Pantsuits and Sniffles Aside, Glenn Points Out the Debate Crazy From Both Candidates

For the first time in election debate history, Glenn wasn't on pins and needles.

"I didn't have a horse in the race," Glenn said Tuesday on his radio program. "I just wanted to hear which one was going to win, which one had something to say."

Depending on the network, the proclaimed winner fluctuated. According to CNN, Hillary was the clear victor. Over at Fox News, Trump owned the night. Glenn had his own perspective about the political do-si-do seen in the first presidential debate.

"I guess if you're tired of the game and knowing exactly what people are going to say, this is the show for you," Glenn said.

Read below or watch the clip for answers to these debatable questions:

• Is trumped up trickle-down focus-group approved?

• Did Hillary come out as a full-fledged socialist?

• Who did Trump blame for everything?

• Are people who say "The Cyber" completely out of touch?

• Will Millennials prefer Hillary or Donald after the debate?

Enjoy this complimentary clip from The Glenn Beck Program:

Below is a rush transcript of this segment, it might contain errors:

GLENN: On the surface, I don't think there was a clear winner last night. But we're not surface dwellers. On the deeper level, I think there was a clear winner last night. And it was Donald Trump.

And let me explain why. I thought -- no, no, hear me out. I thought Donald Trump did a couple of things. I tried to watch this last night as somebody who didn't have a horse in the race -- because I don't. And I tried to watch this as somebody who has been trying to keep their head above water, knows that the country is in trouble, but doesn't really have a horse in the race.

They -- they -- they're just looking for somebody to fix it because they're in pain. And they're in pain that nobody is listening to them. Washington is hopelessly broken. It's nothing but the Republicans and the Democrats arguing with each other. I'm sick and tired of it. My job is going away. I'm losing my job. I know the banking and Wall Street is corrupt. And I know we're in big trouble. I know -- I couldn't tell you why, but I know that this is all bogus and something is coming that's bad. I'm sick and tired of the wars. I'm sick and tired of being told one thing and then doing another, when it comes to the wars. I am sick of hearing that there has been another mass shooting by a guy with an Islamic name, but we don't even mention that he's Islamic. We're not mentioning those things.

However, any time that anybody else is shot, we have to go for -- we will make up categories. A Hispanic white guy. We'll make up things to blame things on race. And we'll do everything we can to not even mention Islam.

I went with that attitude. And then on the other side, I also went with a young person that knows -- because this is -- this is the future. Everybody says, "Oh, you can't -- you're destroying our future?" Really? Really? Because the future are our children. The future are the millennials. And the millennials hate both of these guys. They don't believe in the Republicans. They don't believe in the Democrats. They don't believe in Donald Trump. Look at Donald Trump's millennial numbers. Ghost town. They don't believe in Hillary Clinton. Not as much of a ghost town, but moving towards a ghost town.

They don't believe in the system at all. And why should they? Why should they?

They see their parents who have lived their lives the right way being screwed. They see their parents living this American dream that has gotten them massively in debt. They know the world is changing, but they see -- they see people on television debating cyber security and referring to it as "the cyber."

"I don't know if we can ever fix the cyber." What the hell is that? Completely out of touch. Completely out of touch.

So I tried to watch it as somebody who is more prone to the right but not a partisan. Who is worried about all the things, quite honestly, as I am. And then I tried to watch it as a millennial at the same time, who doesn't agree with the answers that a conservative would give. But both of them are sick of the process.

Because that really honestly is the bulk of America. Everything else is 30 percent. Those people who are still playing the political game, I'm sorry, gang, but you're 30 percent. Everybody thinks talk radio is so powerful. No -- no, we're not. We're not even that powerful in our own circle.

You know, we've believed the press so long that talk radio, oh, it's changing the world. No, it's not. No, it's not. We're talking -- we're preaching to the choir. We have our own culture and our own big click. And we preach to the choir. And very few people, especially now, are stumbling in to see it. It's the same group of people. And we're talking to the same group of people every day. And they go from one show to the other, and that is what's happening.

We're not part of the culture. We're a subset of the culture. So outside of this culture and outside of the deep progressive -- I don't even know, institutional culture of the left, they're 30 percent. Average Americans are doing their job. Average Americans are getting up every day, and they're throwing their hands up and going, "What the hell is wrong with us?"

So I tried to watch as those people. And Hillary Clinton was the most likable I've ever seen her. And she was not likable. She was the most likable I've ever seen her. But I think it's because he is so unlikable. If you would have put him against -- if you would have put her against even Kasich, Kasich would have won. If you would have put her against -- yeah, unlikable. Untrustworthy. Unlikable. She was wearing -- very interesting, she was wearing a red pantsuit. Why was she wearing the red pantsuit? Because she needed to look powerful. She needed to look like a powerful woman who wasn't sick.

And I can move. And don't take -- please take the camera off me at the end when I'm bowing down or I'm trying to lean down to kiss somebody on the cheek because I look like I'm 8,000 years old. Take the camera off me. I'm wearing a red power suit.

And because this is a play, Donald Trump: I need to look credible, I need to look kind, I need to look honorable. I don't need to look powerful. Everybody knows I'm powerful. I need to wear a soft blue tie because that says respectability, that says honor, that says trustworthiness. And the game started there.

Hillary Clinton comes out, full-fledged socialist. Full-fledged socialist. Stunning to me. I've never -- I mean, anybody who was hoping for triangulation, woo, that's not happening.

She comes out and she talks with the old -- what was she? Trumped up trickle-down. Let me come up with a cute thing that we ran through some focus groups, okay? Because we got that 30 percent of the population that just are going to vote for me anyway, and I ran through a focus group, and we found out it would be funny to say, "Trumped up trickle-down economics, and it doesn't work."

So I'm going to tell you something new. Something very, very new. It's called socialism. And it hasn't worked anywhere in the world. And, okay, it's 170 years old now, but it's brand-new because it hasn't been tried by us. And this trumped up trickle-down economics just won't work.

How's the dial test doing? How's the dial testing doing?

Same old stuff over and over again. And, by the way, my dad is better than your dad because my dad had a squeegee, your dad had a checkbook.

STU: And by the way, the trumped up trickle-down thing was interesting because that's not even the correct liberal argument as to what caused the financial crisis. Like, we're supposed to believe that a cut from 39.6 percent to 35 percent for the upper echelon of taxpayers was the thing that caused the financial housing crisis. That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard in my life.

GLENN: So Hillary Clinton goes full-fledged socialist on one of the most incredible things I've ever seen. And that is, you know what -- you know what the problem is, it's a new day. It's a new day, and we have some new ideas that we're going to implement.

For instance, we think companies should share the wealth. Should share the profits. That's the most important thing. In my first ten minutes because the first ten minutes of any debate is the most important thing. So what do I have on my list? I'm going to force companies to share the wealth.

Wow, don't know where we find that one in the Constitution, but don't worry, we have the constitutional expert running to the aid of the Constitution to make sure that that's not the solution. The solution is keeping these companies here. And I will make them stay here. And I will make them do these things. And I will make them stay here.

Okay. So I could go on and on in this kind of mode because that's what it was. I love the people who were saying, "Oh, it was so clear last night." To whom? To whom? To whom was it so clear?

I'll tell you who it was clear to: Donald Trump -- whoever did this. And I got to believe this is Roger Ailes. Because this is the most brilliant thing I've ever heard. Did you hear who he blamed everything on last night? Hillary Clinton said, I'm going to be here, and you're going to blame everything on me by the end of the night.

But who did he actually blame everything on? Everything? Everything?

He didn't blame it on the Democrats. He didn't even mention the Republicans. He is a totally new animal. He blamed it on the politicians.

PAT: Politicians. Every time, politicians.

GLENN: The independents. The millennials and any independent -- anybody who doesn't have a team -- and I got news for you, guys, everyone who is playing teams, you think you're going to save the country, but you are playing the short game. The long game is to think 2020, 2024, 2028. Is there a country left, you will say? No, probably not. But the reason why there will not be a country left is because we have cannibalized each other. And we have ripped each other apart because nobody is looking at the long-term game.

And that is: What's worth saving?

Donald Trump is going to look like a genius on a couple of things. These quotes -- if she wins, the quotes that he gave last night on a couple of things are going to absolutely come to pass. And they're going to come to pass if he becomes president too. But he will forget it, and his solutions will only make it worse, as will hers.

He said, "We're in a bubble. We're in a bubble, and it's going to pop. And it's going to be the worst disaster ever." Yeah, he's absolutely right. Absolutely right.

But here's what happened: Because he -- because he targeted politicians, he wasn't doing the same old, same old.

While he was -- while he was -- I can't even say proposing ideas because I didn't hear any real ideas proposed last night.

I barely heard them from her. But I didn't hear any new ideas proposed. I heard the same thing: We're going to force these companies to stay. We're going to force China to pay their fair share. Hey, who doesn't love Russia?

I mean, I didn't hear any solutions. Even when he got specific and asked for specifics -- how do you repatriot $5 trillion? Now, listen to the logic. We have to have tariffs. Smoot-Hawley, that's what's caused the Great Depression. We have to have tariffs and taxes, and we have to repatriot $5 trillion in cash. Why?

Because his logic was that money is going to come back, flooding into the system, and it's going to circulate in the economy, and people are going to start spending that money.

What that will mean is if you put $5 trillion of US currency back into the system overnight and it actually does circulate in the economy, you will have hyperinflation -- you will have a crash and hyperinflation.

So neither of them -- neither of them -- at least he was recognizing the problems. But if I was watching this as a millennial, he said enough to me -- you know what, I agree with her. I agree with universal health care. I agree with taking the guns. Forget the Constitution. Taking the guns -- if you're on a No Fly List, you shouldn't have a gun. And I agree with you on that. I agree with you on some of the --

PAT: He agreed with her on that.

GLENN: Yeah, the child welfare. The child home day care stuff. I agree with you on all of that. There's lots of things we agree on.

So if I'm hearing that, I'm hearing, he's not for the two-party system.

Now, I don't know if he appealed to the millennials, but he absolutely pealed to me if I worked for Carrier and my job was at stake and all I want is an end to this two-party nonsense and an end to all of the stuff I've seen and heard under George Bush and Barack Obama and Bill Clinton. I want an end.

I think he won last night. And I think he won actually -- because it's a new world, I think he won in a big way.

Featured Image: Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton shakes hands with Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump as Moderator Lester Holt looks on during the Presidential Debate at Hofstra University on September 26, 2016 in Hempstead, New York. The first of four debates for the 2016 Election, three Presidential and one Vice Presidential, is moderated by NBC's Lester Holt. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

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.

How private stewardship could REVIVE America’s wild

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.