Marysville dad speaks about school shooting and the thing Glenn Beck did to change him

Glenn spoke with a dad from Marysville on radio today, in the wake of a deadly school shooting at the high school there. Lance Van Winkle’s daughter texted him as she hid under a desk, reporting that her friend was shot in the head, suddenly something changed in Lance. He explained on radio today.

WATCH:

Read a rough transcript of the segment below:

GLENN: On Sunday night, right before I turn off the lights, I wrote this on Facebook. I just said my prayers with the kids and tucked them in. Rarely do I remember my prayers with my family being so pleading. For me, the family, those in our military, those in our government, our neighbors, and all those around the world who have never even known hope. Please, Lord, help us. Please help us. I don't need or want any special favors. I don't need my prayers answered my way. Just please, please give us the strength to find joy and to find you in whatever is coming. We have endured many things, but hope to endure all things. And with you, we can and will.

I spent the weekend working on a series of episodes that are going to air on -- beginning November 10th. I'm writing every word of these episodes myself as it is really important to get this right because this is a very personal message from me and from my family. And something that has been coming for five years, but I haven't been able to share it. Haven't been willing to share it. And I didn't know exactly what it was going to mean for our relationship. And where, you know -- what we were going to do.

But because of our relationship, now comes the time that I need to share. And that episode is happening on November 10th on television.

But I wrote on Facebook after I had finished writing some more of those episodes, I wrote: You don't know how much you mean to me and how much you lift my family.

This afternoon, my daughter Hannah had her in-laws -- they were in town. They're so great. They asked us if we would go with them to the air show to see the thunderbirds. So we did.

When I got in, a woman and her son stopped me right at the gate at the air show and said, Glenn Beck, we're such huge fans.

Just that simple kindness brightened my day. She told me that her husband happened to work for the thunderbirds or work with the thunderbirds, and she invited us to go and meet and greet them. It was a thrill for me and the kids.

What happened however was a mini miracle for me. So many things had been verified and answered this weekend. I had been struggling with a few things and wondering what we are to do. Wondering if what we have done in the past has even mattered or if it's just in our heads. We all have jobs to do. How much do each of our jobs actually mean.

This woman told me about how she had volunteered for Restoring Honor, 8/28 in Washington, DC, how it changed her and her family. We spoke together with the jets rolling overhead with tears rolling down our faces about that day and the hope that we lived on and feasted on for so long. I think it's time to gather again.

What I have in my mind makes 8/28 look like a birthday party, but I would ask for you to pray and join me as I lay some ideas down at your feet soon.

But what I really want to tell you is I love you. And I really thank you for making my life so complete. We don't really have many friends. But it seems that no matter where we go, we're always surrounded by family.

I wrote that about 11 o'clock at night on Sunday. The next morning I get up and I see this from a guy named Lance Van Winkle.

Lance wrote and said, please, all of you, pray for us in Marysville, Washington. Glenn, I wish I could so sit and talk with you. I'm only one man, a man your recent reaffirming new direction has changed.

I'm moving away from divisiveness and moving towards God will. Your decision started me thinking the events in my town made me realize, it really is the only way. When my daughter called and then texted me and said she was under a desk hiding and that her friend had been shot in the head, I was really done. My son also goes to that high school. We didn't know where he was at. I was terrified.

I had the means to protect myself, and there was nothing I could do. I was utterly and totally helpless. I felt a little like I did in 9/11, except I had family and friends in the building. My kids were safe, but that tragedy made me think of Glenn and his solution. It's been there all along. Thy will, not mine be done. Pray all of you that you never have a day like we had in Marysville. Prayers and thoughts that those who have had that day, God bless you.

This has bothered -- not bothered me -- stuck with me since I read it. Early Monday morning. I thought of Lance last night as I was saying my prayers. We went to the football game here, the Redskins/Cowboys. It was about 11:30 by the time we got home. My son went upstairs to go to bed. Said our prayers. And Lance came to mind. He came to mind again this morning as I was saying my prayers. He said, I wish I could just sit and talk with you.

I asked Keith to get him on the phone. He's on the phone now.

Lance, how are you?

LANCE: I'm okay, Glenn. Good morning.

GLENN: How are things?

LANCE: Things are okay. It's just very emotional for me. And speaking to you and your audience, I never thought anything like this would happen. It was kind of funny. I was watching the game last night, and sorry about the deal, but I know that you were there. And I was thinking about you being there, and I almost mentioned it. I almost said, Glenn Beck is at that game. But everybody would have looked at me like, what? So I kept it to myself. But I was thinking of it there.

My kids are doing well. My daughter is kind of taking a leadership role. She took some friends to the Space Needle last night. She's trying to help as many people as she can. Just talking to them. Being with them. It's -- you know, everybody seems to be doing well. The community has totally blown me away with the support and what they're doing to help everybody get through this.

I saw a thing with the Seahawks praying for our students, and I just found out last night that Pete Carroll invited the Marysville-Pilchuck high school football team and also the Oak Harbor football team that were supposed to play Friday night down to an extended practice at the Seahawk facilities. And I've never witnessed anything like this so close. I've seen it, of course, like everybody has in other situations.

But it's -- it's a beautiful thing, you know.

GLENN: I will tell you: Lance, I don't know you keep coming to mind, but I'm glad we have this chance to talk. When I read your letter and you talked about how your daughter had called and then texted that she was under a desk, did she -- and I don't need to get into anything you don't want to discuss, but did she see her friend shot? How far away was she?

LANCE: No. She didn't, thank God. I know some kids -- this is a community that's grown a lot, but it's a small hometown field community.

GLENN: I grew up in Mount Vernon, which is not far away. So I group up in Mount Vernon, and we used to pass Marysville. And Marysville was just this small little town. I'm not surprised that the community is reacting this way, but maybe it's changed -- it had to have. It's been 30 years. But it used to be just a small little town where everybody would treat you right.

LANCE: It's -- you know, the stories are starting to come out, and Maria didn't see anything. She was out of the lunchroom. Of course, it's also came out that this was planned and premeditated, which is just horrific to me.

You know, the reservation, the Tulalip Indian reservation is right across Interstate 5 from us. And it's tied to the community, I mean, in a real deep way. I know a lot of Native Americans over there. It's -- we're always doing things together as a community and everything else.

And so when this happened, of course, it -- who knows what -- what people think. I hear a lot of things. I read a lot of things that are just awful. I know some kids that were there and saw it happen. They're remodeling the lunchroom. The school shut down for a week because I know several kids that would never go back in there again.

GLENN: I can't imagine.

LANCE: Yeah. And I don't know what to think. I don't have any answers for this. It just totally -- I'm just one guy in the community that feels the same way. Of course, we have families that lost loved ones. They're still in the hospital. My prayers go out for them, you know.

GLENN: So, Lance, help me out on this. You wrote: I'm just one man, a man your recent, reaffirming new direction has changed. I'm moving away from divisiveness and moving towards God's will. You wrote that when the tragedy happened, you thought of -- you thought of what we've been talking on the program. Can you tell me a little about that?

LANCE: Sure. I had been listening to you for some time. And, you know, I got to be careful. I don't want to go off on some weird rant. But I love the United States of America. I love our country. I feel it's being attacked from every which direction. Culture, language, borders, everything. But I -- and I've listened to your show.

I've enjoyed the controversies and the, you know, calling different sides out on the carpet. Whatever. The whole back and forth thing that goes on. And I've listened recently -- of course, it's well-known you've changed a direction. And it stopped me. I went, wow. And at first -- and I heard -- I mean, I heard while people thought -- were calling Glenn Beck, well, now he's a traitor and all this stuff, you know. And I just thought that that was a huge honorable thing to do in such a public life that you have. And to apologize and to -- I mean, it was just humble.

And so this was going on in the back of my mind. And I've had a lot of rants myself on Facebook sharing posts about this, that, the other thing.

GLENN: Right.

LANCE: And then this school thing happened. And I was sitting at my desk looking out the window of our office. I'm a real estate agent. And I get this call that's kind of broken up. And then pretty soon, my daughter and I are texting. And, as you know, what was said, she had described where she's hiding under a desk. Nobody knew about it. There were no sirens yet. There were no helicopters overhead. Her mom didn't even know. Then she texted me that her friend was shot in the head. And my world just kind of collapsed.

It was -- the only thing I can liken it to is that 9/11 event. I remember that so clearly and how it felt. And so I'm heading up to the school. I get up there. And they've got a perimeter set up. Nobody is getting in. I call my daughter's mom. We meet around the other side. We walk to a church where they're already assembling. Things went pretty fast after that. The whole event took about four minutes. They were assembling in a church nearby. And I -- our daughter and her mother were already at the church. I parked four blocks away. And was walking toward the church, and the -- it seemed like half of Marysville was there.

And the streams of people heading to the church and the frantic women and just the whole thing. I get there and we haven't seen our son yet. We had word that he was okay. So I waited outside for him to get out of the bus. And he's 6'4" and 15 years old, so he's not hard to spot. But he comes -- we're in the middle of this huge crowd of people being reunited with their children, and all this thing going on, I just realized, there's no answer for it. I don't have an answer for it. I don't have an explanation. I read all the posts. I see the anger, the frustration the hate. I see the tribal members come forth and they're talking about forgiveness and love. There are families and victims of the shooting have forgiven the person that shot their family members. And it started to sink in. It just hit me that the only answer is not on this earth.

And I've been a spiritual person for a long time. I believe in the Lord, but it never sunk in like this, that that's the only way. There is no other way. And, you know --

GLENN: Lance, I have to tell you. It's an honor to talk to you. And I'm so glad that you wrote and you posted that on my Facebook page. And you're one of the good guys, and you're now -- now your responsibility to be a force for good because you're awake. I'm sorry it took this to really have it set in, but thank goodness it did. Thank goodness it did. God bless you, lance. You and your whole community.

LANCE: Glenn, can I say something. It means a lot to me that I know you're bombarded with everything all the time. And it means a lot to me to know that you picked it up and listened. It's an honor to speak with you. I love you guys. You guys crack me up. I'm one of the guys driving down the road and people are looking at me as I'm laughing and talking to myself when I'm listening to your show. I've enjoyed it for a long time and believe you're a force of good in this world and you're making a difference in a big way. And so thank you also.

GLENN: Thank you God bless you. Thanks, Lance. Good people. We are surrounded by good people.

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

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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

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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

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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?

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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?

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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.