Have we lost control of our country?

On Tuesday, the coroner’s office officially determined Robin Williams’ cause of death to be suicide. If you happened to catch any of the media coverage in the aftermath of the report, it was an overload of sensational speculation. Meanwhile, Jesse Jackson is writing op-eds for USA Today about how “there’s a ‘Ferguson’ near you,” and ISIS is threatening to divide America and take over the White House.

On radio this morning, Glenn was in a somber mood as he ran through the news of the day. The current state of the media and culture led Glenn to question whether “we’re in control of our country” anymore. Furthermore, are we, as Americans, working toward the same goals? Glenn played the Millennial Choir and Orchestra’s rendition of “America the Beautiful” from their album To Be American as he prayed for unity.

Below is an edited transcript of the monologue:

I want to talk to you about who we are today and if we feel like we're in control of our own lives. Do we feel like we're in control of our own families? Do we feel like we're in control of our own country even? And when I say ‘in control’ – are we working toward the same goals anymore? Are we working toward a country we understand anymore?

I see Jesse Jackson saying, ‘There's a Ferguson, Missouri near you,’ and nobody is really speaking out and saying, ‘What is this insanity?’ We all want justice. We all want to make sure that our cops aren't shooting people, but what is this where we're burning down our own towns? Where is justice when you're looting somebody who's just fighting for their life in the same way you are. They're trying to make ends meet.

We have a 12-year-old kid who's now on tape as part of ISIS saying, ‘We're coming over and we're going to divide America in two.’ Well, a mission accomplished. Abraham Lincoln told us we don’t have to worry about the outside. We're too great of a nation. We're too strong of a people. If we're going to destroy ourselves, if we're ever going to be destroyed, it will come from within.

What unites us? What brings us together?

Thinking out loud here, I was proud of us for about three hours for the way we all came together on Robin Williams' death. I thought, here's the America I know. It didn't matter what his political position was in life. It didn't matter who our friends or our neighbors voted for or anything else. We all were hurting yesterday because a guy who made us feel good, a guy who we could kind of relate to because he just made us laugh at ourselves died.

But that spiraled out of control. I am disgusted by the media. They go and cover the coroner. What difference does it make how he did it? Why do I have to know what position he was in? Why? Why do I have to know that? How does that better my life? How does that change my life? How does that change the story? How does it do anything but assault the family and assault his memory? And then you self-righteous media people who are reporting on it: You're carrying the damn thing live and then you come back and report on how many people are outraged that the coroner had the gall to say those things. You carried it live! Is there no decency?

I played a song in my office this morning at 6:00am. And it was a song that was recorded by a group we've told you about before, the Millennial Choir and Orchestra. I talked to this amazing choir about two years ago and I said, ‘Could you reset some of the songs that we all grew up with?’ And I put this CD on this morning and as I was reviewing all of the news, I just listened.

(music playing)

I listened to the words that we use used to all sing when we were kids but never really listened to.

(music playing)

We grew up in a different time, in a world that made sense. We would sing this in our school assemblies. I don't even know if it made sense to us when we were kids. We were in the Cold War. We were burning cities down in the 1960s. But at least, in those days, man was trying to reach beyond the primordial slime and reach to the heavens, reach to the moon. There was something great to aspire to. Is there something to aspire to together today?

(music playing)

‘America, may God mend thine every flaw. May God confirm thy soul in self-control, thy liberty in law.’ Think of that. Liberty in law is self-control. Where is that in St. Louis? Where is that in Washington D.C. or our newsrooms or in our own homes?

(music playing)

And in that line is the answer: ‘When all success is nobleness and every gain divine.’ When we become those heroes again ‘who more than self our country love and mercy more than life,’ we will make it. If we see beyond our years and reset to something far greater than we even see today and we see the brotherhood that unites us all.

(music playing)

We as people have such great potential. Historians years from now will look back and they will judge whether we lived up to our potential or we squandered this profound opportunity.

(music playing)

Let it be written of us that more than self our country love and mercy more than life.

(music playing)

From sea to shining sea, I greet you. Hello, brother. Hello, sister. Americans all.

Front page image courtesy of the AP

The West is dying—Will we let enemies write our ending?

Harvey Meston / Staff | Getty Images

The blood of martyrs, prophets, poets, and soldiers built our civilization. Their sacrifice demands courage in the present to preserve it.

Lamentations asks, “Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by?”

That question has been weighing on me heavily. Not just as a broadcaster, but as a citizen, a father, a husband, a believer. It is a question that every person who cares about this nation, this culture, and this civilization must confront: Is all of this worth saving?

We have squandered this inheritance. We forgot who we were — and our enemies are eager to write our ending.

Western civilization — a project born in Judea, refined in Athens, tested in Rome, reawakened in Wittenberg, and baptized again on the shores of Plymouth Rock — is a gift. We didn’t earn it. We didn’t purchase it. We were handed it. And now, we must ask ourselves: Do we even want it?

Across Europe, streets are restless. Not merely with protests, but with ancient, festering hatred — the kind that once marched under swastikas and fueled ovens. Today, it marches under banners of peace while chanting calls for genocide. Violence and division crack societies open. Here in America, it’s left against right, flesh against spirit, neighbor against neighbor.

Truth struggles to find a home. Even the church is slumbering — or worse, collaborating.

Our society tells us that everything must be reset: tradition, marriage, gender, faith, even love. The only sin left is believing in absolute truth. Screens replace Scripture. Entertainment replaces education. Pleasure replaces purpose. Our children are confused, medicated, addicted, fatherless, suicidal. Universities mock virtue. Congress is indifferent. Media programs rather than informs. Schools recondition rather than educate.

Is this worth saving? If not, we should stop fighting and throw up our hands. But if it is, then we must act — and we must act now.

The West: An idea worth saving

What is the West? It’s not a location, race, flag, or a particular constitution. The West is an idea — an idea that man is made in the image of God, that liberty comes from responsibility, not government; that truth exists; that evil exists; and that courage is required every day. The West teaches that education, reason, and revelation walk hand in hand. Beauty matters. Kindness matters. Empathy matters. Sacrifice is holy. Justice is blind. Mercy is near.

We have squandered this inheritance. We forgot who we were — and our enemies are eager to write our ending.

If not now, when? If not us, who? If this is worth saving, we must know why. Western civilization is worth dying for, worth living for, worth defending. It was built on the blood of martyrs, prophets, poets, pilgrims, moms, dads, and soldiers. They did not die for markets, pronouns, surveillance, or currency. They died for something higher, something bigger.

MATTHIEU RONDEL/AFP via Getty Images | Getty Images

Yet hope remains. Resurrection is real — not only in the tomb outside Jerusalem, but in the bones of any individual or group that returns to truth, honor, and God. It is never too late to return to family, community, accountability, and responsibility.

Pick up your torch

We were chosen for this time. We were made for a moment like this. The events unfolding in Europe and South Korea, the unrest and moral collapse, will all come down to us. Somewhere inside, we know we were called to carry this fire.

We are not called to win. We are called to stand. To hold the torch. To ask ourselves, every day: Is it worth standing? Is it worth saving?

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. Pick up your torch. If you choose to carry it, buckle up. The work is only beginning.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Stop coasting: How self-education can save America’s future

Joe Raedle / Staff | Getty Images

Coasting through life is no longer an option. Charlie Kirk’s pursuit of knowledge challenges all of us to learn, act, and grow every day.

Last year, my wife and I made a commitment: to stop coasting, to learn something new every day, and to grow — not just spiritually, but intellectually. Charlie Kirk’s tragic death crystallized that resolve. It forced a hard look in the mirror, revealing how much I had coasted in both my spiritual and educational life. Coasting implies going downhill. You can’t coast uphill.

Last night, my wife and I re-engaged. We enrolled in Hillsdale College’s free online courses, inspired by the fact that Charlie had done the same. He had quietly completed around 30 courses before I even knew, mastering the classics, civics, and the foundations of liberty. Watching his relentless pursuit of knowledge reminded me that growth never stops, no matter your age.

The path forward must be reclaiming education, agency, and the power to shape our minds and futures.

This lesson is particularly urgent for two groups: young adults stepping into the world and those who may have settled into complacency. Learning is life. Stop learning, and you start dying. To young adults, especially, the college promise has become a trap. Twelve years of K-12 education now leave graduates unprepared for life. Only 35% of seniors are proficient in reading, and just 22% in math. They are asked to bet $100,000 or more for four years of college that will often leave them underemployed and deeply indebted.

Degrees in many “new” fields now carry negative returns. Parents who have already sacrificed for public education find themselves on the hook again, paying for a system that often fails to deliver.

This is one of the reasons why Charlie often described college as a “scam.” Debt accumulates, wages are not what students were promised, doors remain closed, and many are tempted to throw more time and money after a system that won’t yield results. Graduate school, in many cases, compounds the problem. The education system has become a factory of despair, teaching cynicism rather than knowledge and virtue.

Reclaiming educational agency

Yet the solution is not radical revolt against education — it is empowerment to reclaim agency over one’s education. Independent learning, self-guided study, and disciplined curiosity are the modern “Napster moment.” Just as Napster broke the old record industry by digitizing music, the internet has placed knowledge directly in the hands of the individual. Artists like Taylor Swift now thrive outside traditional gatekeepers. Likewise, students and lifelong learners can reclaim intellectual freedom outside of the ivory towers.

Each individual possesses the ability to think, create, and act. This is the power God grants to every human being. Knowledge, faith, and personal responsibility are inseparable. Learning is not a commodity to buy with tuition; it is a birthright to claim with effort.

David Butow / Contributor | Getty Images

Charlie Kirk’s life reminds us that self-education is an act of defiance and empowerment. In his pursuit of knowledge, in his engagement with civics and philosophy, he exemplified the principle that liberty depends on informed, capable citizens. We honor him best by taking up that mantle — by learning relentlessly, thinking critically, and refusing to surrender our minds to a system that profits from ignorance.

The path forward must be reclaiming education, agency, and the power to shape our minds and futures. Every day, seek to grow, create, and act. Charlie showed the way. It is now our responsibility to follow.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Glenn Beck joins TPUSA tour to honor Charlie Kirk

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If they thought the murder of Charlie Kirk would scare us into silence, they were wrong!

If anything, Turning Point will hit the road louder than ever. On Monday, September 22, less than two weeks after the assassination, Charlie's friends united under the Turning Point USA banner to carry his torch and honor his legacy by doing what he did best: bringing honest and truthful debate to Universities across the nation.

Naturally, Glenn has rallied to the cause and has accepted an invitation to join the TPUSA tour at the University of North Dakota on October 9th.

Want to join Glenn at the University of North Dakota to honor Charlie Kirk and keep his mission alive? Click HERE to sign up or find more information.

Glenn's daughter honors Charlie Kirk with emotional tribute song

MELISSA MAJCHRZAK / Contributor | Getty Images

On September 17th, Glenn commemorated his late friend Charlie Kirk by hosting The Charlie Kirk Show Podcast, where he celebrated and remembered the life of a remarkable young man.

During the broadcast, Glenn shared an emotional new song performed by his daughter, Cheyenne, who was standing only feet away from Charlie when he was assassinated. The song, titled "We Are One," has been dedicated to Charlie Kirk as a tribute and was written and co-performed by David Osmond, son of Alan Osmond, founding member of The Osmonds.

Glenn first asked David Osmond to write "We Are One" in 2018, as he predicted that dark days were on the horizon, but he never imagined that it would be sung by his daughter in honor of Charlie Kirk. The Lord works in mysterious ways; could there have been a more fitting song to honor such a brave man?

"We Are One" is available for download or listening on Spotify HERE