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Glenn's Show Prep

Celebrate the five year anniversary of The 9/12 Project

March 05, 2014
Wilson

Writer

On Thursday, Glenn will present an evening of programming to commemorate the 5-year anniversary of the 9/12 Project. At 5pm ET, Glenn will sit down with an audience of 9/12 members to discuss the evolution the movement has undergone these last 5 years. Then at 8PM ET, Glenn will narrate a special presentation of Meet John Doe starring the legendary Gary Cooper. On radio Wednesday, Glenn spoke about the plans for the evening and the importance of the 9/12 Project.

"Five years ago we were all afraid. Five years ago we could feel our country being lost. And we didn't know what to do about it," Glenn explained.

On March 13, 2009, Glenn asked people to tune in for a special episode of his FOX News show where he laid out the 9 principles and 12 values that showed the real power to change America laid with the people.

"We had no idea if anyone would watch. We had no idea if anyone would listen. We had no idea if people would actually gather together. And they gathered together unlike Americans had ever gathered together before," Glenn explained.

So where are we now five years later? How has not only the country changed, but all of the individuals involved? That's what Glenn wants to find out on Thursday's show.

And then with Meet John Doe, Glenn hopes to show people the parallels between the fictional John Doe Clubs and the 9/12 Project, and how politicians and the media tried to co-opt both movements and use them to propel partisan agendas, when they were really all about principles and values.

"The ending is critical, because what happens in the end (of the film) needs to happen to us.  There's a lot of people that got frustrated with politics and everything else.  The point was never about politics.  And the point was never about one individual. Watch it tomorrow night only on TheBlaze.  Watch it with your family and join me all the way through it as I kind of take you through this movie and tell you exactly what it means." Glenn said.

The Beginning of the 9/12 Project

When the 9/12 Project was first announced, Glenn called for people to return to the people they were on 9/12/2001 and wrote on GlennBeck.com:

Do you watch the direction that America is being taken in and feel powerless to stop it?

Do you believe that your voice isn’t loud enough to be heard above the noise anymore?

Do you read the headlines everyday and feel an empty pit in your stomach…as if you’re completely alone?

If so, then you’ve fallen for the Wizard of Oz lie. While the voices you hear in the distance may sound intimidating, as if they surround us from all sides—the reality is very different. Once you pull the curtain away you realize that there are only a few people pressing the buttons, and their voices are weak. The truth is that they don’t surround us at all.

We surround them.

What were the 9 Principles and 12 Values Glenn asked people to untie around?

The Nine Principles

1. America is good.

2. I believe in God and He is the Center of my Life.

3. I must always try to be a more honest person than I was yesterday.

4. The family is sacred. My spouse and I are the ultimate authority, not the government.

5. If you break the law you pay the penalty. Justice is blind and no one is above it.

6. I have a right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness, but there is no guarantee of equal results.

7. I work hard for what I have and I will share it with who I want to. Government cannot force me to be charitable.

8. It is not un-American for me to disagree with authority or to share my personal opinion.

9. The government works for me. I do not answer to them, they answer to me.

12 Values

  • Honesty

  • Reverence

  • Hope

  • Thrift

  • Humility

  • Charity

  • Sincerity

  • Moderation

  • Hard Work

  • Courage

  • Personal Responsibility

  • Gratitude

After announcing the 9.12 Project on FOX News, Glenn went into detail on the origins the next day on radio (including the crying in the earlier video):

The following is from the transcripts of the 3/17/2009 radio show:

GLENN: 9/10 we were burying our heads in the sand or we were playing politics. It was about Republicans or Democrats. On 9/11 we were freaking out and no one knew who attacked us, where did this come from, what is this. On 9/12 no one in the government had to tell us what to do. We just did it. We went and we found a place to give blood. We went and we gave money. We gathered together. We gathered our family around. We prayed. We were the people that our grandparents were and nobody had to tell us. But then again the parties got involved and George Bush told us to do our patriotic duty and go shopping. That’s offensive. That’s not our patriotic duty. That’s part of the reason we’re here now today because our patriotic duty was to go shopping. That’s not it. And I remember saying on the air, "Please, Mr. President, give us something to do. Let us be involved in the solution." It’s not just, oh, we’re going to go and bomb them. We’ve got to fundamentally change. We’ve got to be involved. Give us something to do. And they didn’t — well, no, I take that back. The two parties, what they did is they gave us something to do, argue with each other and hate each other. And I was part of it. I didn’t see it. I didn’t see. Well, now I do. And I started seeing it, what, 2006, 2004 and said, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, guys, we’re on the wrong track here; wait a minute; see what’s going on? And others have woken up. And it’s both the Republicans and the Democrats. It’s both of them. And we just need to be those 9/12 people.

Let me tell you this: Those values I had been working on for a long time, the values and the principles. And I had been reading and we really did a lot of research and et cetera, et cetera, but I just scribbled them down, the 9 and the 12. I just scribbled them down right before I went on the air. I hadn’t even counted the number of them. And I went on the air and I gave them to you and then I got into a break and I said to Stu, I said, gee, I wish I — how many do I even have here? One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine. I wish I could have come up with another one but I ran out of time. And then I came up with the other ones and there were twelve. And I said, what a wild coincidence: 9/12.

You know, in Iran if you’re looking for the twelfth Imam, they call you a Twelver. The Twelvers over in Iran are evil. They are so bad that the Ayatollah Khomeini back after the Islamic revolution banned them, wanted them all killed. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is a Twelver. But you know what? I’m not looking for the twelfth Imam, but I’m a Twelver, too. I’m a 9/12er. And that’s what I announced on Friday. Commit yourself to live the principles that you knew were true and the values that you knew were true on 9/12. Become a 9/12er and don’t be afraid of it. Don’t be ashamed. Try to understand all of what’s going on in your world through those values and those principles and don’t — you know what, I notice that the website is — has been — I mean, it’s remarkable what’s happening. It’sthe912project.com, the912project.com. And it’s a meeting place to look at the different news and then try to find solution and what principles are we violating. It’s a place where you can find some of the quotes from the founding fathers that might help you solve. There’s going to be so much more on this. But really hope this is a meeting place where you can find solutions and you can present solutions and you can meet together and you can say, look, we’re going to do this project, we’re going to do a march on Washington and it’s going to be on this day, and you can try to put it all together as long as it’s all framed with those principles and values, then I’d be with you. I’d be for you. The minute it gets out of — the minute it becomes a movement for power and a movement for political clout or a movement for anything else other than those principles and those values, I’m in. The minute it — or I’m out the minute it becomes about that. I’m in as long as it becomes about those.

You know, everybody says we don’t have a special interest group for us, we don’t have a lot. You are going to be the special interest group, but it is important that — and I’m going to let this happen organically. I’m not going to steer it. Whatever it is you decide to put together. Now look, this is a very libertarian idea and, you know, libertarian is like trying to round up a bunch of cats. It’s almost impossible. You are going to disagree with people. You are going to have a hard time getting through, but forget about arguing about the parties. Forget about arguing, "Oh, well, you guys did this and you guys did that." Forget about it. It is a waste of time, and I really believe time is running out. So focus on what you are, who you believe, what you think we need to do as a country and stop tearing the other side apart because we — at least I do. I know who the Republicans are. They sold their soul to the devil, for power and money.

Now, that’s not all of them, but the ones, the ones who have been in control, they are that. And a lot of them have decided they would become progressive Republicans. The Democrats who’s running the party right now is the same thing except they are an extreme to the left. There are good people in both parties, but they’re alone. And here’s what I believe can happen. It may not but it will be up to you. What can happen. If you decide to keep this as a grassroots, if you use the meetup.com, you use the912project.com and you heard these cats together and you put together some real principles and you live by those principles, I’m telling you that I can bring my camera from state to state, I can bring my television and radio show from state to state and there will be politicians that will beg you for your support. They will beg you because they will fear you because you will be in such great number. But that will only happen if you don’t make it about politics, if you only make it about principles and values. Once it becomes about politics, it’s done. You must stand for principles, and the number one principle you just stand for is to reestablish the Constitution. It has been so perverted by man, this country has been so perverted, it needs to be reestablished. And if you will stand on the founding principles and you know what you’re talking about, that’s why I said in the show — and people I know blow this off but, gang, unless you know what you’re supposed to know, unless you know who our founders are, you won’t be able to do this. They will win. They will win. You must know who the founders are.

You know, I read a great quote. I’m reading a book about Harry Truman right now and I was reading a part of his childhood and he was a mousey little kid. He had glasses. So he couldn’t go out and play and, you know, et cetera, et cetera. But all of the kids when they would be playing, you know, cowboys and Indians, they would ask him, "No, no, no, wait a minute, what happened with Marshal Dillon, what happened?" And he would explain it because he knew history. And he said all readers are not leaders but every leader must be a reader. You must know history. You must know ours. And it hasn’t been taught. Develop and we’ll help you on this on the 9/12 project. We’ll help you develop book clubs. We’ll help you with developing things where you can grab your neighbors together. I had notes stuffed in my mailbox in my neighborhood. I thought I was alone in my neighborhood. I had notes stuffed into my mailbox: Please, Glenn, will you join us at our table, will you join us in our… yes, I will, because you’re my neighbor and this is going to happen in the neighborhoods. It’s going to happen in your house. That’s the only way it will work, if it’s done on a small scale and yet everybody is doing it across the country. This is true grassroots.

STU: I still don’t see how any of this explains the crying.

GLENN: I was going to explain that, wasn’t I?

STU: That was the thought at one point.

GLENN: I’m a chick.

STU: That explains the crying.

GLENN: I just believe in my country. I just believe in my country.

STU: A lot of people believe in their country without crying on national television every three minutes.

GLENN: I believe that it has been so perverted and on Friday I had so much hope that it could be saved because there are so many people that feel the way I do, and it was amazing to see them and to feel them and to know that they were all across the country.

STU: There was a lot of people there, most of them not crying. Just pointing out.

EXCLUSIVE: Tech Ethicist reveals 5 ways to control AI NOW

MANAURE QUINTERO / Contributor | Getty Images

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

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

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

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

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

Ban engagement-optimized AI companions for kids

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

Establish basic liability laws

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

Pass increased whistleblower protections

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

Prevent AI from having legal rights

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

Oppose the state moratorium on AI 

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

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

Tasos Katopodis / Stringer | Getty Images

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Operation Midnight Hammer

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

USAF / Handout | Getty Images

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

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

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

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

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

What comes next

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

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

That would be catastrophic.

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

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

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

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

Now we pray

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

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

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


This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

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

Bloomberg / Contributor | Getty Images

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rising Islamism

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

Bloomberg / Contributor | Getty Images

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

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

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

Blending the worst ideologies

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

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

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

Call out radicalism

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

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

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Could China OWN our National Parks?

Jonathan Newton / Contributor | Getty Images

The left’s idea of stewardship involves bulldozing bison and barring access. Lee’s vision puts conservation back in the hands of the people.

The media wants you to believe that Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) is trying to bulldoze Yellowstone and turn national parks into strip malls — that he’s calling for a reckless fire sale of America’s natural beauty to line developers’ pockets. That narrative is dishonest. It’s fearmongering, and, by the way, it’s wrong.

Here’s what’s really happening.

Private stewardship works. It’s local. It’s accountable. It’s incentivized.

The federal government currently owns 640 million acres of land — nearly 28% of all land in the United States. To put that into perspective, that’s more territory than France, Germany, Poland, and the United Kingdom combined.

Most of this land is west of the Mississippi River. That’s not a coincidence. In the American West, federal ownership isn’t just a bureaucratic technicality — it’s a stranglehold. States are suffocated. Locals are treated as tenants. Opportunities are choked off.

Meanwhile, people living east of the Mississippi — in places like Kentucky, Georgia, or Pennsylvania — might not even realize how little land their own states truly control. But the same policies that are plaguing the West could come for them next.

Lee isn’t proposing to auction off Yellowstone or pave over Yosemite. He’s talking about 3 million acres — that’s less than half of 1% of the federal estate. And this land isn’t your family’s favorite hiking trail. It’s remote, hard to access, and often mismanaged.

Failed management

Why was it mismanaged in the first place? Because the federal government is a terrible landlord.

Consider Yellowstone again. It’s home to the last remaining herd of genetically pure American bison — animals that haven’t been crossbred with cattle. Ranchers, myself included, would love the chance to help restore these majestic creatures on private land. But the federal government won’t allow it.

So what do they do when the herd gets too big?

They kill them. Bulldoze them into mass graves. That’s not conservation. That’s bureaucratic malpractice.

And don’t even get me started on bald eagles — majestic symbols of American freedom and a federally protected endangered species, now regularly slaughtered by wind turbines. I have pictures of piles of dead bald eagles. Where’s the outrage?

Biden’s federal land-grab

Some argue that states can’t afford to manage this land themselves. But if the states can’t afford it, how can Washington? We’re $35 trillion in debt. Entitlements are strained, infrastructure is crumbling, and the Bureau of Land Management, Forest Service, and National Park Service are billions of dollars behind in basic maintenance. Roads, firebreaks, and trails are falling apart.

The Biden administration quietly embraced something called the “30 by 30” initiative, a plan to lock up 30% of all U.S. land and water under federal “conservation” by 2030. The real goal is 50% by 2050.

That entails half of the country being taken away from you, controlled not by the people who live there but by technocrats in D.C.

You think that won’t affect your ability to hunt, fish, graze cattle, or cut timber? Think again. It won’t be conservatives who stop you from building a cabin, raising cattle, or teaching your grandkids how to shoot a rifle. It’ll be the same radical environmentalists who treat land as sacred — unless it’s your truck, your deer stand, or your back yard.

Land as collateral

Moreover, the U.S. Treasury is considering putting federally owned land on the national balance sheet, listing your parks, forests, and hunting grounds as collateral.

What happens if America defaults on its debt?

David McNew / Stringer | Getty Images

Do you think our creditors won’t come calling? Imagine explaining to your kids that the lake you used to fish in is now under foreign ownership, that the forest you hunted in belongs to China.

This is not hypothetical. This is the logical conclusion of treating land like a piggy bank.

The American way

There’s a better way — and it’s the American way.

Let the people who live near the land steward it. Let ranchers, farmers, sportsmen, and local conservationists do what they’ve done for generations.

Did you know that 75% of America’s wetlands are on private land? Or that the most successful wildlife recoveries — whitetail deer, ducks, wild turkeys — didn’t come from Washington but from partnerships between private landowners and groups like Ducks Unlimited?

Private stewardship works. It’s local. It’s accountable. It’s incentivized. When you break it, you fix it. When you profit from the land, you protect it.

This is not about selling out. It’s about buying in — to freedom, to responsibility, to the principle of constitutional self-governance.

So when you hear the pundits cry foul over 3 million acres of federal land, remember: We don’t need Washington to protect our land. We need Washington to get out of the way.

Because this isn’t just about land. It’s about liberty. And once liberty is lost, it doesn’t come back easily.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.