WATCH: Eternal Vigilance

Alright, let’s talk about this weekend, because it really was the tale of two weekends. One group gathered in Houston, Texas, men and women who understand the times in which we live, that liberty comes with responsibility, that without liberty there is tyranny, the time is now if not passed, to stand. They get it. Government is part of the problem. I mean, we’re part of the problem, but it’s certainly not the solution.

And then there were those gathered to say exactly the opposite, that the American people are the problem, and government is the solution. First, let me take you to a university where the president was speaking. Notice he’ll always speak to university students. He is reaching right directly for the youth of the world.

President Obama said Mexico’s gang violence is because of our addiction, the U.S. citizens’ drug addictions, not Mexican cartels, no, no, no. Watch.

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President Obama: We understand that much of the root cause of violence that’s been happening here in Mexico for which so many Mexicans have suffered is the demand for illegal drugs in the United States. And we also recognize that most of the guns used to commit violence here in Mexico come from the United States.

Do you hear what he has done? What he has done…most of the guns that kill Mexicans – he is setting us up. He is setting us up. When we are weak, they will pile across the border, because the president has even verified it’s your fault. It’s your fault. There was no mention of Fast and Furious. They’ll be no questioning of the DOJ officials responsible for trafficking guns over the border, guns that were later used by criminals to kill U.S. border agent Brian Terry and over 300 others in Mexico.

To date, no one in the DOJ has gone to jail for this number. Nobody’s even being questioned. No one’s been held accountable for trying to use guns as a way to show America and push for stricter gun control laws. Incredibly, as our own government goes to extremes to try and infringe on the right that shall not be infringed, the president is also at the same time this weekend advising American students to ignore anyone who warns against big, out-of-control governments.

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President Obama: Unfortunately, you’ve grown up hearing voices that incessantly warn of government as nothing more than some separate sinister entity that’s at the root of all our problems. Some of these same voices also do their best to gum up the works. They’ll warn that tyranny is always lurking just around the corner. You should reject these voices.

This is amazing to me. This is truly amazing. He says you’ve grown up. This is very reminiscent of what Al Gore said where, you know, you just know things that your parents don’t – you’ve grown up hearing voices. Will who’s been telling them that? Who’s been telling them? Certainly not in the classroom…they haven’t been told this in the classroom.

Nobody has taught Thomas Jefferson in quite some time, who said, “The price of liberty is eternal vigilance.” George Washington said, “Government is not reason. It is not eloquence – it is force like fire, it is a dangerous servant and fearful master...” He had so little trust in government that he fretted over his job title. He wanted be called president. Everybody else wanted him to be called king.

He and the other framers were more concerned about building a government that wouldn’t get out of control. It’s what they feared the most. Fast forward now 236 years, and our president now scoffs at Washington and Jefferson’s advice and instructs America’s youth to just trust the government, trust them, and reject anyone who is vigilant, basically saying the government can’t go bad. There can’t be a tyrannical government, a tyrant taking over, so let your guard down.

Let me tell you something. We have failed to teach our kids not only American history but world history. We have failed to such an extent that the students didn’t even laugh. May I ask you a question? Imagine if the president gave this very same speech in Egypt or any of the former communist countries. Can you imagine?

Can you imagine if he went down to Foxconn? This is where your Apple iPad – oh Apple is such a great businesses, isn’t it? It’s fantastic. These people here are the ones who make your iPad for Apple. Imagine if he met in this cafeteria.

This is the building where you leave – I’m sorry, you never leave. You live in this, and you never leave, because the business where they’re building your Apple product is underneath these housing tenants here. And they all go down to, like I think it’s the third floor and eat. And then they go down and work, and then they go up and sleep. It’s beautiful existence. That’s why people are throwing themselves off this building, and they’re doing it because this is what the government tells them they have to do.

Now imagine if the president went down to the cafeteria in this building and said that – hey, don’t listen to these people who say there might be a problem, there might be a tyrant, that somebody could control your life. Well, the fact is freedom is so rare, the experience that we have had living under freedom…so rare. Ninety-five percent of the time, mankind has lived under some form of oppression. Only 5% of all the people throughout human history have lived free. It’s an exception, not the rule.

Washington and Jefferson’s advice was wise. To advise otherwise is reckless. It flies in the absolute face of history. Government tyranny – that’s what this office has always guarded against, government tyranny. I mean, Abe Lincoln, he freed the slaves, right? What was that all about? What was that about? What was the Civil War about? The slaves were liberated, and then later, they were severely discriminated against.

I did the speech this last Saturday. Please watch it, because I talked about the political party that was set up to stop slaves who had been freed from having any freedom. It was all about power. How about this, the wrong Native Americans? This is a government agent standing on the top, and those are buffalo heads. These government agents would go out, and they would kill all the buffalo. And then they would stack them up in a pile to say to the Indians, no food for you. Get out.

Was that individuals that did that, or was that the United States government? Mr. President, I can’t believe that you tried to present yourself as a friend of the oppressed. Who was it that slaughtered tens of millions? Well, it was Mao. It was Stalin. It was Hitler. It was Pol Pot. It was Mugabe. Should I go on? Those are just the last 20th century.

One of the president’s advisers said power generally comes from the barrel of the gun. Well, who’s he quoting? Mao – power comes from the barrel of the gun. He should know. He killed 80 million people. Mr. President, you have a guy who says that…we generally agree with Mao.

Well maybe the president, maybe the president just meant America, that it never happens in America. You have to have this conversation with your friends about slavery. Forget about your friends. Have this conversation with your kids, because your kids are being taught the exact opposite junk.

You ask your kids and anybody who will listen to you that’s more than just politics, that really cares about the country, ask them about this advice that the president gave to the students, and if they generally agree or disagree. If they’re like, well, I’m not really – have a talk with them.

What about the enslaved African-Americans? Who enslaved them? Was it the people or the government? The secret is it is the people, but the government is the enforcer. It has to come from the people. That’s why we have to be good, decent people. But it’s the government that is the enforcer.

We had indentured servitude here in America, but then in 1654, things changed. John Casor became the first legal slave in America. He was owned by an African-American. Did your friends know that? Do your kids know that? Look it up, John Casor.

How did it happen? Well, John said, I just bought this guy, and I have him for life. And he said no, indentured servitude. No, for life. Well, he went to court. Who ran the court, the people or the government? It was the government of England at the time. It was a court decision that started slavery here in America.

So ask your friends after slaves were freed with the Emancipation Proclamation, was the government in the south not operating as tyrants? They had already lost, but then what happened? The government in the south rose up again for reconstruction.

How about the way they treated the Native Americans? This is a tragic story of how… I mean they killed an entire tribe. On Saturday, I had the gun of Kicking Bear of this tribe. This was for gun control – this picture, gun control. What I’m trying to understand here is how the president could make a statement like that in the face, not only of all of the facts, but also his own past.

I mean, what happened to the guy who listed all the horrible things about America, one right after another? In France, he said Americans were arrogant and dismissive and derisive. Does he mean the people, like the people we know next door? The American people are arrogant, dismissive, and derisive? Or did he mean the government was? Because I know a lot of people who are arrogant, but I dismiss them. It only matters if, you know, they have power.

In Turkey, he said the United States was still working through some of our darker periods in history. What does that mean? Maybe it’s this – when we rounded up the Japanese-Americans? Is that what this is? I love this picture. This is in my office. “Office of Free Press,” but this is an internment camp for the Japanese-Americans.

Or maybe it was the Native Americans or slavery, which darker period? Was there some darker period where hundreds of thousands ended up in total misery that was done by our neighbors and not the government? In Trinidad, he said the United States has been disengaged, and at times, we sought to dictate our terms. Who, Steve, or the United States government?

In Egypt, he said America acted out of fear and anger, after which 9/11 led us to act contrary to our traditions and our ideals. He condemned the U.S. soldiers in the Quran burning, which they did nothing wrong. He scolded America over torture tactics. I know Bob down the street’s not torturing anybody. The government is. Now we can add Mexico to that list.

I’m sorry, Mr. President, I just don’t know who you’re talking about. Who do you mean? Do you mean the government? Because I don’t agree with you, but if you mean the neighbor down the street, I agree with you. Don’t worry. They’re not going to really become a tyrant, unless you’re down the street is 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue or anybody who works at the Capitol building.

See, he forgets his own speeches, I think, because I don’t think he actually even reads them. He just says the words that are on the screen. I could be wrong. I don’t know. But one of the things he warns about, still warns about, is how the government is in bed with Wall Street and big oil and big pharmaceutical. Well, isn’t that tyranny?

He said the police acted stupidly. Isn’t that tyranny? He went to a church for 20 years with a guy who said the United States government is so evil it created the HIV virus in order to kill African-Americans. Don’t believe me? Watch.

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Rev. Jeremiah Wright: The government lied about inventing the HIV virus as a means of genocide against people of color. Governments lie. The government lied about a connection between Al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein and a connection between on 9/11/01 and Operation Iraqi Freedom. Governments lie.

Okay, the governments lie. I mean everybody that surrounds this guy…Van Jones, a 9/11 truther who signed a petition that said the United States blew up the World Trade Center in order to further its militaristic agenda. He also, Van Jones says we stole the wealth from the American Indians.

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Van Jones: They now own and control 80% of the renewable energy resources. No more broken treaties. No more broken treaties. Give them the wealth. Give them the wealth.

Okay so we stole the wealth. This is current. He is saying we stole the wealth. Okay. Currently, this president is acquaintances, neighbors with Bill Ayers, who didn’t just say he hated the government. He literally tried to overthrow it by building bombs and bombing buildings.

In 2008, New York City judge recalled the Weather Underground’s attempt to kill his family said, “We didn’t leave our burning house for fear of who might be waiting outside. The same night, bombs were thrown at a police car in Manhattan and two military recruiting stations in Brooklyn. Sunlight, the next morning, revealed three sentences of blood-red graffiti on our sidewalk: Free the Panther 21; the Viet Cong have won; kill the pigs.”

Does he mean real pigs, Mr. President? Does he mean the neighbor pigs, or does he mean the cops as your hippie friends used to say? Cops, you know, the kind that act stupidly and work for the government. Who was Bill Ayers trying to stop in Vietnam, my neighbor, Skippy, or the government?

This is all very reminiscent of when he told American students not to watch me but read instead the Huffington Post.

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President Obama: If you’re somebody who only reads the editorial page of the New York Times, try glancing at the page of the Wall Street Journal once in a while. If you’re a fan of Glenn Beck or Rush Limbaugh, try reading a few columns on the Huffington Post website.

I do. Hillary Clinton said to watch Al Jazeera. America, it’s not really about who we listen to in the media. It’s what we know to be true of who we really are. This is the place where we really come together as Americans, and if we can’t, I mean, we’re just not going to make it. We have to unite on a few things.

Can we unite on at least those things that our country is up against? Can we unite on a few things just to move our country forward? I mean, I want maximum freedom and maximum responsibility. Those people who believe in government but know that governments go corrupt…I mean, we all knew it was corrupt under George W. Bush. It’s worse now, but it was corrupt then. Can’t we agree on that? Can’t we unite on that one thing?

We have to reach out to our friends and neighbors and not in anger but in gentleness and peace. People are going to become more and more angry as the days go by. We need to unite and become one in mind. The lies, the deception, has to stop. I’ve never asked you to take my word on anything, nor will I.

The pictures of the internment camps, you know, the buffalo piles, I want you to ask your kids if they know about it. Ask them to do a research paper on it. Do it with them. Do a paper on it. Have them find online the things our government has done that is bad. You know, that’s something that the left would always say, Oh no conservative would tell you to do that.

I want you to look these things up. I want you to know them. It will, believe it or not, deepen your love and respect for the country when it goes right. It will help you keep the country going right. We did horrible things. Look up the Lakota Indians – horrible, horrible stuff. I talked about ’em at the NRA.

I said a lot of things at the NRA, and if you haven’t seen the speech, I urge you to watch it. It’s available at TheBlaze.com or I think at GlennBeck.com. The transcript is up there now, but you should read it or watch it. Anybody that says trust me, trust me on this, don’t even think about it, dismiss everybody, you shouldn’t trust them.

Make a list of all the people that you truly trust right now. Have your kids do the same. Who do you trust with your money? Ask yourself as a parent or ask your neighbors. Your money, your Social Security, your sensitive information, your e-mails, your children’s education, your welfare, your health, all of those things…can you name the individuals that you would just blindly hand over, that you would put your kids into their trust for their welfare, their education, everything else, and not ask any questions?

I can’t think of anybody. I mean, good friends, I wouldn’t do that. I would certainly not hand my kids’ future and literally hand my kid over all day without asking any real questions. I certainly wouldn’t do that to anybody who still works in Washington.

I don’t have to believe that the government blew up the World Trade Center or created AIDS, but I know if I sat in a church where they taught that for 20 years, I don’t think I’d be the guy who came out and said, “Hey, the government is good.” What I would actually try to do – if I sat in that church for 20 years, and I had all of the friends that he has – what I would actually try to do is try to dismantle it, because this would be evil. All this would be evil to me, because if I heard that my whole life, I would despise this. My wife wouldn’t be able to get out of here fast enough.

Jefferson, Washington, and all the presidents in our past, all of them have warned about getting too cozy with big business with our government – warned. Watch the government when they start getting into bed with special interest. It means the government will make laws that are good for those special interests, the banks or GE but not good for you. Well, isn’t that tyranny? Someone from the left should understand this concept.

You see, they’ve always maintained that our biggest danger to society was special interest groups, the banks, big money, big business, or big corporations. Well, that’s what’s happening now. Big business and big corporations and big military, they’re getting together. And I can’t figure out how I’m the one now saying that and warning the left. Your friends should be warned and just ask the question – I’m puzzled.

The first president to warn about this, the one who gave the hippie left their whole language was a Republican, Dwight Eisenhower. I believe Dwight Eisenhower may be the last president who actually really spoke the truth on this issue very openly. Watch:

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President Eisenhower: In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes.

Okay, so what he’s saying is the military, the government, along with business, if you put them together, it’s disastrous. The potential for disastrous and misplaced power exists and will persist. It’s arrogance or a lie that this president would believe that he has defeated this threat for all time – eternal vigilance. Eternal vigilance is no longer required?

Well, that’s what he’s telling the students, and why is he telling the students to put their guard down? It’s eternal vigilance, and every president on both sides of the aisle have always said that. Is that why he’s okay with taking guns away from law-abiding citizens, because we’re safe? Does he recognize the opening that some future tyrant would have if we weren’t vigilant at all? Or is there something else?

The potential always exists. That’s why we have to teach our children the opposite of what everybody in school is teaching them today. The president is teaching our college graduates. It’s not just other countries. It’s not just China. It’s not Cuba, which they have been taught isn’t so bad. I don’t want to live in Cuba. Do you?

It’s not individual Americans, because individual Americans don’t have the force of law behind them. If I don’t have the force of law, I can’t be a Fascist. I can have fascistic tendencies, but I can’t be a Fascist, because I can’t force you to do anything. If Hitler’s living next door, but he doesn’t have control of the government and the media and everything else, Hitler’s just a crazy neighbor that I don’t want to live next to.

Governments do things. Those governments have to be created, and then those governments have to be let go, and so the people allow that government that the people created to become bad. The people had to allow Andrew Jackson and that big government to follow manifest destiny that wiped Indians out.

We had to allow Woodrow Wilson to round up the dangerous foreigners and naturalized American citizens, you know, of German and Irish ancestry. The people had to allow slavery and segregation and Jim Crow laws. They had to allow FDR and the progressive icon to round up the Japanese through executive order and put them in an internment camp.

We’ve heard forever the horrors of Jim Crow laws, but could we focus on…just a second, it’s the last word there in those three that give it power, Jim Crowe laws, written, and more importantly enforced, by a government. If we’re not vigilant, who will stop Jim Crow laws from happening again?

It would be a miracle if our young generation even noticed, because they’re being taught to exchange freedoms and responsibility for government freebies and promises of protection. We’ll feed you. We’ll keep you safe. Just trust us with more of your money and higher taxes. Give us your guns. Let us come into your house whenever we’re shutting a city down looking for somebody.

We’re raising a generation that doesn’t understand nor appreciate the value of freedom. We have to teach them. Please, do some homework with your kids tonight. I don’t care how old they are. Do some homework with your kids. Last century was one of the deadliest in the world. In all of human history, last century was the worst. Why, because the neighbors down the street in Germany or because of those who had power of governments? Evil claimed the lives of millions, but goodness prevailed.

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Glenn Beck: Because of people like Dietrich Bonhoeffer, later Martin Luther King and Lech Walesa, Mother Teresa, Henrietta Szold, they awoke the world. They gave their lives in the pursuit of human rights. They took the side of justice against injustice. They held aloft the torch of freedom to push back the darkness of hate.

But the cause now of human rights has been taken over by organizations who share little with those individuals who originally led those movements. Human rights, the cry, “but I have a right,” used to be a plea. All too often now it has become a threat.

These organizations now have become bullies and grotesque parodies of the principles they pretend to represent. They criticize free nations. They criticize the free nations, and they spare the unfree. They denounce nations like Israel and America who have high standards for freedom, and they leave alone the nations that have no freedom at all. They are nearly comical in their double standards. Whatever moral force they once have had is spent, and so today, we dismiss them.

Those words are almost two years old now, but they were alive again this weekend at the NRA speech. It was the tale of two weekends – those who realize that freedom is in trouble, the freedom of all mankind is at stake, and those who don’t or don’t care. The lines are being drawn, and it is time to choose sides. It’s really pretty easy to choose. I’m going to show you the signs of the near future, the sides of the near future, by showing you the sides and the signs, the echoes of the past, next.

WWIII: The new face of war

Oleg Nikishin / Stringer | Getty Images

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

Fiona Goodall / Stringer | Getty Images

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

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Dependable, affordable electricity has been a staple of American life for decades, but that might all be coming to an end. Glenn has discussed recent actions taken by Biden, like orders to halt new oil and gas production and efforts to switch to less efficient sources of power, like wind or solar, the price of electricity is only going to go up. This, alongside his efforts to limit air conditioning and ban gas stoves, it almost seems Biden is attempting to send us back to the Stone Age.

4 signs that PROVE Americans are hitting rock bottom

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As we approach the presidential election in November, many Americans are facing dire economic straits.

Glenn has shown time and time again that Bidenomics is a sham, and more Americans than ever are suffering as a result. Still, Biden and his cronies continue to insist that the economy is booming despite the mounting evidence to the contrary. But who is Biden fooling? Since the beginning of the year, gas has gone up an average of 40 cents a gallon nationwide, with some states seeing as much as a 60-cent per gallon increase. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. Foreclosures and bankruptcies are on the rise, evictions are surging, and America is experiencing a record amount of homelessness. We can't survive another Biden term.

Americans across the country are hitting rock bottom, and here are four stats that PROVE it:

Evictions

John Moore / Staff | Getty Images

Across the country, people are being evicted from their homes and apartments. Between 2021 and 2023, evictions increased by 78.6 percent. With inflation driving up prices and employers struggling to raise wages to compensate, rent is taking up an increasingly larger percentage of people's paychecks. Many Americans are having to choose between buying groceries and paying rent.

Foreclosures

Justin Sullivan / Staff | Getty Images

Renters aren't the only ones struggling to make their monthly payments, foreclosures are on the rise. This February saw a 5 percent increase in foreclosures from last year and a 10 percent increase from January. More and more Americans are losing their homes and businesses.

Bankruptcies

Chris Hondros / Staff | Getty Images

High interest rates and inflation have driven bankruptcies through the roof. Total filings have risen 13 percent and business bankruptcies rose 30 percent in 2023. It's getting harder and harder for businesses to stay afloat, and with California's new law requiring most restaurants to pay all employees a minimum of $20 an hour, you can expect that number to keep climbing.

Homelessness

FREDERIC J. BROWN / Contributor | Getty Images

The result of all of these issues is that it is getting harder and harder for Americans to afford the basic necessities. January of 2023 saw a record-breaking 650,000+ homeless Americans, a 12 percent jump from the previous year. More Americans have hit rock bottom than ever before.

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

I want to talk to Generation Z. I’ve seen some clips of you complaining about your 9-to-5 jobs on social media and how life is really hard right now. To be honest, my first reaction was, “Suck it up, buttercup. This is what life is really like.” In a sense, that’s true. But in another sense, I think you’re getting a bad rap. You are facing unique problems that my generation didn’t face — problems that my generation had a hand in creating.

But I also think you don’t understand the cause of these problems.

I would hate to be in your position. When I was your age, we didn’t have to deal with any of the challenges you’re facing. In one sense, your life has been tough. At the same time, compared to previous generations, your life has been very easy. Everybody was rushing to save you, to protect you. You were coddled, which makes your life harder now.

You’ve grown up with social media and the definition of narcissism: somebody gazing into the pond looking at themselves all the time. I don't mean this as an offense, and I am not just including you in this. We’ve become a culture of narcissists. It’s all about “me, me, me, me.”

If you end up thinking more collectivism is the solution, then you haven't done enough homework.

You’ve been in territory that my generation never had to enter. You’ve already navigated a landscape that we didn't have to, where nothing is true, and you can’t trust anybody. I wouldn’t trust anybody either if I were in your position. But I do know a few things to be true and a couple of things I can trust.

First, life is worth it. Life is tough, but it is worth it in the end.

Second, life is not about stuff. As a guy who is kind of a pack rat, I can tell you that none of that stuff will create happiness in your life. In fact, I think your generation has a better handle on happiness in some ways than anybody in mine. You’re starting to realize that pharmaceuticals may not be as good as natural solutions in a lot of situations, that the huge house may not be as satisfying as just having a smaller house, that living your life instead of having to work all the time may be a better way to live.

I want to talk to those of you who feel like it’s not worth even trying to go to work because you’ll never get anywhere. You work 40 hours a week or more, and you still can't afford a place to live. You’re still living with your parents. You can’t afford food. I think you're right to feel frustrated because the problems you're facing weren't always the case.

I blame a lot of the current problems we’re facing today on the hippies. That may be wrong, but I hate hippies. Hippies have been screwing things up since the 1960s. While on their socialist march, they have become everything that they said they were against: lying, greedy politicians. They just won’t let go of their power even though their time has passed.

These are the people who have come up with policies that make you feel like this is the way the world is. I hope I can convince you that it doesn’t have to be this way. This isn’t the way our country has always been. We don’t have to keep these people in power. Actions have consequences. Votes have consequences. These people allow crime, looters, squatters, riots, and somebody needs to pay for that.

You say you can’t afford health care. I understand. Since Obamacare passed, the cost of individual health insurance has doubled. You need to remember that politicians promised that if we passed this massive health care overhaul, it would mean a savings of $2,500 per family. You're in school. You must know that $2,500 savings is not the same as an 80% increase. Moreover, the cost of hospital stays is up 210%. I understand when you say you can't afford health care at these costs. Who could afford health care? Who could afford insurance?

The generation coming of age is right to feel frustrated.This mess — with high costs and a massive debt burden — was not of their making.

Iwant to talk to Generation Z. I’ve seen some clips of you complaining about your 9-to-5 jobs on social media and how life is really hard right now. To be honest, my first reaction was, “Suck it up, buttercup. This is what life is really like.” In a sense, that’s true. But in another sense, I think you’re getting a bad rap. You are facing unique problems that my generation didn’t face — problems that my generation had a hand in creating.

But I also think you don’t understand the cause of these problems.

If you end up thinking more collectivism is the solution, then you haven't done enough homework.

I would hate to be in your position. When I was your age, we didn’t have to deal with any of the challenges you’re facing. In one sense, your life has been tough. At the same time, compared to previous generations, your life has been very easy. Everybody was rushing to save you, to protect you. You were coddled, which makes your life harder now.

You’ve grown up with social media and the definition of narcissism: somebody gazing into the pond looking at themselves all the time. I don't mean this as an offense, and I am not just including you in this. We’ve become a culture of narcissists. It’s all about “me, me, me, me.”

You’ve been in territory that my generation never had to enter. You’ve already navigated a landscape that we didn't have to, where nothing is true, and you can’t trust anybody. I wouldn’t trust anybody either if I were in your position. But I do know a few things to be true and a couple of things I can trust.

First, life is worth it. ≈

Second, life is not about stuff. As a guy who is kind of a pack rat, I can tell you that none of that stuff will create happiness in your life. In fact, I think your generation has a better handle on happiness in some ways than anybody in mine. You’re starting to realize that pharmaceuticals may not be as good as natural solutions in a lot of situations, that the huge house may not be as satisfying as just having a smaller house, that living your life instead of having to work all the time may be a better way to live.

I want to talk to those of you who feel like it’s not worth even trying to go to work because you’ll never get anywhere. You work 40 hours a week or more, and you still can't afford a place to live. You’re still living with your parents. You can’t afford food. I think you're right to feel frustrated because the problems you're facing weren't always the case.

I blame a lot of the current problems we’re facing today on the hippies. That may be wrong, but I hate hippies. Hippies have been screwing things up since the 1960s. While on their socialist march, they have become everything that they said they were against: lying, greedy politicians. ≈

These are the people who have come up with policies that make you feel like this is the way the world is. I hope I can convince you that it doesn’t have to be this way. This isn’t the way our country has always been. We don’t have to keep these people in power. Actions have consequences. Votes have consequences. These people allow crime, looters, squatters, riots, and somebody needs to pay for that.

If you end up thinking more collectivism is the solution, then you haven't done enough homework.

You say you can’t afford health care. I understand. Since Obamacare passed, the cost of individual health insurance has doubled. You need to remember that politicians promised that if we passed this massive health care overhaul, it would mean a savings of $2,500 per family. You're in school. You must know that $2,500 savings is not the same as an 80% increase. Moreover, the cost of hospital stays is up 210%. I understand when you say you can't afford health care at these costs. Who could afford health care? Who could afford insurance?

You are also starting your life with thousands of dollars in debt. Your parents didn't have that burden. People used to be able to work their way through college and graduate debt-free. Others were able to get jobs that quickly paid off their debt. You can't do that now. Once the government said that they were going to guarantee all student loans, university costs skyrocketed, and it hasn't stopped. You can thank the progressive President Lyndon B. Johnson for that.

The people who created this mess cannot fix it. But it can be fixed.

You are also starting your life with thousands of dollars in debt. Your parents didn't have that burden. People used to be able to work their way through college and graduate debt-free. Others were able to get jobs that quickly paid off their debt. You can't do that now. Once the government said that they were going to guarantee all student loans, university costs skyrocketed, and it hasn't stopped. You can thank the progressive President Lyndon B. Johnson for that.

Once the government said that they were going to guarantee everybody’s college tuition, universities found out that they could just charge more because the government would give you virtually any amount in your loan. And they have been charging more and more ever since. In 1965, the average college tuition was $450 a year. Adjusted to inflation, that's $4,000 a year. You're currently paying an average of $26,000 a year as opposed to the inflation-adjusted $4,000.

What happened? The answer is always the same: government regulations. Gas is up. Why? Government regulations. Can't afford a house? Well, that's due to several things. Many of them revolve around the fed and our national debt. But the simple answer is the same: government regulations.

Moreover, the U.S. government has run a staggering national debt. We have been concerned about it forever, but the people in power haven't been listening to your mom and dad and people like me. A lot of other people just thought, "Oh, well. We could get away with it. We're the United States of America, after all. Somehow or another, it will all work out."

People like me have been saying, "No. We can't pass this on to our children." You're now seeing what we have passed on. When you say that the adults are responsible for creating this world of problems, in some ways, you’re right. We were lied to, and as many people do, they want to believe the lie because it makes them feel better.

There are big lies being pushed in your generation as well. You're being told that a man is a woman and a woman is a man. At the same time, you’re being told that gender doesn't even exist at all. It makes us feel better to go along with the lie because we don't want to hurt anyone's feelings.

My generation believed the same kind of lie about our national debt. We were told that we could spend all this money on subsidized programs because it would provide you, our children, with a better life. Some people warned, "Wait, how will they pay this off? This will cost them." We didn't want to believe them. The lie sounded better, and it was easier to believe that than the truth. We never saw the consequences, and even if we did, they were always way out in the future. Nobody wanted to listen to the doomsday people saying, "No. It's going to come faster than you think."

And that time is right now. Our government now is printing $1 trillion every 100 days. That's never been done before. We have more debt than any country has ever had in the history of the world. But we’re not alone. Every country is doing this. They’re going into debt like we’ve never seen before, and we’re all about to pay for that. It’s going to make your life even harder.

There are Democrats and Republicans who still believe in spending all kinds of money and getting us involved in every global conflict. Then there are constitutional conservatives who believe that we should conserve the things that have worked and throw out the things that don’t and follow our Constitution and Bill of Rights. You haven't really learned about those most likely. But you should. All of our problems are caused by the government and the people who feel they can bypass the Constitution. That's what this election is really all about.

You might say, “I don’t really care. I don’t like either of the political parties.” I know a lot of people who don’t like either of them, but one is going to try to cut the size of this government and one is going to spend us into collapse.

The people who created this mess cannot fix it. But it can be fixed. You need to learn enough about the truth, about why this has happened to us, and about how our Constitution lasted longer than any other Constitution in the world. The average is 17 years. This thing has lasted hundreds of years. Why? How? And why is it falling apart today? That's what you should dedicate some of your time to figuring out today.

You can complain about the way things are. I complain. Everybody complains. But don't wallow there. Learn what caused this. And if you end up thinking more collectivism is the solution, then you haven't done enough homework. They always end the same way, and that's exactly where we're headed right now. We can either repeat the dreadful past of nations that have tried it before us, or we can choose freedom, liberty, and prosperity. The ball is in our court.