Dana Loesch: Conserving the Individual is the Basis of Conservatism

On her way to do tactical training and "blow stuff up," Dana Loesch, host of The Dana Show on TheBlaze TV and national spokesperson for the National Rifle of Association, joined Glenn on radio to give a blistering defense of pro-life conservatism.

"Conserving the individual is the basis of conservatism. It is classical, de Tocqueville liberalism. And if anybody knows anything about politics 101, if they know this, this should not be a surprise to them," Loesch said.

Loesch went on to stress the importance of political theory and history in education.

Listen to this segment from The Glenn Beck Program:

GLENN: Dana Loesch joins us now. Hello, Dana.

DANA: Hey, Glenn.

GLENN: Do women have the right to abort their children in the terrible twos? I'm just throwing that out there.

DANA: Do women have the right to abort other women who whine too much?

[Laughter]

GLENN: How are you doing, Dana?

DANA: I'm going to do some tactical training, so I'm going to blow stuff up.

GLENN: You are.

PAT: You are more macho than we are.

GLENN: That's not saying very much.

STU: Seeing last week's monologue of the opera, if you would like to investigate that one.

PAT: She's blowing stuff up.

GLENN: And you're going to the opera.

PAT: Beautiful.

GLENN: Anyway, Dana, let's talk about the underpinnings of the constitution for life. Are you -- would you be a hypocrite, and I know Tommy, you know, didn't call people hypocrites, she said she would be a hypocrite if she. Do you believe that?

DANA: Well, I don't want to get into what other people say and stand because people are going to do them. I'm going to keep doing me and the position I've always held is a limited government conservative is completely not hypocritical because you cannot -- you simply cannot enjoy the right to liberty and the pursuit of happiness without first having the right to life because everything else hinges on your right to exist, and that's how it is always. You don't have the right to pursue anything if you can't live first. I mean, it's nuts. It's a cop out when people say it's a purity test. What you know? Yeah, life should be a purity test and those people who lack the courage of their own conviction, and they don't publicly hold their own position, that's what it is.

GLENN: I was talking off air this morning. You have to start with is it life? And the founders knew the moment it stirs, the moment you know it's -- you're pregnant, the moment it stirs, called -- I believe they used to call that the quickening.

DANA: Yes.

GLENN: Then it was a child. We're trying to go scientifically in the scientific age, we're going to deny it's a child by denying people the right to an ultra sound. It's really crazy to think how antiscience we have become. But you have to decide if it is a child or not. Once you decide, yes, it is a child, there is no right that anyone would have to take another's life.

DANA: No, I agree with that. It's science. We should be the party of science. And we all know how it takes place. It's a life. It's a life. Choice occurs before conception. If we want to talk about choice, that occurs before conception. Afterwards, it's not choice. It should be always -- that should be our mantra. Choice before the conception. Afterwards. And choice is just a fancy word that people hide the fact that it is murder.

PAT: That's the way I always felt too, Dana. From that standpoint in order to be consistent, you would have to say you're conceding when a woman is raped then. That it would be illegal in the case of rape and incest because her choice was taken away in that case.

DANA: Well, even then, to use that as a universal measurement, according to planned parenthood's own statistics, it's fewer than 1 percent of all cases.

PAT: Yeah.

DANA: If people want to have a discussion of the fewer than 1 percent to stop the 99 percent that's being used, I think it's a great argument to have. But to use it when it's fewer than 1 percent as the universal rule in arguing for legalized, I think it's a disingenuous argument.

GLENN: How do you feel, Dana, about what's happening to the conservative movement, becoming this populist, really in some ways nonintellectual kind of movement?

DANA: I think there's industry conservatism, and then there's the actual movement of conservatism. I think that the industry attracts people who -- and they're capitalists, I have to give them credit. I'm always going to trust the capitalists. But I think that it looks like an opportunity for people to see the bond, and it's great to put out content and get views for it. But at the same time, it's still a real movement. I like populism in tiny amounts. I don't like a whole lot of populism because I think then it tends to obscure the truth and people look for personalities instead of principle, and you always have to fall back on principle because everything else is going to be a flash but principle is always going to stay. And that's something that we should be focusing on as a movement. But I look at it, and I think that the right, it's a big tent. And these are the conversations that we're going to have when you have a big tent. Here's the big problem that I have, Glenn, and I know I've spoken with you about this before.

People use the words like Republican and independent and conservative, they use these terms interchangeably because they think incorrectly that they all mean the same thing, when they do not. And you're going to have pro-choice Republicans and atheist Republicans and you're going to have pro-choice and atheist independents. But one of the things I cannot see and I do not define conservatism as is a pro-choice conservative. Because the basis of conservatism is conserving the liberty of the individual. Conserving the individual, and it all goes back to the right to life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness. So you cannot, and I'm not being a bouncer of conservatism. I'm pointing to logic. And if people want to could you say me of having a purity test. Hell yes, I will always use life as a purity test. And if anyone else doesn't, I pity those people. But, yes, conserving the individual is the basis of conservatism. It is classical de Tocqueville liberalism. And if anybody knows anything about politics 101, if they know this, this should not be a surprise to them. This is why political theory in class is important. This is why history is important.

This is why learning what these terms mean is important. They are not click-based sound bytes. They mean something.

GLENN: I've got to run, Dana, God bless you.

The West is dying—Will we let enemies write our ending?

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The blood of martyrs, prophets, poets, and soldiers built our civilization. Their sacrifice demands courage in the present to preserve it.

Lamentations asks, “Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by?”

That question has been weighing on me heavily. Not just as a broadcaster, but as a citizen, a father, a husband, a believer. It is a question that every person who cares about this nation, this culture, and this civilization must confront: Is all of this worth saving?

We have squandered this inheritance. We forgot who we were — and our enemies are eager to write our ending.

Western civilization — a project born in Judea, refined in Athens, tested in Rome, reawakened in Wittenberg, and baptized again on the shores of Plymouth Rock — is a gift. We didn’t earn it. We didn’t purchase it. We were handed it. And now, we must ask ourselves: Do we even want it?

Across Europe, streets are restless. Not merely with protests, but with ancient, festering hatred — the kind that once marched under swastikas and fueled ovens. Today, it marches under banners of peace while chanting calls for genocide. Violence and division crack societies open. Here in America, it’s left against right, flesh against spirit, neighbor against neighbor.

Truth struggles to find a home. Even the church is slumbering — or worse, collaborating.

Our society tells us that everything must be reset: tradition, marriage, gender, faith, even love. The only sin left is believing in absolute truth. Screens replace Scripture. Entertainment replaces education. Pleasure replaces purpose. Our children are confused, medicated, addicted, fatherless, suicidal. Universities mock virtue. Congress is indifferent. Media programs rather than informs. Schools recondition rather than educate.

Is this worth saving? If not, we should stop fighting and throw up our hands. But if it is, then we must act — and we must act now.

The West: An idea worth saving

What is the West? It’s not a location, race, flag, or a particular constitution. The West is an idea — an idea that man is made in the image of God, that liberty comes from responsibility, not government; that truth exists; that evil exists; and that courage is required every day. The West teaches that education, reason, and revelation walk hand in hand. Beauty matters. Kindness matters. Empathy matters. Sacrifice is holy. Justice is blind. Mercy is near.

We have squandered this inheritance. We forgot who we were — and our enemies are eager to write our ending.

If not now, when? If not us, who? If this is worth saving, we must know why. Western civilization is worth dying for, worth living for, worth defending. It was built on the blood of martyrs, prophets, poets, pilgrims, moms, dads, and soldiers. They did not die for markets, pronouns, surveillance, or currency. They died for something higher, something bigger.

MATTHIEU RONDEL/AFP via Getty Images | Getty Images

Yet hope remains. Resurrection is real — not only in the tomb outside Jerusalem, but in the bones of any individual or group that returns to truth, honor, and God. It is never too late to return to family, community, accountability, and responsibility.

Pick up your torch

We were chosen for this time. We were made for a moment like this. The events unfolding in Europe and South Korea, the unrest and moral collapse, will all come down to us. Somewhere inside, we know we were called to carry this fire.

We are not called to win. We are called to stand. To hold the torch. To ask ourselves, every day: Is it worth standing? Is it worth saving?

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. Pick up your torch. If you choose to carry it, buckle up. The work is only beginning.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Stop coasting: How self-education can save America’s future

Joe Raedle / Staff | Getty Images

Coasting through life is no longer an option. Charlie Kirk’s pursuit of knowledge challenges all of us to learn, act, and grow every day.

Last year, my wife and I made a commitment: to stop coasting, to learn something new every day, and to grow — not just spiritually, but intellectually. Charlie Kirk’s tragic death crystallized that resolve. It forced a hard look in the mirror, revealing how much I had coasted in both my spiritual and educational life. Coasting implies going downhill. You can’t coast uphill.

Last night, my wife and I re-engaged. We enrolled in Hillsdale College’s free online courses, inspired by the fact that Charlie had done the same. He had quietly completed around 30 courses before I even knew, mastering the classics, civics, and the foundations of liberty. Watching his relentless pursuit of knowledge reminded me that growth never stops, no matter your age.

The path forward must be reclaiming education, agency, and the power to shape our minds and futures.

This lesson is particularly urgent for two groups: young adults stepping into the world and those who may have settled into complacency. Learning is life. Stop learning, and you start dying. To young adults, especially, the college promise has become a trap. Twelve years of K-12 education now leave graduates unprepared for life. Only 35% of seniors are proficient in reading, and just 22% in math. They are asked to bet $100,000 or more for four years of college that will often leave them underemployed and deeply indebted.

Degrees in many “new” fields now carry negative returns. Parents who have already sacrificed for public education find themselves on the hook again, paying for a system that often fails to deliver.

This is one of the reasons why Charlie often described college as a “scam.” Debt accumulates, wages are not what students were promised, doors remain closed, and many are tempted to throw more time and money after a system that won’t yield results. Graduate school, in many cases, compounds the problem. The education system has become a factory of despair, teaching cynicism rather than knowledge and virtue.

Reclaiming educational agency

Yet the solution is not radical revolt against education — it is empowerment to reclaim agency over one’s education. Independent learning, self-guided study, and disciplined curiosity are the modern “Napster moment.” Just as Napster broke the old record industry by digitizing music, the internet has placed knowledge directly in the hands of the individual. Artists like Taylor Swift now thrive outside traditional gatekeepers. Likewise, students and lifelong learners can reclaim intellectual freedom outside of the ivory towers.

Each individual possesses the ability to think, create, and act. This is the power God grants to every human being. Knowledge, faith, and personal responsibility are inseparable. Learning is not a commodity to buy with tuition; it is a birthright to claim with effort.

David Butow / Contributor | Getty Images

Charlie Kirk’s life reminds us that self-education is an act of defiance and empowerment. In his pursuit of knowledge, in his engagement with civics and philosophy, he exemplified the principle that liberty depends on informed, capable citizens. We honor him best by taking up that mantle — by learning relentlessly, thinking critically, and refusing to surrender our minds to a system that profits from ignorance.

The path forward must be reclaiming education, agency, and the power to shape our minds and futures. Every day, seek to grow, create, and act. Charlie showed the way. It is now our responsibility to follow.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Glenn Beck joins TPUSA tour to honor Charlie Kirk

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If they thought the murder of Charlie Kirk would scare us into silence, they were wrong!

If anything, Turning Point will hit the road louder than ever. On Monday, September 22, less than two weeks after the assassination, Charlie's friends united under the Turning Point USA banner to carry his torch and honor his legacy by doing what he did best: bringing honest and truthful debate to Universities across the nation.

Naturally, Glenn has rallied to the cause and has accepted an invitation to join the TPUSA tour at the University of North Dakota on October 9th.

Want to join Glenn at the University of North Dakota to honor Charlie Kirk and keep his mission alive? Click HERE to sign up or find more information.

Glenn's daughter honors Charlie Kirk with emotional tribute song

MELISSA MAJCHRZAK / Contributor | Getty Images

On September 17th, Glenn commemorated his late friend Charlie Kirk by hosting The Charlie Kirk Show Podcast, where he celebrated and remembered the life of a remarkable young man.

During the broadcast, Glenn shared an emotional new song performed by his daughter, Cheyenne, who was standing only feet away from Charlie when he was assassinated. The song, titled "We Are One," has been dedicated to Charlie Kirk as a tribute and was written and co-performed by David Osmond, son of Alan Osmond, founding member of The Osmonds.

Glenn first asked David Osmond to write "We Are One" in 2018, as he predicted that dark days were on the horizon, but he never imagined that it would be sung by his daughter in honor of Charlie Kirk. The Lord works in mysterious ways; could there have been a more fitting song to honor such a brave man?

"We Are One" is available for download or listening on Spotify HERE