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Glenn's Show Prep

Do any of the presidential nominees stand a chance of leading America through the storms ahead?

February 11, 2015
Wilson

Writer

Last night, Glenn sat down with economist, columnist, and TV personality Larry Kudlow. The interview covered a wide range of topics: the economy, foreign policy, and Kudlow’s personal demons. With all of the trouble facing the country, Glenn wanted to know if any of America’s leaders could step up and guide the country through the turmoil ahead, much like Winston Churchill in World War 2.

Scroll down for a transript of the interview:

Post by TheBlaze.

Glenn:What we were just talking about before, you’re a classic liberal. I’m a classic liberal.

Larry: I’m a hierarchian, free market classic liberal. I would have been a Gladstonian liberal had I lived in the 19th century.

Glenn: Tell me what classic liberal means, because most people I don’t think understand. I think it’s important to put that chair back at the table.

Larry: Right. Well, classic liberals would never rely on government. They believe very strongly in individual rights, in free markets, in free trade, and freedom just in general. They were the freedom people, and it was sort of Gladstone versus Disraeli. Disraeli was the Tory who was sort of the Nixonian guy who used government and would concoct all these foreign policy things that got Britain into trouble.

Gladstonians, the classical liberals certainly didn’t believe in any imperialism, and in fact were defending Irish rights way before it was fashionable to do so, but you know, in economic terms, it’s free markets. It’s free markets and free trade and freedom…freedom, freedom, freedom. That’s what they stood for.

Glenn: Let me go to the measles. A classic liberal would say you have the right to not take the measles shots. I heard Rand Paul talk about this, and on CNBC, one of the anchors went crazy on him. Explain why a classic liberal believes you should have the right.

Larry: You believe in free choice. You believe in free choice.

Glenn: But what about all the poor people that you’re going to affect?

Larry: Well, you know, I’m not an expert on this, measles, autism, and so forth, but it seems to me there is a health role for either the government or at least experts to tell you, all right, here are the odds, here’s this, here’s that, but at the end of the day, you have to make your own choice, and it is your own kids. Both Rand Paul and Chris Christie, I know they’re all bobbing and weaving now about this issue, and my view is I’m not for mandates. I don’t see how the state can mandate anything regarding your kids or your family or should. All I can do is tell you what, you know, what the chances are and what your risks are, and it’s up to you. It’s real simple.

Glenn: Do you see anybody on the horizon that, you know, you talk Chris Christie and Rand Paul and Ted Cruz, Jeb Bush…do you see anybody in the field that has a chance of being Churchill?

Larry: Ooh, Churchill, no, frankly, not yet. Now, it’s early. We don’t know enough about their foreign policy opinions, and that’s going to be a bigger issue in this election than it has been in any recent elections, I think.

We were talking, and it’s worth repeating for the viewers and listeners, there’s a book out by a chap named Boris Johnson, who is the Mayor of London. He’s a Tory, but he’s a very free market Tory, and he wrote something called The Churchill Factor, and he basically argues two things very simple. One is the hinge of history is determined by great people, great people, not historical forces and so forth. Great individuals change history—for example, a Reagan, for example, a Thatcher.

In this case, he talks about Churchill and argues quite plainly and clearly that had Churchill not been there and had Churchill not been Churchill, he was a very courageous man who had actually fought in wars, unlike most leaders, totalitarianism would have won in Europe and quite possibly in America as well. Whether it was the Communists or the Nazis, it could have been either one. That one could have gone either way.

Glenn: And there was support in the United States for both of them.

Larry: Indeed, and in fact, yes, in England, even worse, here’s Churchill comes in, his forecast about the Nazis come true, so they finally elect him or push him into Prime Minister. So, he was an aristocrat, but the nobility, half the nobility in England were pro-Nazi, and they had this bizarre sense that Hitler would come in and bless them, pat their heads, and say you all, go ahead and go own your own your land. You can do whatever you want. I’m just going to have my guy here to look over you.

Churchill is trying to explain to them, you know, wrong, they’re going to come in and take everything away. It’s a State Socialism. You’re going to lose everything you have, and he will treat you just the way he’s treating them in Sudetenland and Poland and elsewhere. So, every other Tory in Churchill’s party was an appeaser, was a wuss basically, and here’s Churchill trying to say wait a minute. It’s 1940. It’s 1941. The USA wasn’t there. FDR couldn’t do it yet. Whatever he was thinking, it was way too early, and so Boris Johnson says this guy, Churchill, stopped totalitarianism.

So, for me, I’m no foreign policy expert, Glenn, but for me, when I look at radical Islam, all right, I see totalitarianism. I see Communism. I see Nazi-ism. I think people have to wake up. They have to understand the gravity of this, and we need a game plan. The only person I know in public life—you were asking about the candidates—the only person I’ve heard, and I’ve interviewed him several times is retired four-star general Keane, Jack Keane, who I think is a brilliant man.

He says this straight up. In fact, I had him on the radio show, I don’t know, two Saturdays ago, and he said this is like fighting Communism, and we’d better understand this. I don’t think we do. In terms of the crop of Republican candidates, I haven’t heard them yet on this subject.

Glenn: Have you seen anybody, anybody, not just running for president, do you see anybody out there that you think boy, they get it, they’re doing a good job?

Larry: Besides Keane? Besides Keane?

Glenn: Yeah.

Larry: And I interview everybody, Glenn, either on the TV show or the radio. I try to read. I’m like you, I try to keep up with everything. I don’t hear anybody stating it with that kind of clarity. I don’t hear anything coming out of the joint chiefs, which is so important. I don’t hear it from the civilian side of the Pentagon, and look, Obama, I mean, we could talk about Obama forever. It ain’t hardly worth the air time, but this guy won’t even acknowledge that it’s an Islamic problem. Actually, oddly enough, I don’t want to go too deep, but there is a wonderful speech by my friend Jindal, Bobby Jindal, Louisiana.

Glenn: The recent one he gave?

Larry: Yes, and I wrote a column about the speech because I hadn’t seen anyone, and he got it. Okay, so let me backtrack. He got it. That speech was heavily criticized in some quarters. My attitude is tough darts. I had him on the radio, but I wrote a column, got a million hits on it, and he seems to understand this.

Anyway, it was interesting to me, a week or two before Jindal spoke in London, el-Sisi in Egypt, all right, gives a speech—Egypt is the fourth or fifth largest Muslim country—to a bunch of imams somewheres in Egypt, and basically says you are to blame to the imams, he said, because if you don’t stop the radical jihadists, then they’re going to destroy this sacred holy religion and a lot more and just laid it right out to them.

[break]

Glenn: You’ve seen the rise of Fascism, Le Pen, PEGIDA, Golden Dawn. It’s on the rise in Russia with Putin’s people. It’s on the rise in Italy, in Spain. This is 1933 playing itself all out all over again. What frightens me is we haven’t really, except for Greece, we haven’t really hit the economic disturbance that’s coming.

We haven’t paid the piper at all, and when that happens, somehow or another because I think that both parties have lured us into this poppy field and said sleep, sleep, everything’s going to be okay. When we wake up to our horrible situation all around the world, I think people are going to be screaming for blood and screaming for a strong man to fix it as they are now in Greece.

Larry: In America?

Glenn: I hope not. I hope not. How bad are things going to get in America?

Larry: I’m a lot more optimistic about the economy, assuming we’re still a free country.

Glenn: But are we?

Larry: Well, yes, more than less, absolutely.

Glenn: We’re 14th now on economic freedom.

Larry: Well, I understand that, and we’ve made a lot of terrible mistakes in the last bunch of years, so I agree with that index. I mean, I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again, you and I and like-minded people who believe in freedom, I can sit down with you and fix the economy. Give me a half hour. I can. I’ll list the…I mean, I’ve been doing it for close to 40 years. The principles don’t change.

Glenn: You know, you can fix the economy on paper, but what concerns me is the culture has changed, our desire to work, our desire to say I did build that, and he built that, and back off, that’s his, you know? Give it to me. I want it. I’m owed it. I mean, we were here in the 1960s, but in 1968, we were rolling in the mud, and we were looking to the moon. There was a split in the country. Where’s the moonshot? Where are the group of people that are saying we’re going to do something great? Is it Silicon Valley? Who is it? Where is it?

Larry: The culture of entrepreneurship, I think, is alive and well, Glenn, okay? Not in the White House but out in Main Street, and I think Americans are great, freedom-loving, business-oriented people who understand frankly that if you want to make a buck and take care of your family, you’ve got to work hard. I think people still believe that in their bones. I know I believe that, and maybe I’m being too optimistic, but that’s my nature. The trouble is our government down through the years under both Republicans and Democrats have created a whole series of incentives not to work. This is what I find very troubling. They’re going to pay you not to work.

Unemployment insurance is a perfect example. There was a very good Wall Street Journal editorial on this the other day. The Republicans finally did after 11 or something extensions of long-term unemployment insurance, with all these Keynesian economists in the White House and the Congressional Budget Office saying no, we must have it; otherwise, the economy is going down—wrong, as soon as we stopped it, people started going back to work. How about that, started going back to work? When you talk about food stamps and disability insurance, people are paying them not to work. When you talk about ObamaCare, ObamaCare is essentially premised on the fact that if you get a job and succeed, and your income goes up, they will take away the ObamaCare subsidies and tax credits. They’re basically paying you not to work. That’s got to stop.

Glenn: Okay, last question, you and I are both alcoholics.

Larry: Yes, Sir.

Glenn: I think alcoholics might save the country because it’s going to take that attitude of picking yourself back up and admitting that you have a problem and saying I’m powerless with this problem, but I’m going to pick myself up and help each other and get through it.

Larry: And trust God.

Glenn: Trust God.

Larry: And trust God. I didn’t, so I acted on myself on my own, and it got me into a heap of trouble. The bottom was a lot worse than I ever thought.

Glenn: What was the bottom for you?

Larry: Well, I lost some awfully good jobs along the way in the late 80s and early 90s. I lost a Wall Street career. I had a career in journalism. I lost that. I had been doing a lot of broadcasting. I lost that. It’s very hard to hold a job, Glenn, if you don’t ever show up for it. That’s one of the lessons I learned. In fact, showing up is part of my New World mantra. I’m with God’s grace coming up to 20 years, and I show up…everything, everything. Unless I’m really three-quarters dead, I’m just going to show up. I don’t care how bad I am, I’ll still show up.

So, I agree with you, there are a lot of lessons to be learned there, and I’m a devotee of Alcoholics Anonymous. I’m not breaking anonymity because I never had any anonymity, so I can talk about it. The local press here in New York took an unusual interest in my issues, shall we say, but that’s okay.

Glenn: Oh, I bet.

Larry: That’s okay. I never have blamed anybody. The good news is I learned how to change, and I won’t even say I regained my faith. I will say I gained faith in God. I’m not sure I ever had it when I was a kid. I wasn’t really brought up in that tradition. I became a Catholic convert. That came later. I had to get sober first. The crowd at Hazelden where I was for about six months told me a couple things. They said (a) don’t go back to New York, and I didn’t. I actually did what they told me. I had one job offer. I may have told this before.

I was a pretty successful guy, but I had one job offer when I left treatment, and that was from Art Laffer in San Diego. He and Tracy took me and Judy into their home in the office, and I had a job. I learned a lot from that, and I went to all my meetings and did what my sponsors told me to do and got better. That was 20 years ago, and I’m still doing it. I was at a meeting last night and loved it, loved it. As I told you before, my dad just passed away, World War II vet, good guy. I buried him…a little down over that, so I went to a safe place, a meeting, and talked to a whole bunch of friends about it. You know, they said hey, it’s natural for you to have your down moments. You’re okay. That’s right. They are right.

So, I learned a whole lot, and I’m not a proselytizer. I’m not John the Baptist. I’m Larry Kudlow. I’m grateful to be sober. I’m grateful to have work, you know, interviews. Every night for 12 years, I’m grateful for a TV show on CNBC that I just love. When I couldn’t do it anymore, they rewrote the contract and kept me on as a commentator. I have a radio show that’s high ranked. I’m just grateful for my whole life and my wife, who I tell you, a footnote to the story, at the end, the end of the end, the end, had signed me up for the long-term care program at Hazelden. It was a real lock-and-key operation, which is what I needed, and I’ve told this story many times.

You know, she gave me a one-way plane ticket to the St. Paul-Minneapolis airport, and she said, “If you go, they’ll pick you up. You’ll be there for six months.” She said, “Here’s 20 bucks for the cab.” I had no money. And she said, “If you don’t go, that’s up to you. I’m out of here.” So, somebody, some power greater than myself, pushed me in the right direction, and as I say, Judy and I are married 27 years. I love her to death. Literally, I would, you know, stop a bullet for her, and the Lord has been very good to me, very good to me.

Glenn: Thank you.

Larry: Thank you.

Glenn: Thank you…really great.

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.

If we can build skyscrapers, we can rebuild bridges

Kevin Dietsch / Staff | Getty Images

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

I am sick and tired of hearing about our limitations. The collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge this week is an amazing hero story of the cops and first responders who saved an untold number of lives by doing exactly the right thing quickly. But I’m really tired of hearing about how long it’s going to take us to recover from this catastrophe and how bad it’s going to be.


The immediate impact for Americans regarding this bridge collapse seems dire. If you're waiting for a new car to come in from overseas, prepare to wait longer. The Port of Baltimore stands as the nation’s leading import-export site for cars and trucks. It’s also the leading nexus for sugar and gypsum, which is used in fertilizer, drywall, and plaster. A record 52.3 million tons of foreign cargo was transported through Baltimore just last year.

To expect more from our leaders is rational. But to expect the most from ourselves is essential.

The bustling port is now cut off after the 1.6-mile-long bridge crumbled and fell into the river early Tuesday, blocking the only shipping lane into the port.

The officials have said the timeline for rebuilding the bridge will be years. The Port of Baltimore creates more than 15,300 jobs, with another 140,000 jobs linked to the activity at the port. This is a major disaster and will continue to cause significant problems on the East Coast for U.S. importers and exporters.

The bridge collapse means it will not be possible to get to the container terminals or a range of the other port terminals in Baltimore. Maryland Secretary of Transportation Paul J. Wiedefeld told reporters on Tuesday that vessel traffic in the port would be suspended until further notice but noted the port is still open to trucks.

Michael Mezzacappa, an attorney and expert on property damage cases in the shipping industry, told the New York Post that the collapse will have a major impact on shipping and traffic routes in the East Coast for the foreseeable future. “It’s not going to get fixed any time soon,” Mezzacappa said. “It’s going to take a lot longer than anyone expects. This is going to be a major problem for the Northeast.”

Remember the American spirit

I am absolutely sick to death of all of these stories that say things like that. Have we forgotten who we are? Have we forgotten what we’ve done?

Let me remind you of the American spirit, a spirit so potent and so vibrant that it has scaled towering mountains, mountains nobody thought they could cross.

It’s the spirit that constructed marvels of engineering. Have you ever been to the Hoover Dam? Have you seen the New York City skyline? The skyscraper was invented here for a reason. Here we are on the threshold of tomorrow, and none of us knows what is going to happen. But I'm getting the impression that we’ve been so beaten down that we believe we’re not going to make it tomorrow.

Have we forgotten who our ancestors are and what they did? If you look through our history even briefly, you will see a group of people who never take no for an answer. You will see a people who can do anything.


I want to stop just briefly in 1930. The Great Depression had its icy grip on us. It was a time that felt like a flickering candle in the vast darkness just barely holding on. Yet, it was in this crucible of adversity that Americans did great things.

The Empire State Building rose. It wasn’t just a structure of steel and stone. It was a beacon, a beacon of hope and American resilience and ingenuity. The way that thing was built — no one has ever seen anything like it before and since. In a record-shattering one year and 45 days, an army of workers, as many as 3,400 men on certain days, transformed this audacious vision into a cowering reality.

If you look through our history even briefly, you will see a group of people who never take no for an answer.

The Empire State Building wasn’t constructed. It was conjured into existence with a symphony of clanging metal and roaring machines and the inexhaustible spirit of its builders. The men perched on steel girders that were being flown in by giant cranes whispered tales about how they could still feel the warmth of the freshly poured metal beneath them. That beam was still warm, even though it was poured in Pittsburgh, put on a train, then put on a boat, then on a truck, then hauled up into the air.

They could fill the warmth because we moved that fast. It was a feverish pace of construction. It seemed to defy the laws of time and physics.

For a long time, it was the tallest building in the world — an architectural achievement. It was also a declaration to the world that America was a land where the impossible became possible, that we are a people of determination, innovation, with a relentless will to succeed.

These aren't merely historical footnotes. They are blazing torches illuminating our path forward. They remind us that when we're faced with adversity, we don't just endure it. We overcome it. We don’t wait for history to chart our course. We write it with the sweat of our brow and the strength of our backs. That’s who we are. Have we forgotten that?

What are we waiting for?

We find ourselves at another crossroads faced with the challenges that threaten to dim the bright future that we all dream for our nation, for our children. The spirit that built the Empire State Building, laid down miles of railroads, cut through the Rocky Mountains, and sent astronauts to the moon is still inside of every heart of every American, somewhere.

Awaken that spirit. Scale new mountains. It's not just rock and earth. Scale the mountains of innovation. Build. Not just physical structures but a future that upholds the spirit of adventure, hard work, and ingenuity. Stop tearing everything down. Let's start building.

Why are we waiting? If this isn't a national emergency, I don't know what it is.

And I don't just mean the bridge. I mean all of it. You might say, “Well, our government has to lead.” Really? Does it? Maybe that’s our problem. America is led by its values and principles that are found in the souls of those who still remember who we are and who we serve. Americans lead the way. The government always follows.

You might say again, "Well, we can’t act without the government." Nonsense! Where are the bridge builders who will stand up today and say, “I'll get it done!” As soon as that happens, you’ll see who is leading and who is stalling. The government is the one that stalls the engine out. To expect more from our leaders is rational. But to expect the most from ourselves is essential.

There is nothing we can't achieve when we all stand together, united by our dreams, and driven by the will to see them fulfilled. Don't listen to anybody else who tells you differently.