Signs of Hope: Silicon Valley Liberal Floors Glenn With Support for States' Rights

There is a civil war playing out in the Democratic Party between the radical left and old school, left-leaning Democrats. While trouble is brewing, so are opportunities. Glenn continues to encounter people who recognize the difficulties we now face as a nation. Two weeks ago, he met with leaders from Silicon Valley, mostly liberal, and the conversation bordered on shocking.

"Guy sitting next to me said, 'You know, we have to admit our own mistakes... None of us here sitting at the table had a single problem with the way Barack Obama was signing executive orders. None of us said anything. It didn't bother us. We didn't have a single problem the way they got health care done. They just jammed it through. None of us said anything, but hurrah. Now that Donald Trump is doing the same thing, we're all freaking out. You know, maybe we should have had a problem with Barack Obama doing it,'" Glenn recalled.

Glenn did his best to stay silent and listen.

"I'm like, don't say anything, don't say anything, don't say anything. Don't wreck this. He's on the right train. Keep going," Glenn said.

Then came the kicker.

"He said . . . 'Every time the Tenth Amendment is brought up, every single one of us in this room always say racist, state's rights is just about racism. But, gee, aren't we the same people right now saying we have to strengthen the Tenth Amendment and maybe we should secede from the Union? Maybe it's not about racism. Maybe there's something to these state's rights,'" Glenn recounted.

The revelation left Glenn floored --- and more convinced than ever that we have a chance to turn things around.

Speaking about two of the four books he's been reading, Glenn explained how understanding the five tribal stages and the language of moral foundations are the secret keys to bridging the divide.

"I think we're between stage one and stage two, and there are those in our audience that are stage three, four and five," Glenn stated. "It will take those of us who are three, four and five to be able to learn the language of these first two stages, speak to them, couple that with The Righteous Mind, and we can change the world. We really can heal the scars."

Listen to this segment from The Glenn Beck Program:

GLENN: Okay. So I want you to listen to this. This is from Los Angeles. Long-standing tensions between the Democrat Party's moderate and liberal wings have ignited in California, where progressive activists are redirecting their anger over Donald Trump and congressional Republicans towards Democratic leaders at home. Stoked by a contested race for state Democratic chair and the failure of a single-payer health care bill, activists are staging protests at the capitol. Assembly Speaker Rendon reportedly receiving death threats after shelving the health care legislation last month. And security was tightened at the statehouse, after activists disrupted a floor session last week. The rancor spillover from the contentious Democratic presidential primary last year is aggravating divisions in a state regarded nationally as a lodestar for the liberal cause. Establishment Democrats fear the rhetoric and appetite for new spending could go too far, jeopardizing the party's across-the-board dominance of state politics. All of this has taken new significance on, as California embraces its role as the focal point of the anti-Trump resistance.

They're now having to say, "Guys, guys, guys, we're on the same team." But they're not. Go back to The Coming Insurrection, the little blue book that when I first started at Fox, people couldn't imagine -- what? Why is Glenn Beck, he's saying read this socialist revolution book from France. Yes. Because I said it would come here. What was the point of that book? Do you remember why they were revolting in France, I mean, other than Frenchmen were revolting?

PAT: They were sick and tired of the promises not being fulfilled. Right?

GLENN: In what way?

PAT: They wanted Communism.

GLENN: Correct.

PAT: And they decided to go for it now, rather than progressively.

GLENN: Correct. And they kept saying, we have the opportunity right now. We keep electing you guys, and you keep saying -- see if you've heard this phrase before: The French version of, okay. We just need the House and the Senate. Oh, okay. Well, we need the White House too. But once we get the House and the Senate and the White House too, then we'll be able to do something. They're like, we've elected you guys over and over again, and you've had the power. And you won't do it. You're never going to do it. You're never going to do it. Because it's about you. It's not about Marxism. You're just using us. Well, that's what's beginning to happen now. The Democrats have invited these people in, and they're Marxist. And they're revolutionaries. And they want their system.

So they wanted a single-payer system. The real Democrats said, "Okay. No, I think that will bankrupt the state." And the Marxists and the deep, deep progressives said, "Now is the time. If not now, when? Are you kidding me, we're more popular than ever because of Donald Trump. We can stand against it and lead the way. You people aren't going to do it." That's why they've had to ratchet up security because the sentiments that I pointed out eight years ago in The Coming Insurrection and said, "It's coming here," is now beginning in California.

Okay. Sounds like bad news. But here's the opportunity: And I have witnessed it myself. In fact, this weekend, I met two different people who said, "Glenn, I'm reading this book called The Righteous Mind." And I just smile, "Uh-huh."

This woman told me on Saturday, "I'm reading this. I had to get to you because I believe there's a way out." And I said, "Really? Well, I'm trying to work on that. I'm interested on hearing anything you've got."

And she said, "Well, you have to read The Righteous Mind." I said, "Jonathan Haidt?" She said, "Yes. You know it?" And I said, "Yeah, we're working on something based on that as well."

She said, "I've seen it work in my own life." She said, "I had family members who I could not even talk to, and I started using what he's pointing out, and I changed what I was saying, how I was saying it. And they're hearing me now."

"Yes, I know. I've seen it work myself."

And here's the opportunity: Last week, two weeks ago, when I was in California, there is a huge change in people. Huge change. And it's not -- the last time I was there was right after -- yeah, right after the election. And people were stunned and they were afraid of Donald Trump. And everything else.

So I go out and I meet with -- I'm going to have dinner with the one guy who is a really nice guy, but very, very liberal. Was very Hillary Clinton, I believe.

And I let him know that I'm coming out.

He said, "Glenn, I want to introduce you to some friends. They need to hear you speak." And I said, "Okay."

He said, "Anybody you want to meet with?" I said, "No, I just don't want to meet with anybody who has a jersey." So if you're, the Democrats have to win, or that Donald Trump, we have to do everything we can to stop, or whatever, no team jerseys. Open minds.

He said, okay. So about 20 people show up. Twenty, 25. And they're -- they're amazing job titles and names. I was shocked.

And all of them came in with -- with a very open mind. And in some ways, afraid. Some of them told me that they were more afraid of their side than even Donald Trump now.

They said the Republicans are spooking the crap out of us. But what's happening on the college campuses with the uber left is frightening.

Point number one: Their eyes are beginning to open. Point number two: Guy sitting next to me, he said -- I opened up with: Look, we all have to admit our mistakes. And we have to just say, "I'm not trying to win. I'm trying to find a way back towards any kind of normal conversations with people who disagree with me, where I don't hate you and you don't hate me and we have to stop each other. Because what does that lead?"

Please, play this out for me. You guys win every election for the next 20 years. You have every seat and everything is Democratic. What are you going to do with the 40 percent of the population that just will not give up the idea of a free market? What do you do with them? Kill them? Silence them?

Because, I mean, at first, you just have to silence them and get them to play along. But when they don't after 20 years, what do you do?

And the same thing with the people who say you're the enemy. We have to just -- what are we going to do with you, after 20 years of winning every single election? Because they're not going to give up. Do we round you up? Do we put you in indoctrination camps, or do we kill you? Help figure this out.

We all came to the conclusion that there is no winning, just stop playing to win. Let's start finding ways to live together.

So I say this: Guy sitting next to me said, you know, we have to admit our own mistakes. None of us here at this table -- now, this is a super liberal guy. None of us here sitting at the table had a single problem with the way Barack Obama was signing executive orders. None of us said anything. It didn't bother us. We didn't have a single problem the way they got health care done. They just jammed it through. None of us said anything, but hurrah. Now that Donald Trump is doing the same thing, we're all freaking out.

You know, maybe we should have had a problem with Barack Obama doing it. And I'm like, "Don't say anything. Don't say anything. Don't say anything. Don't wreck this. He's on the right train. Keep going." He said, "And another thing: Every time the Tenth Amendment is brought up, every single one of us in this room always say, racist. State's rights is just about racism. But, gee, aren't we the same people right now saying we have to strengthen the Tenth Amendment and maybe we should secede from the Union?

Maybe it's not about racism. Maybe it's something to these state's rights. I am floored -- floored with the nodding heads of, yeah. Yeah.

Now, they don't agree with me on policies, but the principles are starting to shine through. So here's the opportunity in California. There's a Democratic civil war. The Coming Insurrection. Where people are shutting things down. You're going to have violence. Because that's what the left -- the uber, uber radicalized left, that's what they do.

So you've got that.

Then you have a whole bunch of people who are like, I'm not with them. But I also -- I'm not really with the G.O.P. either because they're doing the same kind of tactics as I just realized my party was doing. And I don't like that either.

That's where you come in. And if you can speak their language, you can get enough to open up to where you say, "See. Yes. You're right. The Tenth Amendment." For different reasons, we both believe in the Tenth Amendment. For different reasons, we both believe in the Fourth and the Fifth Amendment. But see how important the Constitution is?

We have that opportunity. And if you can only -- if you could get, my gosh, 50 percent of the Democrats of California to turn, not going to happen, Glenn.

Good. I'll take 5 percent. I'll take 10 percent. You can get 5 percent of the Democrats in California, I believe, right now, if we start listening to each other. We start talking to one another, and we know how to talk to one another. And we stop trying to win. Because, they're on the wrong side!

Play that out in your mind. How does that end? Play that out in your mind. How is it working out so far?

New tactic. And we'll be talking to you about it and teaching it in the coming weeks. But I would highly recommend you start reading two books: The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt. Spelled H-A-I-G-H-T.

PAT: No, it's H-A-I-D-T.

STU: Uh-huh.

GLENN: What?

PAT: H-A-I-D-T.

GLENN: Oh, you guys are reading the wrong book.

STU: That would suck.

GLENN: Yeah, so Jonathan Haidt. So that one. And the other one is Tribal Leadership. Now, Tribal Leadership is -- does anybody know who that one is by?

PAT: Two guys, I think, right?

GLENN: So you read that one. And that one is different -- that one is more about business. It's an older book. A couple years old. But it's more about business. But --

STU: Dave Logan, John King, and Halee Fischer-Wright are the authors.

GLENN: If you read those two books -- the Tribal Leadership -- think of the company as our country and see where the tribes are headed.

I contend that we are -- and when you read this, you will understand, and you will put your hand to your mouth and go, "Oh, no." I between our country is between stage one and stage two. And the Democrats and some on the alt-right are more stage one. That's a dangerous place to go.

Stage two is almost a complete loss of hope. And a just submission into whatever. And I want a strongman to fix it because we've tried everything else.

I think we're between stage one and stage two. And there are those in our audience that are stage three, four, and five, which are our good. But it will take those of us who are three, four, and five, to be able to learn the language of these first two stages, speak to them, couple that with the Righteous Mind, and we can change the world. We really can heal the scars. We'll give that you as the days and weeks continue.

The government is WAGING WAR against these 3 basic needs

NICHOLAS KAMM / Contributor | Getty Images

The government has launched a full-on assault against our basic needs, and people are starting to take notice.

As long-time followers of Glenn are probably aware, our right to food, water, and power is under siege. The government no longer cares about our general welfare. Instead, our money lines the pockets of our politicians, funds overseas wars, or goes towards some woke-ESG-climate-Great Reset bullcrap. And when they do care, it's not in a way that benefits the American people.

From cracking down on meat production to blocking affordable power, this is how the government is attacking your basic needs:

Food

Fiona Goodall / Stringer | Getty Images

Glenn had Rep. Thomas Massie on his show where he sounded the alarm about the attack on our food. The government has been waging war against our food since the thirties when Congress passed the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938. They started by setting strict limits on how many crops a farmer could grow in a season and punishing anyone who grew more—even if it was intended for personal use, not for sale on the market. This sort of autocratic behavior has continued into the modern day and has only gotten more draconian. Today, not only are you forced to buy meat that a USDA-approved facility has processed, but the elites want meat in general off the menu. Cow farts are too dangerous to the environment, so the WEF wants you to eat climate-friendly alternatives—like bugs.

Water

ALESSANDRO RAMPAZZO / Contributor | Getty Images

As Glenn discussed during a recent Glenn TV special, the government has been encroaching on our water for years. It all started when Congress passed the Clean Water Act in 1972, which gave the government the ability to regulate large bodies of water. As the name suggests, the act was primarily intended to keep large waterways clear of pollution, but over time it has allowed the feds to assume more and more control over the country's water supply. Most recently, the Biden administration attempted to expand the reach of the Clean Water Act to include even more water and was only stopped by the Supreme Court.

Electricity

David McNew / Staff | Getty Images

Dependable, affordable electricity has been a staple of American life for decades, but that might all be coming to an end. Glenn has discussed recent actions taken by Biden, like orders to halt new oil and gas production and efforts to switch to less efficient sources of power, like wind or solar, the price of electricity is only going to go up. This, alongside his efforts to limit air conditioning and ban gas stoves, it almost seems Biden is attempting to send us back to the Stone Age.

4 signs that PROVE Americans are hitting rock bottom

Spencer Platt / Staff | Getty Images

As we approach the presidential election in November, many Americans are facing dire economic straits.

Glenn has shown time and time again that Bidenomics is a sham, and more Americans than ever are suffering as a result. Still, Biden and his cronies continue to insist that the economy is booming despite the mounting evidence to the contrary. But who is Biden fooling? Since the beginning of the year, gas has gone up an average of 40 cents a gallon nationwide, with some states seeing as much as a 60-cent per gallon increase. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. Foreclosures and bankruptcies are on the rise, evictions are surging, and America is experiencing a record amount of homelessness. We can't survive another Biden term.

Americans across the country are hitting rock bottom, and here are four stats that PROVE it:

Evictions

John Moore / Staff | Getty Images

Across the country, people are being evicted from their homes and apartments. Between 2021 and 2023, evictions increased by 78.6 percent. With inflation driving up prices and employers struggling to raise wages to compensate, rent is taking up an increasingly larger percentage of people's paychecks. Many Americans are having to choose between buying groceries and paying rent.

Foreclosures

Justin Sullivan / Staff | Getty Images

Renters aren't the only ones struggling to make their monthly payments, foreclosures are on the rise. This February saw a 5 percent increase in foreclosures from last year and a 10 percent increase from January. More and more Americans are losing their homes and businesses.

Bankruptcies

Chris Hondros / Staff | Getty Images

High interest rates and inflation have driven bankruptcies through the roof. Total filings have risen 13 percent and business bankruptcies rose 30 percent in 2023. It's getting harder and harder for businesses to stay afloat, and with California's new law requiring most restaurants to pay all employees a minimum of $20 an hour, you can expect that number to keep climbing.

Homelessness

FREDERIC J. BROWN / Contributor | Getty Images

The result of all of these issues is that it is getting harder and harder for Americans to afford the basic necessities. January of 2023 saw a record-breaking 650,000+ homeless Americans, a 12 percent jump from the previous year. More Americans have hit rock bottom than ever before.

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.