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Glenn's Show Prep

Is a Titanic event going to hit our economy?

May 14, 2015
Staff

WRITER

This morning on radio, Glenn talked to Matt Bevin about our country’s current economic state. Are we really heading towards a massive crisis? Hear Bevin discusses pension plans and his ideas for combating some of our current economic issues.

GLENN: All right. So Kentucky, I mean it, you blow it, we are -- our love for you and your stupid horse race. It's over. It's over. We come with lawn mowers and we cut all of your bluegrass.

JEFFY: What about the bourbon?

GLENN: The bourbon, I take. The bourbon, I take. They had their chance with Matt Bevin as a great senator. Instead, you decided to give America the turtle, Mitch McConnell. Okay. How is that working for us, Kentucky? We want to thank you deeply for Mitch McConnell. But now you get another bite at the Matt Bevin apple, as Bevin is currently running for governor in the state of Kentucky. The primary for the Republicans is coming up on Tuesday, May 19th. It looks like he is in first place. This is the first poll where he's now at first place. It's a three-way -- a three-way race. But it is close. And 20 percent still undecided. We wanted to give Kentucky another chance to hear from Matt Bevin who we really greatly respect. Matt Bevin, how are you, sir?

MATT: Glenn, I'm doing great. It's so good to be on with you. A lot of pressure you guys are putting on me here. A lot of pressure. I don't want to be responsible for being double dead.

GLENN: Well, I'm telling you. So here's the headline in the Washington Post last week. Team McConnell isn't about to just let Matt Bevin become governor.

MATT: Yes. Did you see the quote at the end of that article? Brilliant.

GLENN: No. I couldn't take it.

MATT: Honestly, I would encourage you to go back and read the nuggets of wisdom that dripped out of the mouth of a certain individual at the end of that article.

GLENN: What did he say?

MATT: I won't even paraphrase it. It was idiocy.

GLENN: Will you look it up? So tell me why -- make the pitch to the Kentuckians who might not know you on why you would be the right person for governor.

MATT: We need somebody who is not a politician. Somebody who does not arrive in Frankfort already half owned or fully owned by somebody. Someone who comes with a fresh sheet of paper. We need somebody who comes from the outside business world. Somebody who understands how the wealth of this nation is created.

I'm a guy who grew up below the poverty level. I paid my own way through school. I'm a military veteran. I'm a small business owner. Employ dozens and dozens of people. I'm pro-life. I'm pro Second Amendment. I'm conservative. I understand firsthand how wealth is created. I'm the only one in this state that has ever worked in the pension business that's running for governor. And we have a significant pension crisis here in Kentucky.

GLENN: We have a significant --

MATT: You know, some of -- which is why I truly think myself -- I also have by far the best running mate who will bring such a great perspective to Kentucky. We offer an extraordinary opportunity, I believe, for Kentucky to go in the right direction. A constructive direction. One where we will be a magnet to people around this country and not the opposite.

GLENN: She's the African woman -- African-American woman that we discussed last time you were on. Right?

MATT: Jenean Hampton. Amazing. Exactly right. She is incredible. Twenty years of high-level management experience in the Fortune 500 world. Manufacturing. Experience. In particular, an engineering degree. MBA. Military veteran. War veteran. You know, former Air Force officer. Completely self-made. Raised herself to a level of opportunity here in America. It is an example to many, growing up in inner city Detroit in the '50s and '60s. Just an incredible, incredible woman.

GLENN: So, Matt, we are looking at a time where you would be governor where the financial world this week has been more honest than I've ever seen them be. HSCB has come out and said, they believe a titanic event is coming. And they said that the economy no longer has any lifeboats. I mean, that was -- that's pretty significant language. England is now discussing literally making cash illegal. So when the crash comes, everything becomes digitized, and that way, they can control what people are spending. And there is no cash in the system. We're looking at a time when banks could be closed or you see just even -- just social issues like in Baltimore, where the streets could be on fire. What do you do as governor if you're facing something like Baltimore, no matter if it would be a run on the bank, God forbid, or God forbid, you know, a police officer that's been shot there in Kentucky. You know that the Al Sharptons of the world will take, you know, people from Kentucky look like the biggest racists in the world. What do what you do if you're facing that?

MATT: I'll tell you this. One thing I learned in the military is you lead by example. What is it that has always made America great? What is it that has made us exceptional among nations? What is it that makes people want to come here both legally and illegally more than any other nation on the face of this earth? It is the fact that we are a nation, above all, we're a nation of laws. And I will tell you what, if I'm the governor of this state who are involved in government in any way, shape, or form, that I would do everything within my power to ensure that we uphold what makes us great. And we would uphold and defend the law. And we would uphold and defend this state. We would not make room for people to destroy or any of the rest of that nonsense. We would absolutely enforce the rule of law. Because this is what makes us exceptional.

GLENN: Do you have an opinion or -- just leave it at that. Do you have an opinion on the militarization of our police forces?

MATT: I think it's ridiculous. Let me tell you what it is. It's an outgrowth on the war of drugs. Every time the federal government declares war on anything, we've spent hundreds of billions of dollars at a minimum and ended up with more on exactly what we were fighting. Look at the war of poverty. More poverty. Trillions of dollars having been spent. Look at the war on drugs. A militarized police force across this nation. I think it's inexcusable. It's unnecessary. We now have people moving around in SWAT teams that have become the exact opposite of the old cop on the beat in some measure. This isn't helping them. It's not helping the community. Look at the war on terror. How is that working for us? We need to get the federal government out of all of these various wars on things we want less of. Restore power to local communities and states. This is part of why I'm running for governor. We can do more in this state to be an example. To be a beacon for the rest of America about how a constitutionally limited government should operate and how it will thrive and be an example to states around us.

PAT: Matt, what is the deal with the McConnell team, with Mitch McConnell and his former adviser and the irrational hatred they seem to have for you. Is it just that you dared challenge him for the Senate seat and did really well? Is it --

MATT: Yeah. I just think -- it's ironic. I heard from people -- he seemed not to have gotten over the last race. I seem to be the only one unfortunately that has. It's too bad. You know, the adults in the room are who needs to step up at this time. Not only here in Kentucky. Not only here in America. As you noted a moment ago. Nationally. Whether it's in London. Whether it's the people that are running the HSCB. What have you. All these banks. The IMF now, people looking to challenge the US dollar as the world's reserve currency. Trust me, if they are successful, that is the beginning of the end. Certainly for our country. We've got to bring adults to the table, and they've got to man up and lead as men and women of conviction. The likes of which we have not seen for a long time in this world.

PAT: So what's the biggest issue for you in this race? And what is -- what is the driving reason you got into the race for governor of Kentucky?

MATT: The reason I got in, in short measure, is that I didn't see those that were in, who I know and who are good people and who are far better than the Democrat operative on the other side of the equation. Nonetheless, none of them would put forward a plan. None of them would be specific. None of them would talk about how they would create jobs. That is our biggest concern in this state. We are an economic trouble. We're one of which Forbes refers to as the death spiral state. This has to end. We have to get to the point --

GLENN: They're calling you the death spiral over Illinois?

MATT: There were five death spiral states. I believe we and Illinois were in that group. We have now surpassed Illinois as being --

GLENN: Holy cow.

MATT: We are at the bottom of Illinois.

GLENN: So what is your plan to take care of that?

MATT: We have to freeze the existing plan. We can't keep exacerbating this by adding people to a system that we know is already on the fast track to insolvency.

GLENN: I will tell you, I don't know how you're going to do that, Matt. When I was at Fox, we did an episode where I showed how many firefighters it takes to pay for the pensions of the firefighters. And there's just not enough. I mean, it is -- you want to talk about voodoo economics. It is voodoo economics times 1,000.

MATT: If you look at our -- we just had a 30-day session with our legislature. They brought forward more than 750 ideas in their respective committees. And none of them seriously addressed this issue. We have just ignored it and hoped it would fix itself. You're right, demographics have changed to the degree that even things I'm proposing are not enough. We need to freeze the existing plan. We have to require more current participants. We have to go to a 401(k) type plan and give people lump sum encouragement to take their money out if they're young enough and stop becoming a part of the problem. But all those things in their combinations still will only begin to stop the bleeding. To reseal the wound, we'll need jobs.

GLENN: That goes back to my civil unrest kind of thing. When I was at Fox, we talked about when those pensions -- when it becomes apparent that the states cannot pay for those pensions, which they were owed. Everybody -- everybody plays this game. And everybody knows they're just hoping to get theirs out before it collapses. But when that becomes apparent. There is no trust with anyone. The governor is going to be hated, if he's trying to take the pensions away. The -- the people who are -- you know, the ones paying for the pensions, the tax holders are going to be I had a by the public servants. The public servants aren't going to understand the people paying the taxes and vice-versa. How do you heal that rift besides coming and saying the truth, guys, I know. Everybody is pissed off. But it doesn't work. So we're going to have to forget the promise that we made and now come back to the table with a different kind of system.

MATT: This is when our generation is going to have to reach deep and find among our ranks those that are willing pledge their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor. Because it will take leadership. We have a nation and a world full of Neville Chamberlains, and we need them to step up. Because the world depends on this. Our future depends on this. And it will not be easy. There will be hatred. There will be people vilified. If it's any comfort to you, I've been well-prepared for the last two years in having scorn and enmity heaped upon my head. So I'm as callous on that front as perhaps anybody. I'm willing to offer myself forward as a public servant at this time, and the voters of Kentucky will decide on May 19th.

STU: Matt, what are the main separation points between you and the other candidates?

MATT: The biggest issues are that before I got in the race, they were all for keeping the Obamacare exchange here in Kentucky. Now everyone is against it because I put a plan against it. I'm really against it. I'm really against Common Core. Mark Twain once noted that, history may not repeat itself, but it sure does rhyme. And that's kind of what's been happening.

GLENN: So they're against it like Jeb Bush is against it.

MATT: Exactly. Suddenly I find they're against a lot of things that I'm against. And that's all right. At least they're rhyming in the right direction. But those are differences that I know where I stand on it. And I've been clear, and I've lead in writing on that front. I'm also the only one in this race that grew up below the poverty level. We have a lot of people in this state in a similar way. I'm able to address that with empathy, not just with sympathy. I'm the only one that has a chance to be the next governor of this state that is a military veteran. We have 340,000 military veterans in this state. That's a big differentiator. I'm the only one in this race that upon winning -- running against the other side. I'm not a lawyer. They're the other guys running on the G.O.P. side are not lawyers. But both the people on the Democrat side are lawyers. We don't need more lawyers in government. I have a lot of good friends that are lawyers. But we don't need more laws in America. We have to start to be smarter with respect to the way in which we govern. I'm also the only one in this race with pension experience. I started a firm here in Kentucky that now manages $5 billion in pension assets. I understand firsthand this business because I've spent most of my adult life in it. We have to address things. I'm as qualified as anybody in this race to actually step forward and do it. Will it be fun? Of course not. Will it be thankless? You bet? Will I be hated by people, Democrat and Republican alike? Yes, I will. But guess what, leadership requires people to step up. And I'm putting myself forward and offering that ability to people at this time.

GLENN: Matt Bevin, he's running for governor in Kentucky. The primary is next Tuesday.

PAT: Don't blow it, Kentucky.

GLENN: Matt, I will tell you, you are blessed to live in one of the best states in the Union. I've lived in Louisville, Kentucky. I just loved it. It's such a great state. It's not only because of the beauty and the heritage of that state. But the people are truly fine, fine people. And we are hoping that they do the right thing this time around.

PAT: And don't you wish there was a way you could help Matt Bevin if you wanted to? Don't you wish there was a place you could go?

MATT: Pat, you are a good man.

GLENN: You know, he doesn't do this for everybody. I thought he did. But he doesn't.

MATT: I'll tell you, I mean it sincerely, guys. I'm grateful for you. I appreciate your willingness to come alongside in this effort. I appreciate your help. We do need help. Five days. We need every dollar we can get to get ourselves up there. If you want people who respect the Constitution. Who respect America. Who are military veterans and businesspeople that are willing to fight for you and your children and grandchildren, regardless of what state you live in. If you want us to have 50 such governors and you want one of them to be in a state that could be a beacon for America, I would be grateful if you would go to mattbevin.com.

PAT: There it is.

MATT: Mattbevin.com.

PAT: Mattbevin.com.

MATT: It's the place to contribute. I would be grateful.

GLENN: Yeah, yeah. Whatever. If you win, if you win, we watched the Kentucky Derby, and my wife said, we have to go to Kentucky Derby next year. And I said, we'll never get tickets. If you win, we'll buy them. We just need to get to the front of the line -- that's the only reason why we're supporting you.

MATT: I can't make any promises at this point.

Why do Americans feel so empty?

Mario Tama / Staff | Getty Images

Anxiety, anger, and chronic dissatisfaction signal a country searching for meaning. Without truth and purpose, politics becomes a dangerous substitute for identity.

We have built a world overflowing with noise, convenience, and endless choice, yet something essential has slipped out of reach. You can sense it in the restless mood of the country, the anxiety among young people who cannot explain why they feel empty, in the angry confusion that dominates our politics.

We have more wealth than any nation in history, but the heart of the culture feels strangely malnourished. Before we can debate debt or elections, we must confront the reality that we created a world of things, but not a world of purpose.

You cannot survive a crisis you refuse to name, and you cannot rebuild a world whose foundations you no longer understand.

What we are living through is not just economic or political dysfunction. It is the vacuum that appears when a civilization mistakes abundance for meaning.

Modern life is stuffed with everything except what the human soul actually needs. We built systems to make life faster, easier, and more efficient — and then wondered why those systems cannot teach our children who they are, why they matter, or what is worth living for.

We tell the next generation to chase success, influence, and wealth, turning childhood into branding. We ask kids what they want to do, not who they want to be. We build a world wired for dopamine rather than dignity, and then we wonder why so many people feel unmoored.

When everything is curated, optimized, and delivered at the push of a button, the question “what is my life for?” gets lost in the static.

The crisis beneath the headlines

It is not just the young who feel this crisis. Every part of our society is straining under the weight of meaninglessness.

Look at the debt cycle — the mathematical fate no civilization has ever escaped once it crosses a threshold that we seem to have already blown by. While ordinary families feel the pressure, our leaders respond with distraction, with denial, or by rewriting the very history that could have warned us.

You cannot survive a crisis you refuse to name, and you cannot rebuild a world whose foundations you no longer understand.

We have entered a cultural moment where the noise is so loud that it drowns out the simplest truths. We are living in a country that no longer knows how to hear itself think.

So people go searching. Some drift toward the false promise of socialism, some toward the empty thrill of rebellion. Some simply check out. When a culture forgets what gives life meaning, it becomes vulnerable to every ideology that offers a quick answer.

The quiet return of meaning

And yet, quietly, something else is happening. Beneath the frustration and cynicism, many Americans are recognizing that meaning does not come from what we own, but from what we honor. It does not rise from success, but from virtue. It does not emerge from noise, but from the small, sacred things that modern life has pushed to the margins — the home, the table, the duty you fulfill, the person you help when no one is watching.

The danger is assuming that this rediscovery happens on its own. It does not.

Reorientation requires intention. It requires rebuilding the habits and virtues that once held us together. It requires telling the truth about our history instead of rewriting it to fit today’s narratives. And it requires acknowledging what has been erased: that meaning is inseparable from God’s presence in a nation’s life.

Harold M. Lambert / Contributor | Getty Images

Where renewal begins

We have built a world without stillness, and then we wondered why no one can hear the questions that matter. Those questions remain, whether we acknowledge them or not. They do not disappear just because we drown them in entertainment or noise. They wait for us, and the longer we ignore them, the more disoriented we become.

Meaning is still available. It is found in rebuilding the smallest, most human spaces — the places that cannot be digitized, globalized, or automated. The home. The family. The community.

These are the daily virtues that do not trend on social media, but that hold a civilization upright. If we want to repair this country, we begin there, exactly where every durable civilization has always begun: one virtue at a time, one tradition at a time, one generation at a time.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

A break in trust: A NEW Watergate is brewing in plain sight

Gary Hershorn / Contributor | Getty Images

When institutions betray the public’s trust, the country splits, and the spiral is hard to stop.

Something drastic is happening in American life. Headlines that should leave us stunned barely register anymore. Stories that once would have united the country instead dissolve into silence or shrugs.

It is not apathy exactly. It is something deeper — a growing belief that the people in charge either cannot or will not fix what is broken.

When people feel ignored or betrayed, they will align with anyone who appears willing to fight on their behalf.

I call this response the Bubba effect. It describes what happens when institutions lose so much public trust that “Bubba,” the average American minding his own business, finally throws his hands up and says, “Fine. I will handle it myself.” Not because he wants to, but because the system that was supposed to protect him now feels indifferent, corrupt, or openly hostile.

The Bubba effect is not a political movement. It is a survival instinct.

What triggers the Bubba effect

We are watching the triggers unfold in real time. When members of Congress publicly encourage active duty troops to disregard orders from the commander in chief, that is not a political squabble. When a federal judge quietly rewrites the rules so one branch of government can secretly surveil another, that is not normal. That is how republics fall. Yet these stories glided across the news cycle without urgency, without consequence, without explanation.

When the American people see the leadership class shrug, they conclude — correctly — that no one is steering the ship.

This is how the Bubba effect spreads. It is not just individuals resisting authority. It is sheriffs refusing to enforce new policies, school boards ignoring state mandates, entire communities saying, “We do not believe you anymore.” It becomes institutional, cultural, national.

A country cracking from the inside

This effect can be seen in Dearborn, Michigan. In the rise of fringe voices like Nick Fuentes. In the Epstein scandal, where powerful people could not seem to locate a single accountable adult. These stories are different in content but identical in message: The system protects itself, not you.

When people feel ignored or betrayed, they will align with anyone who appears willing to fight on their behalf. That does not mean they suddenly agree with everything that person says. It means they feel abandoned by the institutions that were supposed to be trustworthy.

The Bubba effect is what fills that vacuum.

The dangers of a faithless system

A republic cannot survive without credibility. Congress cannot oversee intelligence agencies if it refuses to discipline its own members. The military cannot remain apolitical if its chain of command becomes optional. The judiciary cannot defend the Constitution while inventing loopholes that erase the separation of powers.

History shows that once a nation militarizes politics, normalizes constitutional shortcuts, or allows government agencies to operate without scrutiny, it does not return to equilibrium peacefully. Something will give.

The question is what — and when.

The responsibility now belongs to us

In a healthy country, this is where the media steps in. This is where universities, pastors, journalists, and cultural leaders pause the outrage machine and explain what is at stake. But today, too many see themselves not as guardians of the republic, but of ideology. Their first loyalty is to narrative, not truth.

The founders never trusted the press more than the public. They trusted citizens who understood their rights, lived their responsibilities, and demanded accountability. That is the antidote to the Bubba effect — not rage, but citizenship.

How to respond without breaking ourselves

Do not riot. Do not withdraw. Do not cheer on destruction just because you dislike the target. That is how nations lose themselves. Instead, demand transparency. Call your representatives. Insist on consequences. Refuse to normalize constitutional violations simply because “everyone does it.” If you expect nothing, you will get nothing.

Do not hand your voice to the loudest warrior simply because he is swinging a bat at the establishment. You do not beat corruption by joining a different version of it. You beat it by modeling the country you want to preserve: principled, accountable, rooted in truth.

Adam Gray / Stringer | Getty Images

Every republic reaches a moment when historians will later say, “That was the warning.” We are living in ours. But warnings are gifts if they are recognized. Institutions bend. People fail. The Constitution can recover — if enough Americans still know and cherish it.

It does not take a majority. Twenty percent of the country — awake, educated, and courageous — can reset the system. It has happened before. It can happen again.

Wake up. Stand up. Demand integrity — from leaders, from institutions, and from yourself. Because the Bubba effect will not end until Americans reclaim the duty that has always belonged to them: preserving the republic for the next generation.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Warning: Stop letting TikTok activists think for you

Spencer Platt / Staff | Getty Images

Bad-faith attacks on Israel and AIPAC warp every debate. Real answers emerge only when people set aside scripts and ask what serves America’s long-term interests.

The search for truth has always required something very much in short supply these days: honesty. Not performative questions, not scripted outrage, not whatever happens to be trending on TikTok, but real curiosity.

Some issues, often focused on foreign aid, AIPAC, or Israel, have become hotbeds of debate and disagreement. Before we jump into those debates, however, we must return to a simpler, more important issue: honest questioning. Without it, nothing in these debates matters.

Ask questions because you want the truth, not because you want a target.

The phrase “just asking questions” has re-entered the zeitgeist, and that’s fine. We should always question power. But too many of those questions feel preloaded with someone else’s answer. If the goal is truth, then the questions should come from a sincere desire to understand, not from a hunt for a villain.

Honest desire for truth is the only foundation that can support a real conversation about these issues.

Truth-seeking is real work

Right now, plenty of people are not seeking the truth at all. They are repeating something they heard from a politician on cable news or from a stranger on TikTok who has never opened a history book. That is not a search for answers. That is simply outsourcing your own thought.

If you want the truth, you need to work for it. You cannot treat the world like a Marvel movie where the good guy appears in a cape and the villain hisses on command. Real life does not give you a neat script with the moral wrapped up in two hours.

But that is how people are approaching politics now. They want the oppressed and the oppressor, the heroic underdog and the cartoon villain. They embrace this fantastical framing because it is easier than wrestling with reality.

This framing took root in the 1960s when the left rebuilt its worldview around colonizers and the colonized. Overnight, Zionism was recast as imperialism. Suddenly, every conflict had to fit the same script. Today’s young activists are just recycling the same narrative with updated graphics. Everything becomes a morality play. No nuance, no context, just the comforting clarity of heroes and villains.

Bad-faith questions

This same mindset is fueling the sudden obsession with Israel, and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee in particular. You hear it from members of Congress and activists alike: AIPAC pulls the strings, AIPAC controls the government, AIPAC should register as a foreign agent under the Foreign Agents Registration Act. The questions are dramatic, but are they being asked in good faith?

FARA is clear. The standard is whether an individual or group acts under the direction or control of a foreign government. AIPAC simply does not qualify.

Here is a detail conveniently left out of these arguments: Dozens of domestic organizations — Armenian, Cuban, Irish, Turkish — lobby Congress on behalf of other countries. None of them registers under FARA because — like AIPAC — they are independent, domestic organizations.

If someone has a sincere problem with the structure of foreign lobbying, fair enough. Let us have that conversation. But singling out AIPAC alone is not a search for truth. It is bias dressed up as bravery.

Anadolu / Contributor | Getty Images

If someone wants to question foreign aid to Israel, fine. Let’s have that debate. But let’s ask the right questions. The issue is not the size of the package but whether the aid advances our interests. What does the United States gain? Does the investment strengthen our position in the region? How does it compare to what we give other nations? And do we examine those countries with the same intensity?

The real target

These questions reflect good-faith scrutiny. But narrowing the entire argument to one country or one dollar amount misses the larger problem. If someone objects to the way America handles foreign aid, the target is not Israel. The target is the system itself — an entrenched bureaucracy, poor transparency, and decades-old commitments that have never been re-examined. Those problems run through programs around the world.

If you want answers, you need to broaden the lens. You have to be willing to put aside the movie script and confront reality. You have to hold yourself to a simple rule: Ask questions because you want the truth, not because you want a target.

That is the only way this country ever gets clarity on foreign aid, influence, alliances, and our place in the world. Questioning is not just allowed. It is essential. But only if it is honest.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

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.