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Glenn's Show Prep

Chris Kyle’s family needs your help

February 08, 2013
Wilson

Writer

Chris Kyle is an American hero. He saved countless American lives while on the battlefield. And when he came home, he gave everything he had --- including his time -- to his foundation and other returning military vets. He probably thought he had plenty of time to worry about saving for college, etc, but as it turns out he was robbed of that chance. Chris Kyle stepped up for America, it’s time for America to step up for him.

Here’s a couple really cool ways you can help: buy 1791’s Heroes shirt or donate directly through Mercury One.

You can also send a check to Mercury One by mail at: Mercury One, PO Box 140489, Irving, TX 75014. Be sure to put "Chris Kyle Fund" in the memo line.

On radio, Glenn called for listeners to help the Kyle family. You can watch the video at the top of the page, and the full transcript of the segment from radio is below.

Radio Transcript:

GLENN: This week has been a very, a very bizarre week. It started on Sunday for us. Sunday morning I got up and my wife said to me, "Honey, Marcus called," Marcus Luttrell. She said, "Marcus called, or texted me late last night." And I said, okay, I'll call him today. Then I go out to the front and our security detail is there getting ready to take us to church and I said good morning to the boys. And I said, good morning, guys. And they said, sir, have you heard the news? And I said, what news? And they said, the American sniper Chris Kyle was killed. And I said, oh, my gosh. Marcus texted late last night; that must be what it's about. I said, how did he die? And he said, he was at a gun range and he was apparently helping out a vet and he was shot to death on the gun range.

And my shock of that, I think the first thing I said is, what the hell is happening to us? Here is an American hero, a guy who is ‑‑ really will be talked about for 50 years. He is ‑‑ he really is our red baron. Everybody knows the red baron. The only reason why you know the red baron at this point is he was some sort of a flying ace. But this is our red baron. This is our defy who is a ‑‑ who has done stuff that nobody else in the history of man has ever done. The best sniper to ever live. And he makes it back, he writes a best‑selling book, it's a huge best seller, everybody reads it, he's everywhere. He doesn't take any of the money from that book. None of it. And what happens? He comes home, he takes that money, and he, instead of taking it, he gives it to an organization to help vets who are returning and are having a hard time adjusting.

I mean, here's a guy who really put his money where his mouth is. He takes his time. He's traveling, in three years that he's back from the Service, he travels all the time to speak and to help vets. He's constantly on the frontline of helping now. He spent his time in the military killing to protect. Then he comes back and he spends his time out of the military trying to protect. Trying to help. He gives all of his time and all of his money. Now he's a young guy. So he thinks, I'm going to be around for a long time. It's almost kind of the Tesla story where he gives up everything because he's like, you know, there will be something else. And then his time runs out.

So now his family is not protected. Now his family is in the position to where they don't have any money. And I suppose you could say, "Well, that was irresponsible of him," or you could say, "That guy just knew they would be taken care of." Our founders did similar things. They spent all of their time away from their children. I mean, John Adams was gone, gosh, I mean, how long was he away from his kids?

PAT: 14 years.

GLENN: 14 years he was away. And it's not like he's getting, you know, leave where he can come back. I mean, he's gone for 14 years. His kids didn't even know him. And our founders, because we've talked about it an awful lot, because we work very hard to do what we do. And if we were doing it for money, we'd be despicable people. We would. Because of the way we have ‑‑ the time that we have spent away from our family.

My sister is in town and she just ‑‑ I started to talk to her and she's like, stop it. Stop. I get it. And I said to her, I started to say to her, "I think about you every day and I love you so much and I want to call you every day. I want to talk to you. I want to spend time with you. I just don't have any time." And we have talked about, especially when we were in New York, that the Lord will make it up. Somehow or another he'll make up whatever deficit. As long as we're doing the right thing. As long as we're on his work. And we also have to keep things in perspective. And we've done all that we can do. He will make up the deficit.

Well, Chris did do all that he could do. Now, the Lord doesn't ‑‑ you know, all of a sudden it's not like, "Oh, my gosh. Hey, kids, money from heaven." That's not the way it works. We're his hands. Each of us. We were sent here for a reason. And we're his hands.

So I would like to ask, and I did earlier this week, and this audience is so amazing. I asked this week, can we help this family? Can we raise some money to honor his family, to help his family? Because Jesse Ventura is coming and suing the family because Chris said he punched him in the face and Jesse said that never happened. And all of the SEALs and everybody else that was there said, "Oh, it absolutely did happen," but Jesse Ventura's crazy. So once Chris dies, Jesse goes after the family and says, "I'm going to take the money from the estate." There is no money.

So Mercury One put together a fund, and Marcus Luttrell, the Lone Survivor, is putting together a trust so nobody can get this money except the kids. I asked you this on I think Tuesday. Here it is Friday and this audience in $10, $20 bills, has raised $375,000 ‑‑ $381 now ‑‑

STU: $383,000 now.

GLENN: $383,158 ‑‑ 300 ‑‑

STU: $383,158.

GLENN: $383,158. It's almost incredible what you've done, almost $400,000. My goal was to raise $500,000 and that's an incredible number. I'd really like to make a million because a million would take care of everything that they have, including the taxes, take care of everything that they would need to take care of, put their kids ‑‑ put his two kids through school and they wouldn't have to worry. His kids are 6 and 8. Could we be the Lord's hands here? Because the government's not going to do it. In fact, they are holding his funeral at Dallas Cowboys stadium on Monday and everybody's going to be there. Everybody's going to be there... except one. I don't believe the president of the United States is coming.

Now here we have an American hero. Here we have a guy who has saved countless Americans. He comes home. He self‑sacrifices. He dies at the hands of a guy he's trying to help: And our president isn't going to be there. I don't think he would be welcome anyway, but that's saying something.

We tried. We were going to cover and carry the live coverage on TheBlaze and ‑‑ but it's far too expensive for us to do it at this point. We felt it would be better because we made donations and we felt it would just be better to cover it not live but cover it in many different ways than spend all that money. We'd rather put ‑‑ I think we put $50,000 in towards the family, and I would like to ask you if you had $5 or $10 if you would go to MercuryOne.org and donate.

Now, there's something else. I'm taking my signed copy of his book, American Sniper. I collect rare books and signed books, and this one is signed by a legend, and he died. This one will be a definite collector's item, and I've taken it off of my library shelf, I only have one, and I am putting it up for auction on Monday, proceeds for the family. And I would ‑‑ I would ask on Monday that you would bid on it if you're interested, with all the proceeds going to them.

The other thing I asked my team last night, if we could make ‑‑ if 1791 could make ‑‑ because they make the best T‑shirts. They are just the greatest T‑shirts. And I asked 1791 if they would make a Navy SEAL heroes T‑shirt. All of the profits will go to the family, and that's available now. Just went up a few minutes ago at 1791.com. It's a blue T‑shirt, says "American Heroes" and has the SEAL triton on it. And that will go to Chris Kyle's family and also a portion of it goes to FITCO Cares foundation. That is his foundation to help Navy SEALs. I think the best way to honor him is to continue his work. Take care of his family first but also continue to take care of veterans. He believed in it so much, he died trying to do it. The T‑shirt is available right now at 1791.com, or you can make a direct donation at MercuryOne.org, or you can ‑‑ you can wait on ‑‑ until Monday and bid on that book as well. But we'd like to ask you to get involved.

You think the president ‑‑ I mean, I think I would be, quite honestly, you know, if this, if this president, if I would die ‑‑ and he wouldn't, but if I were his ‑‑ if this would happen to me and this president decided to show up, I think my family would ask him to leave. Because they would be like, "We don't want you here," only because it would become a circus and he would use it. He would use my death to wrap himself into it. And now I'm not saying that he would ever do it with me. I'm just saying if I were ‑‑ if I were Chris.

STU: Right.

GLENN: This president would come in there and use this funeral to make himself look good.

STU: Sure.

GLENN: So I don't even know if he would be welcome. I'm sure ‑‑ I can't speak for the family at all but I mean, I know there's a lot of guys ‑‑ I know there's a lot of guys in the SEAL community that, you know, are like, yeah ‑‑

PAT: Hard fans.

GLENN: Not really a big fan of this guy.

STU: I think the appropriate thing to be would be to let the family make that decision. If you want me there, I'm there.

GLENN: Right.

STU: I mean, if you're the president of the United States and this guy's done what this guy did for this country, I mean, you left that up to them. And you don't feel offended if they say no, but you're more than happy to be there if they want you there.

GLENN: You remember when the SEALs ‑‑ you remember when the transport went down and all those SEALs died and one of them, in his will, said I want Ted Nugent to play at my funeral?

PAT: Yeah.

GLENN: And the president decided that he was going to come and so he just went, and he then said, "I don't want Ted Nugent at this funeral" and so he overrode the family and the dying wishes of the SEAL? It was in his will: I want Ted Nugent to play. And Ted was ready. Ted chartered a plane and he was like, I'm there. I'm there. As soon as he found out: I'm there. The president shows up and disinvites Ted Nugent and overrides the family. Can you imagine that? The balls this guy has.

If you're in Texas, come. If you're not in Texas, we'll ‑‑

PAT: Is it just open to ‑‑

GLENN: I think it's ‑‑

PAT: ‑‑ anybody?

GLENN: It's a funeral. So I think it's pretty open. It's not like they have 50,000 friends that are ‑‑

STU: Right. If you're going to Cowboys Stadium, I would assume you would, you know ‑‑

GLENN: I don't know if I'm ‑‑ I'm not involved in this at all. So I just know that it's at Cowboys ‑‑ I know that I'm going to be there and that's all I know. So I just assume that, you know, it's not like all the other churches were booked. But I don't know if there's another place, a smaller place in Cowboys Stadium that you could use? I don't know how that's going to work.

STU: Just as far as the fundraising goes, you might need to be a little diligent. I've been trying to do a donation here as we've been sitting here and it was not going through for much of that time because everybody's been pounding this website. So just, you know, it might take you a little time.

PAT: That's a great sign.

STU: I mean, that's a great sign. I mean, this audience does this every time we talk about these sort of things.

GLENN: Yeah, but this is different. My understanding, this is a faster raise of money than any of the hurricane stuff that we did, any of the stuff that we've done in the history of Mercury One. This is the fastest raise of money for anything. And I think it's because we relate to this guy and we appreciate not just him but all of the Navy SEALs. And we want them to know that we love them. You know, it's not just this guy.

You know that Marcus has buried 67 of his friends? Can you imagine that?

PAT: Yeah, it's incredible.

GLENN: In, like, five years that you have attended 67 funerals of people that you knew and loved and work with? My gosh, it just never ends. Never ends. Show this community that while the government may fail us, while the government isn't paying attention to our vets, while the government has a whole bunch of red tape, there's no red tape with us. And if you need ‑‑ if you want something that is a reminder of this, get the American heroes T‑shirt at 1791.com. Get the book off my shelf, my copy, only one I have. Get my copy on Monday. Or you can just make a donation at MercuryOne.org.

A Sharia enclave is quietly taking root in America. It's time to wake up.

NOVA SAFO / Staff | Getty Images

Sharia-based projects like the Meadow in Texas show how political Islam grows quietly, counting on Americans to stay silent while an incompatible legal system takes root.

Apolitical system completely incompatible with the Constitution is gaining ground in the United States, and we are pretending it is not happening.

Sharia — the legal and political framework of Islam — is being woven into developments, institutions, and neighborhoods, including a massive project in Texas. And the consequences will be enormous if we continue to look the other way.

This is the contradiction at the heart of political Islam: It claims universal authority while insisting its harshest rules will never be enforced here. That promise does not stand up to scrutiny. It never has.

Before we can have an honest debate, we’d better understand what Sharia represents. Sharia is not simply a set of religious rules about prayer or diet. It is a comprehensive legal and political structure that governs marriage, finance, criminal penalties, and civic life. It is a parallel system that claims supremacy wherever it takes hold.

This is where the distinction matters. Many Muslims in America want nothing to do with Sharia governance. They came here precisely because they lived under it. But political Islam — the movement that seeks to implement Sharia as law — is not the same as personal religious belief.

It is a political ideology with global ambitions, much like communism. Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently warned that Islamist movements do not seek peaceful coexistence with the West. They seek dominance. History backs him up.

How Sharia arrives

Political Islam does not begin with dramatic declarations. It starts quietly, through enclaves that operate by their own rules. That is why the development once called EPIC City — now rebranded as the Meadow — is so concerning. Early plans framed it as a Muslim-only community built around a mega-mosque and governed by Sharia-compliant financing. After state investigations were conducted, the branding changed, but the underlying intent remained the same.

Developers have openly described practices designed to keep non-Muslims out, using fees and ownership structures to create de facto religious exclusivity. This is not assimilation. It is the construction of a parallel society within a constitutional republic.

The warning from those who have lived under it

Years ago, local imams in Texas told me, without hesitation, that certain Sharia punishments “just work.” They spoke about cutting off hands for theft, stoning adulterers, and maintaining separate standards of testimony for men and women. They insisted it was logical and effective while insisting they would never attempt to implement it in Texas.

But when pressed, they could not explain why a system they consider divinely mandated would suddenly stop applying once someone crossed a border.

This is the contradiction at the heart of political Islam: It claims universal authority while insisting its harshest rules will never be enforced here. That promise does not stand up to scrutiny. It never has.

AASHISH KIPHAYET / Contributor | Getty Images

America is vulnerable

Europe is already showing us where this road leads. No-go zones, parallel courts, political intimidation, and clerics preaching supremacy have taken root across major cities.

America’s strength has always come from its melting pot, but assimilation requires boundaries. It requires insisting that the Constitution, not religious law, is the supreme authority on this soil.

Yet we are becoming complacent, even fearful, about saying so. We mistake silence for tolerance. We mistake avoidance for fairness. Meanwhile, political Islam views this hesitation as weakness.

Religious freedom is one of America’s greatest gifts. Muslims may worship freely here, as they should. But political Islam must not be permitted to plant a flag on American soil. The Constitution cannot coexist with a system that denies equal rights, restricts speech, subordinates women, and places clerical authority above civil law.

Wake up before it is too late

Projects like the Meadow are not isolated. They are test runs, footholds, proofs of concept. Political Islam operates with patience. It advances through demographic growth, legal ambiguity, and cultural hesitation — and it counts on Americans being too polite, too distracted, or too afraid to confront it.

We cannot afford that luxury. If we fail to defend the principles that make this country free, we will one day find ourselves asking how a parallel system gained power right in front of us. The answer will be simple: We looked away.

The time to draw boundaries and to speak honestly is now. The time to defend the Constitution as the supreme law of the land is now. Act while there is still time.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

The Crisis of Meaning: Searching for truth and purpose

Mario Tama / Staff | Getty Images

Anxiety, anger, and chronic dissatisfaction signal a country searching for meaning. Without truth and purpose, politics becomes a dangerous substitute for identity.

We have built a world overflowing with noise, convenience, and endless choice, yet something essential has slipped out of reach. You can sense it in the restless mood of the country, the anxiety among young people who cannot explain why they feel empty, in the angry confusion that dominates our politics.

We have more wealth than any nation in history, but the heart of the culture feels strangely malnourished. Before we can debate debt or elections, we must confront the reality that we created a world of things, but not a world of purpose.

You cannot survive a crisis you refuse to name, and you cannot rebuild a world whose foundations you no longer understand.

What we are living through is not just economic or political dysfunction. It is the vacuum that appears when a civilization mistakes abundance for meaning.

Modern life is stuffed with everything except what the human soul actually needs. We built systems to make life faster, easier, and more efficient — and then wondered why those systems cannot teach our children who they are, why they matter, or what is worth living for.

We tell the next generation to chase success, influence, and wealth, turning childhood into branding. We ask kids what they want to do, not who they want to be. We build a world wired for dopamine rather than dignity, and then we wonder why so many people feel unmoored.

When everything is curated, optimized, and delivered at the push of a button, the question “what is my life for?” gets lost in the static.

The crisis beneath the headlines

It is not just the young who feel this crisis. Every part of our society is straining under the weight of meaninglessness.

Look at the debt cycle — the mathematical fate no civilization has ever escaped once it crosses a threshold that we seem to have already blown by. While ordinary families feel the pressure, our leaders respond with distraction, with denial, or by rewriting the very history that could have warned us.

You cannot survive a crisis you refuse to name, and you cannot rebuild a world whose foundations you no longer understand.

We have entered a cultural moment where the noise is so loud that it drowns out the simplest truths. We are living in a country that no longer knows how to hear itself think.

So people go searching. Some drift toward the false promise of socialism, some toward the empty thrill of rebellion. Some simply check out. When a culture forgets what gives life meaning, it becomes vulnerable to every ideology that offers a quick answer.

The quiet return of meaning

And yet, quietly, something else is happening. Beneath the frustration and cynicism, many Americans are recognizing that meaning does not come from what we own, but from what we honor. It does not rise from success, but from virtue. It does not emerge from noise, but from the small, sacred things that modern life has pushed to the margins — the home, the table, the duty you fulfill, the person you help when no one is watching.

The danger is assuming that this rediscovery happens on its own. It does not.

Reorientation requires intention. It requires rebuilding the habits and virtues that once held us together. It requires telling the truth about our history instead of rewriting it to fit today’s narratives. And it requires acknowledging what has been erased: that meaning is inseparable from God’s presence in a nation’s life.

Harold M. Lambert / Contributor | Getty Images

Where renewal begins

We have built a world without stillness, and then we wondered why no one can hear the questions that matter. Those questions remain, whether we acknowledge them or not. They do not disappear just because we drown them in entertainment or noise. They wait for us, and the longer we ignore them, the more disoriented we become.

Meaning is still available. It is found in rebuilding the smallest, most human spaces — the places that cannot be digitized, globalized, or automated. The home. The family. The community.

These are the daily virtues that do not trend on social media, but that hold a civilization upright. If we want to repair this country, we begin there, exactly where every durable civilization has always begun: one virtue at a time, one tradition at a time, one generation at a time.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

A break in trust: A NEW Watergate is brewing in plain sight

Gary Hershorn / Contributor | Getty Images

When institutions betray the public’s trust, the country splits, and the spiral is hard to stop.

Something drastic is happening in American life. Headlines that should leave us stunned barely register anymore. Stories that once would have united the country instead dissolve into silence or shrugs.

It is not apathy exactly. It is something deeper — a growing belief that the people in charge either cannot or will not fix what is broken.

When people feel ignored or betrayed, they will align with anyone who appears willing to fight on their behalf.

I call this response the Bubba effect. It describes what happens when institutions lose so much public trust that “Bubba,” the average American minding his own business, finally throws his hands up and says, “Fine. I will handle it myself.” Not because he wants to, but because the system that was supposed to protect him now feels indifferent, corrupt, or openly hostile.

The Bubba effect is not a political movement. It is a survival instinct.

What triggers the Bubba effect

We are watching the triggers unfold in real time. When members of Congress publicly encourage active duty troops to disregard orders from the commander in chief, that is not a political squabble. When a federal judge quietly rewrites the rules so one branch of government can secretly surveil another, that is not normal. That is how republics fall. Yet these stories glided across the news cycle without urgency, without consequence, without explanation.

When the American people see the leadership class shrug, they conclude — correctly — that no one is steering the ship.

This is how the Bubba effect spreads. It is not just individuals resisting authority. It is sheriffs refusing to enforce new policies, school boards ignoring state mandates, entire communities saying, “We do not believe you anymore.” It becomes institutional, cultural, national.

A country cracking from the inside

This effect can be seen in Dearborn, Michigan. In the rise of fringe voices like Nick Fuentes. In the Epstein scandal, where powerful people could not seem to locate a single accountable adult. These stories are different in content but identical in message: The system protects itself, not you.

When people feel ignored or betrayed, they will align with anyone who appears willing to fight on their behalf. That does not mean they suddenly agree with everything that person says. It means they feel abandoned by the institutions that were supposed to be trustworthy.

The Bubba effect is what fills that vacuum.

The dangers of a faithless system

A republic cannot survive without credibility. Congress cannot oversee intelligence agencies if it refuses to discipline its own members. The military cannot remain apolitical if its chain of command becomes optional. The judiciary cannot defend the Constitution while inventing loopholes that erase the separation of powers.

History shows that once a nation militarizes politics, normalizes constitutional shortcuts, or allows government agencies to operate without scrutiny, it does not return to equilibrium peacefully. Something will give.

The question is what — and when.

The responsibility now belongs to us

In a healthy country, this is where the media steps in. This is where universities, pastors, journalists, and cultural leaders pause the outrage machine and explain what is at stake. But today, too many see themselves not as guardians of the republic, but of ideology. Their first loyalty is to narrative, not truth.

The founders never trusted the press more than the public. They trusted citizens who understood their rights, lived their responsibilities, and demanded accountability. That is the antidote to the Bubba effect — not rage, but citizenship.

How to respond without breaking ourselves

Do not riot. Do not withdraw. Do not cheer on destruction just because you dislike the target. That is how nations lose themselves. Instead, demand transparency. Call your representatives. Insist on consequences. Refuse to normalize constitutional violations simply because “everyone does it.” If you expect nothing, you will get nothing.

Do not hand your voice to the loudest warrior simply because he is swinging a bat at the establishment. You do not beat corruption by joining a different version of it. You beat it by modeling the country you want to preserve: principled, accountable, rooted in truth.

Adam Gray / Stringer | Getty Images

Every republic reaches a moment when historians will later say, “That was the warning.” We are living in ours. But warnings are gifts if they are recognized. Institutions bend. People fail. The Constitution can recover — if enough Americans still know and cherish it.

It does not take a majority. Twenty percent of the country — awake, educated, and courageous — can reset the system. It has happened before. It can happen again.

Wake up. Stand up. Demand integrity — from leaders, from institutions, and from yourself. Because the Bubba effect will not end until Americans reclaim the duty that has always belonged to them: preserving the republic for the next generation.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

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.