The GOP Is Poised to Pass Tax Reform – but Will It Help?

Glenn was blunt about his feelings on the Senate Republicans’ plan for tax reform on today’s show: “This is an abomination, but I’ll take it.” If Republicans can’t give us something better, we’ll take what we can get, right?

Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) said at noon today that he would vote in favor of the tax reform plan, giving Republicans 50 votes to pass the legislation along with a tie-breaker vote from Vice President Mike Pence.

Want to learn more about the bill? Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) was on the show Thursday to talk about it, and you can listen here.

This article provided courtesy of TheBlaze.

GLENN: Bill O'Reilly from BillO'Reilly.com.

Let's switch to another worthless topic on -- on Congress. The tax bill. They now have 49 out of the 52 senators. Are they going to be able to pass this today?

BILL: Yes, they will. They'll make some other tweak to get one or two more on board. And, you know, it shouldn't be this hard. But, you know, again, you're dealing with a body that is not looking out for the folks, in my opinion. It's all about them.

And, you know, once you get into that zone, it's hard to get anything done --

GLENN: How can they be so myopic, where they are -- where they are getting these giant -- these giant breaks. And I'm for the business tax going down. I'm absolutely for it.

BILL: Yeah. Uh-huh.

GLENN: But then to not give the break to the average person is nuts! Is nuts!

BILL: Well, they are though in a sense that if you -- if you really analyze the bill, it does help the working class in America. I mean, it's not fantastic --

GLENN: It does help.

No.

BILL: But it's something. And then the thinking is -- the wisdom is that when you stimulate the economy to this extent and you mentioned it at the top of the hour, that there will be more jobs available for everybody. And then the market will drive salaries up, so that you will make money from this bill, not only by getting a tax cut, a little bit of one, but your opportunities will expand.

So I think that's the overall arch on it.

STU: The bottom line here too and no one is talking about this, the bottom 80 percent of families, currently pay 33 percent of all federal taxes and will get 37 percent of the tax cuts. They pay 33, would get 37 percent of the tax cut. The top one percent currently pays 37 percent of all the taxes, but would only get 18 percent of the tax cuts.

So they keep acting as if they're only giving money to the rich here. That's not true at all.

GLENN: Yeah, you're giving more --

BILL: Well, the big thing is the economy. That's the big thing. If you have a president who stimulates the economy to the extent that everybody wants to work and salaries go up, that's an effective administration, domestically. So that's what this is all about. Democrats, of course, don't want Trump to succeed. So they don't care how good the tax cut is or how good the tax bill is, they'll try to sabotage it.

GLENN: So the economy and the numbers, what is Trump thinking by just tweeting all this nonsense? This should have been a great week.

BILL: He doesn't think. He just doesn't think. I mean, that's the problem. I'm not a psychologist, and I'm not getting into that. But you're absolutely right. I have it said from the very beginning, it's about accomplishments, not feuds. You know, once in a while you can use a feud for a political advantage, and people will enjoy that. But not every day. You got two big accomplishments. The economy is on the move and you've hurt ISIS badly: That's what you should be tweeting about.

GLENN: Yeah. Tell me what you thought about the Pocahontas.

BILL: It's not a racial slur. It was inappropriate. The guys -- the Navajos in the White House didn't even know what he was talking. You see their faces, going, what did Pocahontas do that we were not aware of?

GLENN: I know.

BILL: Let's go back to Jamestown, what did she do? But, again, it's a stream of consciousness with our president. I mean, whatever pops into his mind, he says. Because that's what rich guys do, Beck. And, you know that, you're a rich guy. Whatever pops into your mind you say, that's what happens.

GLENN: Right. I was saying that when I was broke. And that may lead to me being broke again.

BILL: Yeah. But you weren't sober then. That was a whole different track.

GLENN: Yes. That's exactly right.

When we come back, we'll talk about Michael Flynn who has just been charged by the FBI with lying to the FBI. What does this mean to the Trump administration? Coming up.

(OUT AT 9:31AM)

GLENN: We're with Bill O'Reilly for BillO'Reilly.com. We got news this morning that the former national security adviser for Donald Trump, Michael Flynn, has pleaded guilty today to willfully and knowingly making false, fictitious, and fraudulent statements to the FBI about conversations with Russia's ambassador.

The White House responded and said, this was expected. Trump fired him for lying to Vice President Mike Pence. Of course, he lied to the FBI as well.

Bill, what does this mean?

BILL: I don't think it means very much. I mean, it means that CNN and MSNBC will have a full roster of hysteria. But, you know, Flynn was a guy who had a very nebulous -- word of the day nebulous, association with Turkey and Russia. Made money representing various things that they were doing.

And apparently, the inside story here, Beck, though, and that's why you have me on every week is apparently they made a deal with Flynn to plead guilty to lying to the FBI if they leave his son alone.

The son did work with the father. The younger Flynn was in kind of jeopardy. But I think the deal is, let the boy go. And I'll plead guilty. I think that's what happened.

GLENN: So does this move the case into the White House at all?

BILL: No. Because the White House did bail from Flynn fairly early. Because he did, as you pointed out, misled Pence. So unless Flynn has got some information, and nobody could possibly know that, that connects the president with Russia directly, it's probably going to die out fast.

STU: Bill, switching gears here a little bit, I did come across a little piece of an interview with you that I did find to be interesting this week. As you may have seen and remembered the Matt Lauer interview with you has been making the rounds quite a bit.

BILL: Yeah.

GLENN: I'm wondering, have you offered an interview for him on your show?

BILL: Nah. You know, everybody is caught up in the mass hysteria of all of these accusations. But I come back to the very simple thing, and what Americans should want is justice. They should want justice.

And nobody should be abused in the workplace. So when you keep your eye on that. And I think nobody would disagree with that. You can -- you can start to move through some of these things in a responsible way, unlike the press, which every headline is a conviction now.

So Lauer, who I've known forever, but I'm not a friend of his, what he did in my interview in September, with Killing England -- and people don't know that. But I was promoting the book. I was promoting Killing England. And I knew that NBC was telling Lauer, hey, you got to be tough on O'Reilly. You got to be ask him all -- I don't mind.

GLENN: Yeah. They did seven minutes on your firing and two on the book.

BILL: Yeah. And I didn't mind. All I wanted was my say. I went in there. And, you know, they did seven on that and two on the book. Fine, the book becomes number one. And I did what I had to do to promote the book. But as far as Lauer was concerned, I absolutely knew what he was going to do, what he was going to say. And if you looked at the interview, I answered the questions honestly. Now, he doesn't look good because all the while he was asking all those questions, he had to know that all this he has now admitted was in the background.

So how do you do that? I don't know. I don't know how do that. But that's him.

GLENN: So, Bill, you just said, you know, every accusation is a conviction now.

BILL: Yeah.

GLENN: Except when it comes -- except when it comes to Congress. That's not happening.

BILL: It is though. It is though.

Conyers is done, all right? He can -- he can -- his guy can say, I got to stay. He's finished, all right? And I expect he'll be out next week. And they'll say, his health is bad. I mean, that's what this is. And Franken is done.

STU: You think Franken is done?

GLENN: You think Franken is out?

BILL: He's out. Because the Senate Ethics Committee can't give him a pass. They can't. And they'll come back, Al, you know -- and I actually recused myself from Franken because I despised him so much. And I told my audience on BillO'Reilly.com, look, I'm not going to comment on what Franken allegedly did or did not do because I hate him. "Hate" is a bad word.

I despise him. He's a liar. All right?

GLENN: You hate the things he does.

BILL: I've known him forever, and he's the lowest of the low. You don't get lower than Al Franken. So I can't analyze what this situation is. But he has no future. He's done. And the ethics committee will come back, and there will be other people that will come in and say whatever they say.

GLENN: And so what about Roy Moore?

BILL: Now, that's a more interesting topic, Moore. Because I think Moore is going to win.

STU: I think so he is.

GLENN: I think he is too.

BILL: In December 12.

Now, is he going to win because he's the greatest guy?

No. He's going to win because the people in Alabama hate the press more than what he allegedly did. So that's what's happening.

GLENN: No, I don't think -- I think they're just willing to look away and say, I don't know what the story is because I hate the press so much.

BILL: I think it's more emotional than that. I think it's -- there is a -- if you look at the polling on it, okay? The majority of Alabama is not people who are going to vote for Moore. And, by the way, I would not vote for Moore. I would not cast a ballot for the man. But the majority of people who are going to vote in the election, all right? They say that the press is despicable and we don't trust them.

So that's the -- you know, people rationalize their actions. That's the rationalization. We don't know what he did.

You know, but the press is dishonest. So we're going to give him the benefit of the doubt. So then he'll get in there. And I think the Senate will bushwhack him. And then the governor of Alabama eventually will have to appoint somebody to take his place. I think that's how it's going to come down.

GLENN: You think the Senate is going to bushwhack him?

BILL: I think so. Because the Republican Party can't be tied to him. You see, they can't be tied to Roy Moore, and that's what the Democrats will do next year in --

GLENN: But we're already tied -- we're already tied to -- to Donald Trump. And if you believe the press reports, sources in the White House say that he's now saying that that -- excuse me. That Access Hollywood tape was fraudulent.

BILL: Okay. Then we get back to stream of consciousness. I don't take any of that seriously. I don't take any of that seriously.

But I will tell you this, I'm going to make a prediction here on the Glenn Beck Program. I wish I had the English accent to do it, but I don't.

After this tax reform thing gets passed, the press is going to then pivot into attacking Trump on the women accusations. That's going to be the next thing. Because they can't go into 2018 with a roaring economy, all right? And a pretty good accomplishment on Trump's resume. They've got to take him down personally. So you're going to see hysteria develop, coming up. And that's what's going to happen.

GLENN: So how do we -- because I think we're sending. And I don't know what message we're setting. And I've struggled with this. I mean, Bill, you and I have talked about this off the air with your situation. And I've pressed you up against the wall, saying, I don't want to defend a bad guy. Tell me the decision. And I've had to make tough choices, in my own life, you know, here. But I think we're all doing this throughout.

And I don't know what message we're sending. But I do believe the stories about Donald Trump. And I do believe he has that kind of attitude.

So what -- what is this -- what -- by saying, you know what, the president is off-limits. Or, you know, Al Franken is off-limits or whatever, what does this mean to us in 20 years? Because I think we're here because we said character didn't matter in the '90s.

BILL: Well, look, I know where you're coming from on this, but I think you've got to be careful. I know of a tape, an audiotape that I hope becomes public very soon, because there are at least three crimes on the tape that an anti-Trump person is offering money to someone to allege stuff against Donald Trump. That tape exists. All right?

And you got to be careful about this kind of stuff. Because there is very -- there are black ops, what they call in the CIA, going on, to ruin people that George Soros, Media Matters, Color of Change don't like. You know that. You know it. Don't discount that. Don't discount it.

GLENN: Well, see, that's why --

BILL: I don't know what Donald Trump did or did not do. I do know the American people elected him. But I know what's coming. I do know what's coming.

GLENN: So that's kind of where I'm at. Is, you know, we will say, you know, I'll give the person in politics the benefit of the doubt because I don't know -- because politics is so slimy, that I don't know what the truth is here.

BILL: That's right. And you can't know the truth. So, therefore, you can't form judgments. You've got to be -- if you're fair-minded, very circumspect on it, and very cautious.

STU: What's the appropriate way to look at these, Bill? Because I have struggled with this. These things come out, and we're forced to try to make without a court case, without a real accusation, without a charge being filed. We have to try to sit here and analyze through the media and random reports.

BILL: Yeah, but you can't because the media will never tell you the truth. And they're going to hang you in the headline, whoever you are. If you think this is going to stop, it's not. Next week, there will be five other people. Then once you get into the campaign season in 2018, almost everybody who runs is going to be slime in some way with this kind of stuff. It's just too easy to do. It's so easy to do.

GLENN: Look, I saw --

BILL: Americans have got to be aware that this thing is pretty much out of control right now.

GLENN: I saw the thing with Garrison Keillor. And if what Garrison Keillor says is true -- and, look, I mean, I think Garrison Keillor is talented.

STU: Ugh. Insufferable.

GLENN: I know. I'm a rare bird on this. I think he's talented. But he stands for almost everything that I stand against.

However, that being said, if what he says is true, it's insane to fire him. Was insanity. Because it's --

BILL: Absolutely. So, I mean, look, I'm not going to get into my situation, but I've told you and I've told everybody in this country, I've mistreated no one. Okay? And that -- there's no deviation from that.

And so, you know, you go on, but am I angry? I'm angry through the roof about this whole injustice in the media.

GLENN: So the question --

BILL: The media drives this stuff. But if there's evidence that you see, like a picture -- Al Franken -- or a police report -- Weinstein -- sure, that evidence has to be taken into account.

But if there isn't, it's just like Garrison Keillor saying I touched somebody on the back and now I lost my job, you know, you got to take that seriously, even if you don't like the guy.

STU: So you said before, Bill, you wouldn't vote for Moore. What was your decision-making process?

BILL: Right. I just don't think the guy is a problem solver. He's a pure ideologue, all right? Who has put forward a platform that I just don't think represents the country. And I don't know what he did or didn't do. I just don't know.

GLENN: So you're not making it on the charges?

BILL: No. But he sputtered around. He sputtered around it. "Sputtered" is a good word.

But when I see Gloria Allred involved in trying to get him, then I go, yeah, okay. Look at this.

STU: Yeah, you roll your eyes.

GLENN: Okay. Bill O'Reilly, thank you very much.

BILL: Can I say one more thing before you guys go to the British woman?

GLENN: Oh, jeez. Yeah, go ahead.

BILL: BillO'Reilly.com has an unbelievable Christmas promotion, and Glenn Beck needs this. If you buy three gift certificates for premium membership, Beck, you get four free books. That's seven gifts. So you can give your gifts to your staff, take care of everybody on BillO'Reilly.com.

GLENN: But there's 12 days of Christmas. There's 12 days of Christmas. It still leaves me wanting the pipers and the maids a milking.

BILL: Well, then do six, six gift certificates at BillO'Reilly.com, and then you'll get eight books. That's 14. Then you've outdone your 12 days of Christmas.

GLENN: I don't know six people that like Bill O'Reilly.

Grim warning: Bad-faith Israel critics duck REAL questions

Spencer Platt / Staff | Getty Images

Bad-faith attacks on Israel and AIPAC warp every debate. Real answers emerge only when people set aside scripts and ask what serves America’s long-term interests.

The search for truth has always required something very much in short supply these days: honesty. Not performative questions, not scripted outrage, not whatever happens to be trending on TikTok, but real curiosity.

Some issues, often focused on foreign aid, AIPAC, or Israel, have become hotbeds of debate and disagreement. Before we jump into those debates, however, we must return to a simpler, more important issue: honest questioning. Without it, nothing in these debates matters.

Ask questions because you want the truth, not because you want a target.

The phrase “just asking questions” has re-entered the zeitgeist, and that’s fine. We should always question power. But too many of those questions feel preloaded with someone else’s answer. If the goal is truth, then the questions should come from a sincere desire to understand, not from a hunt for a villain.

Honest desire for truth is the only foundation that can support a real conversation about these issues.

Truth-seeking is real work

Right now, plenty of people are not seeking the truth at all. They are repeating something they heard from a politician on cable news or from a stranger on TikTok who has never opened a history book. That is not a search for answers. That is simply outsourcing your own thought.

If you want the truth, you need to work for it. You cannot treat the world like a Marvel movie where the good guy appears in a cape and the villain hisses on command. Real life does not give you a neat script with the moral wrapped up in two hours.

But that is how people are approaching politics now. They want the oppressed and the oppressor, the heroic underdog and the cartoon villain. They embrace this fantastical framing because it is easier than wrestling with reality.

This framing took root in the 1960s when the left rebuilt its worldview around colonizers and the colonized. Overnight, Zionism was recast as imperialism. Suddenly, every conflict had to fit the same script. Today’s young activists are just recycling the same narrative with updated graphics. Everything becomes a morality play. No nuance, no context, just the comforting clarity of heroes and villains.

Bad-faith questions

This same mindset is fueling the sudden obsession with Israel, and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee in particular. You hear it from members of Congress and activists alike: AIPAC pulls the strings, AIPAC controls the government, AIPAC should register as a foreign agent under the Foreign Agents Registration Act. The questions are dramatic, but are they being asked in good faith?

FARA is clear. The standard is whether an individual or group acts under the direction or control of a foreign government. AIPAC simply does not qualify.

Here is a detail conveniently left out of these arguments: Dozens of domestic organizations — Armenian, Cuban, Irish, Turkish — lobby Congress on behalf of other countries. None of them registers under FARA because — like AIPAC — they are independent, domestic organizations.

If someone has a sincere problem with the structure of foreign lobbying, fair enough. Let us have that conversation. But singling out AIPAC alone is not a search for truth. It is bias dressed up as bravery.

Anadolu / Contributor | Getty Images

If someone wants to question foreign aid to Israel, fine. Let’s have that debate. But let’s ask the right questions. The issue is not the size of the package but whether the aid advances our interests. What does the United States gain? Does the investment strengthen our position in the region? How does it compare to what we give other nations? And do we examine those countries with the same intensity?

The real target

These questions reflect good-faith scrutiny. But narrowing the entire argument to one country or one dollar amount misses the larger problem. If someone objects to the way America handles foreign aid, the target is not Israel. The target is the system itself — an entrenched bureaucracy, poor transparency, and decades-old commitments that have never been re-examined. Those problems run through programs around the world.

If you want answers, you need to broaden the lens. You have to be willing to put aside the movie script and confront reality. You have to hold yourself to a simple rule: Ask questions because you want the truth, not because you want a target.

That is the only way this country ever gets clarity on foreign aid, influence, alliances, and our place in the world. Questioning is not just allowed. It is essential. But only if it is honest.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

A nation unravels when its shared culture is the first thing to go

Spencer Platt / Staff | Getty Images

Texas now hosts Quran-first academies, Sharia-compliant housing schemes, and rapidly multiplying mosques — all part of a movement building a self-contained society apart from the country around it.

It is time to talk honestly about what is happening inside America’s rapidly growing Muslim communities. In city after city, large pockets of newcomers are choosing to build insulated enclaves rather than enter the broader American culture.

That trend is accelerating, and the longer we ignore it, the harder it becomes to address.

As Texas goes, so goes America. And as America goes, so goes the free world.

America has always welcomed people of every faith and people from every corner of the world, but the deal has never changed: You come here and you join the American family. You are free to honor your traditions, keep your faith, but you must embrace the Constitution as the supreme law of the land. You melt into the shared culture that allows all of us to live side by side.

Across the country, this bargain is being rejected by Islamist communities that insist on building a parallel society with its own rules, its own boundaries, and its own vision for how life should be lived.

Texas illustrates the trend. The state now has roughly 330 mosques. At least 48 of them were built in just the last 24 months. The Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex alone has around 200 Islamic centers. Houston has another hundred or so. Many of these communities have no interest in blending into American life.

This is not the same as past waves of immigration. Irish, Italian, Korean, Mexican, and every other group arrived with pride in their heritage. Still, they also raised American flags and wanted their children to be part of the country’s future. They became doctors, small-business owners, teachers, and soldiers. They wanted to be Americans.

What we are watching now is not the melting pot. It is isolation by design.

Parallel societies do not end well

More than 300 fundamentalist Islamic schools now operate full-time across the country. Many use Quran-first curricula that require students to spend hours memorizing religious texts before they ever reach math or science. In Dallas, Brighter Horizons Academy enrolls more than 1,700 students and draws federal support while operating on a social model that keeps children culturally isolated.

Then there is the Epic City project in Collin and Hunt counties — 402 acres originally designated only for Muslim buyers, with Sharia-compliant financing and a mega-mosque at the center. After public outcry and state investigations, the developers renamed it “The Meadows,” but a new sign does not erase the original intent. It is not a neighborhood. It is a parallel society.

Americans should not hesitate to say that parallel societies are dangerous. Europe tried this experiment, and the results could not be clearer. In Germany, France, and the United Kingdom, entire neighborhoods now operate under their own cultural rules, some openly hostile to Western norms. When citizens speak up, they are branded bigots for asserting a basic right: the ability to live safely in their own communities.

A crisis of confidence

While this separation widens, another crisis is unfolding at home. A recent Gallup survey shows that about 40% of American women ages 18 to 39 would leave the country permanently if given the chance. Nearly half of a rising generation — daughters, sisters, soon-to-be mothers — no longer believe this nation is worth building a future in.

And who shapes the worldview of young boys? Their mothers. If a mother no longer believes America is home, why would her child grow up ready to defend it?

As Texas goes, so goes America. And as America goes, so goes the free world. If we lose confidence in our own national identity at the same time that we allow separatist enclaves to spread unchecked, the outcome is predictable. Europe is already showing us what comes next: cultural fracture, political radicalization, and the slow death of national unity.

Brandon Bell / Staff | Getty Images

Stand up and tell the truth

America welcomes Muslims. America defends their right to worship freely. A Muslim who loves the Constitution, respects the rule of law, and wants to raise a family in peace is more than welcome in America.

But an Islamist movement that rejects assimilation, builds enclaves governed by its own religious framework, and treats American law as optional is not simply another participant in our melting pot. It is a direct challenge to it. If we refuse to call this problem out out of fear of being called names, we will bear the consequences.

Europe is already feeling those consequences — rising conflict and a political class too paralyzed to admit the obvious. When people feel their culture, safety, and freedoms slipping away, they will follow anyone who promises to defend them. History has shown that over and over again.

Stand up. Speak plainly. Be unafraid. You can practice any faith in this country, but the supremacy of the Constitution and the Judeo-Christian moral framework that shaped it is non-negotiable. It is what guarantees your freedom in the first place.

If you come here and honor that foundation, welcome. If you come here to undermine it, you do not belong here.

Wake up to what is unfolding before the consequences arrive. Because when a nation refuses to say what is true, the truth eventually forces its way in — and by then, it is always too late.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Shocking: AI-written country song tops charts, sparks soul debate

VCG / Contributor | Getty Images

A machine can imitate heartbreak well enough to top the charts, but it cannot carry grief, choose courage, or hear the whisper that calls human beings to something higher.

The No. 1 country song in America right now was not written in Nashville or Texas or even L.A. It came from code. “Walk My Walk,” the AI-generated single by the AI artist Breaking Rust, hit the top spot on Billboard’s Country Digital Song Sales chart, and if you listen to it without knowing that fact, you would swear a real singer lived the pain he is describing.

Except there is no “he.” There is no lived experience. There is no soul behind the voice dominating the country music charts.

If a machine can imitate the soul, then what is the soul?

I will admit it: I enjoy some AI music. Some of it is very good. And that leaves us with a question that is no longer science fiction. If a machine can fake being human this well, what does it mean to be human?

A new world of artificial experience

This is not just about one song. We are walking straight into a technological moment that will reshape everyday life.

Elon Musk said recently that we may not even have phones in five years. Instead, we will carry a small device that listens, anticipates, and creates — a personal AI agent that knows what we want to hear before we ask. It will make the music, the news, the podcasts, the stories. We already live in digital bubbles. Soon, those bubbles might become our own private worlds.

If an algorithm can write a hit country song about hardship and perseverance without a shred of actual experience, then the deeper question becomes unavoidable: If a machine can imitate the soul, then what is the soul?

What machines can never do

A machine can produce, and soon it may produce better than we can. It can calculate faster than any human mind. It can rearrange the notes and words of a thousand human songs into something that sounds real enough to fool millions.

But it cannot care. It cannot love. It cannot choose right and wrong. It cannot forgive because it cannot be hurt. It cannot stand between a child and danger. It cannot walk through sorrow.

A machine can imitate the sound of suffering. It cannot suffer.

The difference is the soul. The divine spark. The thing God breathed into man that no code will ever have. Only humans can take pain and let it grow into compassion. Only humans can take fear and turn it into courage. Only humans can rebuild their lives after losing everything. Only humans hear the whisper inside, the divine voice that says, “Live for something greater.”

We are building artificial minds. We are not building artificial life.

Questions that define us

And as these artificial minds grow sharper, as their tools become more convincing, the right response is not panic. It is to ask the oldest and most important questions.

Who am I? Why am I here? What is the meaning of freedom? What is worth defending? What is worth sacrificing for?

That answer is not found in a lab or a server rack. It is found in that mysterious place inside each of us where reason meets faith, where suffering becomes wisdom, where God reminds us we are more than flesh and more than thought. We are not accidents. We are not circuits. We are not replaceable.

Europa Press News / Contributor | Getty Images

The miracle machines can never copy

Being human is not about what we can produce. Machines will outproduce us. That is not the question. Being human is about what we can choose. We can choose to love even when it costs us something. We can choose to sacrifice when it is not easy. We can choose to tell the truth when the world rewards lies. We can choose to stand when everyone else bows. We can create because something inside us will not rest until we do.

An AI content generator can borrow our melodies, echo our stories, and dress itself up like a human soul, but it cannot carry grief across a lifetime. It cannot forgive an enemy. It cannot experience wonder. It cannot look at a broken world and say, “I am going to build again.”

The age of machines is rising. And if we do not know who we are, we will shrink. But if we use this moment to remember what makes us human, it will help us to become better, because the one thing no algorithm will ever recreate is the miracle that we exist at all — the miracle of the human soul.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Shocking shift: America’s youth lured by the “Socialism trap”

Jeremy Weine / Stringer | Getty Images

A generation that’s lost faith in capitalism is turning to the oldest lie on earth: equality through control.

Something is breaking in America’s young people. You can feel it in every headline, every grocery bill, every young voice quietly asking if the American dream still means anything at all.

For many, the promise of America — work hard, build something that lasts, and give the next generation a better start — feels like it no longer exists. Home ownership and stability have become luxuries for a fortunate few.

Capitalism is not a perfect system. It is flawed because people are flawed, but it remains the only system that rewards creativity and effort rather than punishing them.

In that vacuum of hope, a new promise has begun to rise — one that sounds compassionate, equal, and fair. The promise of socialism.

The appeal of a broken dream

When the American dream becomes a checklist of things few can afford — a home, a car, two children, even a little peace — disappointment quickly turns to resentment. The average first-time homebuyer is now 40 years old. Debt lasts longer than marriages. The cost of living rises faster than opportunity.

For a generation that has never seen the system truly work, capitalism feels like a rigged game built to protect those already at the top.

That is where socialism finds its audience. It presents itself as fairness for the forgotten and justice for the disillusioned. It speaks softly at first, offering equality, compassion, and control disguised as care.

We are seeing that illusion play out now in New York City, where Zohran Mamdani — an open socialist — has won a major political victory. The same ideology that once hid behind euphemisms now campaigns openly throughout America’s once-great cities. And for many who feel left behind, it sounds like salvation.

But what socialism calls fairness is submission dressed as virtue. What it calls order is obedience. Once the system begins to replace personal responsibility with collective dependence, the erosion of liberty is only a matter of time.

The bridge that never ends

Socialism is not a destination; it is a bridge. Karl Marx described it as the necessary transition to communism — the scaffolding that builds the total state. Under socialism, people are taught to obey. Under communism, they forget that any other options exist.

History tells the story clearly. Russia, China, Cambodia, Cuba — each promised equality and delivered misery. One hundred million lives were lost, not because socialism failed, but because it succeeded at what it was designed to do: make the state supreme and the individual expendable.

Today’s advocates insist their version will be different — democratic, modern, and kind. They often cite Sweden as an example, but Sweden’s prosperity was never born of socialism. It grew out of capitalism, self-reliance, and a shared moral culture. Now that system is cracking under the weight of bureaucracy and division.

ANGELA WEISS / Contributor | Getty Images

The real issue is not economic but moral. Socialism begins with a lie about human nature — that people exist for the collective and that the collective knows better than the individual.

This lie is contrary to the truths on which America was founded — that rights come not from government’s authority, but from God’s. Once government replaces that authority, compassion becomes control, and freedom becomes permission.

What young America deserves

Young Americans have many reasons to be frustrated. They were told to study, work hard, and follow the rules — and many did, only to find the goalposts moved again and again. But tearing down the entire house does not make it fairer; it only leaves everyone standing in the rubble.

Capitalism is not a perfect system. It is flawed because people are flawed, but it remains the only system that rewards creativity and effort rather than punishing them. The answer is not revolution but renewal — moral, cultural, and spiritual.

It means restoring honesty to markets, integrity to government, and faith to the heart of our nation. A people who forsake God will always turn to government for salvation, and that road always ends in dependency and decay.

Freedom demands something of us. It requires faith, discipline, and courage. It expects citizens to govern themselves before others govern them. That is the truth this generation deserves to hear again — that liberty is not a gift from the state but a calling from God.

Socialism always begins with promises and ends with permission. It tells you what to drive, what to say, what to believe, all in the name of fairness. But real fairness is not everyone sharing the same chains — it is everyone having the same chance.

The American dream was never about guarantees. It was about the right to try, to fail, and try again. That freedom built the most prosperous nation in history, and it can do so again if we remember that liberty is not a handout but a duty.

Socialism does not offer salvation. It requires subservience.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.