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Glenn's Show Prep

The Article I Project: Restore the Powers of Congress

February 04, 2016
Lori Hanes

Writer

Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) and Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) have launched a new project to restore the powers of Congress that have slowly been legislated away over the past 80 years. They called in to The Glenn Beck Program on Thursday to explain what it's all about.

"We formed the Article 1 Project for the purpose of reinvigorating Congress' power," Sen. Lee said. "Congress over the last 80 years has gradually delegated away almost all of its legislative power, to the point now where upwards of 95 percent of our laws are now made by executive branch bureaucrats. And as hard-working and well-intentioned and well-educated and highly specialized as these people might be, they don't work for us. We can't fire them. They're not elected. They're not even accountable to anyone who is elected. So we're trying to turn that around. We're trying to put the power back into the hands of people, specifically back in the hands of the people's elected representatives."

Glenn asked Sen. Lee to provide an example of how this would impact the average person's life.

"Don't talk to me about the debt, most people -- $19 trillion --- they know that," Glenn said. "But it doesn't affect their life day to day. How will this affect people's lives today?"

"If we succeed, everything Americans buy has a chance of becoming more affordable," Sen. Lee said. "The federal regulations that we have to comply with every year cost the American economy $2 trillion a year. And far from being absorbed by wealthy corporations or wealthy individuals, these are the kinds of costs that end up getting passed downstream. It's kind of a backdoor invisible, very regressive tax that disproportionately affects the poor and middle class of America, such that everything we buy, every good, every service that we purchase in the economy, is more expensive because of these regulations."

Just launched today, the project is backed by 10 principled conservatives on the Senate and House side --- and hopefully more soon.

Learn more about the Article I Project on Facebook.

Listen to this segment below:

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

GLENN: Oh, my gosh. People I work -- that work on this show are so needy, all the time.

PAT: Are needy?

JEFFY: Needy?

GLENN: Needy.

PAT: I'm not needy at all in any way.

GLENN: You're like, I want Ted Cruz on.

PAT: Yes, I do. I want Ted Cruz on.

GLENN: How about taking his best friend?

PAT: But I also do want Mike Lee on.

GLENN: Take his best friend.

PAT: And Jeb Hensarling. Both of them --

GLENN: What a surprise. They're both on. I have both of them on.

PAT: Oh, my gosh. What an amazing coincidence.

GLENN: Okay. So there's something going on in Congress. It's called the Restoring Regulatory Accountability Act. What this is --

PAT: It's my favorite act of all time.

GLENN: Listen to this. This is a crazy concept. We in Congress and in the Senate would like our power reinstated. It's crazy.

PAT: Oh, you power-hungry pigs.

GLENN: I know. I know. And that's coming from somebody who is really needy.

We have Jeb Hensarling on from Texas. Mike Lee from Utah. And welcome to the program. How are you guys, guys?

MIKE: I'm feeling needy. I'm feeling really needy just so you know.

JEB: Good.

GLENN: Okay. So before we get into this, I want to ask something of both of you.

Mike, why haven't you come out and endorsed Ted Cruz?

(laughter)

PAT: Seriously. Here's your chance.

MIKE: Yeah, I've got two really good friends in this race. I had three until this morning. Now I have two. It puts me in a difficult spot. I'm trying to be as supportive of both of them as I can.

PAT: Yeah, but one of them would really be a great president.

GLENN: One of them would be a great president. And I don't understand this.

PAT: One of them would be a better president than the other one.

GLENN: It's time for you to step up. And, Jeb, here's the thing, I'd like you to step up as well. Because we could just said Jeb has just endorsed Ted Cruz. And we'll even put the little explanation point after your --

JEB: I have an ego, but it's not so big as to think somebody would care about my endorsement.

Listen, Ted Cruz is a great principled conservative. He's excited our base. And if he gets to be president, I'm so looking forward to the day he shakes this place up.

But I read in the Constitution. It's not in my job description that I have to endorse so I think I'll let the voters work their will.

GLENN: Okay. Guys, tell me about the -- because what's happened to our country. And this is why I do think we have to have a constitutionalist as president, the separation of powers is almost nonexistent. And Congress has given away all of their power. So you guys are trying to pass this act to get the power of Congress back. What is it?

JEB: Mike, you go first.

MIKE: Sure. We formed the Article 1 Project for the purpose of reinvigorating Congress' power. Congress over the last 80 years has gradually delegated away almost all of its legislative power, to the point now where upwards of 95 percent of our laws are now made by executive branch bureaucrats. And as hard-working and well-intentioned and well-educated and highly specialized as these people might be, they don't work for us. We can't fire them. They're not elected. They're not even accountable to anyone who is elected. So we're trying to turn that around. We're trying to put the power back into the hands of people, specifically back in the hands of the people's elected representatives.

GLENN: So why is it, Jeb, that you can't get Congress to say -- because this is really self -- this is selfish of you in a way. You could look at it this way. You're saying, "Give me power." Well, that's what everybody in Washington always says. So what's the holdup for the people in Washington saying, we want our right, righteous, and constitutionally correct power back into this house?

JEB: Well, Glenn, you're right. A lot of this has been self-enfeeblement by a number of Congresses. This has been going on for decades. I'm reminded of Madison's great warning that our freedoms are usually lost through gradual and silent encroachments, as opposed to violent usurpations. So this has been going on for decades, but it's reached crisis proportion. And the first thing Congress has to do is decide that Article 1, Section 1, actually means what it says, and that all legislative powers reside in Congress. It doesn't reside with the new fourth branch of government, and that's the unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats.

We're losing the rule of law to the discretion of regulators. And as we lose it, we've lost due process. We've lost our rights under the Constitution. And so the first thing we have to do and that Mike and are doing is sensitize our fellow members of Congress, "Hey, stop the bleeding. Let's reclaim we, the people, the elected representatives of we, the people, the constitutional powers in Article 1, Section 1. It has to do with something called checks and balances."

GLENN: So how many people do you have on this so far? How many people have signed on?

JEB: Well, it was just launched today, and we have ten members, principled conservatives on the Senate and House side who are excited about this. And I suspect a whole lot of others are going to want to join because people are frustrated. They're frustrated, not only at what the president has done with his infamous pen and his phone. He just doesn't seem to have a copy of the Constitution. But also frustrated at what Congress has done to itself. And so I think we'll see a whole lot more.

GLENN: I mean, I have to believe that there -- there is enough fear -- there should be enough fear of either a Bernie Sanders or a Donald Trump coming in there and completely changing the system just based on executive power. That you would think that you could make the case to both sides, "Look, guys, we could lose -- even the game we're playing right now, this could be over right now if we don't protect it in the Congress and in the Senate." Mike.

MIKE: One would think that. One would think that would strike fears into members of Congress. But you have to remember, Glenn, this, from the vantage point of many members of Congress, is a feature, not a bug. This is great. This is the current status quo for many members of Congress. It's just a marvelous thing. I talk about this at length in my book, Our Lost Constitution, in which I describe the fact that the reason has gotten addicted to this in the first place is because we like to pass stuff that makes it sound like we're getting stuff done. When, in fact, all we're doing is passing the buck to someone else who then has to do the difficult legwork, and most importantly, has to take up the accountability for whatever actually gets done. So it's much easier to just say, we shall have clean air. And we hereby delegate the task of what that means and actually putting meat on those bones and enforcing that legislation, than it is to come up with the details ourselves.

GLENN: So how do we get -- how do we get people to be a part -- have you guys talked to Mark Levin about this yet?

MIKE: We have not yet talked to Mark Levin. He's another one on our list. We have lots of people that we need to talk to. Mark is certainly at the top of the list.

GLENN: Yeah, Mark is great. I'm sure he'll be for this. But people can go to Facebook.com/article1. Just the number "1" project. Article 1 Project. And read all about it. And then, what, I guess, do we call our congressmen or our senator -- and will that make a difference, guys? We're so tired of being told to call and it won't make a difference.

JEB: I think it will. You know, when we, the people are being heard, it does make a difference. We've seen it across the last couple of election cycles. I think a lot of members will be responsive. And, again, I think on the Republican side and the conservative side, people feel the need to get back to first principles. I mean, it's not just part of the dusty legacy. It's our vision and destiny to be an exceptional country to go back to our foundational principles. And so I think it can do some good. And if people highlight and say, "It's time to take back the power of the purse. It's time to quit outsourcing your legislative power, I think it will make a difference."

GLENN: So, Jeb, what does it mean -- the goals are reclaiming Congress' power of the purse. Got it. Restoring congressional authority over regulation and regulators. Got it. Reigning in executive discretion. Got it. What does this one mean? Reforming executive, empowering legislative cliffs.

JEB: Well, what that has to do with is what we see on debt ceiling votes. What we see on these tragic votes like the omnibus where the entire government comes down to one single vote which is an abuse of the process. There's no transparency. So there are budget process reforms that you can put in place that will make it easier for Congress to reclaim their power of the purse. For example, a great principled conservative, Tom McClintock of California has a Default Prevention Act to make sure that the US doesn't default on its sovereign debt. Once you take out and segregate sovereign debt from the other expenditures, then all of a sudden the debt ceiling becomes something that can be used to get us off the road to bankruptcy. And what we have to do through the budget process reform is also ensure that the government is broken down into bite-sized pieces where the American people can see what their elected representatives are actually voting on. And instead, we're working on, Glenn, a budget process that was put in place by a super Democratic majority back in the Watergate era. It's just shameful. We have got to change this process.

GLENN: Mike, give me one or two examples of how this will affect the average person's life. Don't talk to me about the debt -- most people -- $19 trillion. They know that. But it doesn't affect their life day to day. How will this affect people's lives today?

MIKE: If we succeed, everything Americans buy has a chance of becoming more affordable.

GLENN: Why?

MIKE: The federal regulations that we have to comply with every year cost the American economy $2 trillion a year. And far from being absorbed by wealthy corporations or wealthy individuals, these are the kinds of costs that end up getting passed downstream. It's kind of a

backdoor invisible, very regressive tax that disproportionately affects the poor and middle class of America, such that everything we buy, every good, every service that we purchase in the economy, is more expensive because of these regulations. And diminished wages and unemployment -- underemployment are also a consequence of these regulations. Those will all be eased if we succeed in this, if we return power to the people. Because a lot of those regulations won't happen when putting the regulations in place are actually elected by the people and subject to recall and termination by the people.

PAT: If I'm not mistaken, both of you guys are up -- both of you constitutional conservatives are up for reelection this year. It's too bad that people don't have a place to go where they could support your campaign if they really believe in what you're doing and want you to continue that work. Wouldn't it be nice --

GLENN: That would be nice.

PAT: -- if there was a place where they could go and maybe donate, offer --

GLENN: Is there a place where they could get behind one of your campaign's?

PAT: I mean, or both?

MIKE: There absolutely is. They can go to LeeforSenate.com. LeeforSenate.com. It's a beautiful place.

PAT: That's so hard to spell though. It's like L-E-E. That's hard.

MIKE: Yes, L-E-EforSenate.com. And it's a wonderful place.

GLENN: For Senate. Certainly there's not some place for Jeb as well.

JEB: You know what, JebHensarling.com is a place people can access as well. I know it's not as easy to spell as Lee, H-E-N-S-A-R-L-I-N-G.

PAT: All right.

GLENN: Huh. .com. Both of you guys. That's crazy. And so wonderful --

PAT: Thanks for what you're doing.

GLENN: Thanks for that. Sincerely, you're two really good conservatives. We need you there. And I know Ted appreciates your implied endorsement.

(laughter)

Thanks a lot, guys. Appreciate it.

JEB: Thanks for having us, Glenn.

Is the U.N. plotting to control 30% of U.S. land by 2030?

Bloomberg / Contributor | Getty Images

A reliable conservative senator faces cancellation for listening to voters. But the real threat to public lands comes from the last president’s backdoor globalist agenda.

Something ugly is unfolding on social media, and most people aren’t seeing it clearly. Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) — one of the most constitutionally grounded conservatives in Washington — is under fire for a housing provision he first proposed in 2022.

You wouldn’t know that from scrolling through X. According to the latest online frenzy, Lee wants to sell off national parks, bulldoze public lands, gut hunting and fishing rights, and hand America’s wilderness to Amazon, BlackRock, and the Chinese Communist Party. None of that is true.

Lee’s bill would have protected against the massive land-grab that’s already under way — courtesy of the Biden administration.

I covered this last month. Since then, the backlash has grown into something like a political witch hunt — not just from the left but from the right. Even Donald Trump Jr., someone I typically agree with, has attacked Lee’s proposal. He’s not alone.

Time to look at the facts the media refuses to cover about Lee’s federal land plan.

What Lee actually proposed

Over the weekend, Lee announced that he would withdraw the federal land sale provision from his housing bill. He said the decision was in response to “a tremendous amount of misinformation — and in some cases, outright lies,” but also acknowledged that many Americans brought forward sincere, thoughtful concerns.

Because of the strict rules surrounding the budget reconciliation process, Lee couldn’t secure legally enforceable protections to ensure that the land would be made available “only to American families — not to China, not to BlackRock, and not to any foreign interests.” Without those safeguards, he chose to walk it back.

That’s not selling out. That’s leadership.

It's what the legislative process is supposed to look like: A senator proposes a bill, the people respond, and the lawmaker listens. That was once known as representative democracy. These days, it gets you labeled a globalist sellout.

The Biden land-grab

To many Americans, “public land” brings to mind open spaces for hunting, fishing, hiking, and recreation. But that’s not what Sen. Mike Lee’s bill targeted.

His proposal would have protected against the real land-grab already under way — the one pushed by the Biden administration.

In 2021, Biden launched a plan to “conserve” 30% of America’s lands and waters by 2030. This effort follows the United Nations-backed “30 by 30” initiative, which seeks to place one-third of all land and water under government control.

Ask yourself: Is the U.N. focused on preserving your right to hunt and fish? Or are radical environmentalists exploiting climate fears to restrict your access to American land?

  Smith Collection/Gado / Contributor | Getty Images

As it stands, the federal government already owns 640 million acres — nearly one-third of the entire country. At this rate, the government will hit that 30% benchmark with ease. But it doesn’t end there. The next phase is already in play: the “50 by 50” agenda.

That brings me to a piece of legislation most Americans haven’t even heard of: the Sustains Act.

Passed in 2023, the law allows the federal government to accept private funding from organizations, such as BlackRock or the Bill Gates Foundation, to support “conservation programs.” In practice, the law enables wealthy elites to buy influence over how American land is used and managed.

Moreover, the government doesn’t even need the landowner’s permission to declare that your property contributes to “pollination,” or “photosynthesis,” or “air quality” — and then regulate it accordingly. You could wake up one morning and find out that the land you own no longer belongs to you in any meaningful sense.

Where was the outrage then? Where were the online crusaders when private capital and federal bureaucrats teamed up to quietly erode private property rights across America?

American families pay the price

The real danger isn’t in Mike Lee’s attempt to offer more housing near population centers — land that would be limited, clarified, and safeguarded in the final bill. The real threat is the creeping partnership between unelected global elites and our own government, a partnership designed to consolidate land, control rural development, and keep Americans penned in so-called “15-minute cities.”

BlackRock buying entire neighborhoods and pricing out regular families isn’t by accident. It’s part of a larger strategy to centralize populations into manageable zones, where cars are unnecessary, rural living is unaffordable, and every facet of life is tracked, regulated, and optimized.

That’s the real agenda. And it’s already happening , and Mike Lee’s bill would have been an effort to ensure that you — not BlackRock, not China — get first dibs.

I live in a town of 451 people. Even here, in the middle of nowhere, housing is unaffordable. The American dream of owning a patch of land is slipping away, not because of one proposal from a constitutional conservative, but because global powers and their political allies are already devouring it.

Divide and conquer

This controversy isn’t really about Mike Lee. It’s about whether we, as a nation, are still capable of having honest debates about public policy — or whether the online mob now controls the narrative. It’s about whether conservatives will focus on facts or fall into the trap of friendly fire and circular firing squads.

More importantly, it’s about whether we’ll recognize the real land-grab happening in our country — and have the courage to fight back before it’s too late.


This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

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

MANAURE QUINTERO / Contributor | Getty Images

By now, many of us are familiar with AI and its potential benefits and threats. However, unless you're a tech tycoon, it can feel like you have little influence over the future of artificial intelligence.

For years, Glenn has warned about the dangers of rapidly developing AI technologies that have taken the world by storm.

He acknowledges their significant benefits but emphasizes the need to establish proper boundaries and ethics now, while we still have control. But since most people aren’t Silicon Valley tech leaders making the decisions, how can they help keep AI in check?

Recently, Glenn interviewed Tristan Harris, a tech ethicist deeply concerned about the potential harm of unchecked AI, to discuss its societal implications. Harris highlighted a concerning new piece of legislation proposed by Texas Senator Ted Cruz. This legislation proposes a state-level moratorium on AI regulation, meaning only the federal government could regulate AI. Harris noted that there’s currently no Federal plan for regulating AI. Until the federal government establishes a plan, tech companies would have nearly free rein with their AI. And we all know how slowly the federal government moves.

  

This is where you come in. Tristan Harris shared with Glenn the top five actions you should urge your representatives to take regarding AI, including opposing the moratorium until a concrete plan is in place. Now is your chance to influence the future of AI. Contact your senator and congressman today and share these five crucial steps they must take to keep AI in check:

Ban engagement-optimized AI companions for kids

Create legislation that will prevent AI from being designed to maximize addiction, sexualization, flattery, and attachment disorders, and to protect young people’s mental health and ability to form real-life friendships.

Establish basic liability laws

Companies need to be held accountable when their products cause real-world harm.

Pass increased whistleblower protections

Protect concerned technologists working inside the AI labs from facing untenable pressures and threats that prevent them from warning the public when the AI rollout is unsafe or crosses dangerous red lines.

Prevent AI from having legal rights

Enact laws so AIs don’t have protected speech or have their own bank accounts, making sure our legal system works for human interests over AI interests.

Oppose the state moratorium on AI 

Call your congressman or Senator Cruz’s office, and demand they oppose the state moratorium on AI without a plan for how we will set guardrails for this technology.

Glenn: Only Trump dared to deliver on decades of empty promises

Tasos Katopodis / Stringer | Getty Images

The Islamic regime has been killing Americans since 1979. Now Trump’s response proves we’re no longer playing defense — we’re finally hitting back.

The United States has taken direct military action against Iran’s nuclear program. Whatever you think of the strike, it’s over. It’s happened. And now, we have to predict what happens next. I want to help you understand the gravity of this situation: what happened, what it means, and what might come next. To that end, we need to begin with a little history.

Since 1979, Iran has been at war with us — even if we refused to call it that.

We are either on the verge of a remarkable strategic victory or a devastating global escalation. Time will tell.

It began with the hostage crisis, when 66 Americans were seized and 52 were held for over a year by the radical Islamic regime. Four years later, 17 more Americans were murdered in the U.S. Embassy bombing in Beirut, followed by 241 Marines in the Beirut barracks bombing.

Then came the Khobar Towers bombing in 1996, which killed 19 more U.S. airmen. Iran had its fingerprints all over it.

In Iraq and Afghanistan, Iranian-backed proxies killed hundreds of American soldiers. From 2001 to 2020 in Afghanistan and 2003 to 2011 in Iraq, Iran supplied IEDs and tactical support.

The Iranians have plotted assassinations and kidnappings on U.S. soil — in 2011, 2021, and again in 2024 — and yet we’ve never really responded.

The precedent for U.S. retaliation has always been present, but no president has chosen to pull the trigger until this past weekend. President Donald Trump struck decisively. And what our military pulled off this weekend was nothing short of extraordinary.

Operation Midnight Hammer

The strike was reportedly called Operation Midnight Hammer. It involved as many as 175 U.S. aircraft, including 12 B-2 stealth bombers — out of just 19 in our entire arsenal. Those bombers are among the most complex machines in the world, and they were kept mission-ready by some of the finest mechanics on the planet.

   USAF / Handout | Getty Images

To throw off Iranian radar and intelligence, some bombers flew west toward Guam — classic misdirection. The rest flew east, toward the real targets.

As the B-2s approached Iranian airspace, U.S. submarines launched dozens of Tomahawk missiles at Iran’s fortified nuclear facilities. Minutes later, the bombers dropped 14 MOPs — massive ordnance penetrators — each designed to drill deep into the earth and destroy underground bunkers. These bombs are the size of an F-16 and cost millions of dollars apiece. They are so accurate, I’ve been told they can hit the top of a soda can from 15,000 feet.

They were built for this mission — and we’ve been rehearsing this run for 15 years.

If the satellite imagery is accurate — and if what my sources tell me is true — the targeted nuclear sites were utterly destroyed. We’ll likely rely on the Israelis to confirm that on the ground.

This was a master class in strategy, execution, and deterrence. And it proved that only the United States could carry out a strike like this. I am very proud of our military, what we are capable of doing, and what we can accomplish.

What comes next

We don’t yet know how Iran will respond, but many of the possibilities are troubling. The Iranians could target U.S. forces across the Middle East. On Monday, Tehran launched 20 missiles at U.S. bases in Qatar, Syria, and Kuwait, to no effect. God forbid, they could also unleash Hezbollah or other terrorist proxies to strike here at home — and they just might.

Iran has also threatened to shut down the Strait of Hormuz — the artery through which nearly a fifth of the world’s oil flows. On Sunday, Iran’s parliament voted to begin the process. If the Supreme Council and the ayatollah give the go-ahead, we could see oil prices spike to $150 or even $200 a barrel.

That would be catastrophic.

The 2008 financial collapse was pushed over the edge when oil hit $130. Western economies — including ours — simply cannot sustain oil above $120 for long. If this conflict escalates and the Strait is closed, the global economy could unravel.

The strike also raises questions about regime stability. Will it spark an uprising, or will the Islamic regime respond with a brutal crackdown on dissidents?

Early signs aren’t hopeful. Reports suggest hundreds of arrests over the weekend and at least one dissident executed on charges of spying for Israel. The regime’s infamous morality police, the Gasht-e Ershad, are back on the streets. Every phone, every vehicle — monitored. The U.S. embassy in Qatar issued a shelter-in-place warning for Americans.

Russia and China both condemned the strike. On Monday, a senior Iranian official flew to Moscow to meet with Vladimir Putin. That meeting should alarm anyone paying attention. Their alliance continues to deepen — and that’s a serious concern.

Now we pray

We are either on the verge of a remarkable strategic victory or a devastating global escalation. Time will tell. But either way, President Trump didn’t start this. He inherited it — and he took decisive action.

The difference is, he did what they all said they would do. He didn’t send pallets of cash in the dead of night. He didn’t sign another failed treaty.

He acted. Now, we pray. For peace, for wisdom, and for the strength to meet whatever comes next.


This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Globalize the Intifada? Why Mamdani’s plan spells DOOM for America

Bloomberg / Contributor | Getty Images

If New Yorkers hand City Hall to Zohran Mamdani, they’re not voting for change. They’re opening the door to an alliance of socialism, Islamism, and chaos.

It only took 25 years for New York City to go from the resilient, flag-waving pride following the 9/11 attacks to a political fever dream. To quote Michael Malice, “I'm old enough to remember when New Yorkers endured 9/11 instead of voting for it.”

Malice is talking about Zohran Mamdani, a Democratic Socialist assemblyman from Queens now eyeing the mayor’s office. Mamdani, a 33-year-old state representative emerging from relative political obscurity, is now receiving substantial funding for his mayoral campaign from the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

CAIR has a long and concerning history, including being born out of the Muslim Brotherhood and named an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation terror funding case. Why would the group have dropped $100,000 into a PAC backing Mamdani’s campaign?

Mamdani blends political Islam with Marxist economics — two ideologies that have left tens of millions dead in the 20th century alone.

Perhaps CAIR has a vested interest in Mamdani’s call to “globalize the intifada.” That’s not a call for peaceful protest. Intifada refers to historic uprisings of Muslims against what they call the “Israeli occupation of Palestine.” Suicide bombings and street violence are part of the playbook. So when Mamdani says he wants to “globalize” that, who exactly is the enemy in this global scenario? Because it sure sounds like he's saying America is the new Israel, and anyone who supports Western democracy is the new Zionist.

Mamdani tried to clean up his language by citing the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, which once used “intifada” in an Arabic-language article to describe the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. So now he’s comparing Palestinians to Jewish victims of the Nazis? If that doesn’t twist your stomach into knots, you’re not paying attention.

If you’re “globalizing” an intifada, and positioning Israel — and now America — as the Nazis, that’s not a cry for human rights. That’s a call for chaos and violence.

Rising Islamism

But hey, this is New York. Faculty members at Columbia University — where Mamdani’s own father once worked — signed a letter defending students who supported Hamas after October 7. They also contributed to Mamdani’s mayoral campaign. And his father? He blamed Ronald Reagan and the religious right for inspiring Islamic terrorism, as if the roots of 9/11 grew in Washington, not the caves of Tora Bora.

   Bloomberg / Contributor | Getty Images

 

This isn’t about Islam as a faith. We should distinguish between Islam and Islamism. Islam is a religion followed peacefully by millions. Islamism is something entirely different — an ideology that seeks to merge mosque and state, impose Sharia law, and destroy secular liberal democracies from within. Islamism isn’t about prayer and fasting. It’s about power.

Criticizing Islamism is not Islamophobia. It is not an attack on peaceful Muslims. In fact, Muslims are often its first victims.

Islamism is misogynistic, theocratic, violent, and supremacist. It’s hostile to free speech, religious pluralism, gay rights, secularism — even to moderate Muslims. Yet somehow, the progressive left — the same left that claims to fight for feminism, LGBTQ rights, and free expression — finds itself defending candidates like Mamdani. You can’t make this stuff up.

Blending the worst ideologies

And if that weren’t enough, Mamdani also identifies as a Democratic Socialist. He blends political Islam with Marxist economics — two ideologies that have left tens of millions dead in the 20th century alone. But don’t worry, New York. I’m sure this time socialism will totally work. Just like it always didn’t.

If you’re a business owner, a parent, a person who’s saved anything, or just someone who values sanity: Get out. I’m serious. If Mamdani becomes mayor, as seems likely, then New York City will become a case study in what happens when you marry ideological extremism with political power. And it won’t be pretty.

This is about more than one mayoral race. It’s about the future of Western liberalism. It’s about drawing a bright line between faith and fanaticism, between healthy pluralism and authoritarian dogma.

Call out radicalism

We must call out political Islam the same way we call out white nationalism or any other supremacist ideology. When someone chants “globalize the intifada,” that should send a chill down your spine — whether you’re Jewish, Christian, Muslim, atheist, or anything in between.

The left may try to shame you into silence with words like “Islamophobia,” but the record is worn out. The grooves are shallow. The American people see what’s happening. And we’re not buying it.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.