CORONAVIRUS UPDATE: April 9th

Glenn gives the latest coronavirus numbers, updating YOU on everything needed to know as Americans and officials monitor China's new COVID-19 virus:

Daily Stats as of 5:30 AM CT (from John's Hopkins)

  • Total Confirmed Cases Worldwide: 1,529,961 (up from 1,447,516 yesterday)
  • Total Confirmed Deaths Worldwide: 89,426 (up from 83,113 yesterday)
  • Total Confirmed Recovered Worldwide: 337,164 (up from 308,659 yesterday)
  • US has 435,160 Confirmed Cases and 14,797 Deaths, up from 400,549 cases and 12,857 deaths yesterday
  • The nearly 2,000 US deaths makes this the highest death rate day so far in the Pandemic for any country
  • The US has officially tested 2,226,116 people, Making the US 44th in Rate of Testing Per 1 Million in Population
  • Less than 1% of the US Population has been tested for COVID-19... Iceland is #1, having tested over 10% of its total population
Virus Spreads Nearly 2-Times Faster Than Previously Estimated https://nypost.com/2020/04/08/coronavirus-might-spread-twice-as-quickly-as-health-officials-thought/
  • Researchers from Los Alimos National Laboratory published a study estimating the total number of other people infected by each SARS-CoV-2 carrier.
  • The research found that people infected during the initial outbreak in Wuhan probably passed the virus to an average 5.7 others — more than double the 2 to 2.5 other people estimated by health officials and the World Health Organization.
  • Patients sick with the seasonal flu, by comparison, will on average infect about 1.3 people.
  • If the numbers are accurate, the coronavirus pandemic could only be stopped by a widespread vaccination or built immunity for 82 percent of the population, according to the researchers, who reviewed Chinese data from the CDC, including mobile phone data that tracked the movement of patients leaving Wuhan.
  • The WHO has faced significant criticism for downplaying the contagious nature of COVID-19 and China's role in daily to stop the spread early in the localized epidemic phase.
  • An internal Chinese study originally leaked in February by doctors estimated the rate of spread in Wuhan to be between 4.8 and 5.9 people infected per victim, which would validate the research from Los Alimos. https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/26/7/20-0282_article?deliveryName=USCDC_333-DM25287
More Western Governments Agree: Virus Likely Came from Chinese Laboratory, NOT From Exoctic Food Market https://www.yahoo.com/news/boris-johnsons-government-reportedly-believes-115000701.html
  • Add Great Britain to the growing list of Governments who are beginning to confirm the SARS-CoV-2 virus likely came from a Chinese Communist Party-backed viral research lab.
  • The US, UK, Israel, Canada, Australia, Taiwan and Germany have all reached similar conclusions: the virus behind COVID-19 was most likely laboratory grown. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8188159/Did-coronavirus-leak-research-lab-Wuhan-Startling-new-theory-no-longer-discounted.html
  • The WHO has significantly downplayed this possibility and continues to parrot Chinese Communist Party propaganda that the virus is too "imperfect" to have been developed as a bio-weapon, a claim not being made by any Western governments or intelligence agencies.
  • Rather, the conclusion is that the virus was discovered in the Chinese research lab and accidentally leaked when a worker was sprayed with blood from a bat, which internal documents from the Lab as well as Chinese Communist Party videos obtained by Western Intelligence & Media outlets appear to confirm.
China Communist Party: Virus Was Spreading in North Carolina in the Summer of 2019 https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/3079046/chinese-supercomputer-and-american-doctors-clash-over-ai
  • An AI Supercomputer modeling all public health records finds SARS-CoV-2 was likely present and spreading in North Carolina in the Summer of 2019.
  • Using millions of medical records (fully anonymized of course), the Chinese computer found a case of 'atypical pneumonia' of 'unknown origin' in The US last year, including CT scans of the victim's lungs indicative of COVID-19.
  • The Victim was an avid "Vaper" (user of oral vaping CBD Oil device)
  • China's Tianhe-1 machine says white patches detected on lungs suggest probable COVID-19 and suggested contaminated vaping devices shared among friends the likely culprit.
  • But North Carolina doctor says five patients with similar symptoms were not evidence of an earlier outbreak.
  • The patient was one of five people who showed up at the WakeMed Hospital in Raleigh, North Carolina, at about the same time, with acute lung injuries, according to information on the website of the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.
  • Doctors ran tests for influenza and other known pathogens to identify the cause of infection, and the results came back negative.
  • All patients survived and their cases were added by the US CDC into a pool of hundreds of patients "potentially associated with vaping", or the smoking of electronic cigarettes, that occurred last year.
  • CDC notes that none of the patients presented with other COVID-19 symptoms which often include Fever, Fatigue, Diarrhea, Headaches, or Dry Cough.
  • CDC further noted that if this had been SARS-CoV-2, further spread would have likely occurred given the extremely high rate of contagion.
  • Industry analysts also noted that approximately 95% of global vaping equipment, including flavor cartridges, are manufactured in China.
US Government Needs Mike Lindell After All: Federal Stockpile of PPEs 90% Depleted https://apnews.com/a464316e25560d393bd07a021b7e81ba
  • More than 90% of the US Stockpile of Masks, Gowns, Gloves and Faceshields have already been distributed to states.
  • As reported by The Blaze and confirmed as "True" by Factcheckers at USA Today, the US Federal Emergency Stockpile had been depleted by over 70% between 2012 and 2016 during the Obama Administration, but the Administration had not refilled the stockpile before Trump took office in 2017. https://www.glennbeck.com/blog/coronavirus-update-april-6th
  • The Department of Health and Human Services told the Associated Press Wednesday that the federal stockpile was in the process of deploying all remaining personal protective equipment in its inventory.
  • The HHS statement confirms federal documents released Wednesday by the House Oversight and Reform Committee showing that about 90% of the personal protective equipment in the stockpile has been distributed to state and local governments.
  • HHS spokeswoman Katie McKeogh said the remaining 10% will be kept in reserve to support federal response efforts, noting that the US Federal Government is expecting new PPE to arrive from US and Western manufacturers within days to help ensure ongoing supplies to US hotspots.
New Yorkers Carry European Strains of SARS-CoV-2, Study Demonstrates https://dnyuz.com/2020/04/08/most-new-york-coronavirus-cases-came-from-europe-genomes-show/
  • There are currently 115 known 'mutations' of SARS-CoV-2, most extremely minor protein anomalies that don't impact how the virus functions in the human body.
  • NYC victims mostly carry and transmit the European strains of the virus, the same as those having caused such high infection and serious complication rates in Italy and Spain.
  • That seems to be true up and down the East Coast and in Louisianna, whereas Washington, San Francisco and Los Angeles mostly seem to carry strains that came directly through China without first transmitting through European hosts.
  • Understanding the specific genome of which strain of the virus is carried can help doctors determine which treatments may be most effective for a given patient, and may alter vaccine development.
  • SARS-CoV-2 itself is a mutation of the original SARS-1 Coronavirus, scientists indicated.
  • Some previous studies have speculated that some strains of the virus may be more virulent and fatal in some patients than others, although the CDC has yet to reach this conclusion, the study notes.
100 Ships and 90,000 Crew Members In Limbo - Stuck At Sea Awaiting Permission to Disembark https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/over-90-000-cruise-ship-crew-members-stuck-at-sea-amid-coronavirus-outbreak/ar-BB12lXc2
  • Dozens of ships do not have passengers, either because cruises were canceled or returning ships already disembarked all passengers - still crew members, even those who have tested negative for COVID-19, are stuck on board.
  • The Coral Princess, the latest cruise ship in the U.S. with reported cases of COVID-19, already disembarked all passengers but crew members are all still on board. Tthe U.S. Coast Guard said over 100 cruise ships and 90,000 crew members are still stuck at sea in or near U.S. ports and waters.
  • "The entire DHS team is working together to ensure no seafarer will be left untreated during this emergency to the best of our collective ability," Rear Adm. Eric Jones, Commander of the 7th District headquartered in Miami, said.
  • However, "cruise lines need to take additional measures" to be "reasonably self-sufficient" through better medical care and protocols.
  • Some crew members have accused the government of slowplaying disembarkation orders as a means to 'punish' the Cruise industry for choosing to continue operations into March, resulting in thousands of passengers becoming infected and requiring rescue efforts at Government expense.
In Mexico, Death's by COVID-19 Flat, but Deaths by "Atypical Pneumonia" Surge https://www.theyucatantimes.com/2020/04/in-mexico-atypical-pneumonia-is-killing-more-people-than-covid-19-imss-denies-it/
  • In a copycat scenario echoing China's early cover-up, Government Officials in Mexico seem to be masking COVID-19 deaths by fudging Cause of Death numbers.
  • Officially, Mexico has only 174 Deaths by COVID-19 so far, despite local reports of "many Dozens" of dead in just one hospital in Mexico City.
  • However, a recent media report shows that while official COVID-19 deaths appear to be low, death via 'Atypical Pneumonia', 'Respiratory Failure' or 'Heart Seizure' have surged by hundreds of cases in the past 4 weeks.
  • In one hospital just this past week, only 15 patients were diagnosed with COVID-19, but another 48 patients were admitted with "Atypical Pneumonia" listed on official medical reports leaked to the press.
  • Doctors there said they aren't testing all patients due to lack of testing supplies and laboratory capacity.
  • Mexico only began instituting social distancing orders and lockdowns last week, prompting a scramble by Government officials as obvious outbreaks appeared in hospitals all over the country.
  • Mexico recently requested international help, asking for 200,000 doctors and 300,000 nurses to help deal with the expected wave of infections. https://mexiconewsdaily.com/news/coronavirus/mexico-is-short-200000-doctors-300000-nurses-health-minister/
Police Confront Nude Sunbathers About Having Naked Faces https://www.foxnews.com/lifestyle/nudist-sunbathers-face-masks-coronavirus
  • Face masks are apparently more important than pants when it comes to health and safety.
  • In classic "You Do You" style, a group of naked sunbathers in the Czech Republic were recently ordered by police to cover up with facemasks to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
  • While they were completely free to remain nude, local ordinances required that they keep their mouths covered due to the global coronavirus outbreak.
  • "I guess Nude doesn't really mean Nude anymore," one local sunbather complained.
How Do You Restart The World's Largest Economy? On a Wing and a Prayer: https://www.wsj.com/articles/government-and-businessesturn-attention-to-eventual-reopeningof-22-trillion-u-s-economy-11586301615
  • The Trump Administration's Larry Kudlow indicated recently that we're 'weeks, not months' from restarting parts of the US Economy following COVID-19 lockdowns.
  • Trump has indicated he wants a 'fast, very rapid' jump-start, coupling liquidity injections from the US Federal Reserve with Government Spending via several channels.
  • The US Government will place orders with Defense contractors, spend heavily on new infrastructure, offer immediate spending grants to US-states, and issue special building and construction permits, along with cutting red-tape and environmental regulations, insiders have indicated.
  • Spending grants offered to US states would be time-sensitive, inspiring states to rush projects to fruition to take advantage of the funds. "There's a clock on this stuff," Kudlow told reporters.
  • "This has never been done before, but we know the levers to pull," one source quoted by the Wall Street Journal said. "The US Government is the largest overall spender in the world, but we also control the regulations that would otherwise limit growth from the private sector."
  • The one-two punch of government spending coupled with lower regulatory burden should enable the US Government to help jump-start the economy.
  • "Spending by the US Government, along with massive loan-guarantees is what restarted Europe's economy via the Marshall plan after World War II," said one Fed official. "We're not entirely in uncharted territory."
  • Still, the concern is that by lowering social distancing orders too soon, further viral outbreaks could squash efforts to restart the economy. "Timing is everything," Larry Kudlow told the Wall Street Journal yesterday.

A nation unravels when its shared culture is the first thing to go

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.