RADIO

'Tiger mom' and Yale law prof says calling for America's 'divorce' is 'playing with fire'

You may know Amy Chua as the “tiger mom” who wrote a bestselling memoir about the benefits and drawbacks of strict parenting called “Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother.” Chua is also a Yale professor and the author of several books on a range of topics. In her latest book, “Political Tribes: Group Instinct and the Fate of Nations,” Chua tackled the political tribalism that is dividing America.

On today’s show, she and Glenn chatted about the right-left dichotomy that is tearing Americans apart; solutions that can help us see each other as people again; and the insanity of calling for a “divorce” into two separate nations.

“How do we come together when we each think the other side is the problem?” Glenn asked.

Watch the full clip (above) for Chua’s response to this crucial question and listen to the full interview here.

This article provided courtesy of TheBlaze.

GLENN: I'm hoping that Amy Chua can spend some time with us today. She has written a book called Political Tribes: Group Instinct and The Fate of Nations. She is the -- the John duff professor of law at the Yale Law School. She graduated from Harvard.

Amy, welcome to the program. How are you?

AMY: I'm great. Thanks so much for having me.

GLENN: You bet. I don't know how much time you have, but I would love to spend as much time as you have.

AMY: I have time.

GLENN: Okay. Your book is great because you talk about the secret of America. And how we're really kind of violating that now. Really, strangely, unknowingly. But you -- you speak to both sides of the aisle so we can kind of hear each other.

It's not -- it's not a book written from the left or the right.

AMY: Absolutely not.

GLENN: And it's trying to speak the language of -- of both sides. And let's start with the essential goodness of America, that you point out.

AMY: Right. So I'm not even trying to be both sides. I am just kind of going back. I think we all need to remember what it is that makes America special.

And so I actually have spent 20 years studying different countries, countries in the developing world. You know, European countries. And believe it or not, there was something really special about America, that I think most Americans don't even realize. And I say that we alone among the major powers, not France, not England, we are what I call a super group.

And to be a super group, Glenn, it's really simple. You only need to do two things.

The first is to have a really strong overarching national identity. Just something that holds us together. Americans. But the second requirement for a super group, is we have to allow all different kinds of subgroup identities to flourish.

So it's like -- so in this country, you can be -- you know, you can say, I'm Irish-American. I'm Italian-American. I'm Croatian-American. I'm Japanese-American and still be intensely patriotic at the same time. And believe it or not, this is not true in a country like France. You wouldn't say I'm Italian French. There's no such thing.

GLENN: Right.

AMY: So we -- and right now because of the tribalism that has taken over our political system, we're starting to destroy that. We're starting to destroy this connective tissue, this big overarching national identity that we have, that has -- what's made us special.

And, you know, your example, really, about Chick-fil-A, is also -- there's an attack on allowing individual subgroup identities to flourish too. So it's a dangerous moment for us.

GLENN: Right. So you -- I thought this was really fascinating. And the most clear I have heard anybody state this.

You're saying that a lot of these wars that we have engaged in, are unwinnable, simply because those nations don't have a super group.

AMY: Exactly. So one thing that America has done -- and so, you know, my real feel for 20 years has been, again, looking for foreign policy. And what I try to say is I explain why we have messed it up so much, in countries from Vietnam, to Afghanistan, to Iraq.

And a lot of it has to to do with, we don't realize how exceptional, our own identity and history is. So we forget how unusual it is to be this multi-ethnic nation, with so many different ethnicities, and to have a really strong American identity.

So, Glenn, why do you think Libya is now a failed sate? We missed this. President Obama actually really, honorably conceded this.

He said, we failed to see the depth of the tribalism. They -- Libya was a multi-ethnic country like we are. One hundred forty different ethnic groups. But the difference is, that Libya didn't have a strong enough national identity. This idea of being a Libyan didn't matter to these people.

And it just fell apart. It fell apart after we intervened. And we didn't see that. We thought, you know what, they're going to be like us.

GLENN: Yeah.

AMY: If we just take out this horrible dictator and then we leave and put in democracy, it's going going to come together. And it didn't happen. So we project -- we forget how special we are, and we make mistakes by forgetting that other countries are not like us.

GLENN: And it seems in a sick, sort of twisted way, we understood this with the motivation behind the Sykes-Picot line and agreement in the Middle East. Where we drew these country lines, knowing that it would cause warring factions and the dictators would -- would be -- would be so busy trying to keep their own tribe together, that they wouldn't have time to look out.

We did know this at one point.

AMY: Well, you know what's so funny, the British were the masters of this, actually. Because the British, they -- I mean, morally, of course, that's another question. But how were they so successful in maintaining this empire, for centuries, with such a small number of people?

I mean, just a handful of British administrators in places like India and the Middle East, exactly what you said. They were masters -- they were so conscious of all these little group decisions. But they used it to divide. And you're right. You know, they were like, okay. How can we keep these people at bay? And they actually purposefully pitted groups against each other. We were not like that, after we went to the world stage, post World War III two.

We started (?) as like this magic formula. You know, that -- if we -- because democracy -- historically has worked so well for us. We went into Iraq thinking, oh, Sunni, Shia, Kurds, it's kind of a mess, but let's just have some elections. And that was so wrong-headed. Because what I've shown is under certain conditions, democracy can actually worsen. (?) not make it better.

GLENN: Sure. So I want to go to the part of the book where you talk about how the left isn't listening to the (?) and you -- you describe, especially for a professor. I'm just shocked that you're even allowed to teach.

But --

AMY: I get to go back.

GLENN: Yeah. But you described what happened with the Trump voter. And what's happening with the Trump voter. And try to explain that to a person on the left. And I've not heard anyone in the media do this. And do it effectively, as you did. And what we're supposed to learn from this. And how you describe the left to the right, when we come back.

The name of the book is Political Tribes. Amy chew ais with us.

Don't hold it against her that she's a Yale professor. She just said, I don't know how -- I don't know if they're going to let her back in. But it's a remarkable book.

GLENN: Amy chew a,she is an author of the book (?) political tribes. Group instinct. And the fate of nations.

In your book, you -- you talk about the left believes that the right-wing tribalism, bigotry, racism is tearing the nation apart. (?) identity politics. Political correctness is tearing the country apart.

And they're both right. Can you explain?

AMY: Right. So, you know, I'm the kind of person that believes that people are basically good. And so many things that go crazy and end up being awful and are now ripping us apart actually started with good intentions. (?), for example, let's start with the left. Progressives in the '60s and the '70s, a lot of their rhetoric was about equality. And it was very inclusive. It was about, let's include everybody. Let's tran end groups, so that we don't see skin color. What happened was right around in the '70s and the '80s, a lot of people (?) all these calls for let's not seek groups. Let's be equal and all this, are not actually helping us. And so you started seeing people as a minority -- they're like, look at these histories that we're telling about the United States. We're romanticizing our Founders. We're romanticizing the Constitution. We're romanticizing everything.

And, Glenn, I think there's some good to that. We should talk about the fact that our Founders, some of them held slaves. We do to have talk about our naturive populations. But what happened is they just started going way, way too far.

So now, if you fast forward to 2018, it's all the way to the other extreme. It's like, America is a land of oppression.

It's not even -- it's not like, look, we have this wonderful Constitution, with these incredibly important principles, which we have repeatedly failed to live up to, which I believe.

Instead, it's like this whole thing is a sham. The country is built on white supremacy.

GLENN: Yes.

AMY: And that is playing with poison. Because it's throwing the baby out with the bathwater. It goes back to what I was saying. It's attacking that precious American identity. Not saying we need to strive to make it better.

To make it reality. But just saying, you know what, let's just throw the whole thing out. And with identity politics, another thing that has happened is -- and, again, I understand where the left came from. They were like, you know, all this group stuff is just being used to block (?) it's just being used by the right to not make any changes. Well, fast forward, it's gone too far. Brav in 2018 now, on a college (?) campus where I teach, it's all about groups. If you try to be group transcending, you will immediately be called a racist. Because the idea is that you are trying to erase all the very individual examples of group oppression that we have. But the problem is that the groups are dividing, smaller and smaller. And even worse than that, the idea is like, you cannot understand me. You cannot speak for me.

And on top of that, the final thing that drives me craziest is the vocabulary policing.

So I feel like a lot of people -- you know, in the middle of the country, who are not on these Ivy League campuses, they are good-willed. They may be anxious about immigration. They may be anxious about our country changing.

You know, they may have certain views that I disagree with. But that doesn't mean that they're racist and xenophobic and homophobic and whatever. Does or (?) you're immediately branded all these things.

And what that does, is it drives. (?) a lot of horrible stuff on the right. And there you hear terrible things. You know, so -- and it's this vicious cycle.

So that's half of it.

GLENN: Okay. So now let's go -- when we come back, let's go to, how do we fix it? Because I -- Amy, you're one of the few people that I've talked to that I think fully understands the problem that we face, and you have a solution. Next.

STU: We're talking to Amy chew a. She's the author (?) group instinct and the fate of nations. You also might remember her from (?), you know, that only sold about 25 zillion copies a few years ago. So she joins us now.

Amy is with us.

GLENN: So, Amy, I have to tell you, I feel like -- you know, I'm a brother from another mother with you.

AMY: Yes.

GLENN: Because you're -- you're so spot-on, on what the problem is, I think, with the political tribes. And how we are -- how we are one half of the country (?) dismisses the other half. We dismiss -- you know, one half of the country dismisses all the good that America did. The other half sometimes dismisses all of the bad that America did. And we've just been pushed further and further apart.

So now, how do we come together, when we each think the other side is the problem?

AMY: So, there are these fascinating, but terrifying studies that I describe, that showed that a lot of this is actually biological. That human beings are tribal animals, that we would want --

GLENN: Sure.

AMY: And that's not always bad. Family is tribal, but positive.

GLENN: We had to -- to survive.

AMY: Exactly.

GLENN: Prehistoric man had to be.

AMY: Exactly. But there are some scary tests that show that our brains light up when we stick it to the other side.

So there's a lot of it. But here's the good news: I have all these studies that show that we can as human beings overcome this tribalism. And there are all these very, very robust studies that show, that if you can pull human beings out of their group context. Because we're worst with our buddies. You know

GLENN: Yeah.

AMY: And you pull two people from opposite sides. Opposite tribes. And have them interact as human beings. It is astounding how much progress can be made.

Now, this is not saying to (?) you put a bunch of different races and backgrounds, they could just hate each other more.

The point is, having them interact as human beings. And the best example of this is the integration of our military in the 1950s. That was a time when everybody said, no way. This is not going to work. Nineteen percent of America was against (?) troops. But they did it. And afterwards, they found that the integrated troops were as or more effective than the all-white troops. And when they interviewed and conducted all these studies, it was so inspiring.

I mean, this is not just black and white. This is at that time, Italian Americans (?) Swedish Americans and German Americans. But what they said is, you know what, if you throw us all into the foxhole, we miss our loved ones in the same way. We're terrified in the same way. And we have to trust our lives to this other person, we don't care what accent they have, or what color their skin is.

And that's a perfect example. Because norms really changed. And a lot of bad things happened in Vietnam. But one good thing is people start to see each other as human beings. So I have this one idea that a lot of people are excited about. It's going to sound silly. But like a public (?) a lot of children from one part of the country, where they're always with their own kind. Their own privileged (?) and maybe enforce -- you know, encourage, on are they have (?) and work side by side with other young Americans on a common project. Not in a condescending way. Like we're going to teach you. But rather, just some common infrastructure or some project together. So I think that we really have to think about this.

I think we have to change the way we teach our history. I think we've overcorrected. I mean, when you were saying bad and good. You know, we have to tell the truth. But we have to make people feel proud of being part of this country. And not forget what makes us so exceptional about it.

GLENN: But, you know, I have to tell you, Amy, my daughter challenged me once. She said, Dad, you only know the good stories about America. And I said, honey, you've gone to school. You only know the bad stuff.

And I said, I tell you what, you read the stuff, I'll read the bad stuff. And by really immersing myself in things like wounded knee and really, truly understanding it, I've actually come out more hopeful, that we can survive (?) anything, if we learn from it.

PAT: Yes. Yes. I could not agree with you more! (?) and I think we're criticizing the same thing. Because there's a lot of voices on the right and the left, it's almost like they want to maintain those tribes. So if I were to want to -- if you're somebody on the left and you wanted to go to Chick-fil-A or read something positive about George Washington, you're instantly branded by a lot of people preponderance and the same thing happens on the right. If somebody on the right wanted to do, you know what, I want to hear this person talk about Black Lives Matter. No, no, no. You can't. And I just think that it's -- because I -- I wrote this book because I actually looked at other countries that have actually fragmented and just broken up. And I think that America doesn't realize how precious what we have is. I see people on both sides saying, let's just get a divorce. Let's just break up the country. And I think they're playing with fire. And I understand that. Sometimes you just get so mad at the other side and what people are saying. And one extreme thing feels like a more (?) escalates in a place where people are so (?) at both sides.

GLENN: So, Amy, I think what stops us from listening to the other side, or sitting down -- and perhaps it's just saying that you're part of the problem if you do sit down, is both sides feel -- and I could speak for the -- for the right, I think on this one. Is it feels like, you know, we'll sit down and we'll tell you the truth. But, you know, the left isn't going to tell us the truth of what their real intent is. And I think there's a difference between the -- the average person in the country, and those who are leading these -- you know, these -- these groups.

AMY: Yes. I totally agree. I think it's actually a lot of very loud, shrill groups. Even on a campus, I can say, you'll hear these things that the rest of America will (?) these crazy things that are said. But when I talk to my students in a private setting, in a smaller group, I find that the majority of them, whether they're on the right or the left, are actually very -- very reasonable reasonable. (?), but it's a very small number of people. Almost like bullying. You know, and -- but I think that, for example, just -- like what you just said about -- you're a very influential person. So if you just said, you know, I read this book about Wounded Knee, or something. Try it.

You know, that's not a strident thing. It's not taking sides. And I think if even just a few people start doing that -- and, yes, I think the left is very problematic this way. You know, if somebody -- look, maybe George Washington was a slaveholder. But that's not all he was.

You know, it was an amazing story. There was (?) so much heroickism. And that's like a no-no no. (?) that's partly why I wrote this book. So Amy, I have to tell you, I think I was in Denver. Were you with me institutions

STU: I think I was, yeah.

GLENN: I was in Denver. I had just flown in. (?) and it was a guy who was driving the car. And he was a -- a professor. And he was a professor of Native American studies. And something else. I can't remember what it was. But everything -- everything in me went, he hates your guts, Glenn.

And I -- you know, I -- I would -- you know, I was supposed to hate him, I think. But I started talking to him. And he was taking me to a broadcast station. And I could tell that he didn't really like me.

And so we just started having a conversation. And I found out that he was from Wounded Knee, that he had done a lot of studies on Wounded Knee. So we had this great conversation. He dropped me off at the station. I said, wait. Wait here. When I'm done, I want to show you something.

In the back of the car, he didn't know this. But I had one of the seven Native American guns from wounded knee that had been collected.

AMY: Wow.

GLENN: And I told him when wedding back in the car, I said, I want to tell you something. I said, I don't know if you know who I am. He said, oh, I do.

And I said -- I said, let me tell you what I found out about Wounded Knee. And I said, (?) when I arrived, I want you to open up the back. I have something to show you. And I pulled out the gun. I handed it to him. And he actually wept. He cried.

AMY: Wow.

GLENN: And we hugged each other. And we had a great conversation. And we ended up liking each other, a lot. That doesn't mean we agree on everything. We just --

AMY: Exactly.

GLENN: We saw each other -- I stopped seeing him as a -- as a professor. And he stopped seeing me as a guy who talks politics. And we saw each other each as people.

AMY: I love that -- that's what I was saying. (?) I have conservative students. Believe it or not, they take my classes. And I have a lot of minority students. Because I'm a minority. And I try to do the same thing. I facilitate it. But I say that -- you know, I think we all need to elevate ourselves on both sides of the spectrum and be more generous. Because sometimes it's almost like -- and, again, I get it. It's almost like a game of gotcha. It's very pleasurable just to hate the other side too. You think of sports, you know. I like my story.

Your story reminds me of the one that I tell, that's the same thing. I have this very poor Mexican (?) grew up in a trailer park. And he tells a similarly moving story about the people in the next trailer over who were so kind. To his family. And they were, you know, very strong Trump supporters. The other people would have called white supremacists. But what (?) even though the words they used, to all my progressive friends sound horrible, the things that they said, at the level of just human beings, they were the ones that protected us. They were the ones that said, we're going to be here for you. So I love that story.

GLENN: So we are sitting in a place -- Amy, I'm going to run out of time.

We are sitting at a place now, to where you just said, I think, the language that they might use, we almost speak a different language. I don't know if you're familiar with Jonathan Haidt.

AMY: Yes. I completely agree with him.

GLENN: But we speak a different language. And I've learned this by going to all kinds of different churches and synagogues and mosques and listening. And I'm amazed that we agree, I think, on 95 percent of the stuff. But we think we're farther away from each other because of the language that each religion happens to use. And we don't understand it. Coming in, we're like, okay. That's weird.

No, it's exactly what you're saying, just said in a different way.

AMY: Exactly. And here again, I think that the left and the right have to -- they both have to improve. I have been quite harsh about the left just all this vocabulary policing.

GLENN: Yes.

AMY: The vocabulary changes all the time. If you slip up a little bit, then suddenly, ah, we caught you. You're racist.

And that's not going to help anybody. But I think what that does is it makes some people on the right go too far on the other direction. They go, you know what, (?) we're going to say this. Then it makes them purposefully say incendiary things that do sound artificial. (?) more generous towards -- I always say, just try to think about what they're -- what the person is really trying to say. Instead of fixating on the exact word. You know, where are they coming from? Are they coming from a good place? Because I see so many people coming from a good place, who suddenly get torn down because they get the wrong -- they use the wrong word. And, again, I think that's bullying.

GLENN: Amy chew a,it is a thrill to talk to you. (?) political tribes. Group instinct and the fate of nations.

She has not only diagnosed the problem, but she points to the cure. Amy, thanks so much.

AMY: Thank you so much for having me.

GLENN: You bet. Can't believe she's a professor at Yale. How did she get on campus?

If they find out -- let's keep this interview to ourselves, if they find out, she's gone.

RADIO

The ONE “forever war” Glenn Beck supports

This Fourth of July, Glenn Beck reveals the only “forever war” he supports. It’s the war Americans have been fighting since our nation’s founding, and we must continue the fight…

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Two hundred forty-nine years ago, I think it is tomorrow. Right? Is tomorrow the second, or is it the first?

What day is it today?

So it was 200 -- 249 years ago, tomorrow, that somebody sat alone, in a -- in a one-room hotel room.

And scratched out the words, when in the course of human events. Those are the first six words of a document that is so dangerous!

Still today, so revolutionary.

It was whispered in those candle lit rooms by men who knew. Knew. That if I signed this document, that's a death warrant.

I'm dead!

I'm dead.

But in the course of human events, shh.

Jefferson wrote them!

33 years old. Adams would later say, you do well to revere Jefferson. But he didn't write alone. Basically, I was there too.

And so was Ben Franklin. The ideas were forged in the minds of men like Franklin, who is old enough to know better. And Adams, who was stubborn enough, not to care. And they weren't perfect men. But I love this about the left. They try to make you think.

That you think are perfect. I don't think they were perfect! I mean, Ben Franklin used to walk around naked in his house a lot. That shows, I mean, for as smart as that guy was. It shows, maybe he had a lack of mirrors. But they weren't perfect!

They owned slaves. They argued. They compromised.

How does that make them different than us?
I mean, we should be able to relate to them!

What is it that we tolerate right now?
What is it that we compromise on?

What is it -- what are our failures that future generations are going to go, these people just didn't get it? Perhaps what we should notice is that they, unlike most of us. They were willing to gamble their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor.

For something that had never, ever been done before. Something entirely new!

The idea that rights don't come from a government, or from a king, or from a parliament.

They don't come from the majority voting. Everyone has certain rights.

You know, for all these people who are, you know -- going in Macy's, and burning down towns. And then stealing clothing. And they're like, because I've been oppressed!

And you can't -- I've got rights, you know.
Yeah. Yeah.

You know who the first people were, to articulate those rights?

You know the only country that actually has stood for those rights?

And we're imperfect!

That idea came from the Founders, that you say you hate.

But the actual rights come from God, which you dismiss!

Think of this. Just ponder this for a second.

That all men are created equal! That their rights are given to them, by a creator.

It's not a political assertion. It's a genius. That's eternal truth!

That's theological dynamite, lobbed straight in to the thrones of Europe.

All over the world, it's still dynamite.

They knew what they were doing.

And I don't mean like, they knew what they were doing.

They had it. No. They knew that the British crown had the largest military force in the world. And these guys, they were farmers. They were printers. They were lawyers. They were a ragtag collection of intellectual and idealists, facing down an empire, where they said, the sun never set on the British empire. Meaning, the colonialism was everywhere!

You could not escape England. And yet, they declared it. We're leaving, without apology!

And they said that when a government becomes destructive of the ends of liberty, life, and the pursuit of happiness, it's not only the right of the people, it's their duty to throw it off!

Wow. And you know what is amazing? That's not rebellion.

That's -- that's not revolution. That's -- that's responsibility.

That -- that kind of language today, that would have you flagged, shadow banned. Labeled an extremist. In most countries, disappeared!

But that is the foundation of what we call America. The American experiment. And it's that. The American experiment.

And it's just that, an experiment. We didn't know if we could get it right. And we haven't gotten it right. But isn't it worth experimenting?

Isn't it worth trying to get that concept right?

When you fail on that concept, you're like, eh. That's a stupid idea.

That's not a stupid idea. That's the greatest idea of all time.

Why are so many people willing to just quit?

The experiment is self-rule. It's not perfect.

Never has been. Slavery. Jim Crow. Internment camps. Assassinations.

My God! Forgive us, for what we have done.

But at the same time, what nation has done more to correct its own errors?

What people have shed more blood, not for conquest, but for freedom.

Twice in the last century, we crossed oceans. Not to claim territory. But to liberate that territory!

Our sons and daughters fought and bled on foreign soil to push the darkness back, to fight against Naziism and fascism and Communism. And here we are. Here we are today.

After 249 years tomorrow of that experiment, standing at the lip of the very abyss, those men feared.

A godless chaos, rising in the east and a cold atheistic utopia, clawing at the foundations of the Western world. Islamism and Communism, two ideologies that have killed tens of millions of people. Now dressed all in new robes, selling old lies.

And we can't even teach a child where their rights come from. We have replaced Jefferson and Adams with TikTok influencers and bureaucratic groupthink.

We're raising generations to not even know the truth about their own identity.

But to question their identity. And they could be, oh, you're a funny, funny colored unicorn today. What do you want to be tomorrow?

We don't teach them anything about truth, or their inheritance, most importantly. Their inheritance. What good are hot dogs and fireworks, if the soul of the nation is up for auction? What is the meaning in Fourth of July, if we have forgotten the why? If we don't even call it Independence Day anymore. Most people don't even know who we fought against for independence.

They think we fought for its independence! Most people think we fought the South!

And yet, we'll light the sparklers, or blow our fingers off, because we're just that stupid.

This Independence Day weekend, would you do me and yourself and your country a favor, and read the words out loud. Speak the words out loud.

When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands, which have connected them with one another.

And to assume among the powers of earth, the separate, but equal station, to which the laws of nature.

And nature's God entitle them.

A decent respect to the opinions of mankind, requires that they should declare the causes, which impair them to the separation.

What are they saying?

Look, we want to be decent people.

We want to be decent people.

And we have to separate them.

But we believe it's only right that we tell you why we have to separate. And it's not because of all the bad things you've done. We'll get to those later. It's because we're different. And you don't understand. You have been telling us all of these things, we no longer believe in. We hold these truths to be self-evident. That all men are created equal, and they're endowed by their creator with certain inalienable. Unchangeable rights.

And just among these, are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

That to secure these rights, government are his instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.

My gosh. Read those words. And let your children hear what thinking and courage sounds like.

That to secure these rights, I'm telling you, the king, who thinks that your government was given to you, by God.

And you are the ruler.

And you will tell everybody what to think, what to do. What to buy. What to sell. What to tax. What not to tax. Who gets land. Who doesn't get land.

No, no, no. Government are his instituted among men, deriving their powers, their just powers, from the people. And that government is only there, established by those men to protect the rights that God has given each of those men.

Let them feel the chill, that runs down the spine, when Jefferson writes, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the government, or from the governed. Let them hear the words, of -- of responsibility. What responsibility sounds like, with courage and freedom. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these rights, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it.

And to institute a new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to affect their a lot of and happiness.

In other words, you have the right, you have the responsibility to stop tyrants. And if the government has gone bad, to throw that government off.

But reconstitute a government, that will do a better job at protecting those rights. Not to form a communist government.

Not to do anything else. But you want a new government?

Fine! Let's find the way to make men more free. This is not a metaphor. This is a declaration of war on tyranny in all of its forms.

I mean, I said, yesterday, freedom isn't free.

It was paid for by somebody's blood. But you have to remember, they paid for their freedom, not for our freedom, necessarily.

We -- there comes a time, we have to pay for our freedom. And God forbid, that it comes down to blood.

But at least shake off the apathy. We -- we must renew this promise of this experiment of America.

We need to fight for it as well. An out-of-control government that seeks to rope us into forever wars, over and over again. We're all against forever wars. I'm against it.

I hate them.

But there is one forever war, that is required in a free society. A different kind of forever war.

A war against ourselves, a war against human nature in each of us. Because of human nature, we get fat. We get lazy.

We get tolerant of abuses. Let your children hear you speak these words. And when you speak them, ponder them yourself.

Prudence, indeed, will dictate, that governments long established, should not be changed for light and transient causes.

And accordingly, all experience has shown, that mankind is more disposed to suffer while the evils are sufferable than to right themselves, by abolishing the forms in which they're accustomed.

But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a sign to reduce them under absolute despotism.

It's their right. It's their duty. To throw off such government. And provide new guards for such future security.

In one paragraph, we make the point twice. And they tell us, look, we've studied people.

We know you're going to get fat and lazy and apathetic. And you won't want to do stuff for transient causes. Because this is really not good.

But when push comes to shove. And everything is moving towards absolute despotism. Absolute tyranny. Then you must stand up.

I ask you to ponder this. This particular part, when a long train of abuses and usurpations. Prudence will indeed dictate that governments long established should not be exchanged for light and transient causes.

And accordingly, all experience has shown, that mankind is more disposed to suffer while the evils suffer, than to right themselves.

Aren't we exactly the same people, that their experience was talking about?

Aren't we the people that are more disposed to suffer, than to right ourselves? Because we're too comfortable. Or we're too afraid, just to stand up and simply say no to lies.

No!

There is a difference between men and women.

No! Communism is to be feared. It's killed over 100 million people, in the last 100 years.

No!

Muslims aren't bad. Islamism is!

It's evil. No!

You can peacefully protest, any time, any place. And I will fight to the death for your right to do that.

But when you start burn cities down to the ground, no!

We're just a few days away. And we have marked our 249th birthday. Maybe. Just maybe, this year, can we stop asking what America was, and start deciding what America will be?

Where it just slips quietly into history. In the dark of apathy and ignorance.

Because the only thing more dangerous than tyranny is the people who have forgotten what it took to break its chains.

THE GLENN BECK PODCAST

We need REAL jobs in America — Trump should do THIS now!

It is clear we need to create more productive, high-paying jobs for American citizens. But that doesn't mean bringing back the same exact jobs of the past in massive numbers. It means creating and supporting jobs of the present and future that will better the lives of Americans. Glenn Beck and Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts break down exactly what this entails and how President Trump can make it a reality.

Watch Glenn Beck's FULL Interview with Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts HERE

RADIO

The most INCREDIBLE World War II story you’ve NEVER HEARD

One of the biggest American World War II cemeteries in Europe is in a small town in the Netherlands, where thousands of Dutch people continue the tradition to this day of “adopting” a fallen US soldier and checking in on his family. “The Monuments Man” author Robert Edsel joins Glenn Beck to tell this incredible story, which he documents in his new book, “Remember Us.”

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Robert, welcome back to the program. How are you, sir?

ROBERT: Great to talk to you!

GLENN: It's great to talk to you.

Can you remind me? You were on with us, after Monuments Men. And you talked about this great service that is still going on, where people that -- they were still looking for paintings and pieces of art, that had been taken by the Nazis.

And if I remember right, didn't somebody in our -- our own audience reach out to you, and say, I think we found one of those paintings?

ROBERT: Yes, sir. Absolutely.

The Glenn Beck audience. And Glenn Beck, you yourself deserve a lot of credit.

Because I hadn't walked out of your studio last time. You know, in Dallas at Las Colinas.

Headed back to our office at Monuments Men and Women Foundation office, before someone in my office contacted me and said, we've already had a lead, as a result of your interview with Glenn. And it turned out someone whose aunt had been given two paintings during World War II.

She had worked for the government overseeing Germany, and these two paintings were missing.

We were able to identify who the rightful owner was, and get them back.

So it's a great thing that you performed. And, you know, it's a magnificent conclusion, though obviously a very difficult part of history.

GLENN: What was it like to give that back to the family?

ROBERT: It was a deeply moving experience. We -- the foundation found and returned more than 30 works of art, from paintings to documents, ancient books. Tapestries, to museums. Individual collectors, and so on.

And, you know, when we see, oftentimes, the people just stand there, and they cry.

They don't even know what to say. Because they may have worked 50 or 60 years, trying to find some work of art that's been missing. And they haven't had leads. And to -- to see us standing there, with something that belongs to them.

Not asking for anything in return. Don't charge anybody for doing it. Because we feel like everybody who went through World War II already paid enough.

Words -- words just fail. It's just pure gratitude.

GLENN: I can't wait for you to tell this new story.

Tell me the story of the care takers. The care takers of --

ROBERT: Well, it's a story that found me, just as Monuments did.

I have written about -- in the Monuments Men, I told the story of two Monuments Officers who were killed in combat, one British soldier and one American, Walter Huchthausen. And Huchthausen was killed. He once did a last casualty at war. He was killed in the last month of World War II, and is buried in the American benevolence, American cemetery, in Margraten in the Netherlands. I knew that story, and I had made mention of a young girl who was harbored in September '45, asking for the address of his mother, wanting to write her and tell her, that she walked 5 miles, several times a week, from her house to the American military cemetery. It was called then. To put flowers on his grave. Because her family knew them. And they were grief-stricken to know that they were killed.

And I knew that story too. I mentioned that. And then in 2015, the nephew of Huchthausen wrote me and included a photograph of this elderly lady with this crown of white hair. And he said, here's a photo with Frida, and I couldn't place who this was.

I had no idea who it was. And I realized, my God, this is that 19-year-old girl that is still alive. So I flew to England. She married a British soldier after the war. And I went to meet with her. She started showing me photographs of when the American -- Americans liberated her area of the Netherlands.

And all these American soldiers that they knew.

And she said, you know about the American military cemetery.

She said, have you been there?

And I said yes. And she said, so you know about the great adoption program?

And I said, what? She said, the great adoption program.

I said, I have no idea what you're talking about. So I started doing some research on this. And learned, at the end of World War II, our largest World War II cemetery in Europe, was not Normandy. It was the Netherlands American cemetery, where 17,800 boys and a few women buried at this cemetery by May 1946.

And by that time, every single grave had a Dutch person, a local person, who volunteered to be an adaptor of that brave.

Go out there on the first death date of the soldier, Veterans Day, Memorial Day.

And if they had the contact information for the next of kin, send them a photograph of the grave.
And a letter.

Because they realized, it was okay to adopt the bodies of dead boys.

But where the real need was, was to reach across the ocean, into the American homes and try to assuage the grief of the families.

And they knew some of these boys. And I found it the most heartwarming, uplifting, and certainly unique conclusion to a World War II story that I think has been written.

GLENN: So are they still some of them still doing this?

ROBERT: Not some. In fact, there were about -- in 1940, 748.

American families were given the choice to have their loved ones sent home, or to be left overseas in a military cemetery.

The Army had no idea, how many -- how many families would want their boys sent home, and as a consequence, they couldn't tell how many cemeteries they would need.

We thought almost everybody would want to have the families sent home. But it turned out not to be the case. So about 61 percent came home. About 39 percent stayed in Europe, which was about the numbers from World War I.

Although, the numbers in this area, in the Netherlands were higher.

The -- the graves that are there now.

There are 10,000 boys there. And four women.

8300 graves. 1700 names on the walls of the missing.

Every one of them has an adaptor for 80 years.

All those graves have been adopted, without interruption.

There's a waiting list of almost a thousand people in the Netherlands, to become a doctor. This is a -- not just a --

GLENN: This is --

JASON: A privilege. Because they take their kids out to the cemetery. They turn the cemetery into a classroom. And you go out there. And, yes, there's a somber element. They're instilling in their kids, you're able to think, and say what you want to. Because of the freedom that was given to you, by this American girl or boy. And we don't do that in our country anymore.

GLENN: So this is one of the most incredible stories that I've -- I've ever heard.

And I'm shocked that the world doesn't know this!

Is -- have you -- is there anything like this, anywhere else in the world?

JASON: No. We couldn't even find a comp of any nature.

There are -- that is not to say, the people in Normandy area, don't care about Normandy and other cemeteries. They do, of course. As do the Belgians in other cemeteries.

But there's no place that created an organic great adoption program, during the war, in January 1945!

These people in this area of the Netherlands were so grateful, having been neutral in World War I.

And having not lost their freedom for 100 years!

And they didn't like it!

And when the Americans liberated them in September 44. I'll never forget this woman Freda. This elderly woman I met, looked at me, the first time I interviewed her. I knew her for eight years. The last eight years of her life.

I delivered a eulogy two summers ago. She looked at me, there were the eyes of the 19-year-old. And she said, when I saw that first tank over the hill and I realized, we were saved.

I looked at my dad, and I said, Papi, these American boys come all the way across the ocean to say this. And there were tears in her eyes.

Because they didn't -- they couldn't imagine how we could have moved that equipment across -- across the ocean.

And why we would have cared so much.

So there isn't anything like it.

But January 45, these people in this little town of Margraten.

A mile from the cemetery, organized a meeting of the town leaders. The town who got 1200 people.

And they were trying to find an answer to the question: How do you thank your liberators, when they're no longer alive to thank? And they came up with this idea of this great adoption program, and it's a story that I tell, following the lives of about 12 different American combat soldiers.

Bomber recipients.

Tankers.

Because we don't know that story.

We don't what knows to an American story, when they're killed on the field of battle.

Because it's depressing.

We move on to the next scene in a movie.

Well, I want people to know, you started your program with freedom is not free.

It's ugly.

Let's talk about that. Let's talk about what the cost is.

Let's talk about the stripping line that the body goes through, and the removal of dog tags, one being put in the mouth, if there's still a head. And the other being nailed to the cross, because they don't have time to stencil the names on yet.

Let's talk about that, and let people know, it's not just a Marvel movie. Or a gang war.

This is real. This is painful. And, of course, at the end of the war, when we Americans declare victory, and move on with our lives, there's millions of family members in the United States, whose lives will never be the same.

So it is -- it's still happening today. It's still happening today.

GLENN: The name -- the name of the book is Remember Us.

And take us -- I mean, because that's really kind of the -- the -- the beauty of it.

Take us through the rest of the book, just briefly.

It starts with what?

ROBERT: Well, I follow -- I began what a nice life was in the Netherlands. Until May 10, 1940.

And the Netherlands does not get much attention from World War II, and yet everybody has heard of Battle of the Bulge. And Battle -- those are all within 50 miles of what we're talking about.

They happened around there. Of course, World War II, in western Europe, begins right here in this area. Because the German tanks roll across the border.

So I cover the life of these 12 different Americans. I interviewed all their family members. Some make it through the war. Some don't.

You read the book, you realize who makes it, who doesn't. But their lives converge around this area of the Netherlands. And when post-world War II stories end, with the war being over, remember us kicks into a transcendent moment when the Dutch come up with this idea of this great adoption program. The Americans refuse to provide the names and addresses of the next of kin.

So they're foiled with trying to achieve their ultimate objective. Which is to try to contact all the American families.

And frustrated, there was -- one of the key figures of the book.

A woman who is the mother of 12 children.

Who takes it upon herself. She's a woman of action.

She writes president Truman. And pleads for him to get involved.

When that doesn't work. She gets on the first airplane, she's ever flown on. She leaves her kids behind.

She flies to New York. Lands in LaGuardia Field.

She goes to Washington, and meets the members of Congress. Including a young guy from Texas, named Lyndon Johnson.

Who says, young lady, you need to go to Texas. Because there are so many military bases there.

She flies to our hometown. And lands in Lovefield.

In June of 1946. And is met by two family members. And for five weeks, she lives with American families, that lost somebody during a war.

And to each of them she says, leave your boys with us. When the election comes.

We will watch over them, like our own forever.

And they have done that. Now, today, these 10,000 Dutch doctors only have contact information for 20 percent of the American families.

They couldn't ever get the others.

GLENN: You're kidding me. Where is the list? Do you have a list?

ROBERT: Yeah. The Monuments Men and Women Foundation entered into a joint venture with the Dutch Foundation for Adopting Graves.

Not charging anybody for this. And we have created a website called foreverpromise.org.

And on that website is a list of all 10,000 men and women, more women that are buried at the cemetery, or whose names are on the walls missing.

And it's a searchable database. We're asking people to go and see. Do you have someone you know, or a relative, who is buried there.

And if so, we have a short questionnaire. What's your relationship? Are you aware of this great adoption program? Are you in contact with your adopter? Would you like to be? Would you allow us to share your contact information?

I connected a lady from Richmond, Texas. Saturday night. To her -- to this young Tammy, that's the adopter of her brother.

She's 93 years old.

She was in tears. At the thought when she leaves this world, there will be someone there to watch over her brother.

And that's what we're all about is this connecting.

GLENN: Rob, I have to tell you.

You've really done something with your life. I mean, I know you don't need me to say it.
But what a great job you have. And what a great service you have done for so many years.

Thank you so much.

Please, look this up.

The forever promise project.

You can find it at foreverpromise.org. Foreverpromise.org. Robert Edsel is the author's name. The book is Remember Us. It's a perfect read for this week.

THE GLENN BECK PODCAST

Ron Paul EXPOSES How the Federal Reserve Keeps Up its Scam!

Former Congressman Ron Paul breaks down how the Federal Reserve operates and how it has become so entrenched in the American economic system. He tells Glenn Beck that the problem is continuing to get worse and offers up his advice on what really needs to happen to begin to fix this situation.

Watch Glenn Beck's FULL Interview with Ron Paul HERE