WATCH: Cyprus a global "shark bump"

Updated 3/20:

Hello, America, and welcome to The Glenn Beck Program and to TheBlaze. This is the network that you are building, and dare I say the only network surprisingly bold enough to bring you the stories that are important, so important that the mainstream media has missed or I believe chosen to ignore, and they mean something to you. In the next 30 minutes, you’re going to learn things about the U.N. and their new arms treaty that you’re not going to hear anyplace else on television.

First, let me give you a quick update, the president is on the ground now in Israel. No word if he has found any really expensive golf courses yet, but we’ll keep you up to speed on that. Let me also give you the latest on the global economic meltdown, at least the one that is coming. Maybe this is the beginning of it. Let’s go Cyprus where we were yesterday. They have rejected the Euro Zone’s bailout offer.

This bailout came with a condition. The people of Cyprus were going to lose part of their savings accounts. Anything that you had in the bank, you were going to be taxed anywhere from 6% to 10%. I love that. Hey, everybody, we’re not going to tell you about it. We’re just going to take money from your account. We’re not stealing. Well, I mean, we’re not stealing as much from you as we are the rich guy. Cool, right?

The banks are remaining closed until Thursday over fears that there might be a run on the bank. Gee, you think there might be a run on the bank? No. What will likely happen is that the largest banks will now fail, and the country will go bankrupt. Uh oh, that sounds like an emergency, a crisis. And the people of Cyprus will now be left looking for a strongman, somebody that can fix this problem because there will be no other way out. Yet, there is a solution, and I’ll tell you about in the minute. And I bet you they don’t take it.

Here’s what’s really happening – the politicians in Europe are farther ahead in the decay scale than we are here. We don’t trust our politicians at all; however, we’re not at the point the rest of Europe is at yet. The politicians have so discredited themselves here, but over in Europe, it’s happened for so long that the newly elected President of Cyprus can actually promise one thing and then three weeks later do exactly the opposite when it comes to your bank account and think he can get away with it. Hmm, I don’t think so.

See, this is what this really means – the politicians know they no longer have any clout. They no longer have any possibility that they can change people’s minds. They know that they can’t stand up in front of people and say, Hey we’ve got a do this. They have no chance of turning the tide of public opinion because there is zero credibility left in the tank for the politicians and the banks and everybody else.

This is the beginning of two things, two things globally. One, Totalitarianism. Totalitarianism, when the people are so far away from the politicians or the politicians are so far away from the people, and there is an emergency, and there’s nobody with an answer, it will be handled by a strongman and in that part of the world probably the Nazis. I can’t believe that we were mocked so much for talking about how the Nazis were going to come back and be a part of our lives again, and here they are. They’re going to need a strongman, and it will happen.

The other thing that is happening here is this is a shark bump. It’s a global shark bump. Cyprus is just kind of like the little Petri dish. It’s the first to get it. We’ve talked about shark bumps before on this program. Sometimes sharks will bump a potential meal before attacking, they just kind of rub into it to see if it’s going to fight back. I believe that’s exactly what is happening with the EU. Will the people rise up and fight back? How do we handle this?

Cass Sunstein wrote a book called Nudge. The premise is that individuals are incapable of making any kind of correct choices so they need to be nudged into the right choice. Well, as it turns out, it’s weird, people don’t like to be nudged, so they resist, and eventually a nudge has to turn into a shove. We’ve talked about this many times in the past. Europeans have been nudged enough, and now they’re about to be shoved in a big way.

So why does this matter to you? Who cares if a few skinny-jeans wearing, you know, Europeans get tossed around by big government, right? Because this is a global shark bump because we are all in this one together. We’re just the last in the boat, but we are the biggest fish that will come into the boat.

Let me start here. The radicals in our own government are very interested observers, watching very closely how the people of Europe respond to this Cyprus offer. What are they going to do? What can the politicians do better next time? Cyprus is a teachable moment for all of the people that want to grab control of power, but it is also a teachable moment for us if we will just see it that way. It will explain a ton.

I think I asked you yesterday about guns. Has anybody asked why they’re limiting guns? Has anybody thought of that? Why are we limiting guns? And I told you last night it was Cyprus, but there is another thing. At the same time they’re limiting guns, they’ve got soda, too, that they’re limiting, and those things make sense, right? They’re limiting cigarettes, soda, trans fats, SUVs. That makes sense. These two make sense together, but then this one doesn’t.

At the same time, they want you to be able to smoke pot, all the pot you want, apparently. We showed you Mike Bloomberg yesterday, and he is going after everything except – watch this video – except for pot:

VIDEO

Mayor Bloomberg: Commissioner Kelly and I support Governor Cuomo’s proposal to make possession of small amounts of marijuana a violation rather than a misdemeanor and will work to help him pass it this year. But I’ll tell you, we aren’t going to wait for that to happen. Right now, those arrested for possessing small amounts of marijuana are often held in custody overnight. We’re changing that. Effective next month, anyone presenting an I.D. and clearing a warrant check…

Okay, stop. Do you have this? He’s got to go – today he’s going after cigarettes. He’s got to go in after soda. He’s got to do these things, but he thinks it’s a waste of time to go after pot. Isn’t that a health risk? If you believe that soda is a health risk, how is smoking pot – I don’t care about, let’s say the intoxication – the lungs, what it’s doing. He has to move cigarettes out of the way, but pot isn’t a problem. We’ll maybe it’s because we couldn’t afford it, because that’s kind of what the president said yesterday. The president has said we have bigger fish to fry than going after pot smokers. Watch:

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President Obama: As it is, you know, the federal government has a lot to do when it comes to criminal prosecutions. It does not make sense from a prioritization point of view for us to focus on recreational drug users in a state that has already said that under state law that’s legal.

This puts us into a constitutional crisis, and you would think a man who is a constitutional professor would know that. Now think of this, we have – let’s take him at his word – we have to prioritize things. So the man who made a big deal over free condoms at colleges, a man who spent his time lobbying to change the college football playoff system, doesn’t have the time to keep us out of a constitutional crisis. But don’t get lost there.

These two, these three, these two match; these three do not. Why is it these champions of manufacturing only healthy choices are not willing, they’re in favor of legalizing pot? Let me get back to this here in a second, and let me go over here. Why are Progressives trying so hard – I’m sorry, over here – trying to take away your guns, here and internationally? See, this is not about Sandy Hook, because in international terms, Sandy Hook was no big deal.

We know why we’re supposedly going through it is because of the shooter in Sandy Hook, but why is the U.N. arms treaty being pushed right now and going through? They’re working on it right now.

And then, why is the administration pushing so hard behind the scenes to absolutely, totally control your child’s education, the curriculum and every piece of access you as a parent have via Common Core? And in that educational system, they are teaching you about this, through here, they’re teaching you irrational fear of guns, a disdain for the Western way of life, how bad this is, but that one is popular still.

Why is Michael Bloomberg, the Mayor of New York City, injecting himself into a school board issue, as we told you last night, in New Orleans? This man is worried about who is elected to the Board of Education in New Orleans. He spent money on that race, when today we find out that 80% of those who graduate from high school in New York City are incapable of reading or writing or doing enough arithmetic to gain entrance to any level college – 80%. You would think if they don’t have time to bust the drug users, they wouldn’t have time to worry about cigarettes under the counter or education in another state.

The answer again, found in Cyprus. You see, before a strong-arm, a strongman, or totalitarian government can grab power, they have to try to make people really, really want it. You have to train the citizens to think that their best friend is government. To cement that idea in place for all time, you have to teach kids to distrust their parents and instead make government their mom and dad. Remember this:

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Al Gore: There are some things about our world that you know that older people don’t know.

Got it? Strip away the authority of mom and dad, and this has been done for years. Give kids the green light to whatever they want. I mean, you can’t have a soda. You can’t have chips. You can’t talk about God, but there are condoms and abortion pills in the vending machine in the hallway, and the health teacher is demonstrating the healthy ways for teenagers to engage in sexual promiscuity. This isn’t making sense, is it?

We also have to cut mom and dad off from viewing the curriculum at all, and then we’re going to call it “Common Core,” meaning the core of who we are that is common. The common core of their world view comes now from school and radicals, not those old people like mom and dad who, I mean, you just know better than they do. And then they have a curriculum that teaches how bad the Western way of life is and the free market is, especially if you’re just a greedy capitalist like Michael Bloomberg or George Soros. This is – if you were just a greedy capitalist, that’s bad in the curriculum, but there is a better way, working for everybody in a communist utopia, and that’s darn near exact from the textbook.

And then at the same time, you have to teach an irrational fear of guns, not a fear of guns, but an irrational fear of guns. You make kids afraid of assault Pop Tarts and pieces of scrap paper shaped like an L, and you call the police on that. Now, here’s the latest example. I want to show you a picture. This was posted. I saw this picture, and New Yorkers would say, Oh, he’s in camouflage with a gun! I saw that picture and I said, Look at the way he’s holding the gun. This kid’s been well trained. It is unnatural for a kid to grab onto a gun, for anybody to grab onto a gun without putting their finger in with the trigger. You have to be trained to hold a gun like that. This kid has been well schooled, most likely from his parents.

Well, according to his dad, merely posting this picture prompted an unannounced visit from the New Jersey Department of Youth, who were accompanied by police officers. The police officers did not have a warrant. They demanded entry into this home and access to the firearms. Dad said, You don’t have a warrant, beat it. I personally don’t think this is the end of this story. I instructed TheBlaze today to make sure they’re on top of it and inform the family that if anything happens in the future to know that they have a friend in TheBlaze. We will bring you up to speed. We will be a watchdog.

But you have to understand, you are no longer mom and dad. The government is now the new mom and dad, but your new mom and dad is dangerous. How? Let me take you back to Cyprus because remember, they’re ahead on this timeline. Since the bailout offer has now been rejected – okay the idea was, Hey, we’re going to prop up the banks that have been screwing all of us. We’re going to prop up the banks by taking 6 to 10% of everybody’s savings, or we’re all going to die. Oh, wow. So they said, No, we’re not going to do that.

Now, there is another offer on the table. Russia has an offer on the table, and they said, Hey look, Cyprus, we’ll pay for your bailout. You just let us explore in your water for oil or gas. But my guess is the dysfunctional mom and dad will not want a capitalist way out of this. They will not want to solve this problem. They need this problem. In fact, they’ve just made it worse. That’s great. You lost 10%, but now your banks are going to fail, so you’re going to feel the immediate pain, and the message of control is more important than a solution to the problem. With this vote, their banks will fail, and the country will be in chaos, but mom and dad will be happy behind closed doors, because mom and dad will tell you, We told you so.

And the chaos will cause the children to, look, mom, dad, come help. It’s what’s happening right now in a small way with our Easter egg hunts and our White House tours. Why do you think he’s cutting the Easter – they had a St. Patty’s day party, but they’re cutting the Easter egg hunt. Why? To irritate you. I mean, if they think that we’re going to rise up over an Easter egg hunt and say, enough, enough. But that’s what’s happening. The Easter egg hunt and the White House tours, that’s this Cyprus scenario, but Cyprus is at DEFCON 1.

That’s why you must educate yourself, and it is why they are not educating but indoctrinating. You have to indoctrinate to be able to control, but then you have to disarm. You have to disarm the adults, because when you come after their life savings, their blood, sweat, and tears, their entire life, you better reduce the odds for a successful civilian uprising. You have to train ’em. You have to train ’em, and you have to take their guns away, limit the guns. I mean, you can’t have a bunch of guns, right?

You limit the success of an uprising, limit it, but you need the uprising because you have the uprising allows a strongman to gain control. Look to Egypt for the prime example of this. By the way, in Cyprus, private citizens – we just looked this up about an hour ago – completely forbidden from owning handguns and rifles in any category, any caliber. They only are allowed to have shotguns, and those require a license. And they’re limited the two rounds. Joe Biden would fit right in.

So let’s go back to drugs, because drugs and soda and guns doesn’t make sense, unless you know history – the Weimar Republic, notorious for having extremely lenient drug laws. They infiltrated, discredited religion, and then they promoted reckless partying and promiscuity and drug use. People would get sauced up. They’d forget their problems in sex, booze, or bong. See, this is what stuck out to me. It’s interesting Progressives will go after a 16-ounce soda but not pot.

I mean, I understand if you’re a Libertarian, you might be for legalizing drugs because you think the drug war doesn’t work, and you think that, you know, there’s no necessarily inherent value in you taking the drug, but you believe you should have the right because they’re not your parent; you are. You control – maximum freedom, maximum liberty. I get that, but Progressives typically don’t believe that, or you’d be allowed to have Ho Hos and a soda.

Why would Soros favor lenient drug laws? Cyprus is the answer. Before government can come for your life savings, you’ve got to limit the guns, but if they’re going to take everything that you’ve worked for in your entire life, I mean, you’ve got to have a getaway car, you know. You have to have an escape car for the Progressives, for the Totalitarians. You have to be able to control the citizens, and you need to have them just a little blurry eyed so you can get away fast. It’s Oceans 11 times 16 trillion.

Here’s what makes, I think, TheBlaze unique. Have you seen anybody put these facts together like this at all on the air, at all? Are you hearing anybody talking about why guns and soda and drugs and education, and what does Cyprus really mean?

The most important move on guns in the history of the world, a move that would guarantee the world would fall into the hands of thieves, technocrats and dictators is afoot right now, and our government knows it, and our press knows it, and it’s happening in New York City right now. And I believe we’re the only network talking about it, and I’ll show it to you and finish this picture when we come back.

URGENT: FIVE steps to CONTROL AI before it's too late!

MANAURE QUINTERO / Contributor | Getty Images

By now, many of us are familiar with AI and its potential benefits and threats. However, unless you're a tech tycoon, it can feel like you have little influence over the future of artificial intelligence.

For years, Glenn has warned about the dangers of rapidly developing AI technologies that have taken the world by storm.

He acknowledges their significant benefits but emphasizes the need to establish proper boundaries and ethics now, while we still have control. But since most people aren’t Silicon Valley tech leaders making the decisions, how can they help keep AI in check?

Recently, Glenn interviewed Tristan Harris, a tech ethicist deeply concerned about the potential harm of unchecked AI, to discuss its societal implications. Harris highlighted a concerning new piece of legislation proposed by Texas Senator Ted Cruz. This legislation proposes a state-level moratorium on AI regulation, meaning only the federal government could regulate AI. Harris noted that there’s currently no Federal plan for regulating AI. Until the federal government establishes a plan, tech companies would have nearly free rein with their AI. And we all know how slowly the federal government moves.

This is where you come in. Tristan Harris shared with Glenn the top five actions you should urge your representatives to take regarding AI, including opposing the moratorium until a concrete plan is in place. Now is your chance to influence the future of AI. Contact your senator and congressman today and share these five crucial steps they must take to keep AI in check:

Ban engagement-optimized AI companions for kids

Create legislation that will prevent AI from being designed to maximize addiction, sexualization, flattery, and attachment disorders, and to protect young people’s mental health and ability to form real-life friendships.

Establish basic liability laws

Companies need to be held accountable when their products cause real-world harm.

Pass increased whistleblower protections

Protect concerned technologists working inside the AI labs from facing untenable pressures and threats that prevent them from warning the public when the AI rollout is unsafe or crosses dangerous red lines.

Prevent AI from having legal rights

Enact laws so AIs don’t have protected speech or have their own bank accounts, making sure our legal system works for human interests over AI interests.

Oppose the state moratorium on AI 

Call your congressman or Senator Cruz’s office, and demand they oppose the state moratorium on AI without a plan for how we will set guardrails for this technology.

Glenn: Only Trump dared to deliver on decades of empty promises

Tasos Katopodis / Stringer | Getty Images

The Islamic regime has been killing Americans since 1979. Now Trump’s response proves we’re no longer playing defense — we’re finally hitting back.

The United States has taken direct military action against Iran’s nuclear program. Whatever you think of the strike, it’s over. It’s happened. And now, we have to predict what happens next. I want to help you understand the gravity of this situation: what happened, what it means, and what might come next. To that end, we need to begin with a little history.

Since 1979, Iran has been at war with us — even if we refused to call it that.

We are either on the verge of a remarkable strategic victory or a devastating global escalation. Time will tell.

It began with the hostage crisis, when 66 Americans were seized and 52 were held for over a year by the radical Islamic regime. Four years later, 17 more Americans were murdered in the U.S. Embassy bombing in Beirut, followed by 241 Marines in the Beirut barracks bombing.

Then came the Khobar Towers bombing in 1996, which killed 19 more U.S. airmen. Iran had its fingerprints all over it.

In Iraq and Afghanistan, Iranian-backed proxies killed hundreds of American soldiers. From 2001 to 2020 in Afghanistan and 2003 to 2011 in Iraq, Iran supplied IEDs and tactical support.

The Iranians have plotted assassinations and kidnappings on U.S. soil — in 2011, 2021, and again in 2024 — and yet we’ve never really responded.

The precedent for U.S. retaliation has always been present, but no president has chosen to pull the trigger until this past weekend. President Donald Trump struck decisively. And what our military pulled off this weekend was nothing short of extraordinary.

Operation Midnight Hammer

The strike was reportedly called Operation Midnight Hammer. It involved as many as 175 U.S. aircraft, including 12 B-2 stealth bombers — out of just 19 in our entire arsenal. Those bombers are among the most complex machines in the world, and they were kept mission-ready by some of the finest mechanics on the planet.

USAF / Handout | Getty Images

To throw off Iranian radar and intelligence, some bombers flew west toward Guam — classic misdirection. The rest flew east, toward the real targets.

As the B-2s approached Iranian airspace, U.S. submarines launched dozens of Tomahawk missiles at Iran’s fortified nuclear facilities. Minutes later, the bombers dropped 14 MOPs — massive ordnance penetrators — each designed to drill deep into the earth and destroy underground bunkers. These bombs are the size of an F-16 and cost millions of dollars apiece. They are so accurate, I’ve been told they can hit the top of a soda can from 15,000 feet.

They were built for this mission — and we’ve been rehearsing this run for 15 years.

If the satellite imagery is accurate — and if what my sources tell me is true — the targeted nuclear sites were utterly destroyed. We’ll likely rely on the Israelis to confirm that on the ground.

This was a master class in strategy, execution, and deterrence. And it proved that only the United States could carry out a strike like this. I am very proud of our military, what we are capable of doing, and what we can accomplish.

What comes next

We don’t yet know how Iran will respond, but many of the possibilities are troubling. The Iranians could target U.S. forces across the Middle East. On Monday, Tehran launched 20 missiles at U.S. bases in Qatar, Syria, and Kuwait, to no effect. God forbid, they could also unleash Hezbollah or other terrorist proxies to strike here at home — and they just might.

Iran has also threatened to shut down the Strait of Hormuz — the artery through which nearly a fifth of the world’s oil flows. On Sunday, Iran’s parliament voted to begin the process. If the Supreme Council and the ayatollah give the go-ahead, we could see oil prices spike to $150 or even $200 a barrel.

That would be catastrophic.

The 2008 financial collapse was pushed over the edge when oil hit $130. Western economies — including ours — simply cannot sustain oil above $120 for long. If this conflict escalates and the Strait is closed, the global economy could unravel.

The strike also raises questions about regime stability. Will it spark an uprising, or will the Islamic regime respond with a brutal crackdown on dissidents?

Early signs aren’t hopeful. Reports suggest hundreds of arrests over the weekend and at least one dissident executed on charges of spying for Israel. The regime’s infamous morality police, the Gasht-e Ershad, are back on the streets. Every phone, every vehicle — monitored. The U.S. embassy in Qatar issued a shelter-in-place warning for Americans.

Russia and China both condemned the strike. On Monday, a senior Iranian official flew to Moscow to meet with Vladimir Putin. That meeting should alarm anyone paying attention. Their alliance continues to deepen — and that’s a serious concern.

Now we pray

We are either on the verge of a remarkable strategic victory or a devastating global escalation. Time will tell. But either way, President Trump didn’t start this. He inherited it — and he took decisive action.

The difference is, he did what they all said they would do. He didn’t send pallets of cash in the dead of night. He didn’t sign another failed treaty.

He acted. Now, we pray. For peace, for wisdom, and for the strength to meet whatever comes next.


This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Globalize the Intifada? Why Mamdani’s plan spells DOOM for America

Bloomberg / Contributor | Getty Images

If New Yorkers hand City Hall to Zohran Mamdani, they’re not voting for change. They’re opening the door to an alliance of socialism, Islamism, and chaos.

It only took 25 years for New York City to go from the resilient, flag-waving pride following the 9/11 attacks to a political fever dream. To quote Michael Malice, “I'm old enough to remember when New Yorkers endured 9/11 instead of voting for it.”

Malice is talking about Zohran Mamdani, a Democratic Socialist assemblyman from Queens now eyeing the mayor’s office. Mamdani, a 33-year-old state representative emerging from relative political obscurity, is now receiving substantial funding for his mayoral campaign from the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

CAIR has a long and concerning history, including being born out of the Muslim Brotherhood and named an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation terror funding case. Why would the group have dropped $100,000 into a PAC backing Mamdani’s campaign?

Mamdani blends political Islam with Marxist economics — two ideologies that have left tens of millions dead in the 20th century alone.

Perhaps CAIR has a vested interest in Mamdani’s call to “globalize the intifada.” That’s not a call for peaceful protest. Intifada refers to historic uprisings of Muslims against what they call the “Israeli occupation of Palestine.” Suicide bombings and street violence are part of the playbook. So when Mamdani says he wants to “globalize” that, who exactly is the enemy in this global scenario? Because it sure sounds like he's saying America is the new Israel, and anyone who supports Western democracy is the new Zionist.

Mamdani tried to clean up his language by citing the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, which once used “intifada” in an Arabic-language article to describe the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. So now he’s comparing Palestinians to Jewish victims of the Nazis? If that doesn’t twist your stomach into knots, you’re not paying attention.

If you’re “globalizing” an intifada, and positioning Israel — and now America — as the Nazis, that’s not a cry for human rights. That’s a call for chaos and violence.

Rising Islamism

But hey, this is New York. Faculty members at Columbia University — where Mamdani’s own father once worked — signed a letter defending students who supported Hamas after October 7. They also contributed to Mamdani’s mayoral campaign. And his father? He blamed Ronald Reagan and the religious right for inspiring Islamic terrorism, as if the roots of 9/11 grew in Washington, not the caves of Tora Bora.

Bloomberg / Contributor | Getty Images

This isn’t about Islam as a faith. We should distinguish between Islam and Islamism. Islam is a religion followed peacefully by millions. Islamism is something entirely different — an ideology that seeks to merge mosque and state, impose Sharia law, and destroy secular liberal democracies from within. Islamism isn’t about prayer and fasting. It’s about power.

Criticizing Islamism is not Islamophobia. It is not an attack on peaceful Muslims. In fact, Muslims are often its first victims.

Islamism is misogynistic, theocratic, violent, and supremacist. It’s hostile to free speech, religious pluralism, gay rights, secularism — even to moderate Muslims. Yet somehow, the progressive left — the same left that claims to fight for feminism, LGBTQ rights, and free expression — finds itself defending candidates like Mamdani. You can’t make this stuff up.

Blending the worst ideologies

And if that weren’t enough, Mamdani also identifies as a Democratic Socialist. He blends political Islam with Marxist economics — two ideologies that have left tens of millions dead in the 20th century alone. But don’t worry, New York. I’m sure this time socialism will totally work. Just like it always didn’t.

If you’re a business owner, a parent, a person who’s saved anything, or just someone who values sanity: Get out. I’m serious. If Mamdani becomes mayor, as seems likely, then New York City will become a case study in what happens when you marry ideological extremism with political power. And it won’t be pretty.

This is about more than one mayoral race. It’s about the future of Western liberalism. It’s about drawing a bright line between faith and fanaticism, between healthy pluralism and authoritarian dogma.

Call out radicalism

We must call out political Islam the same way we call out white nationalism or any other supremacist ideology. When someone chants “globalize the intifada,” that should send a chill down your spine — whether you’re Jewish, Christian, Muslim, atheist, or anything in between.

The left may try to shame you into silence with words like “Islamophobia,” but the record is worn out. The grooves are shallow. The American people see what’s happening. And we’re not buying it.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Could China OWN our National Parks?

Jonathan Newton / Contributor | Getty Images

The left’s idea of stewardship involves bulldozing bison and barring access. Lee’s vision puts conservation back in the hands of the people.

The media wants you to believe that Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) is trying to bulldoze Yellowstone and turn national parks into strip malls — that he’s calling for a reckless fire sale of America’s natural beauty to line developers’ pockets. That narrative is dishonest. It’s fearmongering, and, by the way, it’s wrong.

Here’s what’s really happening.

Private stewardship works. It’s local. It’s accountable. It’s incentivized.

The federal government currently owns 640 million acres of land — nearly 28% of all land in the United States. To put that into perspective, that’s more territory than France, Germany, Poland, and the United Kingdom combined.

Most of this land is west of the Mississippi River. That’s not a coincidence. In the American West, federal ownership isn’t just a bureaucratic technicality — it’s a stranglehold. States are suffocated. Locals are treated as tenants. Opportunities are choked off.

Meanwhile, people living east of the Mississippi — in places like Kentucky, Georgia, or Pennsylvania — might not even realize how little land their own states truly control. But the same policies that are plaguing the West could come for them next.

Lee isn’t proposing to auction off Yellowstone or pave over Yosemite. He’s talking about 3 million acres — that’s less than half of 1% of the federal estate. And this land isn’t your family’s favorite hiking trail. It’s remote, hard to access, and often mismanaged.

Failed management

Why was it mismanaged in the first place? Because the federal government is a terrible landlord.

Consider Yellowstone again. It’s home to the last remaining herd of genetically pure American bison — animals that haven’t been crossbred with cattle. Ranchers, myself included, would love the chance to help restore these majestic creatures on private land. But the federal government won’t allow it.

So what do they do when the herd gets too big?

They kill them. Bulldoze them into mass graves. That’s not conservation. That’s bureaucratic malpractice.

And don’t even get me started on bald eagles — majestic symbols of American freedom and a federally protected endangered species, now regularly slaughtered by wind turbines. I have pictures of piles of dead bald eagles. Where’s the outrage?

Biden’s federal land-grab

Some argue that states can’t afford to manage this land themselves. But if the states can’t afford it, how can Washington? We’re $35 trillion in debt. Entitlements are strained, infrastructure is crumbling, and the Bureau of Land Management, Forest Service, and National Park Service are billions of dollars behind in basic maintenance. Roads, firebreaks, and trails are falling apart.

The Biden administration quietly embraced something called the “30 by 30” initiative, a plan to lock up 30% of all U.S. land and water under federal “conservation” by 2030. The real goal is 50% by 2050.

That entails half of the country being taken away from you, controlled not by the people who live there but by technocrats in D.C.

You think that won’t affect your ability to hunt, fish, graze cattle, or cut timber? Think again. It won’t be conservatives who stop you from building a cabin, raising cattle, or teaching your grandkids how to shoot a rifle. It’ll be the same radical environmentalists who treat land as sacred — unless it’s your truck, your deer stand, or your back yard.

Land as collateral

Moreover, the U.S. Treasury is considering putting federally owned land on the national balance sheet, listing your parks, forests, and hunting grounds as collateral.

What happens if America defaults on its debt?

David McNew / Stringer | Getty Images

Do you think our creditors won’t come calling? Imagine explaining to your kids that the lake you used to fish in is now under foreign ownership, that the forest you hunted in belongs to China.

This is not hypothetical. This is the logical conclusion of treating land like a piggy bank.

The American way

There’s a better way — and it’s the American way.

Let the people who live near the land steward it. Let ranchers, farmers, sportsmen, and local conservationists do what they’ve done for generations.

Did you know that 75% of America’s wetlands are on private land? Or that the most successful wildlife recoveries — whitetail deer, ducks, wild turkeys — didn’t come from Washington but from partnerships between private landowners and groups like Ducks Unlimited?

Private stewardship works. It’s local. It’s accountable. It’s incentivized. When you break it, you fix it. When you profit from the land, you protect it.

This is not about selling out. It’s about buying in — to freedom, to responsibility, to the principle of constitutional self-governance.

So when you hear the pundits cry foul over 3 million acres of federal land, remember: We don’t need Washington to protect our land. We need Washington to get out of the way.

Because this isn’t just about land. It’s about liberty. And once liberty is lost, it doesn’t come back easily.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.