Only #BlackLivesMatter? Progressives shut down Democrat who tries to say “All Lives Matter”

Martin O’Malley spoke at the progressive Netroots Nation over the weekend and found himself under fire from Black Lives Matter activists. The activists interrupted the presidential hopeful as he tried to answer questions, was pressed to give specific examples of how he would end police brutality, and - most shockingly - was booed when he tried to say “All Lives Matter”.

TheBlaze reported:

In a raucous scene at the annual Netroots Nation convention of liberal activists, a large group of protesters streamed into the convention hall chanting, “Black lives matter!” as O’Malley was speaking to interviewer Jose Antonio Vargas. One of the group’s leaders took over the stage and addressed the audience as the largely female group of demonstrators railed against police-involved shootings, the treatment of immigrants and Arizona’s racial history.

Watch the video below:

While Pat and Stu enjoyed seeing liberals attack one another, they couldn't believe the vitriol directed at O'Malley for saying "all lives matter".

"Of course, all lives matter," Stu said. "That's the least controversial thing you should be able to say in society. And yet, it is met with with anger as if they came out and started joking about the Holocaust or something. Like it's, how dare you say they all matter! They don't all matter. I mean, that's an incredible moment. I mean, in a rational sane nation, isn't that an amazing moment in human history?"

Below is a rush transcript of this segment, it may contain errors:

PAT: I've always loved it when liberals eat their own. It's fun to watch. And at the Netroots Convention. The Netroots Nation Convention. They were having this discussion with -- what's-his-face from Maryland.

STU: Martin O'Malley.

PAT: Martin O'Malley. Big discussion on all kinds of issues. Then they start hearing this chanting in the background. It gets louder. So they stop. And they wait. Then they invite them up on stage. Because what the heck. Let's find out what their social justice beef is too. Because you know it's some kind of social justice beef. And this black lives matter woman gets up on stage and starts explaining her beef.

VOICE: -- to work with immigrants of color from Africa, the Caribbean, and other countries, in order to advance a social and economic agenda to build a multiracial democracy. I want to welcome you to Arizona.

PAT: Yeah. Whatever that is. Yes.

STU: I love how this polite tone after they've just bowled themselves up on stage.

PAT: Yeah. After you've acted like children.

STU: You're screaming in the background. This is what kids do when they want something.

PAT: Yes. And, of course, they got it.

STU: When I'm in the middle of a conversation, and my son Zach wants me to fast-forward the commercials on Umizoomi, this is what he does. Daddy, daddy! That's what these protesters do. Unlike Zach, they get rewarded here. They get rewarded and they come on stage --

PAT: So Zach doesn't chant no justice, no peace? He doesn't do that.

STU: He says no justice, no peas. He doesn't like peas.

PAT: I don't blame him. I don't like peas either, unless they're fresh right out of the pot.

STU: Yeah, no. These are frozen.

PAT: Okay. That's not the same.

So she gets what she wants, and now all of a sudden she is super polite. What does this say to everybody who has some kind of issue that they want promoted? All they have to do is interrupt you in the middle of whatever you're doing. Get invited up on stage, and you can babble for however long you want to. And we'll just stand here and look at you while you do. The moderator was standing on one side. O'Malley was on the other. They were just both standing there, letting her do what she did. Really weird. I don't think I've ever seen it before.

VOICE: -- so much. So Netroots Nation being in Arizona is significant for several reasons, right?

PAT: So the Netroots Nation being in Arizona is significant for several reasons. She lists the reasons. You'll be excited.

VOICE: Arizona is indigenous land. We call this Phoenix, Arizona. But really the border was drawn, right, by white supremacists, Manifest Destiny.

JEFFY: Yes. Yes.

PAT: Thank you. It's about time someone finally said it.

STU: Yes.

PAT: They've said it before. But I'm glad she said it again, that the border was drawn by white supremacists.

STU: And there's some value to an idiotic the defense like this, that a supposedly mild serious presidential candidate is sitting here with what a lot of these people believe, when it comes to activists that, you know, the country is built on white supremacy and all this stuff. They have to treat it seriously and not just immediately dismiss it. Because they're right there.

PAT: Yeah.

STU: And they have to please the audience. But you would think they're also at the same time having to -- you know, extend some sort of rational thought. If they want to win the presidency, they can't win with this point, right? You can't say, hey, by the way, I also believe the borders were drawn by white supremacists and this is indigenous land.

PAT: I hope you can't win the presidency that way. I'm just not positive.

STU: Me either.

PAT: Listen to the response of this. She just said that the border was drawn by white supremacists, Manifest Destiny people. And listen to the response of this crowd.

(applauding)

PAT: Unbelievable.

VOICE: And without the innovations, right, of the indigenous people, right, building the canals, this would be an uninhabitable desert, correct?

PAT: Right? Right? Right?

STU: Right, Pat? Correct, Pat?

PAT: I'm looking for validation. Right? Right?

VOICE: I just want to give a little bit of context about what we're here to do today.

On Monday, that was the July 13th. It's the two-year anniversary of the black lives matter -- creation of the black lives matter hashtag. Right? Political projects.

STU: Wait. Are we celebrating anniversaries of the creation of hashtags? Is that a country that you want to live in?

PAT: No, it isn't. No, it isn't.

STU: Hey, we have now -- by the way, we have that retweet anniversary coming up. I mean, it's just -- it's really sad.

PAT: It's the retweet anniversary of, hey, listen to Pat & Stu. Yeah! It's the three-month anniversary of that, when we did a special show on Net Roots Nation. We'll be celebrating that three months from now.

STU: Wow.

PAT: Yeah. It's a celebration of the hashtag of black lives matter. Yeah!

VOICE: -- that has moved, right, from an online political project to an on-the-ground social justice initiative that has reignited the fight for racial justice, across the globe, right?

STU: Right?

PAT: Right?

VOICE: It's also the one-year anniversary marking the death of -- excuse me -- Eric Garner.

VOICE: Woo!

PAT: She gets a woo out of that.

STU: There's one KKK guy in the crowd. The death of Eric Garner.

PAT: We got that one done too. Yeah!

STU: That's a weird response to that.

PAT: The whole thing is so weird. So weird.

STU: This is the base, by the way. Let's not take this as here's this crazy woman on stage. This is the base of the party.

PAT: Listen to the response of her. They love her.

STU: They love her.

PAT: She's wearing a shirt that says black love or something like that. And she's representing black lives matter. And she's representing all these, I mean, just radical points of view. America hating radical points of view, we started as a white supremacist nation with Manifest Destiny. Which if Glenn were here, he would probably agree with some of these things. The Manifest Destiny thing, none of us are excited about.

And what Andrew Jackson did with the Native Americans and the number of times we lied to them. I mean, nobody is proud of that. But all of these issues for them to support her in them, it tells you a little something about where the Democrat and where the progressives are headed. The Democrat Party is heading down the same road as the progressives are. They're one and the same now. You can't discern between the two anymore.

STU: No. Remember, this is a conference that all the candidates went to -- it was part of the pilgrimage of the campaign.

PAT: They all must pay homage to Net Roots now.

STU: They all must go to the conference that not only apparently has people cheering the death of Eric Garner, which I find completely disturbing, but also celebrates hashtag anniversaries. It's sort of silly. But this woman is saying things that are -- you could find, until recently, only in the Peace and Freedom Party candidate, which is a socialist/communist party in the United States. Very small. You know, the Socialist Party USA. These sort of fringe parties. That's where you would find it. This is sort of the mainstream pilgrimage to the presidency. It's kind of an amazing turn.

PAT: The media never addresses it. It's always the Republicans. It's always the G.O.P. who are so far afield of mainstream America. But here you have Democrats, you know, making this pilgrimage to these radicals. It's never mentioned.

STU: Yeah. There's a Republican candidate who we spoke about a couple weeks ago, that was -- spoke at a conference in which cockfighting was promoted. So it wasn't -- his speech wasn't about cockfighting. There was no interaction about cockfighting. But there was a candidate who was there and spoke at a conference in which it was promoted and it was a big news story. Here we have every candidate from the Democrat side, going to a conference in which respectfully listen to the opinion that we're just a bunch of white supremacists and that Arizona really isn't the United States. And all of these opinions. And it's like, hmm, that's a very interesting intellectually point. By the way, the hashtag for black lives matter, it's the second anniversary coming up. It's a weird world. If there was any sort of media fairness, you would have people recognizing that this is nut world.

PAT: Yeah. It's nothing like the Democrat Party of the 1960s even, where JFK won the nomination and the presidency. JFK is pretty moderate. JFK was pretty much down the middle. He was not a left-wing guy. He was not a right-wing guy, necessarily. But he's a lot more conservative than any of these Democrats today, that's for sure.

STU: It's not even close.

PAT: When you have an avowed socialist, a Democratic socialist running for the Democrat nomination, that should tell you something. That would be like a Republican from the KKK running in the Republican Party. And everyone is fine with it. Yeah, whatever. They have a member from the KKK running for the party. It's almost that startling. It's almost that radical. It's someone perceived to be so far to the right and you have this socialist so far to the left. And no one is paying attention to it. The Democrats are still considered mainstream. How is that possible? To me, it's not.

STU: As much as we're mocking the one moment where they're saying, hey, it's been one year since the death of Eric Garner, and one person in the crowd went woo. That would be in every news story if it was at a Republican conference. If someone said, gosh, this is sad. You know, it's one year since the death of Eric Garner, and one person in the crowd went, woo!

PAT: The headline would all be G.O.P. cheers --

STU: As murdered black man is remembered.

PAT: Uh-huh.

STU: It would be the way that it would go down.

PAT: No doubt about it.

STU: We didn't even get to the best part of this Martin O'Malley thing. We didn't even get to the part where he says something really controversial and the crowd takes him down for that. We have to talk about that.

PAT: Yeah, we'll do that next. 877-727-BECK. More Pat and Stu for Glenn on the Glenn Beck Program coming up.

[BREAK]

PAT: With Pat and Stu. 877-727-BECK. We didn't even get to the most controversial part of -- after the uproar at the Netroots Nation Convention. And something like this happens every year, it seems like. Every year at this thing. It's a radical conference for radicals. And for some reason, the Democrats all play into the radical agenda. They all go. They all pay homage, and they really got caught up in it this time because the black lives matter people were chanting. So they allowed them up on stage. Go ahead. Say your piece. That didn't calm them down because then O'Malley starts talking again and they start yelling at him about black lives matter. Say it. They wanted him to say the names of the people who have been killed. They wanted him to say the name of the woman who had just died in police custody. No one even knows what happened to her yet. But they want him to say the name, as if -- I don't know what that does exactly. I guess it validates their point that the only people being killed by cops are black.

PAT: That's true. Only black people have been killed by police officers.

PAT: Except not. In fact, less black people have been killed by cops than white people.

STU: When you say less, you mean by half.

PAT: I mean less. By less, I mean less.

STU: You mean less than --

PAT: I mean less than half as many. So just -- you know, but that's beside the point.

STU: Okay.

PAT: So O'Malley starts speaking again. Here's what he said. I mean you tell me if you can say this in America today.

MARTIN: Black lives matter. White lives matter. All lives matter.

VOICE: No! Really? How many times people have killed police officers this year? How many?

VOICE: Exactly.

VOICE: How many? Stop saying that bull [bleep].

PAT: Listen -- listen to that. Black lives matter. White lives matter. The audience yells, no.

STU: No. They can't matter apparently.

PAT: No. White lives don't matter.

STU: Did you ever think that you'd be in a country where someone would say all lives matter, that would be disagreed with, with that passion? I mean, that is visceral anger. How dare you say that all lives matter! How dare you say it.

PAT: Yeah. And they don't even let him get to all lives matter before they start yelling at the white lives matter. How dare you say white lives matter. They don't I guess. In the scope of this movement --

JEFFY: Especially on the anniversary.

PAT: Oh, of the hashtag.

JEFFY: Of black lives matter.

STU: How is that controversial? It's the least controversial thing that's possible to say. All lives matter. It's not -- you know, we talk about it on the air. I think it's important to say apparently at this point and apparently we were on the mark with saying it because it's apparently important to point out. But in reality, it should just be the most meaningless, rainbow, sugar and spice thing you could say. Of course, all lives matter. That's the least controversial thing you should be able to say in society. And yet, it is met with --

PAT: Yes. That's what logic tells you.

STU: -- with anger as if they came out and started joking about the Holocaust or something. Like it's, how dare you say they all matter! They don't all matter. I mean, that's an incredible moment. I mean, in a rational sane nation, isn't that an amazing moment in human history?

PAT: It is. It is.

STU: Where you have people out there -- think of the times in history where that hasn't been true. There have been many cases where countries have decided that, you know what, not all lives matter. There have been many cases in history and we don't need to run through them. But have any of those turned out well?

PAT: No. I'm going to say no.

STU: I'll go with no. When you make a decision as a society that all life doesn't matter, you wind up really regretting that. It never turns out well. And to see visceral anger -- and you say, you know what, good for Martin O'Malley. Here's a guy that comes up. He's a Democrat. He takes a stand.

PAT: Hillary said it too. She was equally booed.

STU: Here's people taking a stand. But the update on Martin O'Malley, he apologized.

PAT: I'm so sorry I said white lives matter. I don't know what came over me. I got caught up in the moment. I shouldn't have said that. I know I'm white, and I was thinking for a second that maybe my own life matters. It doesn't. And neither do any of the whities I know. No whities. No crackers matter. Okay. I'm really sorry about that. He actually apologized for saying white lives matter. All lives matter.

STU: Uh-huh.

PAT: And black lives matter, by the way.

STU: That was the first one. He led with that.

PAT: And then, by the way, with this activist yelling and screaming at the end of this. Listen to it again.

MARTIN: Black lives matter. White lives matter. All lives matter.

VOICE: No! Really? How many times have people killed police officers this year? How many? Stop it. Stop saying that bull [bleep].

PAT: How many white people were killed by police officers this year? I thought so. Well, you didn't listen for the answer, hun.

STU: The actual answer to that, of course, 49 percent of people killed by police officers are white and 30 percent are black.

PAT: So it's not quite double. But it's close to double.

STU: Although, that is how I heard the question when we played the first time. Listen back, she actually asked another question, which was how many black people have killed police officers this year? As if a black person has never killed a police officer. I'll go out on a limb and say that's not true either.

PAT: Recently. It happened several times recently.

STU: We'll have to look at the numbers on that. But I guess they're not flattering.

PAT: Wow. Unbelievable.

STU: Of course, it will be more than zero. I can promise you that one.

PAT: More of the Glenn Beck Program with Pat and Stu coming up.

[BREAK]

PAT: With Pat and Stu. 877-727-BECK. 877-727-BECK.

Yeah. We mentioned that Martin O'Malley apologized for saying that black lives matter or white lives matter. All lives matter. And he got booed. As soon as he said white lives matter at the Net Roots Nation Convention. And he later apologized. I think it was the same day. He went over and -- but you -- and we mentioned he apologized. But you have to hear the apology. It's pretty amazing.

STU: Yeah. And the other thing too, as we're pulling that audio up. Not only did they -- they didn't boo when they said white lives matter, they said no.

PAT: That's true.

STU: It wasn't like, oh, come on. You're saying the wrong phrase. It was no! They don't matter! How dare you! And then he comes out and he has to apologize for it.

VOICE: But I want to ask something specifically. Because towards the end in your explanation, you said the phrase all lives matter. You said the phrase white lives matter.

PAT: Oh, no.

VOICE: But I want to ask you, do you understand the difference in responding in that conversation in that context with all lives matter or white lives matter, when we're specifically talking about black death? That is not all-inclusive.

MARTIN: I certainly do. In fact, I believe what I first said was black lives matter before those other two phrases.

STU: Stop. Stop.

PAT: Before those two other phrases which I can't even mention.

STU: He can't even say the phrases. He can't come out with the phrase. Even quoting himself, that all lives matter, first of all, I prioritize black people over white people. I want to be clear about that. I said black lives matter first. And then I did say those other phrases.

PAT: Then I did say ALM.

STU: And WLM. Which I will not -- the WLM phrase, white lives matter, you can't even say it. He's editing himself because he doesn't want to be on camera again saying the phrase all lives matter.

This is one of the two main political parties in the country. This is not -- this is not some crazy --

PAT: I'm just stunned.

STU: Group of -- I mean, it is a crazy group. But this is supposed to mainstream. And they can't -- he can't bring himself to say all lives matter?

PAT: No. Not in this context. For some reason, we can only speak of black lives now. Even though white people are dying and have died at the hands of cop at a higher rate than black.

STU: Yeah, 49 percent of people killed by officers are white. 30 percent are black.

PAT: And, by the way, in the past several years, it's been about double. In the past like -- I think it was since 2009, it's close to double the number of white people dead by cop compared to white people dead by cop. Or black -- white people to black people. It's almost twice as many.

STU: The argument against that will be, well, white people are a higher part of the population. They will probably be a higher amount. Which is fair. If you want to use the rate, that's fair. However, you have to also use the rate and apply it to the questions she actually asked. Which was, hey, when was the last time a black person killed a police officer? Interesting question. Are you ready for the answer? Blacks make up 13 percent of the population. Are responsible for 42 percent of all cop killers.

PAT: Wow.

STU: So while you would say, okay, look the rate is significantly higher, you can't not use the rate in one and use the rate in the other. Of course, that's what the left tries to do. The bottom line is, these numbers aren't flattering. These numbers aren't flattering. You don't want to get into a numbers conversation. You could say there are justifications for those numbers. There are a lot of -- there are longer nuanced arguments that we've had many times on this program as to why those numbers occur. But the numbers aren't flattering. This cause does not have statistics they want to quote.

PAT: The numbers aren't on their side. That's for sure.

STU: Which is why, by the way, they attach to -- these activists attach to high-profile cases like Eric Garner where it looks like something actually was wrong that was done.

PAT: Which we said, by the way. Over and over again.

STU: Yeah. Let's see. I do have the number off the top of my head. It's 200 or so reported killings of blacks by police officers.

The vast majority of those, however, were justified. There wasn't even really a controversy. You know, there are criminals that do things. That doesn't mean all black people are criminals by any means. It just means that sometimes criminals happen to be black and these things happen. And cops shoot someone who happens to be black, the person dies, and it was actually completely justified. And we see that in most of these cases, even the ones that were controversial. Michael Brown comes to mind. There was this huge controversy. Until you actually saw the report, until you learned that he was potentially wanted for a crime just moments before. He had an altercation inside the car, all these details come out. Then you find out, well, maybe it was justified. The vast majority of them justified. Those are controversial cases. You don't hear about the one where the guy is pointing a gun at an officer and he shoots him after being shot at. No one brings those cases to light because they don't advance anyone's agenda. But those happen all the time to good officers who are sitting there defending their lives trying to get home to their kids. Happens all the time.

PAT: Yeah.

STU: And those are never promoted. Al Sharpton never shows up in those towns.

PAT: That's for sure. Meanwhile, the O'Malley apology continues.

MARTIN: I said those other two phrases, I meant no disrespect to the point which I understand and that black lives matter is making.

PAT: And I understand that white lives don't matter. I don't know why I said they did when they don't. And all lives don't matter either. Only black lives matter. And I understand that now.

STU: The guy is white.

PAT: I get it.

STU: He can't say his own life matters? He can't even bring himself to admit that his own life matters?

PAT: Not in this context, Stu. Not in this context.

MARTIN: For many years -- many years ago, when I ran for mayor of Baltimore -- a majority African-American city, when we had allowed ourselves to become the most violent, part of what I called us to as a people was to the justice of realizing that, yes, black lives matter. And when we allow ourselves to assume that every year as a city we just to have accept that 300 young black men will die violent deaths --

PAT: And, by the way, different issue here. It's a separate issue. 300 black men dying violent deaths is almost always at the hand of another black man.

STU: Uh-huh.

PAT: That is a completely different issue. You're mixing apples with oranges here. You're not talking about cops killing blacks anymore.

STU: Right. It's embarrassing when you're analyzing what he's saying. He's saying, well, we're the most violent city in the country. Was that because of white cops killing blacks? Was that the reason for that?

PAT: No, it's a total separate issue. It's black-on-black crime, the same problem they have in Chicago and elsewhere. The same problem that nobody wants to deal with. Nobody wants to talk about that. Nobody wants to discuss any other reasons that might lead to that. And search for real solutions to those problems, nobody wants to deal with it.

STU: Give you a rough estimate of these numbers. About 200 or so killings of blacks by white police officers -- or by police officers in general. Some of them are black police officers. 200 nationwide police officers killing blacks, the vast majority were justified and not even really questioned highly.

There were 30 times that amount of blacks killed by blacks. 6,000.

PAT: Wow. Wow.

STU: What do you do with that?

PAT: Yeah, what do you do with that? That's the problem he's talking about with Baltimore.

STU: He's mixing these issues to make him seem like he's tough on them. At the same time, he's trying to act tough while he's saying things like, those other two phrases. Those other two phrases, you can't bring yourself to say that people's lives matter?

PAT: So bad. Really bad.

MARTIN: We have to do a checkup from the neck up and realize as a people --

PAT: That's a nice phrase. Checkup from the neck up.

STU: Wait. Take that phrase and stop saying it. How about that? What year is it? It's 2015.

PAT: We have to do a checkup from the neck up is what --

STU: Unfortunately I used the phrase checkup from the neck up. I will no longer be using that phrase. That would be a positive for your campaign, Martin.

MARTIN: We would have a different reaction to this as a state and as a metro area and as a city. So I meant that as a mistake on my part. And I meant no disrespect. And I didn't mean to be insensitive in any way or to communicate that I did not understand the tremendous passion, commitment, and -- and feeling -- and depth of feeling that all of us should be attaching to this issue.

PAT: Wow.

STU: I feel like he should drop the mic and run because he's just embarrassing himself. He just said it was a mistake -- the word mistake was used when describing the phrase all lives matter.

I mean, what kind of insane group of people is this? You can't say that people's lives matter comfortably anymore.

PAT: It's an insane group of people who have been running this country for six years now. Going on seven.

STU: I guess this is what you get.

PAT: We're getting what we voted for sadly. We specifically didn't. But the nation as a whole did. When we put him in office. We're reaping the benefits right now. I don't know how else to put it. And if we vote -- if this nation chooses Hillary or God forbid, Bernie Sanders or Martin O'Malley, a guy who apologizes saying black lives matter, white lives matter, all lives matter, we're -- how do you survive that? Another four to eight years? I really don't know. 877-727-BECK. 877-727-BECK. More of the Glenn Beck Program with Pat and Stu coming up.

Featured Image: PHOENIX, AZ - JULY 18: Former Gov. Martin O'Malley (D-MD) (R), and moderator Jose Antonio Vargas (R), listen to Tia Oso, the National Coordinator for the Black Immigration Network, during an interruption to O'Malley's speech, at the Netroots Nation 2015 Presidential Town Hall with at the Phoenix Convention Center July 18, 2015 in Phoenix, Arizona. The Democratic presidential candidate was challenged on his record of criminal injustice during his time as mayor and governor. (Photo by Charlie Leight/Getty Images)

The Crisis of Meaning: Searching for truth and purpose

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.

The Bubba Effect erupts as America’s power brokers go rogue

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.

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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.

Grim warning: Bad-faith Israel critics duck REAL questions

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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

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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.