email? Should we as a nation torture people? I'm not talking waterboarding. I'm talking torture people.

Should we enforce our own laws, or should we have special exceptions for our laws? Is justice blind? Should rich people get off because they're rich or they're in a special protected class? Wasn't it wrong when whites shielded whites in the 1950s, and isn't it wrong now when we shield the rich, the privileged, illegals? Is a finger gun really a Class 2 lookalike weapon, or do we all know that's bullcrap?

Abortion supporters are looking to sell baby parts, and they have. Should you be able to sell human organs? This is beyond, "Are you pro-choice or are you pro-life?" This is is, "Should you sell baby parts?"

Now, here's the latest. Because of the Doritos ad in the Super Bowl, NARAL is saying you can't humanize a fetus. Can't humanize -- they're giving birth to a dog? That's what a fetus is, it's a human fetus. We can argue about when life begins, but whether or not it's human life is settled. Making it a criminal offense for a Class 2 lookalike weapon when it's a finger gun is nuts. And we all know it. These are our principles. These are the things that bring us together.

But we're not tied to any of those. Practice your faith, First Amendment. Question the government. First Amendment. Protect your family, Second Amendment. Property, Fourth Amendment. Right to privacy, Fourth Amendment. Torture people, eighth amendment. Anything that I haven't mentioned, the Ninth and the Tenth Amendment. These all come from the Constitution. These are all the things that we have rights to. And they're not given to us by the government. They're given to us by a higher power. Call it the universe, call it God. All men are created equal and endowed by their creator with certain unchangeable rights.

The government always goes mad, and it always needs to be reigned in. Throughout history, reconstruction, taking guns away from blacks so they could hang them in the trees. Out of fear, Japanese internment camps. Out of fear, the war on the red man. Each time, each time, the government oversteps its bounds and we lose our way. And each time, a coming generation is embarrassed by that and has to apologize. And it soils our reputation. And they blame it on the Founders. They blame it on the government. They blame it on this outdated piece of paper, when this outdated piece of paper had nothing to do with it. This outdated piece of paper called the Constitution railed against it the whole time, crying out, screaming in silence from the paper locked away, behind the walls of the national archives. It screams out, "Listen to me."

This election, we need to see the road that we're on and turn back to the principles that we have -- all of us have in common: the Constitution. Ted Cruz, Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders, they all have more in common, if we use the Constitution. And if we, the people, want to get rid of the Constitution, then that is the argument that we should be having. We shouldn't just let it go quietly in the middle of the night. We should have the conversation.

Do we believe in these first principles? Do we, the people, anymore believe in this Constitution? If we do, our first priority must be to restore it, to empower it again, to heed its warnings, to make sure the government is held by its chains and restraints. And if we don't want to do that, then let's have that conversation about real revolution. But what are you going to replace it with?

Most people who are voting for Bernie Sanders say they're for socialism. But when asked, "What is socialism," they have no idea.

It is the step in between capitalism and communism. What rules you, if you can take people's property? Because it isn't the Constitution. What rules you if you can just say, "Well, yes, we're in a panic now. We have fear of an outside force, and so we can scoop people off the street. Or we can just listen to every email and every phone call of every citizen in in America without a warrant?" What rules you if it's not the Constitution?

If we had that conversation, we wouldn't be as divided as we are. But right now, we're in little subsections. This is no longer Republican and Democrat. It's Trump people, Sanders people, Cruz people, Rubio people, Clinton people. And we can't find our way to one another because very few of them are saying, "Look, don't listen to me. I'm not going to make America great again. You're going to make America great again. I don't have the solutions. The solutions are found with the people and the government being restrained by the restraints of the Constitution." Instead, almost all of them offer answers that are beyond the Constitution. You want to save your country, now is the time to do it. And there is truly only one way. Otherwise, the fundamental transformation of America will be sealed and will be cemented in for all time.

The real conversation we should be having in New Hampshire and in South Carolina is, "What rules our nation?" Not a man. If it's ruled by the Constitution, if it's not, then the conversation should be, "How much of a strong man do you really want," as the people cry out for a king.

Featured Image: Screenshot from The Glenn Beck Program

Is the U.N. plotting to control 30% of U.S. land by 2030?

Bloomberg / Contributor | Getty Images

A reliable conservative senator faces cancellation for listening to voters. But the real threat to public lands comes from the last president’s backdoor globalist agenda.

Something ugly is unfolding on social media, and most people aren’t seeing it clearly. Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) — one of the most constitutionally grounded conservatives in Washington — is under fire for a housing provision he first proposed in 2022.

You wouldn’t know that from scrolling through X. According to the latest online frenzy, Lee wants to sell off national parks, bulldoze public lands, gut hunting and fishing rights, and hand America’s wilderness to Amazon, BlackRock, and the Chinese Communist Party. None of that is true.

Lee’s bill would have protected against the massive land-grab that’s already under way — courtesy of the Biden administration.

I covered this last month. Since then, the backlash has grown into something like a political witch hunt — not just from the left but from the right. Even Donald Trump Jr., someone I typically agree with, has attacked Lee’s proposal. He’s not alone.

Time to look at the facts the media refuses to cover about Lee’s federal land plan.

What Lee actually proposed

Over the weekend, Lee announced that he would withdraw the federal land sale provision from his housing bill. He said the decision was in response to “a tremendous amount of misinformation — and in some cases, outright lies,” but also acknowledged that many Americans brought forward sincere, thoughtful concerns.

Because of the strict rules surrounding the budget reconciliation process, Lee couldn’t secure legally enforceable protections to ensure that the land would be made available “only to American families — not to China, not to BlackRock, and not to any foreign interests.” Without those safeguards, he chose to walk it back.

That’s not selling out. That’s leadership.

It's what the legislative process is supposed to look like: A senator proposes a bill, the people respond, and the lawmaker listens. That was once known as representative democracy. These days, it gets you labeled a globalist sellout.

The Biden land-grab

To many Americans, “public land” brings to mind open spaces for hunting, fishing, hiking, and recreation. But that’s not what Sen. Mike Lee’s bill targeted.

His proposal would have protected against the real land-grab already under way — the one pushed by the Biden administration.

In 2021, Biden launched a plan to “conserve” 30% of America’s lands and waters by 2030. This effort follows the United Nations-backed “30 by 30” initiative, which seeks to place one-third of all land and water under government control.

Ask yourself: Is the U.N. focused on preserving your right to hunt and fish? Or are radical environmentalists exploiting climate fears to restrict your access to American land?

  Smith Collection/Gado / Contributor | Getty Images

As it stands, the federal government already owns 640 million acres — nearly one-third of the entire country. At this rate, the government will hit that 30% benchmark with ease. But it doesn’t end there. The next phase is already in play: the “50 by 50” agenda.

That brings me to a piece of legislation most Americans haven’t even heard of: the Sustains Act.

Passed in 2023, the law allows the federal government to accept private funding from organizations, such as BlackRock or the Bill Gates Foundation, to support “conservation programs.” In practice, the law enables wealthy elites to buy influence over how American land is used and managed.

Moreover, the government doesn’t even need the landowner’s permission to declare that your property contributes to “pollination,” or “photosynthesis,” or “air quality” — and then regulate it accordingly. You could wake up one morning and find out that the land you own no longer belongs to you in any meaningful sense.

Where was the outrage then? Where were the online crusaders when private capital and federal bureaucrats teamed up to quietly erode private property rights across America?

American families pay the price

The real danger isn’t in Mike Lee’s attempt to offer more housing near population centers — land that would be limited, clarified, and safeguarded in the final bill. The real threat is the creeping partnership between unelected global elites and our own government, a partnership designed to consolidate land, control rural development, and keep Americans penned in so-called “15-minute cities.”

BlackRock buying entire neighborhoods and pricing out regular families isn’t by accident. It’s part of a larger strategy to centralize populations into manageable zones, where cars are unnecessary, rural living is unaffordable, and every facet of life is tracked, regulated, and optimized.

That’s the real agenda. And it’s already happening , and Mike Lee’s bill would have been an effort to ensure that you — not BlackRock, not China — get first dibs.

I live in a town of 451 people. Even here, in the middle of nowhere, housing is unaffordable. The American dream of owning a patch of land is slipping away, not because of one proposal from a constitutional conservative, but because global powers and their political allies are already devouring it.

Divide and conquer

This controversy isn’t really about Mike Lee. It’s about whether we, as a nation, are still capable of having honest debates about public policy — or whether the online mob now controls the narrative. It’s about whether conservatives will focus on facts or fall into the trap of friendly fire and circular firing squads.

More importantly, it’s about whether we’ll recognize the real land-grab happening in our country — and have the courage to fight back before it’s too late.


This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

URGENT: FIVE steps to CONTROL AI before it's too late!

MANAURE QUINTERO / Contributor | Getty Images

By now, many of us are familiar with AI and its potential benefits and threats. However, unless you're a tech tycoon, it can feel like you have little influence over the future of artificial intelligence.

For years, Glenn has warned about the dangers of rapidly developing AI technologies that have taken the world by storm.

He acknowledges their significant benefits but emphasizes the need to establish proper boundaries and ethics now, while we still have control. But since most people aren’t Silicon Valley tech leaders making the decisions, how can they help keep AI in check?

Recently, Glenn interviewed Tristan Harris, a tech ethicist deeply concerned about the potential harm of unchecked AI, to discuss its societal implications. Harris highlighted a concerning new piece of legislation proposed by Texas Senator Ted Cruz. This legislation proposes a state-level moratorium on AI regulation, meaning only the federal government could regulate AI. Harris noted that there’s currently no Federal plan for regulating AI. Until the federal government establishes a plan, tech companies would have nearly free rein with their AI. And we all know how slowly the federal government moves.

  

This is where you come in. Tristan Harris shared with Glenn the top five actions you should urge your representatives to take regarding AI, including opposing the moratorium until a concrete plan is in place. Now is your chance to influence the future of AI. Contact your senator and congressman today and share these five crucial steps they must take to keep AI in check:

Ban engagement-optimized AI companions for kids

Create legislation that will prevent AI from being designed to maximize addiction, sexualization, flattery, and attachment disorders, and to protect young people’s mental health and ability to form real-life friendships.

Establish basic liability laws

Companies need to be held accountable when their products cause real-world harm.

Pass increased whistleblower protections

Protect concerned technologists working inside the AI labs from facing untenable pressures and threats that prevent them from warning the public when the AI rollout is unsafe or crosses dangerous red lines.

Prevent AI from having legal rights

Enact laws so AIs don’t have protected speech or have their own bank accounts, making sure our legal system works for human interests over AI interests.

Oppose the state moratorium on AI 

Call your congressman or Senator Cruz’s office, and demand they oppose the state moratorium on AI without a plan for how we will set guardrails for this technology.

Glenn: Only Trump dared to deliver on decades of empty promises

Tasos Katopodis / Stringer | Getty Images

The Islamic regime has been killing Americans since 1979. Now Trump’s response proves we’re no longer playing defense — we’re finally hitting back.

The United States has taken direct military action against Iran’s nuclear program. Whatever you think of the strike, it’s over. It’s happened. And now, we have to predict what happens next. I want to help you understand the gravity of this situation: what happened, what it means, and what might come next. To that end, we need to begin with a little history.

Since 1979, Iran has been at war with us — even if we refused to call it that.

We are either on the verge of a remarkable strategic victory or a devastating global escalation. Time will tell.

It began with the hostage crisis, when 66 Americans were seized and 52 were held for over a year by the radical Islamic regime. Four years later, 17 more Americans were murdered in the U.S. Embassy bombing in Beirut, followed by 241 Marines in the Beirut barracks bombing.

Then came the Khobar Towers bombing in 1996, which killed 19 more U.S. airmen. Iran had its fingerprints all over it.

In Iraq and Afghanistan, Iranian-backed proxies killed hundreds of American soldiers. From 2001 to 2020 in Afghanistan and 2003 to 2011 in Iraq, Iran supplied IEDs and tactical support.

The Iranians have plotted assassinations and kidnappings on U.S. soil — in 2011, 2021, and again in 2024 — and yet we’ve never really responded.

The precedent for U.S. retaliation has always been present, but no president has chosen to pull the trigger until this past weekend. President Donald Trump struck decisively. And what our military pulled off this weekend was nothing short of extraordinary.

Operation Midnight Hammer

The strike was reportedly called Operation Midnight Hammer. It involved as many as 175 U.S. aircraft, including 12 B-2 stealth bombers — out of just 19 in our entire arsenal. Those bombers are among the most complex machines in the world, and they were kept mission-ready by some of the finest mechanics on the planet.

   USAF / Handout | Getty Images

To throw off Iranian radar and intelligence, some bombers flew west toward Guam — classic misdirection. The rest flew east, toward the real targets.

As the B-2s approached Iranian airspace, U.S. submarines launched dozens of Tomahawk missiles at Iran’s fortified nuclear facilities. Minutes later, the bombers dropped 14 MOPs — massive ordnance penetrators — each designed to drill deep into the earth and destroy underground bunkers. These bombs are the size of an F-16 and cost millions of dollars apiece. They are so accurate, I’ve been told they can hit the top of a soda can from 15,000 feet.

They were built for this mission — and we’ve been rehearsing this run for 15 years.

If the satellite imagery is accurate — and if what my sources tell me is true — the targeted nuclear sites were utterly destroyed. We’ll likely rely on the Israelis to confirm that on the ground.

This was a master class in strategy, execution, and deterrence. And it proved that only the United States could carry out a strike like this. I am very proud of our military, what we are capable of doing, and what we can accomplish.

What comes next

We don’t yet know how Iran will respond, but many of the possibilities are troubling. The Iranians could target U.S. forces across the Middle East. On Monday, Tehran launched 20 missiles at U.S. bases in Qatar, Syria, and Kuwait, to no effect. God forbid, they could also unleash Hezbollah or other terrorist proxies to strike here at home — and they just might.

Iran has also threatened to shut down the Strait of Hormuz — the artery through which nearly a fifth of the world’s oil flows. On Sunday, Iran’s parliament voted to begin the process. If the Supreme Council and the ayatollah give the go-ahead, we could see oil prices spike to $150 or even $200 a barrel.

That would be catastrophic.

The 2008 financial collapse was pushed over the edge when oil hit $130. Western economies — including ours — simply cannot sustain oil above $120 for long. If this conflict escalates and the Strait is closed, the global economy could unravel.

The strike also raises questions about regime stability. Will it spark an uprising, or will the Islamic regime respond with a brutal crackdown on dissidents?

Early signs aren’t hopeful. Reports suggest hundreds of arrests over the weekend and at least one dissident executed on charges of spying for Israel. The regime’s infamous morality police, the Gasht-e Ershad, are back on the streets. Every phone, every vehicle — monitored. The U.S. embassy in Qatar issued a shelter-in-place warning for Americans.

Russia and China both condemned the strike. On Monday, a senior Iranian official flew to Moscow to meet with Vladimir Putin. That meeting should alarm anyone paying attention. Their alliance continues to deepen — and that’s a serious concern.

Now we pray

We are either on the verge of a remarkable strategic victory or a devastating global escalation. Time will tell. But either way, President Trump didn’t start this. He inherited it — and he took decisive action.

The difference is, he did what they all said they would do. He didn’t send pallets of cash in the dead of night. He didn’t sign another failed treaty.

He acted. Now, we pray. For peace, for wisdom, and for the strength to meet whatever comes next.


This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Globalize the Intifada? Why Mamdani’s plan spells DOOM for America

Bloomberg / Contributor | Getty Images

If New Yorkers hand City Hall to Zohran Mamdani, they’re not voting for change. They’re opening the door to an alliance of socialism, Islamism, and chaos.

It only took 25 years for New York City to go from the resilient, flag-waving pride following the 9/11 attacks to a political fever dream. To quote Michael Malice, “I'm old enough to remember when New Yorkers endured 9/11 instead of voting for it.”

Malice is talking about Zohran Mamdani, a Democratic Socialist assemblyman from Queens now eyeing the mayor’s office. Mamdani, a 33-year-old state representative emerging from relative political obscurity, is now receiving substantial funding for his mayoral campaign from the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

CAIR has a long and concerning history, including being born out of the Muslim Brotherhood and named an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation terror funding case. Why would the group have dropped $100,000 into a PAC backing Mamdani’s campaign?

Mamdani blends political Islam with Marxist economics — two ideologies that have left tens of millions dead in the 20th century alone.

Perhaps CAIR has a vested interest in Mamdani’s call to “globalize the intifada.” That’s not a call for peaceful protest. Intifada refers to historic uprisings of Muslims against what they call the “Israeli occupation of Palestine.” Suicide bombings and street violence are part of the playbook. So when Mamdani says he wants to “globalize” that, who exactly is the enemy in this global scenario? Because it sure sounds like he's saying America is the new Israel, and anyone who supports Western democracy is the new Zionist.

Mamdani tried to clean up his language by citing the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, which once used “intifada” in an Arabic-language article to describe the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. So now he’s comparing Palestinians to Jewish victims of the Nazis? If that doesn’t twist your stomach into knots, you’re not paying attention.

If you’re “globalizing” an intifada, and positioning Israel — and now America — as the Nazis, that’s not a cry for human rights. That’s a call for chaos and violence.

Rising Islamism

But hey, this is New York. Faculty members at Columbia University — where Mamdani’s own father once worked — signed a letter defending students who supported Hamas after October 7. They also contributed to Mamdani’s mayoral campaign. And his father? He blamed Ronald Reagan and the religious right for inspiring Islamic terrorism, as if the roots of 9/11 grew in Washington, not the caves of Tora Bora.

   Bloomberg / Contributor | Getty Images

 

This isn’t about Islam as a faith. We should distinguish between Islam and Islamism. Islam is a religion followed peacefully by millions. Islamism is something entirely different — an ideology that seeks to merge mosque and state, impose Sharia law, and destroy secular liberal democracies from within. Islamism isn’t about prayer and fasting. It’s about power.

Criticizing Islamism is not Islamophobia. It is not an attack on peaceful Muslims. In fact, Muslims are often its first victims.

Islamism is misogynistic, theocratic, violent, and supremacist. It’s hostile to free speech, religious pluralism, gay rights, secularism — even to moderate Muslims. Yet somehow, the progressive left — the same left that claims to fight for feminism, LGBTQ rights, and free expression — finds itself defending candidates like Mamdani. You can’t make this stuff up.

Blending the worst ideologies

And if that weren’t enough, Mamdani also identifies as a Democratic Socialist. He blends political Islam with Marxist economics — two ideologies that have left tens of millions dead in the 20th century alone. But don’t worry, New York. I’m sure this time socialism will totally work. Just like it always didn’t.

If you’re a business owner, a parent, a person who’s saved anything, or just someone who values sanity: Get out. I’m serious. If Mamdani becomes mayor, as seems likely, then New York City will become a case study in what happens when you marry ideological extremism with political power. And it won’t be pretty.

This is about more than one mayoral race. It’s about the future of Western liberalism. It’s about drawing a bright line between faith and fanaticism, between healthy pluralism and authoritarian dogma.

Call out radicalism

We must call out political Islam the same way we call out white nationalism or any other supremacist ideology. When someone chants “globalize the intifada,” that should send a chill down your spine — whether you’re Jewish, Christian, Muslim, atheist, or anything in between.

The left may try to shame you into silence with words like “Islamophobia,” but the record is worn out. The grooves are shallow. The American people see what’s happening. And we’re not buying it.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.