Senator Jim Risch explains how America will be just fine with less spending in Washington, DC

February 26, 2013

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Instead of looking at all of Washington and just declaring they stink, Glenn has decided to take a hard look at some of the strongest champions for liberty who are ready to stand together against the GOP Progressives. One Senator that has been highly ranked on "Most Conservative in the Senate" lists is Senator Jim Risch of Idaho. Glenn invited Senator Risch onto radio to discuss some of the issues facing the country today. What did he think?

Read the Rush Transcript below:

GLENN: Okay. We have a guy who I don't know much about and we are going to start making a list and checking it twice of who's naughty and nice. Instead of looking at all of Washington and saying they all stink, Ted Cruz is out and he is trying to ‑‑ he said yesterday, "You know it's time to have another party, maybe." I think it is. But I don't want to ‑‑ I mean, you know, you ‑‑ that's a long process. That's 20 years. We can make inroads if we can get a group of guys to stand together on liberty principles and really stand together and say, "I don't care what John Boehner says; we're not going to do it." And if they would really stand together, I think people in ‑‑ the American people would gather around them. They are going to be called names, they are going to be called everything under the sun, but if they would stand together. You know, Rand Paul, Cruz, Mike Lee, it would be great.

Now, there's a senator that I don't think I've ever spoken to, at least politically. I understand that we met one time up in Idaho when he was the governor and now he's the senator. And he was ‑‑ was he number one on one of the conservative lists of the most ‑‑

STU: Yeah, most conservative in the Senate on one list, yeah.

GLENN: And I said, we have to start ‑‑ let's start at the top and go down and meet these guys and introduce them to you. Senator Risch, how are you, sir?

RISCH: Good. Good to talk to you again, Glenn. It has been a while since we've talked.

GLENN: Yeah. Where was that? It was up in Idaho.

RISCH: Yeah, it was at Frank VanderSloot's home.

GLENN: That was years ago. Yeah, that was years and years ago.

RISCH: It was a while ago, yeah. A lot of water under the bridge.

GLENN: So Jim, you are ‑‑ tell us a little bit about yourself on where you stand on the Constitution and what is happening right now in our country.

RISCH: Well, I was ‑‑ I started my career as a prosecutor and I spent almost 30 years in the state Senate, then I was lieutenant governor, governor and now in the U.S. Senate but, you know, I guess people are ‑‑ I've had some people surprised about soliciting but, look, I cast 20,000 votes when I was in the state Senate and they're not any different than what I vote on here.

Look, there's two things that guide me. Number one, what's happened in this town and what shocked me since I got here going on my fifth year now is the lack, total lack of disregard for the sovereignty of the states. There is no ‑‑ there's absolutely no discussion about the rights that have been reserved to the states in the Tenth Amendment of the United States Constitution and these things are ‑‑ you know, I was one of the senators that voted against the violence against women's act and brought a lot of heat on that in the media, but that ‑‑ I'm not soft on violence against women. I think it's terrible. When I was a prosecutor, I put people in prison for that. But the United States government has no business in that at all. It is the function of the states to do that and that's what's caused this government to grow is that these people come here and they see something that they would like to do and do good on and so they introduce a bill and away you go and then if you don't vote for it, then you're a bad guy because you support violence against women, which is absolutely insane.

GLENN: Okay. So ‑‑

RISCH: And that's what's happening in this town and that gets me. But the second thing that gets me, Glenn, and your listeners know this: As bad as they think it is in Washington D.C., it is much, much worse than that. They are borrowing 42 cents out of every dollar they spend. They spend between $10 and $11 billion a day, but they have to borrow over $4 billion every single day in order to pay their bills at night. This has got to stop.

GLENN: So how do you do that? When they are, right now they are saying that, you know, this 2 or 3% cut with sequester is going to shut everything down: The airports are going to stop, our children are going to be out in the streets without teachers and there's no firemen or no policemen?

RISCH: Glenn, that's crazy. You heard the FAA saying they are going to close down towers and what have you. They are going to have the same amount of money they had in 2009. They were operating the towers in 2009. Why would they have to close them down now? This president is going to do his best to make this as painful on the American people as possible. I think this one's going to come around and bite him. He's the CEO.

Look, when I was in Idaho, we had holdbacks from time to time because the money didn't come in, and we cut back, but we all got together and said how can we do this as painlessly as possible and still make the trains run on time? And we did it and we did it without punishing people. But that's what this president is trying to do. It's nonsense. It's crazy.

GLENN: Okay. So ‑‑

RISCH: And not only that, but on the sequester, this is de minimis compared to what's coming. Anybody who thinks we're going to get out of this thing without a substantial amount of pain is whistling Dixie. I mean, there ‑‑

GLENN: What kind of percentage, what kind of across‑the‑board percentage do you think in the end we're going to have to cut?

RISCH: Well, if you ‑‑ if you look at what we're borrowing, borrowing 42 ‑‑ just to get even, just to stop the hemorrhaging you've got to cut 42%. Well, of course, we all know that can't happen and you're going to have a collapse and chaos and everything else. But there's a simple way to do it. It will never happen in D.C., and I'll tell you why in a second. But the simple way to do this if we just spent 1% less every year for the next six or seven years, we could get back to a balanced budget. We'd still have a $20 trillion debt we'd have to deal with, but we could at least get back to a balanced budget.

And let me tell you why it's not going to happen. In Washington D.C. when you say we need to spend less than we spent last year, they look at you like you got three heads. The Republicans have compromised and compromised and compromised and got us up to $3.8 trillion spending, it's time for the other side to compromise and roll this thing backwards. Just a percent at a time and we can do it without bringing the house down around us.

GLENN: Do you think we could ever do that with the Republicans? I mean, John McCain, I mean, he's saying that Hagel is going to get confirmed. You know, you got the Lindsey Grahams and the John McCains in there and I mean, you're never going to get that?

RISCH: I'm already going to vote on cloture on that, I'm going to vote no. But I think there are enough people that are going to ‑‑

GLENN: So how do you make this happen, the tough things happen when you can't even get ‑‑ you can't even get Hagel, you can't even get enough Republicans to say absolutely not?

RISCH: Well, we got other problems besides that. You know, we got Brennan coming up who's a real problem also. But, you know, look, we can't give up. Yeah, we're in tougher times right now. We don't have the White House and when they have the White House and the national media on their side, you've got to ‑‑ you've got to get up every morning and get dressed and get ready to go down and fight because it's not going to be handed to you by any stretch of the imagination. When we do get the White House, we still have the national media against us, but I'm looking forward to that day. You know, we've got the days coming until this nightmare's over and we're going to get another shot at this. In a couple of years we're hoping that we're going to do better on the ‑‑ in the U.S. Senate and there's a real possibility on that.

GLENN: Well, I think there's a real possibility if the Karl Roves don't destroy everybody who could come in and back people like you and Mike Lee and everybody else up. But I mean, if the Karl Roves take this party, you're done.

RISCH: Well, you know, again like I said, this country's worth fighting for. I'm going to do it and I've got friends up here that are ‑‑ they are going to do it. And win, lose or draw, they are going to get a fight.

GLENN: Let me ‑‑ one other thing, I can't let you go: Where do you stand on ‑‑ I know this answer because of Idaho, but where do you stand on guns and what's coming?

RISCH: Nobody needs to take a stand on guns. It's already in the Constitution. It's black and white. It's written in plain English. And these people ‑‑ here in D.C. I get this question all the time: Well, why do you need an automatic weapon and a big clip to hunt for deer? Well, the answer to that is you don't, but the Second Amendment's got nothing to do with hunting. It was written by people who put it in place so that free Americans could defend themselves against people who wanted to take our rights away. It has nothing to do with hunting. Forget hunting. Take it ‑‑ take hunting out of the conversation. It's got nothing to do with that. But if ‑‑ I'll tell you what: Thank goodness we have the Second Amendment. Thank goodness when those guys sat down and they wrote the First Amendment and gave us all our God‑given rights in writing, they then said, "Okay, what are we going to have to do to keep these?" Somebody said, "I got an idea for number two," and number two is just crystal clear and black and white. Thank heaven we've got it.

GLENN: Thank you very much. Senator, great talking to you.

RISCH: Good talking to you, Glen.

GLENN: We'll talk again. So I think he goes up on the board. Do you agree?

STU: Yeah, I like him.

PAT: Definitely.

GLENN: So he goes up on the board as, let's get a ‑‑ let's get some magnets of all these guys ab we'll decide which one goes into the board. Which one goes into the GOP board and which one goes into the new GOP or the new ‑‑ the libertarian kind of constitutional kind of board.

STU: Kind of feels like our own creepy version of e‑harmony. Like we're just ‑‑ like we're going through, like, "What do we have in common with you?"

PAT: We've matched them on 28 dimensions of compatibility.

GLENN: But you know what? If we could get ‑‑

PAT: Found our soulmate.

GLENN: If we could get them and promote them as a group.

PAT: Yeah.

GLENN: We could say ‑‑ and they would start actually moving as a group, they would have some power.

PAT: Yep.

GLENN: You can't take all of them. I mean, you can, one at a time. But if they move together, you'll be okay. I mean, you at least have a shot. And at least then you start changing the dialogue. You don't talk about ‑‑ don't talk about all the crap that the GOP and the Democrats are talking about. Talk about principles. Make sure you base everything on principles. What do you say the Big 10, the Bill of Rights? Just base them all on that. No, you don't have a right to search without a warrant; no, you don't have a right to hold me without a trial. I have a right to a trial with a jury. I'm sorry, you can't just take my records of something. You can't snoop on me. You can't listen on my phone. You can't just take my stuff. You can't just tell the states what to do. It's not in the Constitution. It belongs to them. You can't take my gun, and I have a right to say that. If we can just get people to back the top ten, we'd be a lot farther than we are now.

Critical theory destroys truth and justice

Editor's note: This article was originally published on TheBlaze.com.

Critical theory once stood out as the absurd progressive notion that it is. Now, its maxims are becoming an integral part of ordinary political discourse. The more you repeat a lie, the more you will believe it, and this is the very dangerous place in which we find ourselves today.

Take this critical theory maxim as an example: If we desire justice, we must sometimes champion what may appear superficially as injustice. It's a necessary evil, if you will, the necessity of “controlled injustice.”

By using truth through fabrication and controlled injustice for justice, we’ll save the republic. We’ll be acting in a noble way.

This definition of justice is defined by the “oppressed,” not the “oppressor.” It is the greatest happiness for the greatest number. To achieve this justice, however, we need to endorse acts on occasion that, while seemingly unjust, serve a higher purpose. It will ensure the stability and the unity of our republic, and this may manifest in ways that seem contradictory to our values. But these are the necessary shadows to cast light on “true justice.”

And isn’t that what we are all after, anyway?

Here’s another critical theory maxim: Sometimes we find the truth through fabrication. Our pursuit of truth sometimes requires a strategic use of falsehoods. The truth is a construct that has been shaped and tailored to promote the well-being of the collective.

We sometimes need to accept and propagate lies designed by "the system” — not the old system, but the system that we’re now using to replace the old to get more justice through injustice and more truth through fabrication.

We’re engaging in a higher form of honesty. When we fabricate, it’s for the right reason. We are reaching up to the heavens fighting for a higher sort of honesty. To fortify the truth, we occasionally must weave a tapestry of lies. Each thread, essential for the greater picture, will ultimately define our understanding and ensure our unity under this infallible wisdom.

The election is coming up. Does this maxim sound familiar? Many think it is imperative that we secure our republic through election control to maintain our republic. Sometimes, we might need to take actions that by traditional standards might be questionable.

The act of securing elections requires cheating. It's not mere deception. It is a noble act of safeguarding our way of life. We're on the verge of losing this democracy, and without deception, we will lose it.

To ensure it doesn't fall into the hands of those we know will destroy it, we may have to make a few fabrications. We're fabricating stories to be able to control or secure the republic through our elections. By using truth through fabrication and controlled injustice for justice, we'll save the republic. Therefore, we'll be acting in a noble way. Stealing an election from those who wish to harm our society is truly an act of valor and an essential measure to protect our values and ensure the continuation of our just society.

If we desire justice, we must sometimes champion what may appear superficially as injustice.

I know it's a paradox of honor through dishonor. But in this context, by embracing the dishonor, we achieve the highest form of honor, ensuring the stability and the continuation of our great republic.

Let this be heard, far and wide, as a great call to patriotic action. As we advance, let each of us, citizens of this great and honorable republic, consider these principles. Not as abstract or paradoxical but as practical guides to daily life. Embrace the necessity of controlled injustice, the utility of lies, the duty to secure our electoral process, and the honor and apparent dishonor. These are not merely strategies for survival. They are prerequisites for our prosperity.

We all have to remember that justice is what our leaders define, that truth is what our party tells us. Our republic stands strong on the values of injustice for justice, honor through dishonor, and the fabrication of truths. To deviate from this path is to jeopardize the very fabric of our society. Strength through unity; unity through strength.

We've heard this nonsense for so long. But now, this nonsense is becoming an instituted reality, and we are entering perilous times. Don't be fooled by the narratives you will hear during the march to November. Never let someone convince you that the ends justify the means, that a little bit of injustice is needed to achieve a broader, collective vision of justice, that truth sometimes requires fabricated lies and narratives. If we do, justice will cease to be justice, truth will cease to be truth, and our republic will be lost.

Top 5 MOST EVIL taxes the government extorts from you

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"In this world nothing is certain but death and taxes." -Ben Franklin

The injustice of taxation has been a core issue for Americans since the very beginning of our country, and it's a problem we have yet to resolve. This belief was recently reignited in many Americans earlier this month on tax day when the numbers were crunched and it was discovered that the government was somehow owed even more hard-earned money. As Glenn recently discussed on his show, it's getting to be impossible for most Americans to afford to live comfortably, inflation is rising, and our politicians keep getting richer.

The taxpayer's burden is heavier than ever.

The government is not above some real low blows either. While taxes are a necessary evil, some taxes stretch the definition of "necessary" and emphasize the "evil." Here are the top five most despicable taxes that are designed to line the IRS coffers at your expense:

Income Tax

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"It would be a hard government that should tax its people one-tenth part of their income." -Ben Franklin

On February 24th, 2024 we hit a very unfortunate milestone, the 101st anniversary of the 16th Amendment, which authorized federal income tax. Where does the government get the right to steal directly out of your paycheck?

Death Taxes

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"Now my advice for those who die, Declare the pennies on your eyes" -George Harrison

Not even in death can you escape the cold pursuit of the tax collector. It's not good enough that you have to pay taxes on everything you buy and every penny you make your entire life. Now the feds want a nice slice, based on the entire value of your estate, that can be as much as 40 percent. Then the state government gets to stick their slimy fingers all over whatever remains before your family is left with the crumbs. It's practically grave-robbery.

Payroll

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"The power to tax is the power to destroy." -John Marshall

What's that? The nice chunk of your paycheck the government nabs before you can even get it to the bank wasn't enough? What if the government taxed your employer just for paying you? In essence, you make less than what your agreed pay rate is and it costs your employer more! Absolutely abominable.

Social Security

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"We don't have a trillion-dollar debt because we haven't taxed enough; we have a trillion-dollar debt because we spend too much." -Ronald Reagan

Everyone knows the collapse of Social Security is imminent. It has limped along for years, only sustained by a torrent of tax dollars and the desperate actions of politicians. For decades, people have unwillingly forked over money into the system they will never see again.

FICA

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"What at first was plunder assumed the softer name of revenue." -Thomas Paine

FICA is the payroll equivalent of Social Security. Your employer has to match however much you pay. It means it costs your employer even more to pay you—again, you'll NEVER see that money. At this point, are you even working for yourself, or are you just here to generate money for the government to frivolously throw away?

5 DISTURBING ways World War III will be different from previous wars

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Has World War III begun?

Over the weekend, Iran launched an unprecedented attack against Israel involving over 300 missiles and drones. This marked the first direct attack on Israel originating from Iranian territory. Fortunately, according to an Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, 99 percent of missiles and drones were successfully neutralized by Israeli defense systems. Iran claimed that the operation against Israel had concluded and that no further offensive was planned, although the possibility of another attack is still present.

This has left many people, including Glenn, wondering the same thing: did we just witness the start of World War III?

Glenn recently had a World War II Air Force Veteran as a guest on his TV special, who told stories of the horrors he and his brothers-in-arms faced in the skies over war-torn Europe. This was a timely reminder of the terrors of war and a warning that our future, if it leads to another world war, is a dark one.

But, if Glenn's coverage of the Iranian attack revealed one thing, it's that World War III will look nothing like the world wars of the twentieth century. Long gone are the days of John "Lucky" Luckadoo and his "Bloody Hundredth" bravely flying their B-17s into battle. Over the weekend, we saw hundreds of autonomous drones and missiles clashing with extreme speed and precision over several different fronts (including space) simultaneously. This ain't your grandfather's war.

From EMP strikes to cyber attacks, here are FIVE ways the face of war has changed:

EMP attacks

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The entire modern world, on every level, is completely dependent on electricity. From your home refrigerator to international trade, the world would come to a grinding halt without power. And as Glenn has pointed out, it wouldn't even be that hard to pull off. All it would take is 3 strategically placed, high-altitude nuclear detonations and the entire continental U.S. would be without power for months if not years. This would cause mass panic across the country, which would be devastating enough on its own, but the chaos could be a perfect opportunity for a U.S. land invasion.

Nuclear strikes

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Nuclear war is nothing new. Many of us grew up during the Cold War, built fallout shelters, and learned to duck and cover. But times have changed. The Berlin Wall fell and so did the preparedness of the average American to weather a nuclear attack. As technology has advanced, more of our adversaries than ever have U.S. cities within their crosshairs, and as Glenn has pointed out, these adversaries are not exactly shy about that fact. Unfortunately, the possibility of an atomic apocalypse is as real as ever.

Immigration warfare

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The strategy of strangling an opposing nation's economy to gain the upper hand is a wartime tactic as old as time. That's why the Border Crisis is so alarming. What better way to damage an opponent's economy than by overburdening it with millions of undocumented immigrants? As Glenn has covered, these immigrants are not making the trek unaided. There is a wide selection of organizations that facilitate this growing disaster. These organizations are receiving backing from around the globe, such as the WEF, the UN, and U.S. Democrats! Americans are already feeling the effects of the border crisis. Imagine how this tactic could be exploited in war.

Cyber shutdowns

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Cyber attacks will be a major tactic in future wars. We've already experienced relatively minor cyber strikes from Russia, China, and North Korea, and it is a very real possibility that one of our adversaries inflicts a larger attack with devastating consequences on the United States. In fact, the WEF has already predicted a "catastrophic" cyber attack is imminent, and Glenn suggests that it is time to start preparing ourselves. A cyber attack could be every bit as devastating as an EMP, and in a world run by computers, nothing is safe.

Biological assault

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Don't trust the "experts." That was the takeaway many of us had from the pandemic, but something less talked about is the revelation that China has manufactured viruses that are capable of spreading across the globe. We now know that the lab leak hypothesis is true and that the Wuhan lab manufactured the virus that infected the entire world. That was only ONE virus from ONE lab. Imagine what else the enemies of America might be cooking up.

The government is WAGING WAR against these 3 basic needs

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The government has launched a full-on assault against our basic needs, and people are starting to take notice.

As long-time followers of Glenn are probably aware, our right to food, water, and power is under siege. The government no longer cares about our general welfare. Instead, our money lines the pockets of our politicians, funds overseas wars, or goes towards some woke-ESG-climate-Great Reset bullcrap. And when they do care, it's not in a way that benefits the American people.

From cracking down on meat production to blocking affordable power, this is how the government is attacking your basic needs:

Food

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Glenn had Rep. Thomas Massie on his show where he sounded the alarm about the attack on our food. The government has been waging war against our food since the thirties when Congress passed the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938. They started by setting strict limits on how many crops a farmer could grow in a season and punishing anyone who grew more—even if it was intended for personal use, not for sale on the market. This sort of autocratic behavior has continued into the modern day and has only gotten more draconian. Today, not only are you forced to buy meat that a USDA-approved facility has processed, but the elites want meat in general off the menu. Cow farts are too dangerous to the environment, so the WEF wants you to eat climate-friendly alternatives—like bugs.

Water

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As Glenn discussed during a recent Glenn TV special, the government has been encroaching on our water for years. It all started when Congress passed the Clean Water Act in 1972, which gave the government the ability to regulate large bodies of water. As the name suggests, the act was primarily intended to keep large waterways clear of pollution, but over time it has allowed the feds to assume more and more control over the country's water supply. Most recently, the Biden administration attempted to expand the reach of the Clean Water Act to include even more water and was only stopped by the Supreme Court.

Electricity