Voice Expert: Anyone Can Be a Great Singer or Speaker

Roger Love, one of the world's leading authorities on voice, joined The Glenn Beck Program on Monday to talk about his fascinating career coaching singers, actors and executives --- and turning them into great singers and public speakers. His new book Set Your Voice Free: How to Get the Singing or Speaking Voice You Want, distills the best of his teachings and exercises, used successfully for over 15 years.

"What I realized after about 17 years of just working with famous singers was that there was no difference between singing and speaking, and that I could take someone's speaking voice and add a musicality to it and have it sound incredible," Love said.

The goal is to move people emotionally with your voice --- and no one is better equipped to teach that than Roger Love.

Listen to this segment from The Glenn Beck Program:

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

GLENN: Welcome to the program, Roger Love. Author of the new book Set Your Voice Free. Roger, are you there?

ROGER: I am here, and happy to be here.

GLENN: Will you do me a favor and just tell me quickly the story -- I think it's of Walk the Line, where the two actors, Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon were really having a hard time and there were six weeks left, and they walked into your office. Can you talk about that at all?

ROGER: Absolutely. The story starts with neither of them knowing when they accepted the roles to star in Walk the Line, to play Johnny Cash and to play June Carter Cash, that they were actually going to have to sing, because neither of them think of themselves at that point in time as singers.

So I get the call from Reese. And the two of them have to record about 30 some odd parts of songs. And so I start working every day. And trying to make Joaquin sing like the iconic Johnny Cash is no easy feet.

GLENN: Right.

ROGER: But thank gosh he is an amazing actor. And the discipline that both of them had to go from working with me and starting as not really singers to doing an incredible job in the film, I look at that as being one of the greatest collaborations in my life, something that I'm very, very proud of. Because the result was that she won an Academy Award for a singing role. And he won multiple awards for a singing role. And where we started three or four weeks ago was not very much great singing.

GLENN: Seriously, it was three weeks working with you?

ROGER: Three weeks. About every day for a few hours.

GLENN: Holy cow.

ROGER: Believe me, I wish some of these pictures that I do like Crazy Hard -- I wish they would give me more time, but quite often, I'm thrown in at the last minute to say, "Hey, Rodge, can you make this person who is not really a singer sound incredible?"

GLENN: So let me ask you this question: Over the weekend, I sat down with one of my daughters, and I said, "Let's draw mountains together. Let's just draw, you know, some things. Let me show you a picture."

And she said, "Dad, I don't have any talent at all."

And I said, "Yeah, you can draw."

And she said, "No, I can't. The gene didn't pass to me."

And I said, "Yes, it did. We're not talking about genes. Just paint what you see." Or, "Just draw what you see."

So she drew. And it was very simple mountains. And it looked like a kid's drawing.

Then I went back and I said, "Honey, just draw with me now. See this part over here? See, it looks like this. And here's how you can do it."

Her painting or her, you know, oil thing.

ROGER: Masterpiece.

GLENN: Yeah, masterpiece. It went from third grade to 12th grade, just by seeing the technique. And I contend that 80 percent of, you know, an artist is just learning how to do it. That 20 percent is what makes you a star.

But everybody can pretty much do what they don't think they can do. Is it the same with singing or not?

ROGER: Yes. We think that we are born with a particular voice. Singing, speaking. All of a sudden if we're singing happy birthday and we sound better than everybody else and we get the first piece of cake, we think we're born with talent. Or if we have this nasal voice or really soft or aggravated, some kind of a weird voice, we think we're stuck with it because that's the sound that is coming out of the mouth. But I've spent my life showing people how simple it is to take what you like about your voice and what you don't like about your voice and add a little bit of technique and then sound like however you want.

So even a singer who is born with an amazing ability that Mother Nature gave them, if they don't work on their voice -- if they don't decide, "I want to sing. I love to sing," then they never become great.

And those people that were maybe born with a little less from Mother Nature, if they work a little harder and have that technique, they can ofttimes end up sounding better than the people that were born with a gift.

GLENN: Okay. So let me take it one more step. We were talking about millennials and how nobody is learning how to talk to each other.

ROGER: Right.

GLENN: Everything is virtual. Certainly, nobody is learning how to stand up in front of a crowd and speak.

Your book talks about that as well. What's the difference?

ROGER: The difference is -- and this is crazy. Can you imagine in the world that we're living right now that the number one fear in America is still speaking in public?

What an amazing world we must live in, if everyone is the most worried about speaking in public.

And what I realized after about 17 years of just working with famous singers was that there was no difference between singing and speaking, and that I could take someone's speaking voice and add a musicality to it and have it sound incredible.

And those sounds would move people emotionally when they heard someone speak. And once -- once you have those kinds of sounds come out of your mouth and you realize you have influence over people, that when you open your mouth, it's like you're singing someone's favorite song and all you're doing is speaking. You lose a lot of stage fright. You lose a lot of fear of speaking in public.

GLENN: You start to like it.

SIMON: Because you end up liking the sound of your own voice and you can't wait to show it off.

GLENN: I know that my son had to speak in church, so I worked with him on his talk. And I had him go find a joke that he wanted to tell at the beginning. You know, some sort of deal. And I worked with him on the joke. We practiced and practiced and practiced. And I knew, the minute he got that instant reaction that was positive back -- if he could just do that one thing right and really pull that off, he would like to speak.

He is terrified of speaking. Now, I could put him anywhere, and he would get up and start talking.

ROGER: So I love that story. If I go to a restaurant or you go to a restaurant and you don't think you're funny and you tell a joke and everyone laughs, then the next time you're having dinner the following week at a restaurant, maybe you'll bring out that same joke, maybe another one.

And if they laugh, by the next time you're at a restaurant, you think that you're the funniest person at the table, so you can't wait to be funny because you see how people react to you. And that's what I help people do just with speaking, to create sounds that people react to positively so that you can't wait to communicate, whether you're speaking to one person or whether you're speaking to 1,000 people.

GLENN: Okay. I have to be honest with the audience: The reason why Roger is on is because I believe in his work so much because I am a client of Roger's. He has brought me to a place to where, you know, I was in -- what the doctors would say is full vocal cord paralysis. And he has brought me out of that and helped me retain my voice. You have brought me from not being able to say a word, to being able to speak with my regular voice within 20 minutes.

And everybody I tell say, "That's not possible."

ROGER: Well, that is a joy that I could be a part of that and be a part of your family. So thank you for that opportunity.

The thing is that for years, I've been saying that the sounds you make are either making you healthy and happy, or they're making you unhealthy and unhappy.

GLENN: So how do you teach this in a book, Roger?

ROGER: Because it's not just a book. It's a book that goes along with a website that has 75 audio samples. And everything that I talk about in the book, you -- you also have me making the sounds, and then you're singing along with me and speaking along with me.

GLENN: So what you did for me -- and you made those little tapes for me, you've just used me as a guinea pig for your book.

(chuckling)

GLENN: So it's basically the same thing that you've done for me.

ROGER: Exactly right. The same thing that I've done for you and for singers like --

GLENN: Elton John.

ROGER: -- John Mayer and Selena Gomez this past year. And any -- and speakers like Anthony Robbins and Suze Orman, anyone that is having an issue with their voice and that I've realized that I could help them with a little bit technique that would make their voice healthy and then make it a lot more fun to use and a lot more fun to listen to.

GLENN: Okay. So I tried to explain what you do to a friend of mine who came up for Christmas. His name is David Osmond. I'm sure you recognize the name.

ROGER: Absolutely.

GLENN: Is David on the phone? Is David on the phone?

DAVID: Can you hear me?

GLENN: Yeah, David. Are you there?

DAVID: I'm here. Can you hear me?

GLENN: Yeah, can. David, meet Roger. Roger, meet David.

ROGER: Good morning, David.

DAVID: The man, the legend, the myth, Roger. What's up, buddy?

GLENN: So I asked David to come on because I could not explain to him what you do. David, explain your situation.

DAVID: Well, I've been performing my entire life, singing from so many different walks of life, as far as music goes, and continuing to do that. And now that I'm hosting TV shows and have a new big band going, music and voice is constant. And I noticed something was up this last fall. I could just feel something in my voice because I'm so connected to it.

And I approached my Uncle Donnie, who had some vocal challenges over the last couple years. He said, "Hey, check out this guy. Maybe you should just go get it looked at and see what's going on."

Sure enough, found on the left side of my vocal fold, this sizeable polyp that is just right on the underside and had vocal surgery to get that removed after different assessments and figuring out what I needed to do.

So I literally, about a month ago had vocal surgery to get that removed. And it is -- it is scary having to go down there and have this surgery procedure done, knowing that this -- this is my lifeblood. This is what I do.

STU: And they didn't know for sure if you would ever be able to sing again.

So I said to him, "You've got to talk to Roger Love." Not for a -- you know, not for physical stuff, but to -- to -- he -- I don't know how you do it, Roger, but you can hear it in somebody's voice when they sing.

DAVID: Well, first, let's tell the audience -- and I honestly, just talking again this week, this last week because I was silent for the last month. Just complete vocal rest.

GLENN: Right.

ROGER: Man, thank you for sharing that. Let me tell the listeners that -- so that they understand a little bit of what that is.

If you're a guitar player and you're always playing the guitar and you're rubbing your fingers against the springs --

DAVID: Hello?

GLENN: Hang on, David. Go ahead, Roger.

ROGER: What happens, if you're a guitar player and you're rubbing your fingers against the strings and you play a lot, you basically start to develop like callouses on your fingers so that the body thinks it's protecting you so that it doesn't rub off your fingers and you don't you don't get all bloody --

DAVID: I can't hear.

ROGER: So it's normal for guitar players. But what most people don't understand is, this happens all the time to singers. And if you're singing a lot or if you're doing any kind of straining or you're singing hard songs, or even if you're speaking in a way that creates a little bit of pressure on the vocal cords, the body can create these little lesions, these little growths on the vocal cords, thinking it's protecting you.

GLENN: It's actually destroying the voice.

Roger, I got to take a quick break. See if we can fix this technically because he can't hear you. But I had to put you two together because David is -- I just think David is remarkable and a really nice guy. You are remarkable and a really nice guy. I had to get you two together. If you want to learn from the guy who literally everybody who is anybody has worked with, how to speak, how to sing, his name is Roger Love. He's got a new book out called Set Your Voice Free. How to get the singing or speaking voice that you want. I work with him and have for years. He is truly remarkable. Roger Love, Set Your Voice Free, available everywhere now. Back in a minute.

First, have you noticed -- have you noticed what officials are saying? Officials are saying, "Gee, now, looks like rate hikes are going to come." Looks like maybe we're going to have stop all this printing.

Oh. Oh, okay. That was the headline in the Wall Street Journal over the weekend. Rate rises more of them coming. Officials suggest in 2017, they could see three more interest rate increases. This comes after the fed has already raised it once. This is the first time they've done it in a long time. Things could go unstable.

This is uncharted territory, unless you look to history. And every time in history this has happened, it hasn't gone well. Maybe this time is different.

I have a hard time with that. I'd like to look at history to see -- at least be able to gauge the percentages of being able to survive what you're currently doing. Has anybody else survived before? The answer to that is no.

Are you prepared for whatever may come your way is this call Goldline now. And look at your portfolio. In your IRA, maybe you can take 10 percent of your IRA and transfer that to gold. Physical gold that you can hold in your own hand. Call 866GOLDLINE. 866GOLDLINE or goldline.com.

[break]

GLENN: I blew it. I broke -- yeah.

Oh, hello. Welcome to the program. Sorry.

Got busy. I couldn't get the phones to work the way they were supposed to work. My apologies to David and Roger. But now they're on the phone with each other, and they're actually going to talk to each other. That's the important thing. The name of the book is Set Your Voice Free by Roger Love. And, you know, I sat there with David Osmond. And he just looked at me and, you know, just quietly said, "Scary. It's really scary to think I'll never sing again." You know, and he has MS and has been -- he has had a really, really tough year.

So his MS flares up. He gets a polyp on his vocal cords. He's got a new wife and family.

You know, it's not -- I mean, they're busting -- he's busting his butt to make ends meet.

PAT: He's got a new wife? He traded in the old one?

GLENN: Yeah. He traded -- yeah, yeah. She was getting some high miles on her.

No. She -- you know, but it's a young -- you know, they've been married, what? Seven years or so.

PAT: Yeah. Yeah.

GLENN: Yesterday, can you believe this, 17th anniversary for my wife and I.

STU: Wow.

PAT: Congratulations.

GLENN: Seventeen years has gone by so fast.

That's crazy.

JEFFY: It has gone by fast.

STU: I mean, that would have been a bet to take, she was going to stick around this long. I mean, what are the odds you'd got out of that? 2030 to one? You would have been very wealthy.

GLENN: Yeah, very wealthy. Very wealthy.

What about the next 25 years? Or next 20 years?

STU: I'd still take it.

GLENN: You'd still take it.

At some point -- at some point, she's got to -- you're saying, she's got to pull the chute.

STU: I think even Goldline would say even that's a better investment than --

GLENN: Yeah. Thank you for that, Stu.

STU: You're welcome.

GLENN: Thank you.

So let me go back to the millennial conversation that we were having, and that is millennials are walking into their job -- many of them with very low self-esteem. And safe zones. And never been challenged. And told they'll never be hurt. All lies. All of those things lies. Thinking that it's just going to be easy. You get the trophy. They're walking in with low self-esteem because they got the trophy and they know they didn't deserve the trophy.

You're not so special. You know, billion of people alive today. More tomorrow. And have come before you that were pretty special. You? No. It's what you do that is going to make you special, make you stand out.

Let's go to Josh in Indiana. Go ahead, Josh.

CALLER: Hey, thanks for taking my call.

GLENN: You bet. You're a millennial?

CALLER: Yeah, I'm 24 years old.

GLENN: Okay.

CALLER: So thanks for taking my call.

You know, I was to a certain degree coddled and didn't really know it at the time, and, you know, my parents were doing their best. But, you know, I think a lot of it was just afraid of real life. So it started off that they -- I'm sober three, almost four years now. So I did drugs. Failed out of college. Moved back home. Did the whole millennial thing.

PAT: Wow.

CALLER: But I finally looked up. And I'm a long-time listener of your program. And I had to learn a lot of lessons the hard way, but I think what, you know, millennials need is we need strong American values.

PAT: Hang on a second.

GLENN: Hold on, Josh. Hold on because I want to delve into your story a little bit more. Back in a minute.

(OUT AT 9:31AM) the

GLENN: Let's go back to Indiana and Josh who is a millennial. You're how old, 25, Josh?

CALLER: Hey, still here.

GLENN: Yeah, are you 25?

CALLER: Twenty-four.

GLENN: Twenty-four.

And you were raised like pretty much everybody else was raised. You know, you're special, and here's your trophy and everything else.

And then you said that caused a breakdown and you started into alcohol and drugs.

CALLER: Well, the thing about it is, you know, I was listening to you guys. A lot of the generation, the millennials, we are looking for our why and our purpose. And, you know, high school, that's not real life. And college, you know, that's also not real life. So it took me a lot of time to sort out what's reality and what's not reality.

GLENN: What do you mean by that? That it's not real life.

CALLER: Well, you know, in high school, it's a whole different system. And in college, it's a whole different system. And you get out in the real world and you start paying bills and you can't necessarily stay up till 2:00 a.m. on the weekends and party and live that kind of lifestyle. And so for me, I got into drugs and alcohol at a young age. Do that. And it really took -- go ahead.

GLENN: So then what turned you around? Because we were talking about this, that I don't believe that -- and this is a real -- a broad generation. Of course, there will be exceptions to every rule.

But generally speaking, people don't make a change in their life until there's a problem. And, you know, the millennials are walking into the world with the lowest self-esteem of any generation ever. And it's because they realize we're kind of a fraud. We didn't actually earn these trophies. We didn't really have to work for it. And so they are looking for something meaningful in their life.

What was the -- what was the turning point for you? And how did you grab a hold of your life?

CALLER: Sure, yeah. For me, it was hitting rock bottom. Getting kicked out of my parents' house and having to make it on my own. But it's tough love. That's what Americans need to provide for the millennials, whether it's the parents or the corporations. You know, it's a good shakedown. And for me, I had to fall back on good values, American values from my parents, that they tried to teach me. But I had to basically reject a lot of -- a lot of the stuff you hear in college and a lot of the stuff you hear in high school.

PAT: So your parents finally said, "Okay. You've been here long enough. You need to go."

CALLER: Yeah.

PAT: And where did you go?

CALLER: Well, I moved out into a halfway house myself.

PAT: Did you really?

CALLER: Yeah. Had to stay sober, go to AA meetings, get a job at Waffle House.

PAT: Wow. Wow.

CALLER: Get a job at Wendy's. Pay my own bills.

PAT: Wow.

STU: That's a lot of living for 24 years old.

GLENN: Good for you.

PAT: Yeah, you've been through some stuff.

GLENN: Good for you. Good for you.

PAT: So are you making it now? Are you doing well?

CALLER: I am. I'm in school full-time. I hold a full-time job myself. Self-employed. And looking to get my degree here and get a job in the health care career.

PAT: Good for you.

GLENN: Good luck with that.

What is -- how is your self-esteem?

CALLER: You know, I -- I had to find my own purpose. It's a lot better now, you know, now that I'm sober and not have cloudy judgment anymore. But I think it's just going to take some time for a lot of millennials to find their self-worth and to make it on their own. And definitely don't need to be coddled by anybody. A good shakeup is really what's needed.

PAT: That's great.

GLENN: Please check in with us again. I'd love to hear how you continue to do. Thanks so much, Josh.

CALLER: Sure thing. Thanks for having me.

PAT: Halfway house, man, that's tough.

STU: Yeah, that's tough love. That's real

GLENN: And the no offices and all of that.

STU: Oh, God.

JEFFY: Oh, God.

STU: We know you are willing to do the no offices. We are aware of this fact. We work with you. We got it.

GLENN: So I'm willing to do that. But I'm not willing to coddle -- I'm not as a company willing to coddle.

STU: No.

GLENN: We'll change with the times. I like that atmosphere much better as a creative atmosphere.

STU: Yeah.

GLENN: However, you still have to do it.

PAT: Right.

GLENN: You don't do it --

PAT: You can't -- you can't stay. Right?

GLENN: No, you can't stay. You hurt everybody else.

PAT: Right. Yeah.

STU: If you get upset, will you be able to maybe shut down for the day?

GLENN: No, you're pretty much -- get over it.

STU: There's some interesting --

PAT: And you treat everybody else like crap because you're having a bad day? Is that right?

GLENN: No, you're pretty much, get out. And leave the bean bag chair here.

STU: Let me give you a couple of examples.

How is the left dealing with the current environment?

GLENN: Yeah.

STU: This is difficult. And these aren't all millennials. Look at this. It's amazing to see this. And it's so easy to mock. But maybe there's something different here.

GLENN: Your first instinct was to mock?

STU: My first instinct was to mock. But I'm trying to be good here.

Eric Holthaus (phonetic), this is his Tweet storm from this weekend: I'm starting my 11th year working on climate change, including the last four in daily journalism.

Today, I went to see a counselor about it.

PAT: Oh, wow.

STU: I'm saying this because I know many people feel deep despair about climate, especially post election. I struggle every day. You are not alone.

PAT: How much did you struggle over the weekend when it was 11 degrees in Dallas, Texas?

STU: Really freaking cold.

PAT: It was so warm, it had got cold.

GLENN: Now, Pat's first instinct was to mock.

STU: Right.

GLENN: And I'm not saying that's not necessarily a healthy instinct.

PAT: I'm not ignoring that instinct right now.

GLENN: Right.

STU: All of these I want to mock and react viscerally to. I will admit.

GLENN: May I say my fifth instinct is to say you would feel that way had you been living in the last eight years in that bubble of, it's always going to be this way, our side won. Shut up everybody who disagrees with us.

STU: Right. The other party is a regional party that will never win another national election.

GLENN: Correct. And now you're feeling like we felt. So I can relate to you.

STU: So let me give you -- so this is one way of handling it. He says, "There are days when I literally can't work. I'll read a story and shut down for the rest of the day."

PAT: I mean, come on.

JEFFY: Come on.

PAT: How often do we read stories that piss us off, that offend us? Every day, all day.

GLENN: Okay. Let me ask you this. We're sitting here today. What is it? January 6th, 8th? Ninth?

JEFFY: Ninth. National championship day.

GLENN: January 9th.

PAT: That's a good point.

GLENN: We're sitting here January 9th, and we are just a few days away from the Hillary Clinton nomination.

PAT: January 9th. You mean -- like if she won.

GLENN: If she won --

PAT: Yeah.

GLENN: I bet you there would be a lot of people in our audience who would be like, "I can't function."

STU: I think that's true.

GLENN: I do. Look how we were in '12.

STU: They wouldn't go see a counselor.

PAT: We survived Obama twice. Nobody shuts down. I mean, nobody just stays home.

JEFFY: Right.

STU: Right. Republicans --

JEFFY: Barely go to work.

STU: Republicans -- conservatives deal with these problems in different ways.

GLENN: I agree.

STU: The liberal way to handle it is you go and you shut down and you see a counselor about it. That's not how a conservative is going to handle it.

PAT: Yes.

GLENN: I think there are a lot of conservatives, including me, that after Romney in '12, I was like, "I don't know this country. I don't want to look at the news."

STU: Yeah.

PAT: Sure.

JEFFY: But we did come into work every day.

GLENN: We forced ourselves to do it. But there was a lot of people who said, "I unplug. I'm out. I'm out." Now, that's not the same as shutting down and not being able to work, but honestly --

PAT: Not paying attention to the news for a while though. That's different than --

GLENN: But honestly, you work as a climate change activist. That's what you're doing every day. I can see you saying, "Well, why am I doing this?"

PAT: That's a stupid job to begin with. That's a dumb job to begin with.

GLENN: Okay. All right. That's bringing people together. That's good. Like it. Like it. Okay.

JEFFY: He knows it's dumb.

STU: He goes on to say, we don't deserve this planet. There are many days when I think it would be better off without us. And then he says, cue climate denier trolls, which I think is us.

PAT: Climate denier trolls. It's definitely me. Yeah.

GLENN: I don't think the world would be better off without humans.

PAT: It's just so insane.

STU: Yeah, and it goes -- it's a fairly lengthy thing. But, "I don't feel like I make a difference," which is what you were talking about with millennials.

GLENN: And what we felt like. Nobody is listening to me. I can't make a difference.

STU: You feel powerless. You feel like nothing matters. Your relationships suffer. You feel guilty for not doing more, but what the hell am I supposed to do? Write another blog post?

Our Secretary of State is the F-ing Exxon CEO.

Now, as funny as that is to mock, think of how we felt when people like Jeremiah Wright were associating with Barack Obama and they won somehow, and the country embraced that regime.

GLENN: Yes. Yes. Yes.

STU: And you had this guy who was saying, "We need to cling to our God and our guns as president of the United States."

GLENN: How many times did I say seriously, "I'm going to the mountains. What we're doing is not making a damn bit of difference. I'm going to the mountains." There's nothing different from what he's saying, except it's the other side and so we can laugh.

STU: Right.

GLENN: Which we shouldn't do. Because it's the other side.

Pat's like, I know we shouldn't, but I'm going to.

PAT: Exactly.

GLENN: So we may spend the last hour just mocking that guy.

(laughter)

STU: There's two other approaches too that we should get to as well.

GLENN: All right. Hang on just a second. Let me -- I want to read a -- I got a Christmas card from somebody. And I -- this is just the nicest -- this is just the nicest thing.

Dear Glenn, I can't believe it's the end of another year. For SimpliSafe, this year has brought continued growth, both from our loyal customers and our headquarters here in Boston. Eight years ago this month, we sold our first three SimpliSafe systems. I remember taking those orders myself, programming those systems, packing and shipping those first three orders myself. Today, I'm proud to say that this Black Friday, we sold 20,000 systems. It took 200 full-time UPS trucks to deliver those systems

PAT: In one day.

GLENN: Over 200 people on the phones to keep up with all of the orders.

As I watched the UPS trucks leaving our warehouses and walked the call center floor, I was reminded that we wouldn't be here without you and your audience.

As a thank you for your continued partnership, we made a donorship in your honor to Operation Underground Railroad.

Wishing you peace, success, continued joy. Blah, blah.

PS, I thought you might appreciate holding on to a little piece of our shared history. Enclosed is the first fully functioning camera prototype. You helped us build it. Thanks again.

STU: Oh, wow.

GLENN: So they sent me this prototype of their security camera that is now out.

I remember them bringing this to my office years ago and saying, "This is what we're working on. We're going to change the way home security is done." And I remember saying, "So what are you -- no wires. Everything is Bluetooth. Everything, you'll be able to do yourself and then explaining the vision to me and thinking, "This is fantastic."

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(OUT AT 9:49AM)

GLENN: Let me go to Rebecca in Ohio. Hello, Rebecca, you're on the Glenn Beck Program.

CALLER: Hey, Glenn.

GLENN: How are you?

CALLER: Good. How are you?

GLENN: Very good.

CALLER: So I wanted to call in because actually the interview that you had been sharing, I had actually seen a few days ago. And not only am I a millennial. I'm 25 years old. But I'm also a senior photographer. And I think many of the issues that you guys covered today, I guess I didn't notice them until it was brought to my attention.

Over the last few years, I've been doing senior photographer. And it seems like year after year, the communication during the sessions, when I'm trying to talk with my client, has become less and less.

And so when I'm, you know, photographing them, I'm trying to get to know them, they kind of stare down at their feet. They don't know what to say. They're becoming more awkward.

And at first, I thought, maybe it was just me. Maybe, you know, I'm not catering to them in a certain way.

But then afterwards, they would contact me on social media and go, "Oh, my gosh, I loved my session. And they would write these amazing reviews."

And I'm thinking, "Oh, my gosh, well, I thought that went horrible," but I guess that they find their confidence in the technology, and they find themselves expressing themselves better through technology and social media, more than even in person. Like, I can rarely get eye contact.

JEFFY: Oh, yeah.

GLENN: Wow, that's disturbing.

PAT: Interesting. And, yeah.

GLENN: Yeah, disturbing.

CALLER: Yeah, and it's gotten worse.

Like, you know, I started in 2010. And it seems like this year has been the worst.

Now, I love them to death. They're all very sweet. They're actually a lot better than the teenagers that I grew up with, when we were their age.

They aren't caddy anymore. They're not so critical. They're actually very loving, and they're very understanding and stuff. But it seems like, you know -- like you guys had been saying, they get their confidence through social media. And it seems like maybe they can express themselves better that way.

GLENN: Well, it's a safe zone.

CALLER: Yeah, absolutely.

GLENN: They know they won't encounter any kind of pushback, and they don't know how to say the things to people's faces.

JEFFY: Yeah, they haven't developed that at all.

GLENN: None. There's --

PAT: So when they get the pushback, they don't want to hear that. And that's why they're developing safe zones in colleges and all of that.

JEFFY: Right.

GLENN: But that's being empowered. I think they would take it if the adults in the classroom would say, "Sorry, dude, that's the way it is. Now, fight back. Come on. Deal with it. Show me the other side."

PAT: That's the way it is. That's life. Right. Deal with it.

CALLER: Yeah, you're not making it okay anymore to be wrong and to listen and to be understanding. It's like that's an embarrassment and that's awkward. It's like you have to be perfect in all aspects. And that's why on social media, they can delete that picture. They can, you know, backspace on their message before they send or post or anything like that.

GLENN: Yep.

PAT: Uh-huh.

GLENN: You know, it's amazing, I got a picture book from my daughter, who has my two grandchildren, for Christmas.

CALLER: Aw.

GLENN: And I looked at all the pictures, and they were beautiful. It was perfect. Then I went back and looked at some of the pictures, you know, from our family.

PAT: Uh-huh.

GLENN: Very few of them are perfect.

JEFFY: Oh, yeah. No way.

GLENN: I mean, they're usually somebody looking very dorky in the picture. That's real life. You know, that is what we are failing to teach is, there isn't a PhotoShop for life.

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.

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.

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.