Chalkboard Lesson: Why Teddy Roosevelt Is America's New Founding Father

May 11, 2016

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There's a reason our children are no longer taught about America's Founders in great detail. Their knowledge of American exceptionalism is cursory, at best. Today, our children's American history lessons begin with more focus around the 1900s.

Why would that be?

"Pat, you run a school," Glenn said on his radio program Wednesday. "How many articles have we seen in the last year where schools are now saying they don't need to teach American history prior to 1900?"

"A lot," came Pat's reply.

The reason for the shift mirrors the reason for some of America's biggest problems today: progressivism. Progressives controlling public schools have literally rewritten the history books.

"America as we know it starts with Theodore Roosevelt," Glenn said. "The new founding father is Theodore Roosevelt. It's not George Washington."

How do we ensure future generations understand and revere America's founding principles? Glenn took to the chalkboard to explain.

Enjoy this complimentary clip from The Glenn Beck Program:

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

GLENN: We've talked a long time about the mushy middle in America. And that it's the mushy middle that is where the lion's share of people are.

If you look at the scale of statism that I've -- that I've put out here on the chalkboard, if you happen to be watching us on TV. But I'll try to talk you through it if you're just on radio.

The scale of control with the Articles of Confederation and anarchy on one side and, you know, ISIS, Nazi Germany, North Korea, Venezuela, on the other side, and then the Articles of Confederation is then moving towards statism, Constitution, then Andrew Jackson, then Lincoln, then the Fabian socialists, Theodore Roosevelt, the fed in 1913, Woodrow Wilson, FDR, George Bush, Obama. Where is the middle of that scale?

What's in the middle of that scale?

PAT: Teddy Roosevelt.

GLENN: Teddy Roosevelt. Okay. The new American century. Teddy Roosevelt. The progressive -- the beginning of the progressive.

Now, hear me out on this. I think we -- the middle here is here. That Theodore Roosevelt is the center. And you have the giant state of FDR, where remember it was price controls, it was giant trade barriers, it was control of the state over labor many times, it was massive control, unlike we have seen.

Theodore Roosevelt is the center. And what was Theodore Roosevelt? This is the way he was imaged.

We all love parks. We all love parks. And, you know what, the states can't really handle those parks and keep them like the government can. We all love parks. Let's take care of the environment. You know what, don't we all love babies? We all love babies. And we're all against alcoholism and drug abuse, we need to have the FDA so we know what's going into your baby. We know what's happening with drugs. And nobody is going to get, you know, addicted into cocaine. Coca-Cola is a gateway drug.

I believe the center of this country is Theodore Roosevelt. They are not our Founders. They're Theodore Roosevelt. And if they lean any way, they lean towards the scale of FDR. And they lean towards, "You know what, I'm losing my job. The government's got to do something." They may say they're against the fed, but the average people are not against the fed. They don't even know what the fed does. They want the fed to be able to control the money and make that money so I have more money at home. They don't even know how it works or what it does, but I want to make sure that I have enough money.

JEFFY: Just do whatever you do.

GLENN: Just do what you do, right? Not paying attention.

So the country is going to vote -- the parameters are the Roosevelts. Those are the bookends. Theodore Roosevelt, the beginning of progressivism, to FDR, heavy statism. That's where we'll vote. And we've just voted two people in the FDR category. Hillary Clinton is FDR. Trump could be Woodrow Wilson, where he silences people and throws them into jail if you have a differing opinion. He could be Woodrow Wilson. But she's probably FDR.

Where, Obama loaded it with radicals, revolutionaries, and Black Panthers and people who wanted to have violence in the streets. He loaded it with communists and Marxists. I don't believe Hillary Clinton is a Marxist. She's a statist. She's somebody who believes in what FDR did and reversing the Bill of Rights. But she's still just a statist. She's not a Marxist.

That leaves this entire 125 years prior to Theodore Roosevelt as worthless history, which is exactly what our schools are saying now.

Pat, you run a school. How many articles have we seen in the last year where schools are now saying they don't need to teach American history prior to 1900?

PAT: Yeah, a lot.

GLENN: Why? Because America as we know it starts with Theodore Roosevelt.

PAT: Uh-huh.

GLENN: The new founding father is Theodore Roosevelt. It's not George Washington. So now our path is, A, we cannot move. We cannot move. If we move, the first 125 years of our American history and all of those principles are gone forever. They are gone forever. So we must concentrate on our children, on teaching this. We must concentrate ourselves as broadcasters on teaching this, holding true to those constitutional values and being absolutely unwavering.

Featured Image: Mount Rushmore National Memorial towers over the South Dakota landscape on October 1, 2013 near Keystone, South Dakota. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Will this SAVE America’s children? SCOTUS upholds trans ban in red states

Anna Moneymaker / Staff | Getty Images

You never know what you’re going to get with the U.S. Supreme Court these days.

For all of the Left’s insane panic over having six supposedly conservative justices on the court, the decisions have been much more of a mixed bag. But thank God – sincerely – there was a seismic win for common sense at the Supreme Court on Wednesday. It’s a win for American children, parents, and for truth itself.

In a 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court upheld Tennessee’s state ban on irreversible transgender procedures for minors.

The mostly conservative justices stood tall in this case, while Sotomayor, Kagan, and Jackson predictably dissented. This isn’t just Tennessee’s victory – 20 other red states that have similar bans can now breathe easier, knowing they can protect vulnerable children from these sick, experimental, life-altering procedures.

Anna Moneymaker / Staff | Getty Images

Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the majority opinion, saying Tennessee’s law does not violate the Equal Protection Clause. It’s rooted in a very simple truth that common sense Americans get: kids cannot consent to permanent damage. The science backs this up – Norway, Finland, and the UK have all sounded alarms about the lack of evidence for so-called “gender-affirming care.” The Trump administration’s recent HHS report shredded the activist claims that these treatments help kids’ mental health. Nothing about this is “healthcare.” It is absolute harm.

The Left, the ACLU, and the Biden DOJ screamed “discrimination” and tried to twist the Constitution to force this radical ideology on our kids.

Fortunately, the Supreme Court saw through it this time. In her concurring opinion, Justice Amy Coney Barrett nailed it: gender identity is not some fixed, immutable trait like race or sex. Detransitioners are speaking out, regretting the surgeries and hormones they were rushed into as teens. WPATH – the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, the supposed experts on this, knew that kids cannot fully grasp this decision, and their own leaked documents prove that they knew it. But they pushed operations and treatments on kids anyway.

This decision is about protecting the innocent from a dangerous ideology that denies biology and reality. Tennessee’s Attorney General calls this a “landmark victory in defense of America’s children.” He’s right. This time at least, the Supreme Court refused to let judicial activism steal our kids’ futures. Now every state needs to follow Tennessee’s lead on this, and maybe the tide will continue to turn.

99% see THROUGH media’s L.A. riot cover-up

Barbara Davidson / Contributor | Getty Images

Glenn asked for YOUR take on the Los Angeles anti-ICE riots, and YOU responded with a thunderous verdict. Your answers to our recent Glennbeck.com poll cut through the establishment’s haze, revealing a profound skepticism of their narrative.

The results are undeniable: 98% of you believe taxpayer-funded NGOs are bankrolling these riots, a bold rejection of the claim that these are grassroots protests. Meanwhile, 99% dismiss the mainstream media’s coverage as woefully inadequate—can the official story survive such resounding doubt? And 99% of you view the involvement of socialist and Islamist groups as a growing threat to national security, signaling alarm at what Glenn calls a coordinated “Color Revolution” lurking beneath the surface.

You also stand firmly with decisive action: 99% support President Trump’s deployment of the National Guard to quell the chaos. These numbers defy the elite’s tired excuses and reflect a demand for truth and accountability. Are your tax dollars being weaponized to destabilize America? You’ve answered with conviction.

Your voice sends a powerful message to those who dismiss the unrest as mere “protests.” You spoke, and Glenn listened. Keep shaping the conversation at Glennbeck.com.

Want to make your voice heard? Check out more polls HERE.

EXPOSED: Your tax dollars FUND Marxist riots in LA

Anadolu / Contributor | Getty Images

Protesters wore Che shirts, waved foreign flags, and chanted Marxist slogans — but corporate media still peddles the ‘spontaneous outrage’ narrative.

I sat in front of the television this weekend, watching the glittering spectacle of corporate media do what it does best: tell me not to believe my lying eyes.

According to the polished news anchors, what I was witnessing in Los Angeles was “mostly peaceful protests.” They said it with all the earnest gravitas of someone reading a bedtime story, while behind them the streets looked like a deleted scene from “Mad Max.” Federal agents dodged concrete slabs as if it were an Olympic sport. A man in a Che Guevara crop top tried to set a police car on fire. Dumpster fires lit the night sky like some sort of postapocalyptic luau.

If you suggest that violent criminals should be deported or imprisoned, you’re painted as the extremist.

But sure, it was peaceful. Tear gas clouds and Molotov cocktails are apparently the incense and candles of this new civic religion.

The media expects us to play along — to nod solemnly while cities burn and to call it “activism.”

Let’s call this what it is: delusion.

Another ‘peaceful’ riot

If the Titanic “mostly floated” and the Hindenburg “mostly flew,” then yes, the latest L.A. riots are “mostly peaceful.” But history tends to care about those tiny details at the end — like icebergs and explosions.

The coverage was full of phrases like “spontaneous,” “grassroots,” and “organic,” as if these protests materialized from thin air. But many of the signs and banners looked like they’d been run off at ComradesKinkos.com — crisp print jobs with slogans promoting socialism, communism, and various anti-American regimes. Palestinian flags waved beside banners from Mexico, Venezuela, Cuba, and El Salvador. It was like someone looted a United Nations souvenir shop and turned it into a revolution starter pack.

And guess who funded it? You did.

According to at least one report, much of this so-called spontaneous rage fest was paid for with your tax dollars. Tens of millions of dollars from the Biden administration ensured your paycheck funded Trotsky cosplayers chucking firebombs at local coffee shops.

The same aging radicals from the 1970s — now armed with tenure, pensions, and book deals — are cheering from the sidelines, waxing poetic about how burning a squad car is “liberation.” These are the same folks who once wore tie-dye and flew to help guerrilla fighters and now applaud chaos under the banner of “progress.”

This is not progress. It is not protest. It’s certainly not justice or peace.

It’s an attempt to dismantle the American system — and if you dare say that out loud, you’re labeled a bigot, a fascist, or, worst of all, someone who notices reality.

And what sparked this taxpayer-funded riot? Enforcement against illegal immigrants — many of whom, according to official arrest records, are repeat violent offenders. These are not the “dreamers” or the huddled masses yearning to breathe free. These are criminals with long, violent rap sheets — allowed to remain free by a broken system that prioritizes ideology over public safety.

Photo by Kyle Grillot/Bloomberg | Getty Images

This is what people are rioting over — not the mistreatment of the innocent, but the arrest of the guilty. And in California, that’s apparently a cause for outrage.

The average American, according to Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, is supposed to worry they’ll be next. But unless you’re in the habit of assaulting people, smuggling, or firing guns into people’s homes, you probably don’t have much to fear.

Still, if you suggest that violent criminals should be deported or imprisoned, you’re painted as the extremist.

The left has lost it

This is what happens when a culture loses its grip on reality. We begin to call arson “art,” lawlessness “liberation,” and criminals “community members.” We burn the good and excuse the evil — all while the media insists it’s just “vibes.”

But it’s not just vibes. It’s violence, paid for by you, endorsed by your elected officials, and whitewashed by newsrooms with more concern for hair and lighting than for truth.

This isn’t activism. This is anarchism. And Democratic politicians are fueling the flame.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Glenn Beck's 'No King but Christ' merch: Will faith STOP the chaos?

On Saturday, June 14, 2025 (President Trump's 79th birthday), the "No Kings" protest—a noisy spectacle orchestrated by progressive heavyweights like Randi Weingarten and her union cronies—will take place in Washington, D.C.

Thousands will chant "no thrones, no crowns, no king," claiming to fend off authoritarianism and corruption.

But let’s cut through the noise. The protesters' grievances—rigged courts, deported citizens, slashed services—are a house of cards. Zero Americans have been deported, Federal services are still bloated, and if anyone is rigging the courts, it's the Left. So why rally now, especially with riots already flaring in L.A.?

Chaos isn’t a side effect here—it’s the plan.

This is not about liberty; it's a power grab dressed up as resistance. The "No Kings" crowd wants you to buy their script: government’s the enemy—unless they’re the ones running it. It's the identical script from 2020: same groups, same tactics, same goal, different name.

But Glenn is flipping the script. He's dropping a new "No Kings but Christ" merch line, just in time for the protest. Merch that proclaims one truth: no earthly ruler owns us; only Christ does. It’s a bold, faith-rooted rejection of this secular circus.

Why should you care? Because this won’t just be a rally—it’ll be a symptom. Distrust in institutions is sky-high, and rightly so, but the "No Kings" answer is a hollow shout into the void. Glenn’s merch begs the question: if you’re ditching kings, who’s really in charge? Get yours and wear the answer proudly.

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