Blog
LatestArticlesVideos
Radio
LivePodcastSerialsStations
TV
Podcasts
The Glenn Beck ProgramThe Glenn Beck PodcastThe Beck Story
Fine Art
Real Estate
Shop
More
AboutCharityBooksSponsorsContact
SEARCH
Live Radio

©2024 MERCURY RADIO ARTS.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

TERMS OF USE | PRIVACY POLICY

Live

Glenn's Show Prep

Why did a gay woman apologize to embattled Indiana pizzeria?

April 07, 2015
Wilson

Writer

Good news! The country can come together on common sense principles and values. For the past couple of days, the battle in Indiana over the Religious Freedom Restoration Act has seemed to tear the country apart. But there are still people who understand decency and common sense in the world. Courtney Hoffman is a gay woman from Seattle. Why did she apologize to the owners of Memories Pizza all the way in Indiana? This is one of the best “strange bedfellows” stories of all time.

10689789_10103513808965568_5008792332232004000_n-620x620

On the Memories Pizza GoFundMe page, Hoffman wrote:

“As a member of the gay community, I would like to apologize for the mean spirited attacks on you and your business. I know many gay individuals who fully support your right to stand up for your beliefs and run your business according to those beliefs. We are outraged at the level of hate and intolerance that has been directed at you and I sincerely hope that you are able to rebuild.”

She shared more of her story on radio this morning with Glenn.

"After I heard about it, it just kind of sat with me. You know, just the behaviors towards this little pizzeria seemed appalling," she said.

Courtney was critical of the voices at the forefront of the gay community. She said that for the most part, people should have a 'live and let live' attitude and approach.

"What I feel has been most amazing to me has been the level of shock that people have expressed. I guess what they've been calling my tolerance. A lot of people I know believe that the gender of your significant other does not dictate your beliefs. That's just the gender of your significant other. But I know so many gay individuals who are Republican and Democrat and capitalist and socialists and Christians and atheists, and there's this whole wide view of mind-sets within a community. It's not just this one forefront that people see that seems to be made up of this bullying tactic," she said.

"I feel like there's been this kind of dialogue for a while that if someone disagrees with you or has a different opinion than you then therefore they must be malicious or filled with hate," she said. "Just change the dialogue on that front. Just because someone disagrees with my opinion, doesn't mean they're evil or that they're malicious in their intent. It just means that we differ in opinions. But we probably have so much more in common."

"The gay community has spent decades fighting for their right to just be themselves. All we ever wanted was the right to live our lives as we see fit according to our beliefs. And to turn on someone who, yeah, has very different beliefs than we have - but it's the same fundamental right to just live your right according to those beliefs. We should be defending that. If we don't agree with that, we should open a dialogue or just letting them live. You don't have to open a dialogue with them, but I'm not quite sure when or why, you know, the people who have fought for decades to live their life according to their beliefs have all of a sudden turned on those who are just doing the same," she said.

GLENN: You know, one of the stories that broke last week during this whole nightmare in Indiana, where you have these pizza owners being, I think, targeted -- intentionally targeted by a local television station looking to pick a fight. Because there's nobody that ever caters a wedding -- how many times have you gone --

PAT: That's like, I'm looking for the local Hostess shop to cater Twinkies at my wedding.

GLENN: Nobody does that. Well, actually someone on our staff did that.

PAT: Jeffy did that.

GLENN: But that's a different story. So Dana started a GoFundMe page for this really nice family that owns this pizza shop. They don't have hatred in their heart at all. And this is -- I mean, closing for a week, I know because I was a small business owner with my dad. That could put you out of business. It's just over for you.

So -- and that's what these people are trying to do. And when I say these people, I don't mean gay people. Because I think gay people aren't like this. I think it's the organizations. We all have, you know, organizations that, you know, will -- that maybe you belong to and you're like, okay, no, I don't agree with that. For instance, Stu is a vegan. But he doesn't agree with what PETA does. PETA is speaking for vegans. No, they're not speaking for him.

PAT: I'm a member of the National Association of Realtors, for example. I don't agree with everything they do.

GLENN: Exactly right. Boy, those guys piss me off.

PAT: Oh, man.

GLENN: Anyway, it's just people with agenda and want power and money. And they're separating us. And we're not that different. So one of the donations that really stuck out was from a gay woman who donated $20 to the Memories Pizza place in Walkerton, Indiana. We have her on the phone now. Her name is Courtney Hoffman. Hello, Courtney, how are you? Courtney.

COURTNEY: Yeah, can you hear me?

GLENN: Yes, I can. How are you?

COURTNEY: Good. How are you doing?

GLENN: Very good. So, Courtney, tell me a little about yourself. Do you know who we are? Did you listen to this show, or how did you find out about this GoFundMe?

COURTNEY: I do know who you are. I don't listen to the show. I'm not overly politically active.

GLENN: Okay.

COURTNEY: But I heard about it on, I think, a local radio show here. I think. I don't honestly remember how I heard about it.

GLENN: Okay.

COURTNEY: But after I heard about it, it just kind of sat with me. You know, just the behaviors towards this little pizzeria seemed appalling.

GLENN: Where are you from?

COURTNEY: I'm from Seattle.

GLENN: Okay. Wow, you're from Seattle. That's my hometown. And that is not -- that is not the place that would embrace your point of view.

COURTNEY: You know, I -- I kind of disagree with that.

GLENN: Oh, I'm glad to hear that.

COURTNEY: Yeah. I mean, I feel like we're kind of painted as this liberal city, but the individuals I know -- you know, it doesn't really have to do with conservative or liberal. It just has to do with, like, a human element. And, you know, the people that I know, gay or straight or liberal or conservative, are very just understanding and supportive of an individual's right to live their life as they see fit.

GLENN: So you're more Libertarian than anything else?

COURTNEY: I suppose, yeah.

GLENN: Good. Because that's where we are.

PAT: It's kind of like what you said yesterday, Glenn. When you said that people aren't intense about it on the other side. It's the media making it out like they are.

GLENN: It's the media. And it's those in power. Both left and right. That need us to argue with each other. I think the average person is like, look, I don't want to be around people who are hateful. I don't want people who are bigoted and racist et cetera, et cetera. But that happens. And, you know, those aren't part of my circle. And I don't know that many. And we have to change their hearts. You're never going to legislate morality. You'll never legislate hatred out. You just have to change people's heart. And the rest of us. The vast majority of Americans are cool with each other. Let's just be cool with each other.

COURTNEY: Yeah.

STU: And, Courtney, what better way to change someone's heart than what you did. Instead of coming out here like many did and were angry about things, you came out to embrace people's right to be different. And you donated to a cause and I think you won a lot of people over to listen to you.

GLENN: You did.

COURTNEY: It's been amazing. What I feel has been most amazing to me has been the level of shock that people have expressed. You know, just I guess what they've been calling my tolerance. You know, because, you know, I believe in -- a lot of people I know believe that the gender of your significant other does not dictate your beliefs. You know, that's just the gender of your significant other. But I know so many gay individuals who are Republican and Democrat and capitalist and socialists and Christians and atheists, and there's this whole wide view of mind-sets within a community. It's not, you know, just this one forefront that people see that seems to be made up of this bullying tactic.

GLENN: So, Courtney, there's a 70-year-old woman in Washington state who runs a flower shop. And she was asked by a gay couple to -- so you know the story. Right?

COURTNEY: Yeah, yeah.

GLENN: They're now suing her not only for her business, but she's about to lose her house.

COURTNEY: It's heartbreaking.

GLENN: How can we -- how can people who are, you know, on the side of the small businessperson and may be against gay marriage, may not be against gay marriage. I'm fine with gay marriage. The government shouldn't have anything to do with my marriage, you know what I mean?

COURTNEY: Yeah.

GLENN: But how do we get people to see and to change their hearts to say, this has nothing to do with hate. This has everything to do with embrace diversity and you can't force someone to violate their conscience.

COURTNEY: Yeah. Well, I feel like there's been this kind of dialogue for a while that if someone is -- disagrees with you or has a different opinion than you then therefore they must be malicious or filled with hate. And, you know, I think that would be a good place to start. Just change the dialogue on that front. Just because someone disagrees with my opinion, doesn't mean they're evil or that they're malicious in their intent. It just means that we differ in opinions. But we probably have so much more in common.

GLENN: We do.

STU: Like, for example, we shouldn't be having a conversation about a pizza place without eating pizza.

COURTNEY: Yeah.

STU: I think we can come together on that.

GLENN: Let's eat pizza. What is your business, Courtney?

COURTNEY: My girlfriend and I own a small kettle corn stand.

GLENN: A small kettle corn stand?

COURTNEY: Yeah.

STU: Where is the kettle corn? How do we not have your kettle corn here?

COURTNEY: I can definitely get some to you.

GLENN: Oh, that's a definite must. We'll pay for it. Do you sell it online?

COURTNEY: No, we don't. We sell it at, like, fairs and festivals.

GLENN: That's too bad because you would have sold a ton today. Well, that's great.

COURTNEY: Yeah, so we're pretty small.

GLENN: Courtney, we just wanted to thank you and just try to get your voice to be heard as a reasonable individual, that we are all different, but it's cool to be different.

COURTNEY: Yeah. It's okay that we're different. It doesn't mean that we're malicious or hate-filled.

GLENN: Can I ask you one more question?

COURTNEY: Sure.

GLENN: Pat is just --

STU: Needling you today. It's fun.

GLENN: When I was down at the Friends of Abe. Do you know what the Friends of Abe is? The people in Hollywood that happen to be conservative.

COURTNEY: No, I don't.

GLENN: Okay. They're Hollywood people that happen to be conservative, and they're in the closet. They're actually in the closet. And they're terrified of anybody finding out.

COURTNEY: Yeah. Yeah.

GLENN: And I was speaking to them one time and I said, you know, I don't understand because, you know, Hollywood has a lot of -- a lot of people in the gay community here in Hollywood. And Jews also, a lot of Jews in Hollywood. And you would think that those two groups, out of everybody, would know what it feels like to be afraid to say who you are.

COURTNEY: Right.

GLENN: Why is this happening? What is happening to where they don't empathize with those who are now afraid to say who they are?

COURTNEY: You know, I -- I don't know. I feel like a similar movement has happened in the gay community. You know, the gay community has spent decades fighting for their right to just be themselves. You know, all we ever wanted was the right to live our lives as we see fit according to our beliefs and to turn on someone who, yeah, has very different beliefs than we have. But it's the same fundamental right to just live your right according to those beliefs. We should be defending that. If we don't agree with that, we should open a dialogue or just letting them live. You don't have to open a dialogue with them, but I'm not quite sure when or why, you know, the people who have fought for decades to live their life according to their beliefs have all of a sudden turned on those who are just doing the same. But it's --

STU: That's a great point though. You know, sometimes I'm tired of having dialogues. I just want to do my thing and go to sleep and eat some kettle corn.

GLENN: We don't have to go to Starbucks and have them write stuff on our coffee cup. Just please. Can't we just stand in line together and talk about nothing or not talk about nothing.

STU: That's why guys gravitate to sports because it's anything other than --

GLENN: Thinking.

STU: -- the real world. You just want something to distract yourself. And that's okay too. Where is the kettle corn? Is it here yet?

COURTNEY: I'm working on it.

GLENN: Courtney, thank you so much. God bless you.

COURTNEY: Thank you so much. Have a good day.

PAT: She was great.

GLENN: I love her. I love her.

JEFFY: Fantastic.

GLENN: She's -- and, you know what, that kind of person as a spokesperson for any community, oh, would win.

STU: Wins you over in a second.

GLENN: How will you argue with Courtney?

PAT: I'm personally not going to.

STU: We saw the same thing with different approaches from Ellen.

GLENN: Yes.

PAT: Remember the preachy Ellen.

STU: She's funny and likable. You just want to be around her.

PAT: Ellen would just completely reject --

GLENN: Preachy Ellen where she was, this is who I am. Blah, blah. Everybody knows who she is. And it's totally cool. Let's just laugh together. It's fine. It's fine. You don't to have jam it down our throats. Rub our nose in it.

PAT: That was the big announcement to announce that I'm running for president. The big announcement to announce that I'm gay. Everyone already knows.

STU: We're like so. Don't make your whole show about that.

GLENN: Because that says that's all you are. And that's not all she is.

STU: Right. You're more than that. And she's proven that 1,000 times over.

GLENN: Yep.

The melting pot fails when we stop agreeing to melt

Spencer Platt / Staff | Getty Images

Texas now hosts Quran-first academies, Sharia-compliant housing schemes, and rapidly multiplying mosques — all part of a movement building a self-contained society apart from the country around it.

It is time to talk honestly about what is happening inside America’s rapidly growing Muslim communities. In city after city, large pockets of newcomers are choosing to build insulated enclaves rather than enter the broader American culture.

That trend is accelerating, and the longer we ignore it, the harder it becomes to address.

As Texas goes, so goes America. And as America goes, so goes the free world.

America has always welcomed people of every faith and people from every corner of the world, but the deal has never changed: You come here and you join the American family. You are free to honor your traditions, keep your faith, but you must embrace the Constitution as the supreme law of the land. You melt into the shared culture that allows all of us to live side by side.

Across the country, this bargain is being rejected by Islamist communities that insist on building a parallel society with its own rules, its own boundaries, and its own vision for how life should be lived.

Texas illustrates the trend. The state now has roughly 330 mosques. At least 48 of them were built in just the last 24 months. The Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex alone has around 200 Islamic centers. Houston has another hundred or so. Many of these communities have no interest in blending into American life.

This is not the same as past waves of immigration. Irish, Italian, Korean, Mexican, and every other group arrived with pride in their heritage. Still, they also raised American flags and wanted their children to be part of the country’s future. They became doctors, small-business owners, teachers, and soldiers. They wanted to be Americans.

What we are watching now is not the melting pot. It is isolation by design.

Parallel societies do not end well

More than 300 fundamentalist Islamic schools now operate full-time across the country. Many use Quran-first curricula that require students to spend hours memorizing religious texts before they ever reach math or science. In Dallas, Brighter Horizons Academy enrolls more than 1,700 students and draws federal support while operating on a social model that keeps children culturally isolated.

Then there is the Epic City project in Collin and Hunt counties — 402 acres originally designated only for Muslim buyers, with Sharia-compliant financing and a mega-mosque at the center. After public outcry and state investigations, the developers renamed it “The Meadows,” but a new sign does not erase the original intent. It is not a neighborhood. It is a parallel society.

Americans should not hesitate to say that parallel societies are dangerous. Europe tried this experiment, and the results could not be clearer. In Germany, France, and the United Kingdom, entire neighborhoods now operate under their own cultural rules, some openly hostile to Western norms. When citizens speak up, they are branded bigots for asserting a basic right: the ability to live safely in their own communities.

A crisis of confidence

While this separation widens, another crisis is unfolding at home. A recent Gallup survey shows that about 40% of American women ages 18 to 39 would leave the country permanently if given the chance. Nearly half of a rising generation — daughters, sisters, soon-to-be mothers — no longer believe this nation is worth building a future in.

And who shapes the worldview of young boys? Their mothers. If a mother no longer believes America is home, why would her child grow up ready to defend it?

As Texas goes, so goes America. And as America goes, so goes the free world. If we lose confidence in our own national identity at the same time that we allow separatist enclaves to spread unchecked, the outcome is predictable. Europe is already showing us what comes next: cultural fracture, political radicalization, and the slow death of national unity.

Brandon Bell / Staff | Getty Images

Stand up and tell the truth

America welcomes Muslims. America defends their right to worship freely. A Muslim who loves the Constitution, respects the rule of law, and wants to raise a family in peace is more than welcome in America.

But an Islamist movement that rejects assimilation, builds enclaves governed by its own religious framework, and treats American law as optional is not simply another participant in our melting pot. It is a direct challenge to it. If we refuse to call this problem out out of fear of being called names, we will bear the consequences.

Europe is already feeling those consequences — rising conflict and a political class too paralyzed to admit the obvious. When people feel their culture, safety, and freedoms slipping away, they will follow anyone who promises to defend them. History has shown that over and over again.

Stand up. Speak plainly. Be unafraid. You can practice any faith in this country, but the supremacy of the Constitution and the Judeo-Christian moral framework that shaped it is non-negotiable. It is what guarantees your freedom in the first place.

If you come here and honor that foundation, welcome. If you come here to undermine it, you do not belong here.

Wake up to what is unfolding before the consequences arrive. Because when a nation refuses to say what is true, the truth eventually forces its way in — and by then, it is always too late.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Shocking: Chart-topping ‘singer’ has no soul at all

VCG / Contributor | Getty Images

A machine can imitate heartbreak well enough to top the charts, but it cannot carry grief, choose courage, or hear the whisper that calls human beings to something higher.

The No. 1 country song in America right now was not written in Nashville or Texas or even L.A. It came from code. “Walk My Walk,” the AI-generated single by the AI artist Breaking Rust, hit the top spot on Billboard’s Country Digital Song Sales chart, and if you listen to it without knowing that fact, you would swear a real singer lived the pain he is describing.

Except there is no “he.” There is no lived experience. There is no soul behind the voice dominating the country music charts.

If a machine can imitate the soul, then what is the soul?

I will admit it: I enjoy some AI music. Some of it is very good. And that leaves us with a question that is no longer science fiction. If a machine can fake being human this well, what does it mean to be human?

A new world of artificial experience

This is not just about one song. We are walking straight into a technological moment that will reshape everyday life.

Elon Musk said recently that we may not even have phones in five years. Instead, we will carry a small device that listens, anticipates, and creates — a personal AI agent that knows what we want to hear before we ask. It will make the music, the news, the podcasts, the stories. We already live in digital bubbles. Soon, those bubbles might become our own private worlds.

If an algorithm can write a hit country song about hardship and perseverance without a shred of actual experience, then the deeper question becomes unavoidable: If a machine can imitate the soul, then what is the soul?

What machines can never do

A machine can produce, and soon it may produce better than we can. It can calculate faster than any human mind. It can rearrange the notes and words of a thousand human songs into something that sounds real enough to fool millions.

But it cannot care. It cannot love. It cannot choose right and wrong. It cannot forgive because it cannot be hurt. It cannot stand between a child and danger. It cannot walk through sorrow.

A machine can imitate the sound of suffering. It cannot suffer.

The difference is the soul. The divine spark. The thing God breathed into man that no code will ever have. Only humans can take pain and let it grow into compassion. Only humans can take fear and turn it into courage. Only humans can rebuild their lives after losing everything. Only humans hear the whisper inside, the divine voice that says, “Live for something greater.”

We are building artificial minds. We are not building artificial life.

Questions that define us

And as these artificial minds grow sharper, as their tools become more convincing, the right response is not panic. It is to ask the oldest and most important questions.

Who am I? Why am I here? What is the meaning of freedom? What is worth defending? What is worth sacrificing for?

That answer is not found in a lab or a server rack. It is found in that mysterious place inside each of us where reason meets faith, where suffering becomes wisdom, where God reminds us we are more than flesh and more than thought. We are not accidents. We are not circuits. We are not replaceable.

Europa Press News / Contributor | Getty Images

The miracle machines can never copy

Being human is not about what we can produce. Machines will outproduce us. That is not the question. Being human is about what we can choose. We can choose to love even when it costs us something. We can choose to sacrifice when it is not easy. We can choose to tell the truth when the world rewards lies. We can choose to stand when everyone else bows. We can create because something inside us will not rest until we do.

An AI content generator can borrow our melodies, echo our stories, and dress itself up like a human soul, but it cannot carry grief across a lifetime. It cannot forgive an enemy. It cannot experience wonder. It cannot look at a broken world and say, “I am going to build again.”

The age of machines is rising. And if we do not know who we are, we will shrink. But if we use this moment to remember what makes us human, it will help us to become better, because the one thing no algorithm will ever recreate is the miracle that we exist at all — the miracle of the human soul.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Shocking shift: America’s youth lured by the “Socialism trap”

Jeremy Weine / Stringer | Getty Images

A generation that’s lost faith in capitalism is turning to the oldest lie on earth: equality through control.

Something is breaking in America’s young people. You can feel it in every headline, every grocery bill, every young voice quietly asking if the American dream still means anything at all.

For many, the promise of America — work hard, build something that lasts, and give the next generation a better start — feels like it no longer exists. Home ownership and stability have become luxuries for a fortunate few.

Capitalism is not a perfect system. It is flawed because people are flawed, but it remains the only system that rewards creativity and effort rather than punishing them.

In that vacuum of hope, a new promise has begun to rise — one that sounds compassionate, equal, and fair. The promise of socialism.

The appeal of a broken dream

When the American dream becomes a checklist of things few can afford — a home, a car, two children, even a little peace — disappointment quickly turns to resentment. The average first-time homebuyer is now 40 years old. Debt lasts longer than marriages. The cost of living rises faster than opportunity.

For a generation that has never seen the system truly work, capitalism feels like a rigged game built to protect those already at the top.

That is where socialism finds its audience. It presents itself as fairness for the forgotten and justice for the disillusioned. It speaks softly at first, offering equality, compassion, and control disguised as care.

We are seeing that illusion play out now in New York City, where Zohran Mamdani — an open socialist — has won a major political victory. The same ideology that once hid behind euphemisms now campaigns openly throughout America’s once-great cities. And for many who feel left behind, it sounds like salvation.

But what socialism calls fairness is submission dressed as virtue. What it calls order is obedience. Once the system begins to replace personal responsibility with collective dependence, the erosion of liberty is only a matter of time.

The bridge that never ends

Socialism is not a destination; it is a bridge. Karl Marx described it as the necessary transition to communism — the scaffolding that builds the total state. Under socialism, people are taught to obey. Under communism, they forget that any other options exist.

History tells the story clearly. Russia, China, Cambodia, Cuba — each promised equality and delivered misery. One hundred million lives were lost, not because socialism failed, but because it succeeded at what it was designed to do: make the state supreme and the individual expendable.

Today’s advocates insist their version will be different — democratic, modern, and kind. They often cite Sweden as an example, but Sweden’s prosperity was never born of socialism. It grew out of capitalism, self-reliance, and a shared moral culture. Now that system is cracking under the weight of bureaucracy and division.

ANGELA WEISS / Contributor | Getty Images

The real issue is not economic but moral. Socialism begins with a lie about human nature — that people exist for the collective and that the collective knows better than the individual.

This lie is contrary to the truths on which America was founded — that rights come not from government’s authority, but from God’s. Once government replaces that authority, compassion becomes control, and freedom becomes permission.

What young America deserves

Young Americans have many reasons to be frustrated. They were told to study, work hard, and follow the rules — and many did, only to find the goalposts moved again and again. But tearing down the entire house does not make it fairer; it only leaves everyone standing in the rubble.

Capitalism is not a perfect system. It is flawed because people are flawed, but it remains the only system that rewards creativity and effort rather than punishing them. The answer is not revolution but renewal — moral, cultural, and spiritual.

It means restoring honesty to markets, integrity to government, and faith to the heart of our nation. A people who forsake God will always turn to government for salvation, and that road always ends in dependency and decay.

Freedom demands something of us. It requires faith, discipline, and courage. It expects citizens to govern themselves before others govern them. That is the truth this generation deserves to hear again — that liberty is not a gift from the state but a calling from God.

Socialism always begins with promises and ends with permission. It tells you what to drive, what to say, what to believe, all in the name of fairness. But real fairness is not everyone sharing the same chains — it is everyone having the same chance.

The American dream was never about guarantees. It was about the right to try, to fail, and try again. That freedom built the most prosperous nation in history, and it can do so again if we remember that liberty is not a handout but a duty.

Socialism does not offer salvation. It requires subservience.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Rage isn’t conservatism — THIS is what true patriots stand for

Gary Hershorn / Contributor | Getty Images

Conservatism is not about rage or nostalgia. It’s about moral clarity, national renewal, and guarding the principles that built America’s freedom.

Our movement is at a crossroads, and the question before us is simple: What does it mean to be a conservative in America today?

For years, we have been told what we are against — against the left, against wokeism, against decline. But opposition alone does not define a movement, and it certainly does not define a moral vision.

We are not here to cling to the past or wallow in grievance. We are not the movement of rage. We are the movement of reason and hope.

The media, as usual, are eager to supply their own answer. The New York Times recently suggested that Nick Fuentes represents the “future” of conservatism. That’s nonsense — a distortion of both truth and tradition. Fuentes and those like him do not represent American conservatism. They represent its counterfeit.

Real conservatism is not rage. It is reverence. It does not treat the past as a museum, but as a teacher. America’s founders asked us to preserve their principles and improve upon their practice. That means understanding what we are conserving — a living covenant, not a relic.

Conservatism as stewardship

In 2025, conservatism means stewardship — of a nation, a culture, and a moral inheritance too precious to abandon. To conserve is not to freeze history. It is to stand guard over what is essential. We are custodians of an experiment in liberty that rests on the belief that rights come not from kings or Congress, but from the Creator.

That belief built this country. It will be what saves it. The Constitution is a covenant between generations. Conservatism is the duty to keep that covenant alive — to preserve what works, correct what fails, and pass on both wisdom and freedom to those who come next.

Economics, culture, and morality are inseparable. Debt is not only fiscal; it is moral. Spending what belongs to the unborn is theft. Dependence is not compassion; it is weakness parading as virtue. A society that trades responsibility for comfort teaches citizens how to live as slaves.

Freedom without virtue is not freedom; it is chaos. A culture that mocks faith cannot defend liberty, and a nation that rejects truth cannot sustain justice. Conservatism must again become the moral compass of a disoriented people, reminding America that liberty survives only when anchored to virtue.

Rebuilding what is broken

We cannot define ourselves by what we oppose. We must build families, communities, and institutions that endure. Government is broken because education is broken, and education is broken because we abandoned the formation of the mind and the soul. The work ahead is competence, not cynicism.

Conservatives should embrace innovation and technology while rejecting the chaos of Silicon Valley. Progress must not come at the expense of principle. Technology must strengthen people, not replace them. Artificial intelligence should remain a servant, never a master. The true strength of a nation is not measured by data or bureaucracy, but by the quiet webs of family, faith, and service that hold communities together. When Washington falters — and it will — those neighborhoods must stand.

Eric Lee / Stringer | Getty Images

This is the real work of conservatism: to conserve what is good and true and to reform what has decayed. It is not about slogans; it is about stewardship — the patient labor of building a civilization that remembers what it stands for.

A creed for the rising generation

We are not here to cling to the past or wallow in grievance. We are not the movement of rage. We are the movement of reason and hope.

For the rising generation, conservatism cannot be nostalgia. It must be more than a memory of 9/11 or admiration for a Reagan era they never lived through. Many young Americans did not experience those moments — and they should not have to in order to grasp the lessons they taught and the truths they embodied. The next chapter is not about preserving relics but renewing purpose. It must speak to conviction, not cynicism; to moral clarity, not despair.

Young people are searching for meaning in a culture that mocks truth and empties life of purpose. Conservatism should be the moral compass that reminds them freedom is responsibility and that faith, family, and moral courage remain the surest rebellions against hopelessness.

To be a conservative in 2025 is to defend the enduring principles of American liberty while stewarding the culture, the economy, and the spirit of a free people. It is to stand for truth when truth is unfashionable and to guard moral order when the world celebrates chaos.

We are not merely holding the torch. We are relighting it.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.