Glenn interviews Senator Mike Lee

September 22, 2011

Writer

Glenn interviewed Senator Mike Lee of Utah on radio this morning. Senator Lee is the author of the new book The Freedom Agenda: Why a Balanced Budget Amendment is Necessary to Restore Constitutional Government.

Read the FULL transcript below:

Senator Mike Lee is on with us. He is the author of the book The Freedom Agenda: Why A Balanced Budget Amendment is Necessary to Restore Constitutional Government. A great, great book. This guy is a, not only a deep thinker, constitutional scholar, but an honest, honest man. He is one of the very few in Washington that I could look anybody straight in the eye and say, I trust Mike Lee. Mike, welcome to the program.

LEE: Thank you very much, Glenn.

GLENN: First time, first time we ever spoke, you were running and you were on ‑‑ weren't you on the ‑‑ you were on the road some place when I called, right?

LEE: Yeah, I was driving to an event, just going through Provo Canyon in Utah.

GLENN: And I called Mike up because somebody had told me, you should talk to him; I think you'd really like him. And I was ‑‑ I'm very skeptical on every politician. You remember the first question I asked you?

LEE: You asked whether I'm concerned about the welfare of my soul. Fantastic question, by the way.

GLENN: What did you ‑‑ what did you think when you first ‑‑ because you knew who I was, right?

LEE: Sure.

GLENN: Yeah.

LEE: Of course. Everybody knows who you are.

GLENN: And when you ‑‑ when I asked you that question, what went through your head?

LEE: Well, immediately I thought that was not the question I expected to get from a radio and television news personality.

GLENN: Right.

LEE: But I nevertheless understood why it was important to you to ask the question because so many politicians lose their souls. They lose their souls because they are not concerned about the welfare of their soul on an eternal basis. They don't think that through. It made sense to me that you'd ask it.

GLENN: Yeah, you're going into the den of iniquity. Mike, we are ‑‑ is this true: A week from Friday we ‑‑ the United States government is out of money again?

LEE: That's correct. Instead of passing budgets as we're required to do, the Budget Control Act of 1973, we've been acting under a series of short‑term continuing resolutions and we're running up against the deadline of our current continuing resolution.

GLENN: Okay. So wait a minute. This is not ‑‑ this is not the debt ceiling? This is just, we don't have a budget?

LEE: Correct. We don't have a budget.

GLENN: How do you run a business, a government, anything without a budget? How does that ‑‑

LEE: Well, you shouldn't. You shouldn't. And that's why congress has required itself by statute to pass a budget each year. But it doesn't do it. And when it doesn't do it, the procedure is to adopt what's called a continuing resolution which says we will just extend what we spent last year, at least year's levels with the following minor adjustments. And so it's a way of punting. But we've been punting now for several years, and it's created a problem. This is part of why we're $15 trillion in debt.

PAT: And I'm sure, Mike, this is one of the reasons you wrote your book, which is terrific. The Freedom Agenda which talks about the necessity for a balanced budget amendment. Is that even possible? Is it ‑‑ you know, you talk about it in the book, but can it happen in reality?

LEE: It's absolutely possible because the American people are demanding it. You know, according to a source no more conservative than CNN, 75% of the American people want a balanced budget amendment and this is why I wrote my book. I wanted to explain to the American people and give them the tools that they'll need to explain to their friends, their family members, their neighbors why it is that we need this and why it is that congress ‑‑

GLENN: So give me the thumbnail. I'm sitting ‑‑ I'm going to ‑‑ I'll play the ‑‑ I'll play the typical neighbor who's not really, you know, paying all that attention and has kind of been ‑‑ you know, went through the public school system where I'm indoctrinated and I'm damn near a Marxist now.

LEE: Great, great. Well, we would start then with the principle that whenever government acts, it interferes with our own individual freedom.

GLENN: It protects. Look, you know, you guys are ‑‑ you just want to shut down the government, you want to go back to, you know, the Founding Fathers. They didn't see all these things coming. They didn't understand terrorism. There are people that are hungry. There are people that are ‑‑ no jobs that are out there. How can you possibly even think that you can cut the budget?

LEE: Well, actually the Founding Fathers did understand this and this is the whole reason why I wrote the Freedom Agenda. They understood this very thing. They understood what enthusiasm consolidate power in a national government and you place no restrictions on that government's power, inevitably that results in a form of tyranny. Inevitably even if it's tyranny by degrees, the freedom of the people is squelched.

GLENN: So what are you going to do? You want to cut all these things and put the corporations in charge, put these private corporations that are completely out of control and corrupt?

LEE: No.

PAT: Let children starve?

LEE: No. We put the American people back in charge, but more than anything ‑‑

GLENN: But the American people are slaves to these giant global corporations.

LEE: Well, that's not true, and it's more accurate to say that they're required to work three or four, five months out of each year just to pay their federal tax bills, just for the federal government. But what we're seeing now, Glenn, is that as I explain in my book, you've got a convergence of people, of Democrats and Republicans, coming together behind the idea of a balanced budget amendment because whether you are someone who is most concerned about preserving our ability to fund national defense, or on the other hand if you're most concerned about funding entitlement programs, all of those programs will be placed in grave jeopardy if we continue borrowing at current rates.

GLENN: Mike, help me out. Help me out on this. It makes zero sense to me that right now the IMF, Germany, everybody, everybody is lecturing Greece, Spain: You've got to cut this way in these ways, you can't have this program or this program. And the people are rising up and saying, who are you to tell us? And yet we're saying that we need to spend even more money which will put us in exactly the same position of now not being able to decide. You're not going to ‑‑ we're not going to have a conversation with the IMF or some global organization when the crap hits the fan. Nobody's going to talk to you about healthcare. Nobody's going to talk to you about Medicare. Nobody's going to talk to you about Social Security or defense. They'll say cut and you do or you're out.

LEE: Well, that's exactly right. And this refers to the limits of our natural mathematical borrowing ability, not to be confused with our statutory borrowing authority.

There will come a point within the next few years when we will no longer be able to borrow through the federal government, at least not at rates of $1.5 trillion a year or more without paying astronomically high interest rates, which will end up forcing us to make immediate painful Draconian cuts to everything, every federal program from defense to entitlements.

If we do this the methodical way, the way I advocate and outline in my book, we can make the necessary cuts but we can do them over time, we can do them gradually so that they don't have to cause unnecessary pain, unnecessary problems for everything from defense to entitlements.

GLENN: You want to get serious about the budget, you really want to understand where to go and you want to (loss) listen to something, to restore constitutional government, Senator Mike Lee, the Freedom Agenda. One quick, maybe two quick political questions. Mike, feel free not to answer this. What do you think of the current crop of GOP candidates?

LEE: You know, I haven't yet made up my mind, Glenn. I will start with the ‑‑ my reaction that any of these people would be so much better than our current president. I'd be thrilled to have any one of them in the White House instead of ‑‑

GLENN: Ron Paul? Ron Paul?

LEE: ‑‑ President Obama.

GLENN: Hang on. Ron Paul?

LEE: Including him. And ‑‑

GLENN: Okay. I think so, too.

LEE: Excuse me?

GLENN: I agree with you on that one, but ‑‑

LEE: Yeah.

GLENN: I'm concerned about his foreign policy.

LEE: Yes. I disagree with certain aspects of his foreign policy, particularly his recent statement expressing a lack of concern for what would happen if we had to confront a nuclear Iran.

GLENN: Yes.

LEE: I couldn't disagree with him more that that's none of our business. A nuclear Iran is an existential threat to America.

GLENN: You know, I just had ‑‑

LEE: We can't have that.

GLENN: I just had a guy on the TV show last night who is a spy. He's been a spy for a long time in Iran. He has been there. He's been around Ahmadinejad. He knows all the players, et cetera, et cetera. He is so concerned that an EMP is coming our way, he said there's ‑‑ without a doubt an EMP will be launched against the United States because he said it will kill so many people and it's the cheapest way to knock the United States completely out.

LEE: I hope he's wrong in that prediction.

GLENN: I hope so, too.

LEE: I fear that he could be right. Because so much of what we do, everything we do requires the use of equipment that would be severely damaged, even destroyed in most instances.

GLENN: Yeah. I mean, tractors wouldn't work. Tractors wouldn't work, refrigerators wouldn't work, cars wouldn't work. I mean, it would be devastating. And if you ‑‑

PAT: Airplanes fall out of the sky if that's true.

GLENN: Yeah. If you're living in the United States, you're not used to not having, you know, cars, elevators, refrigeration. How far do you live from a farm, for the love of Pete, where the rest of the world, you know, the third world, the people that we would be, you know, fighting against, that's not that far. They can stop doing that. You know, you couldn't knock them back out if you had an EMP dropped on us first, but I mean, they would be able to just clean our clocks if we didn't have our technology.

LEE: We are a soft target in that regard and that's a matter of great concern to me.

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1.7% of Glenn's audience is TOAST! Thankfully, that's very few of you.

There is little chance you'd survive repairing your kitchen table, not to mention enduring a massive economic crisis or natural disaster. With no money, food, or supplies stocked up, you will have to rely on the altruism of your more-prepared friends and family. But then again, if you can't even navigate to their house without your phone, you may still be TOAST.

13.8% of Glenn's audience could survive a little disaster.

Congrats on having some of your finances set aside for emergencies... and some useful tools and skills tucked away in case of an emergency. You could potentially endure a "little disaster" of financial hardship. However, if you want to survive a massive financial crisis or natural disaster, you're going to have to start stockpiling some more money and supplies.

68.9% of Glenn's audience could survive a big disaster.

Congrats on being more prepared than most! You have some investment in precious metals, an emergency fund, some food and supplies stockpiled, and maybe an extra generator. Even though you may not be a "prepper," you have taken steps to prepare for hard times, which will protect you and your loved ones for weeks... even months—which is way better than nothing!

14.7% of Glenn's audience could survive a nuclear apocalypse.

Congratulations on being one of the few people in this world who could actually survive a nuclear apocalypse! Seriously... there are very few of you. Your bunker is stocked with food, water, and supplies to last you MONTHS. Your silver, gold, and emergency fund will help you cruise in times of financial distress. You can secure more goods because you have learned a bunch of "barter" skills. Congrats on being able to keep yourself and your loved ones safe!

THESE 19 states joined Desantis' alliance against ESG. Here are their 2 main goals.

On Monday, Biden exercised his veto powers for the first time to strike down a bill that would ban states from taking ESG into consideration when investing state pension funds. In his veto message, Biden said:

Retirement plan fiduciaries should be able to consider any factor that maximizes financial returns for retirees across the country. That's not controversial — that's common sense.

At the risk of using the loaded word "gaslit," it continues to be the operative word in describing the policies coming out of the Biden White House. It is painfully obvious that ESG itself inhibits investors from "maximizing financial returns." That was never ESG's goal in the first place. Yet Biden said the opposite.

ESG aims to incentivize investors to make "socially conscious" (a.k.a woke) investments, even if they are at odds with the greatest return on investment. It has enabled state governments and investment firms to use their monopoly over the investment space to force companies to choose between adopting their woke ESG standards and losing critical investment. Isn't there a word for that? Extortion? Or modern-day politics?

ESG enables state governments to force companies to choose between adopting their woke ESG standards and losing critical investment.

That is the sole reason why Republicans brought the bill to his desk in the first place: As Glenn said, "ESG poses a clear and present danger to the American way of life, the soul of our nation and every sector of our economy. ESG was never about ROI. It was always about pushing a leftist agenda.

And Biden knows this.

Why would he want to give up something that enables his political party and corporate elites to control and manipulate the political affiliations of their people? Who would want to give up that power? Biden certainly doesn't.

And he didn't.

Instead, he boldly asserts the exact opposite: that ESG itself "maximizes financial returns," relying on the divided American people to debate the policy into oblivion, while he gets exactly what he wants: the retention of power over the American consumer. Dare I say again that "gaslit" is the operative word here?

If one thing is clear, it is that we cannot rely on the federal government to act in the best interests of the American people. However, in this critical moment, the state governments are stepping up to do what the federal government refuses to: protecting the rights of the American consumer.

In a joint resolution led by Florida Governor Ron Desantis, 19 states have pledged “to protect individuals from the ESG movement" at the state level. This is critical.

We cannot rely on the federal government to act in the best interests of the American people.

Florida leads Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming in signing the historic policy agreement among all 19 states, pledging to ban ESG practices within their jurisdictions.

The anti-ESG alliance calls ESG what it is:

A direct threat to the American economy, individual economic freedom, and our way of life, putting investment decisions in the hands of the woke mob to bypass the ballot box and inject political ideology into investment decisions, corporate governance, and the everyday economy.

This alliance takes aim at two specific practices used by left-leaning states to force companies to adopt ESG-approved practices.

First, the alliance promises to protect "taxpayers from ESG influences across state systems."

While other states are using YOUR taxpayer dollars to fund pro-ESG corporations, these states pledge to BAN this practice to ensure "that only financial factors are considered to maximize the return on investment."

The chief factor behind any investment should be determining whether that investment yields the maximum return on their investment. However, many states are using YOUR taxpayer-funded pension and retirement funds to invest in ESG-approved businesses. This not only forces businesses to consider adopting ESG standards in hopes of obtaining investment. Moreover, states are using YOUR taxpayer dollars to fund them! Would you want your government to invest your hard-earned money for partisan purposes?

The anti-ESG alliance is taking the politics out of investment and putting consumer power back in the hands of the American people. These state governments pledged to make investment decisions based solely on maximizing the return on investment, not in using your taxpayer dollars to fund their political agendas.

Second, the alliance promises to protect "citizens from ESG influences in the financial sector."

ESG standards force businesses to consider the political leanings of their customer base. For example, Discover announced they will begin tracking its customers' gun-related purchases. One of the leaders behind this push is Amalgamated Bank, which boasts on their website that their institution "supports sustainable organizations, progressive causes, and social justice." Amalgamated Bank CEO Priscilla Sims Brown said:

We all have to do our part to stop gun violence and it sometimes starts with illegal purchases of guns and ammunition The new code will allow us to fully comply with our duty to report suspicious activity and illegal gun sales to authorities without blocking or impeding legal gun sales.

This virtue signaling at the cost of your privacy is earning both Discover and Amalgamated ESG brownie points.

There are countless stories of Americans, like YOU, getting locked out of their bank accounts, dropped as clients, tracked and targeted, all because their personal political beliefs don't align with big corporations' ESG goals. Their individual privacy and dignity as a consumer aren't worth the risk of lowering the company's ESG score.

That's why the anti-ESG alliance is pledging to protect the residents in their states from this corrupt ESG exploitation. The alliance promised to ban "so-called social Credit Scores' in banking and lending practices aimed to prevent citizens from obtaining financial services like loans, lines of credit, and bank accounts."

They also promised to stop "financial institutions from discriminating against customers for their religious, political, or social beliefs, such as owning a firearm, securing the border, or increasing our energy independence."

In short, they have targeted the political extortion hidden behind the virtuous ESG veil to protect citizens from being discriminated against based on political affiliation.

It's time to step up.

Biden may have struck down the effort to restore the freedom of the American consumer at the federal level. However, these states are taking it upon themselves to do what they ought: to ban practices that threaten the freedoms and privacy of their citizens.

If your state did not joining the anti-ESG alliance, it's time to demand that they step up and do their job to protect you and the rest of your fellow citizens from corrupt ESG practices. As Glenn said, "The conservative movement is best when it moves in unison." We must act and unison and push our states to protect our economic freedom and our way of life.

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THESE 12 Republican states are smuggling digital currency through THIS sneaky bill

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Editor's Note: Arizona House Bill HB2770 has since been shut down! AZ Rep. Rachel Jones tweeted that the AZ Freedom Caucus shut down the bill before it could reach the board. It is encouraging to see states stepping to protect the American people from getting one step closer to a Central Bank Digital Currency. Hopefully, Arizona will be a precedent for the other states!

This gem was buried in a 113 page bill pushed by a lobbyist through one of my clueless colleagues. It passed out of the Commerce Committee, but then @AZFreedomCaucus blocked it from even going on the board. @glennbeck you'll be happy to know we killed it.
— AZ Representative Rachel Jones (@RJ4arizona) March 17, 2023

On today's radio broadcast, Glenn warned about dangerous Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) language being smuggled into routine legislation in REPUBLICAN-led states. This is unacceptable, and as Glenn said, we can't let this legislation pass as it now stands.

The legislation being used to smuggle in this CBDC language is the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC), a routine piece of legislation passed on the state level that helps standardize commercial and business transactions. However, a new round of UCCs being deliberated RIGHT NOW amongst a swath of Republican-led states anticipate the use of "electronic money." In a public letter sent to the Republican states currently deliberating this legislation, the Pro-Family Legislative Network said this can only refer to the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) under consideration and testing by the Federal Reserve. Biden's Executive Order 14067 issued in March of 2022 started the push for CBDC, and now these states, knowingly or unknowingly, are laying the legislative groundwork for making CBDC a reality.

There is absolutely no reason why Republican-led states should aid in laying the foundation for CBDC, yet 12 of them are deliberating it RIGHT NOW, with one UCC bill already on one GOP governor's desk! We have to act NOW to stop these UCCs in their tracks and demand our lawmakers amend the bills without the "electronic money" language.

If your state is listed below, contact your representative NOW to put an end to CBDC language.

1. North Dakota

North Dakota House Bill HB1082 passed BOTH chambers and is now sitting on Governor Burgum's desk. Burgun has 3 DAYS to veto this bill once it's placed on his desk—if not, it will pass automatically. If you are a North Dakota resident, it is absolutely CRUCIAL that you contact Governor Burgum's office NOW and demand that he veto this bill and re-introduce it without the "electronic money" language.

2. Arizona

Arizona House Bill HB2770 has been SHUT DOWN! See the above editor's note for more details.

Arizona House Bill HB2770 passed the House majority and minority caucuses. Arizona residents, contact your representative's office NOW so that they amend this bill without the "electronic money" language.

3. Arkansas

Arkansas House Bill HB1588 is in committee, and if passed, will head to the House floor. Though the bill is only in its beginning stages, it's important for Arkansas residents to stop this bill in its tracks and amend it without the "electronic money" language.

4. Missouri

Missouri House Bill HB1165 is also in its beginning stages in committee. That means it's important to contact your representative as soon as possible to amend it without the "electronic money" language.

5. Oklahoma

Oklahoma House Bill HB 2776 passed the House Committee and will go to a chamber vote soon. If passed, it will go to the Senate, then the governor's desk. If you are an Indiana resident, contact your representative's office NOW to amend the bill without the "electronic money" language.

6. Indiana

Indiana Senate Bill SB0486 passed the Senate and is headed to the House. Republicans control Indiana's executive office and BOTH chambers of the legislature. There is no excuse for this bill to pass. If you are an Indiana resident, it's vital you contact your representative NOW and demand they amend this bill without the "electronic money" language.

7. Kentucky

Kentucky Senate Bill SB64 passed the Senate and is now being deliberated in the House. If you live in Kentucky, contact your representative's office to amend the bill without the "electronic money" language.

8. Montana

Montana Senate Bill SB370 passed the Senate and was sent to the House on March 3rd. If you are a Montana resident, contact your representative's office NOW so that the bill doesn't without changing the "electronic money" language.

9. Nebraska

Nebraska's Legislative Bill LB94 passed committee and the first floor vote. As Nebraska only has one legislative chamber, this bill is dangerously close to passing the legislature and being sent to the governor's desk. If you are a Nebraska resident, contact your representative's office NOW and demand they amend the bill without the "electronic money" language.

10. New Hampshire

New Hampshire House Bill HB584 is currently in House committee deliberations and has not yet reached the House floor. If you are a New Hampshire resident, contact your representative's office NOW to amend the bill without the "electronic money" language.

11. Tennessee

Tennessee House Bill HB0640 didn't successfully pass the House. However, it was deferred to a Senate committee and has now taken the form of Senate Bill SB0479, which is now in committee. This bill is still alive, and it's important for you, Tennessee residents, to stop it before it reaches the floor! Contact your representative to amend the bill without the "electronic money" language.

12. Texas

Texas House Bill HB5011 was filed and is ready to be taken up by committee. Fellow Texans, let's not let this bill progress any further! Contact your representative and demand they amend the bill without the "electronic money" language.

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