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TERMS OF USE | PRIVACY POLICY

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Glenn's Show Prep

Mike Rowe details the incredible history that built America

December 03, 2014
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The Glenn Beck Program

Glenn interviewed Mike Rowe on radio about the upcoming special tomorrow night at 8pm only on TheBlaze called Building America, presented by Caterpillar. Mike chronicles the major engineering and infrastructure feats that began rapidly rising in the 1800’s that eventually formed the foundation America currently operates on. As with many of the Mike Rowe conversations, the use of his Facebook page to respond to people's criticism was a topic of conversation. Watch his interesting, truthful responses and hear his opinion on the America who built the Empire State Building versus the America of today below. Also, don't miss the preview for Building America!

GLENN: I have to tell you, one of my favorite Facebook pages is Mike Rowe's Facebook page. And it's really becoming something — it's almost becoming ritualistic now, where you just kind of gather kids around and you're like, hey, somebody is going to be really rude to Mike and Mike is going to answer them in just the most polite way and yet eviscerate them. There was one that came out last week that Jim Green posted a series of inflammatory points about Republicans with a lot of, you know, caps locked words about the — you know, about how bad Christians were and how bad, you know, Republicans were. And then he used a series of exclamation points after each. How could anyone on earth vote Republican? A reptile has more decency than Republicans in Congress, blah blah blah blah blah. I just want to read just a little bit of Mike Rowe's responses. "Jim, greetings from somewhere over Colorado. It appears you're still trying to sell your books on my Facebook page. Personally I haven't read them and based on your marketing strategy, I suspect I'm probably not alone. Since part of your approach seems to involve me, I thought perhaps I might offer you some unsolicited marketing advice. One, consider starting each blurb off with a friendly salutation. In my experience, a little cordiality goes a long way especially when you're trying to persuade someone to give you money. Two, think about addressing your audience as something other than racist reptiles and toads."

PAT: What? That's revolutionary.

GLENN: "Three, reconsider your commitment to caps and exclamation points. These are excellent choices when warning people of a fire, volcanic eruption or an Ebola outbreak. But I'm afraid your use in the context of a book sale implies a level of urgency that may exist only in your mind." He goes on. He is brilliant. And I am — I'm proud to call him a friend of the program. Mike Rowe, welcome to the program.

ROWE: Hello, Glenn. I'm just so loving the image like a family gathered around the laptop in much the way they might have done in the 1930s. And actually —

GLENN: It's like —

ROWE: A Facebook page.

GLENN: Going to Facebook and to the Mike Rowe Facebook page is like — like in the 1800s gathering around a Mark Twain novel or a — or an Edgar Allan Poe. You're like, here come the murderers in Rue Morgue. Here comes —

ROWE: Look, here's the really humbling and ugly reality about how all this unfolds. That post you were reading, I wrote at about 37,000 feet, somewhere over Colorado. And I really laughed because I think the last time I was with you, I read an ad called — you know, that old ad for Jordan.

GLENN: Yeah, yeah.

ROWE: Somewhere out of Laramie.

GLENN: Right.

ROWE: And it made me laugh and I'm just scrolling through my Facebook page. And honestly, I think you and I are both fairly unoffendable at this point in our lives. You've heard about everything you can hear. But what really struck me is as offensive about the guy really wasn't his world view. It was his marketing strategy. I just — I just couldn't — why would you hit me with such an inflammatory blurb eight times in a row? It's sort of the opposite of persuasive. And just as I was pondering that, the captain walked out and give me a plastic set of wings, you know, like I was an 8-year-old, which just made me laugh hysterically. So I'm sitting there sipping a cocktail, holding my plastic wings looking at this lunatic on my Facebook page, and that's how the response happens. You can't — you don't think about it. You just happen to be on a plane one day holding a set of plastic wings.

(laughing).

ROWE: Addressing a marketeer. And that's the life we live.

GLENN: I want to talk to you about a couple things. First of all, how's the show on CNN doing?

ROWE: Apparently we're still on. There's a certain ambiguity in the news business to tell people to please tune in Wednesdays at 9:00. We're in a world of riots, Ebola, and endless calamity, so the word pre-emption has become sort of a routine thing in my world now. The show is doing very well when you can find it. Wednesday —

GLENN: You sound happy.

ROWE: Where it actually appears, it's a crap shoot.

(overlapping speakers).

STU: Let me fill in the Mike Rowe details that he's not telling you. CNN's "Someone Gotta Do It" works up big ratings. TV ratings, CNN Mike Rowe, launched clobbers Rachel — I'm losing the headline. Mike Rowe's CNN premiere provides best original series Premier in x-amount of time. The show is huge, Mike.

PAT: And it's been re-upped, right, for another year?

ROWE: Yeah, they did pick it up. Very nice.

GLENN: May I just — your marketing strategy is a little confusing.

PAT: You might want to lead with that.

GLENN: You might want to use an exclamation point.

PAT: It's been re-upped! Wednesdays at 9:00.

ROWE: After that intro I'm scared to say anything about it. What network it is —

GLENN: You don't need to call yourself a reptile or toad here.

ROWE: My marketing strategy goes like this. Go ahead, find it, I dare you.

(laughing).

GLENN: All right. There's also something else that you have helped us with. "Building America," tonight, this is a — this is a project sponsored by Caterpillar and Mike is— is doing the voice-over work for it and actually appears on camera. Is that your house? Is that like a studio in your house or something?

ROWE: That's actually a guy that has a modest little studio down the street from me, so I just walked down and sat by a brick wall and told some stories. But this really goes back to — I think maybe the very first conversation you and I had when we met a couple years ago. And we were just kind of bemoaning the state of history. And by the state of history, I just mean the current enthusiasm for the wonder of it and for me, part of what's missing in the TV landscape is just a series of very simple shows that reminds people of the Herculean, if I can use the term, the Herculean tasks and the undertakings that the people who built this country faced. How they overcame them. You're not going to hear anything new in terms of, oh, gees, I didn't know there was a Golden Gate Bridge or Brooklyn bridge or the railroads. These are, you know, topics we all kind of probably remember from 8th and 9th grade but maybe we don't remember and maybe we've forgotten some key things and the people who were responsible for literally connecting the country in every single way that matters from an infrastructure standpoint. So when you guys said you were going to really approach that topic in a straightforward way, I talked to my buddies at Caterpillar and they said, look, we love it, too, obviously. We've got a hand in the infrastructure. So long story short, I said for God's sake, send me a script and I'll read it and I did and I think you're airing it —

GLENN: Tomorrow night at 8:00. And we won't be pre-empting for —

PAT: Any coverage.

GLENN: Any coverage.

ROWE: You spoil me.

GLENN: "Building America," Thursday at 8:00 p.m. That's tomorrow night with Mike Rowe only on TheBlaze TV. You know, when you hear the stories of — when you hear the stories of, for instance, the Empire State Building and how this thing was built in 11 months and how the steel —

PAT: Unthinkable now, right?

GLENN: It was poured in Pittsburgh. And it was still warm as the riveters were sitting on it trying in the rivets. It was still warm. It was moving that fast. That never would be done now. Never be done.

ROWE: Just the business of driving in a rivet is a thing that I bet 99% of the country doesn't really understand. We know what the words mean. We know driving in a — and most of us can visualize a rivet. But the rivets that held the bridge together, that held the Empire State Building together, these things weighed 20, 30 pounds apiece in some cases and just the business of moving them around and hammering them in. It's just — it's epic. It's — that's a word — that's thrown around all the time but it truly is epic.

GLENN: I can't get over the fact that these guys were throwing these rivets to each other.

ROWE: Yeah.

GLENN: I would be so afraid I would fall. OSHA would never let you do this.

ROWE: OSHA?

(laughing).

Listen, I mean, you simply couldn't have done the things that were done. Look, there was a pricee to pay, no doubt. Building, the transcontinental railroads was a bloodbath. The Brooklyn bridge was tough. You know, but the idea of construction under water.

GLENN: Oh, yeah.

ROWE: It was kind of primitive. Caissons, getting the bends. When we didn't know even when decompression sickness was or nitrogen narcosis or anything like that. It was a brave new world. And I think we're just disconnected from it today in a way that we probably shouldn't be.

GLENN: So here's — I want to see if you think this is good news or bad news. There's a story out today from La Figaro newspaper in France that says —

ROWE: Bad news.

GLENN: That says that — I think you're going to change your opinion. That says that the French Jihadists who are now writing letters to their parents from Syria who have joined ISIS are now saying they want to come home and I've got to just read a couple of these. One French Jihadist wrote to his parents, I'm fed up, mom and dad. My iPod doesn't work here anymore. I have to come back. So as we're talking about the rivets, as we're talking about hard work, and I think the same thing is happening with Ferguson. It's not yet, but I think the minute it starts to get cold, Jihadists, revolutionaries, pretty much everybody is like, you know what, it's cold.

ROWE: Nobody told me it was going to be cold. Where is my fleece.

PAT: I'm going home.

ROWE: You know what? You should turn your satirical cannons toward — I don't know if your audience remembers. You will, Allan Sherman I think wrote, "Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh."

GLENN: Yeah, yeah.

ROWE: You should write the Jihadist —

GLENN: That sounds totally politically correct. Totally safe. Non-boycottable.

ROWE: I don't see what could possibly go wrong.

(laughing).

PAT: Mike, we understand that you're still getting — are you still getting flack from the one voice-over thing you did for the WalMart commercial where they announced a quarter of a trillion-dollar initiative to bring back manufacturing to America? Are you still getting flack for that?

ROWE: Yeah, it pops up once in a while. In fact, it did yesterday. I had another rant on a plane that I put up yesterday. But a kid from Solon wrote an article just, you know, the usual stuff. Very upset that — you know, I'm a hypocrite.

PAT: That you would do such a thing.

ROWE: That and the other and WalMart is bad for this, that, and the other. Of course it's still out there. It has nothing to do — you know, people are looking for things to pivot off of in order to come back and make whatever point ultimately they need to make. This thing was so convoluted, I mean, it's actually worth looking at just because it's a study in dubious rhetoric. But I had done an AMA, which is an Ask Me Anything, on Reddit, which is a big website that people go to and they'll ask you anything over the course of an hour. And this writer really took offense to the fact that of the 4,500 questions I was asked, I only answered about 60, which is you know, like one a minute. But one of the ones I didn't answer was a question that said, would you work a shift at a WalMart on a Black Friday. And so he wrote about 700 words, maybe a thousand, based on the fact that my failure to answer that question was indicative of my deep-steeded tacit disdain for the everyday worker and my quiet nefarious association with my evil overlords in corporate America.

GLENN: Well, I will tell you this. And I think — it's what I heard and I think all of America heard. You'll notice he still did not answer the question. He still has not answered that.

PAT: Still won't. Still won't.

GLENN: And it's really what America wants to know. Will Mike Rowe work at a WalMart on Black Friday.

ROWE: The short answer is my plans for Black Friday included a list of activities that precluded me from leaving my apartment. So no —

GLENN: So wait a minute, you're telling me you wouldn't work at WalMart and you wouldn't fight over panties at Victoria's Secret?

ROWE: I wouldn't want to be in involved in the selling of undergarments on Black Friday in any establishment for really any amount of recompense.

GLENN: When you see what happens on Black Friday, what the hell have we turned into, Mike?

ROWE: That's it, right? The pursuit of happiness has become the pursuit of spending and our relationship with debt really is about as disconnected as our relationship from the people who built the icons we were talking about a couple of minutes ago. We just don't know our butt from a hot rock. And it reality is — it's an extraordinary thing to see that level of excitement matriculate in a grown-up over the prospect of saving 40 or 50% on some shiny toy that is doomed and destined to malfunction within two years of its purchase and occupy valuable space in the garage which is attached to the home which is too large and is probably too difficult to afford anyway. And so around and around we go. We buy stuff because it fills a hole somewhere.

GLENN: Talking to Mike Rowe, one last question. I believe my grandfather was, you know, World War II, greatest American generation. I think he would have wanted to beat 70% of this population to death with a shovel. How about your grandfather?

ROWE: If the shovel was made in the USA, my guess is he would not only have used it to subdue the masses. He would have helped dig their necessary —

GLENN: Bury the wealth. And then deep so you know, they wouldn't be dug up by dogs. He was respectful.

ROWE: It is a heck of a thing to watch what happens, you know. I mean, there's nothing new to say about consumerism, but it is alarming the way the events get stacked up, you know, from Black Friday to Cyber Monday and whatever the weekend in between is and. It really doesn't seem to stop.

GLENN: Check out the latest on Mike Rowe at ProfoundlyDisconnected.com. His Facebook page is the best. He's on CNN tonight, assuming that there's not a rainstorm or a rain shower or a sprinkle someplace.

(laughing).

GLENN: And for sure he will be on TheBlaze tomorrow night at 8:00 p.m. "Building America," new series sponsored by Caterpillar, tomorrow night 8:00 p.m. only on TheBlaze TV. Mike, thanks a lot. Appreciate it, man.

ROWE: Hey, all kidding aside, watching building America with your kids is probably a better snapshot than you're gonna get in most schools right now of what mattered and what happened in terms of our infrastructure. It's a good thing and I'm glad you guys did it.

GLENN: Thank you very much, Mike. Appreciate your help. God bless.

The government is WAGING WAR against these 3 basic needs

NICHOLAS KAMM / Contributor | Getty Images

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

ALESSANDRO RAMPAZZO / Contributor | Getty Images

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

David McNew / Staff | Getty Images

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

Spencer Platt / Staff | Getty Images

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.

Stop blaming Gen Z for the problems WE created

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.

Government's SECRET crackdown on preppers threatens YOUR right to grow food

Glenn recently had Representative Thomas Massie on his show to sound the alarm about an important yet often overlooked issue affecting what we eat. Whether you're trying to be prepared to weather a catastrophe or just trying to keep food on the table without resorting to eating bugs, it's more important now than ever to source local food. Unnoticed by most, our right to eat home-grown or locally-sourced foods is under attack. The government doesn't just want a say in what you eat; they want you vulnerable and dependent on their system, and they are massively overstepping their bounds to ensure your compliance with their goals.

How did the attack on your food begin?

Government overreach on food can be traced back to 1938 under the autocratic eye of FDR with the Supreme Court case "Wickard v. Filburn." The case was pretty straightforward, but the results were devastating. The case began with the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938, which sought to control national food prices by placing limitations on how many crops farmers could grow in a season.

Filburn was one such farmer, who was allotted 11.1 acres of wheat to plant and harvest annually. Filburn planted and harvested 23 acres, arguing that the extra acres were not headed for the market, but were used for personal consumption. After being penalized for over-harvesting, he fought his case all the way up to the Supreme Court, arguing that Congress did not have the authority to regulate crops that never left his farm.

Unfortunately for Filburn (and the rest of us), the Supreme Court didn't agree. They ruled that the mere existence of that extra wheat—whether it left Filburn's farm or not—had an effect on the national value of wheat. Congress assumed the power to regulate just about anything that could be roped under the umbrella of "interstate commerce."

Under the precedent set by Wickard v. Filburn, Congress might bar you from growing tomatoes in your backyard, because it could affect national tomato prices. This was a major blow to our right to feed ourselves, and that right has been eroding ever since.

How is our right to feed ourselves under attack today?

Last June, the Virginia Department of Agriculture shut down Golden Valley Farms, a small Amish farm owned and operated by Samuel B. Fisher in Farmville, Virginia. Golden Valley Farms had started out selling dairy products, primarily, and processed some meat for personal consumption. However, by popular demand, Fisher began selling meat.

Fisher initially hauled his animals to a USDA processing plant, paid to have them processed, and then hauled them back. This process was time-consuming and costly, and Fisher's customers didn't want the meat processed by the plant. A survey done on Golden Valley Farms customers found that an overwhelming 92 percent preferred meat processed by Fisher. So naturally, Fisher began to process more and more meat for his customers.

Moreover, COVID shut down the USDA plant, which made it impossible for Fisher to process the animals by the USDA anyway, though the demand for meat was greater than ever. Fisher made the call to process 100 percent of his animals himself and didn't look back. That was until June when the Virginia Department of Agriculture caught wind of Fisher's operation and shut it down. The VDA seized all of Fisher's products, and he wasn't allowed to process, sell, or even eat his meat. Then they loaded it up in a truck and left it at the dump to rot.

Nobody ever got sick from eating meat from Golden Valley Farms. This was NOT about "health and safety." This was about control. The fact is that informed adults were not allowed to make a simple transaction without the government sticking its slimy fingers into Fisher's business and claiming it was somehow for "our benefit." But it's not for "our benefit." It's so they can regulate and control what we buy and what we eat, and they cannot stand it when we operate outside of their influence.

What comes next?

Where does this end? With so much of our ability to feed ourselves already eroded, is it too late? Is it going to get worse? Before long, will it be illegal to eat eggs from your chickens or pick vegetables from your garden without getting government clearance first? Fortunately, a solution is already in the works.

Kentucky Representative Thomas Massie recently told Glenn about a new constitutional amendment designed to limit government overreach regarding food production. The proposed amendment reads as follows:

And Congress shall make no law, regulating the production and distribution of food products, which do not move across state lines.

The amendment is still on the drawing board and has not been formally introduced to Congress yet. But this is where you come in. Call your representative and tell them to support Massie's amendment and take a stand for your right to provide sustenance for you and your family.