Glenn opened the radio program this morning with his theory on why socialism seems to have a growing appeal in America today. The founding principles of the United States of America were based in liberty and self-reliance, but the mentality of “they have it. I don’t have it. I want it. Go get ‘em” replace the ideals of individual responsibility far too often. Why? The simple answer, as Glenn sees it, stems from fear.
“It's because Americans have given up on themselves and their ability to succeed. We don't believe anymore that we are exceptional,” Glenn explained. “And you know what? In some ways, the President is right. We're not exceptional. We're really not. People are people, and they can choose to be exceptional or not. We as a nation chose to be exceptional, and the only thing that made us exceptional was that we, as a group of people, decided to go a different way. That's what made us exceptional – not that we were born any different, not that we have anything special that nobody else has.”
If American exceptionalism was a conscious decision made by the American people, what has changed?
“Why is America failing? America is failing right now because we have chosen to go the way the rest of the world has always gone,” Glenn said. “We have everything we need. We just have to choose it. And what does make us different is that we used to have an understanding of this. We used to have a real innate understanding and one that wasn't just bred into us… It was something in the head and in the heart. We believed that we could build it – we did build it before and we could build it again.”
Glenn explained his favorite thing to do in New York City is people-watch, and during his most recent trip to the city, he noticed two distinct things about the people he observed.
“When you watch them, you will see two things: One, there's a lot of hope if, two, people lose their negativity. Most people are looking down. They're not looking forward because they're convinced that they can't make it on their own,” he explained. “They've been brainwashed – some by outside sources and some by inside sources – brainwashed that you can't make it. And that leads to fear. That's really what it is. It's just this simple: Fear.”
On tonight’s Glenn Beck Program, Srinivas Rao, author of The Art of Being Unmistakable, will join Glenn to talk about the importance of overcoming this fear. Glenn discovered the book, currently only available for the Kindle, several weeks ago, and he is confident that Srinivas’s theory “is the future.”
“I've never met him before. I don't know him from Adam. His father was a college professor. He went to I think Berkeley… and then he went and got other degrees and just kept going and going and going. He found his life completely empty and without meaning. And so he lost his job and was like, ‘You know what? I'm going to surf. I want to learn how to surf. I've always wanted to be a surfer. I'm going to learn how to surf. And then after the tide changes, I will go and I'll put on a suit, and I'll change in my car, and I'll go and see if I can get a job someplace.’ But in that time period, he learned who he really was.”
Glenn explained that the book tackles the theme of overcoming fears – fear of failure, fear of being misunderstood, fear of being wrong – as to show the importance of following one’s own path and writing one’s own story.
“It's fear of failure. It's fear of what other people think. It's fear of being wrong… The biggest fear of all: That I will be alone,” Glenn said of the book. “But there's two sides to that coin: There's faith and there's fear. Faith teaches us you're never, ever, ever alone. Fear begets more fear, and the ultimate fear of being alone… We are all born, we are all created, equal. What does that mean… In other words, we are all a blank canvas. We're all a blank piece of paper, a blank page.”
Most people can wrap their heads around the idea of their life being a blank page, but can we wrap our mind around the idea that each and every day is a blank page? And if every day is a blank page, who is writing on those pages – is it you; is it your parents; is the government?
“Every day you open up your eyes, you can either start over again or you can continue writing on a page that you disagree with… And so you either continue writing it, or even worse, you have somebody else write it for you,” Glenn explained. “You can do it if you want. You can have your parents write it for you… You can let your boss write it… Who's writing on your page? Many people want the government to write it now… But how can the government write it? How can anybody else write it? They don't even know you. The story that anybody else will write for you is the one that pleases them, the one that will make them feel good, at your expense, one that will serve their needs, not yours.”
As the light rises on every day, you are given a choice: You can write your own story. You can write a bold adventure that will be told for generations to come… You can tell a story that is filled with lessons and learning and joy and pain. Or you can let somebody else write it for you. But I'm telling you now, it will be an etching, it will be a pencil line drawing. It will have no color in it,” he continued. “And I promise you, just when you feel like quitting, just when you feel that maybe you’re going to let somebody else write the story, I promise you that is the point when you're about to do the most amazing work of your life. I don't know if you've already started writing your story today. Write a new one. Start with a blank page. It is your choice. It is your life and no one else's. Find your story, and maybe someday somebody like me will be lucky enough to tell it to others.”
You can watch Glenn's interview with Srinivas Rao tonight at 5pm ET only on TheBlaze TV. Not a subscriber? Start your 14-day free trial HERE.
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