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

©2024 MERCURY RADIO ARTS.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

TERMS OF USE | PRIVACY POLICY

Live

Glenn's Show Prep

Direct From the Source: Quotes From General 'Mad Dog' Mattis, Donald Trump's Phenomenal Pick for Sec. of Defense

December 02, 2016
Lori Hanes

Writer

He's being called the most revered marine in a generation from the Marine Corps Times. He's Donald Trump's pick for Secretary of Defense --- General James "Mad Dog" Mattis.

"This is the guy that Barack Obama fired for good reason, because --- I want to get this exactly right --- he rubbed civilian officials the wrong way," Glenn said sarcastically Friday on his radio program.

RELATED: General ‘Rudely’ Fired by Obama Makes Trump’s Short List for Secretary of Defense

Actually General Mattis was fired for disagreeing with Obama's stance on the Iran Deal. General Mattis, you might say, is an outspoken military man who let's his opinions be known.

"Can I read some of his quotes?" Glenn asked Friday on radio.

Here are just a few of the general's more memorable comments:

I don't lose any sleep at night over potential for failure. I can't even spell the word.

I come in peace. I didn't bring artillery, and I'm pleading with you, with tears in my eyes. If you "F" with me, I will kill you all.

Demonstrate to the world that there is no better friend, no worse enemy than a US marine.

There's nothing better than getting shot at and missed. Seriously, it's really great.

"I have to tell you, this is what our military is missing," Glenn said.

Enjoy this complimentary clip from The Glenn Beck Program:

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

GLENN: This is bad. If this happens -- if "Mad Dog" Mattis, General James Mattis --

STU: I mean, obviously a lot of talk about that.

GLENN: Yeah. But if this happens, this is bad. He's being called the most revered marine in a generation from the Marine Corps Times. So you wouldn't want a guy like that in. You know --

STU: Yeah.

GLENN: -- may I just say how spooky -- can I read some of his quotes?

STU: Oh, no.

GLENN: You're not going to like this guy. Now, first of all, this is the guy that Barack Obama fired for good reason, because -- I want to get this exactly right. He rubbed civilian officials the wrong way.

STU: Oh, no. No. Don't do it.

GLENN: Yeah. Yeah. So let me show you the rabid mad dog that may be joining us on the war front.

Try this quote: I don't lose any sleep at night over potential for failure. I can't even spell the word.

The first time you blow someone away is not an insignificant event. That said, there are some A-holes in the world that do need to be shot.

(laughter)

I come in peace. I didn't bring artillery, and I'm pleading with you, with tears in my eyes. If you F with me, I will kill you all.

(laughter)

Find the enemy that wants to end this experiment in American democracy and kill every one of them until they're so sick of the killing that they leave us and our freedoms intact.

STU: Hmm.

GLENN: That is the guy. This is shock and awe.

STU: And this -- this is -- you know -- there's a long process that goes to, you know, finalizing a Secretary of Defense. Not to mention some legal challenges because of an old rule with General Mattis. But, I mean, this is being praised by even some Democrats. And not because -- he's just well-respected.

GLENN: This is where we're going to see Donald Trump's backbone, is when all of these guys go to be confirmed.

STU: Right. But Mattis looks like he's going to do well.

GLENN: Be polite. Be professional. But have a plan to kill everybody you meet.

JEFFY: Think about it.

GLENN: You're part of the world's most feared and trusted force. Engage your brain before you engage your weapon.

There are hunters, and there are victims. By your discipline, cunning, obedience, and alertness, you will decide if you're a hunter or a victim.

No war is over until the enemy says it's over. We may think it's over. We may declare it over. But, in fact, the enemy gets a vote.

There's nothing better than getting shot at and missed. Seriously, it's really great.

(laughter)

You cannot allow any of your people to avoid the brutal facts. If they start living in a dream world, it's going to be bad.

You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women around for five years because they didn't wear a veil. You know, guys like that ain't got no manhood left anyway. So it's a hell of a lot -- it's a hell of a lot of fun to shoot at them. Actually, it's quite fun to fight them, you know. It's a hell of a hoot. It's fun to shoot some people.

I'd be right up there, however, because I like brawling.

STU: Hmm.

GLENN: I'm going to plead with you, do not cross us. Because if you do, the survivors will write about what we did here for 10,000 years.

Wow.

Demonstrate to the world that there is no better friend, no worst enemy than a US marine.

Fight happy, with a happy heart and a strong spirit.

I have to tell you, this is what our military is missing.

JEFFY: Yes.

PAT: Uh-huh.

GLENN: Now, I don't want monsters. I don't want people who love killing, but I want people who, when they're faced with a bad guy, oh, yeah. I don't mind killing you.

You're a bad guy, who is trying to kill us and take away our freedoms. Yeah, I'm going to kill you. And I'm going to kill you fast. And I'm going to kill you in such a way that everybody around you goes, oh, my gosh. I don't want any of that.

STU: Yeah. This looks like a great pick.

GLENN: Great pick.

STU: Again, long process to get there. Rumors and everything will fly. However, great -- very well-respected. Seemingly one of the best picks so far. And a guy -- there's a weird law passed in I think the '40s and '50s that says you have to be retired for seven years as a general to get one of these cabinet positions. Which is a -- I would like to -- I've not tracked down yet. I just heard it on TV, and I didn't --

GLENN: When was he fired?

STU: 2013, I think.

GLENN: Ah.

JEFFY: Oh.

STU: So -- but I think, even Democrats are saying, yeah, we'll probably overturn it for this guy. We'll probably get a waiver. There's been one other waiver I think in history, maybe -- in the '50s.

GLENN: So this guy -- okay. So I'm -- remember I told you I was with a farmer friend over the holiday?

STU: Yeah.

GLENN: So I was with this farmer friend, he is the most soft-spoken, nicest guy, serves in his church every Sunday, and works, you know, at the church on Saturdays as well. Hard-working. Nice guy.

STU: Uh-huh.

GLENN: He was lieutenant -- he was a lieutenant colonel -- yeah, lieutenant colonel in the Air Force.

And he said, "What do you think of 'Mad Dog' Mattis?"

And I said, "From what I know, I like him."

And he said, "Yeah, I like anybody whose call sign is 'Mad Dog.'" He said, "You know, you don't pick your call sign. That's -- they pick it for you. Your buddies pick it for you based on who you are."

And I said, "What was your call sign?" And he said, "Mad Dog."

And I thought -- and I said, "You were 'Mad Dog'?"

He said, "I was a very different man in the military."

He is the quietest, nicest, politest guy you could ever -- not a mad dog.

And I thought, "What was this general like when they gave him -- if this is who he is now, what was he when he was, you know, a grunt, when he was coming up in the ranks and he was called 'Mad Dog'?"

STU: Well, he is loved by the military.

GLENN: Oh, I know he is. I know he is.

STU: Loved. And what a great -- look, there's a lot of things you might have issues with. You know, and who knows? But what a great change from -- from a president who objectively -- while I'm sure he -- you know, Obama obviously just did not have the same sort of respect that many of us have for the military --

GLENN: No, hang on. That's not the problem. Excuse the slang here. But he sissified. He sissified us. He made us into schoolmarms. He made us into a very sensitive bunch of people that I don't want to -- no. No. That's not what your military -- that might be what the -- the civilian force is like, saying, "Hey, hey, hey. Don't open the door for this military because they're madmen back there. Don't."

You want a disciplined set of -- you want a killing machine that is disciplined and under control. You can have heart, but when you open that door, you should be opening up the gates of hell.

I don't understand. If we don't -- if we don't change the culture of our military, we're doomed.

Now, the question is: Can we change the -- I mean, I would really -- it would be very interesting to see if we teach the Christian ethics again. Remember, that was one of the first things Barack Obama did.

Remember?

PAT: Was to stop that.

GLENN: Yeah, he took out Christian ethics as one of -- that was a required course for everybody at West Point and everybody where else. You had to take the ethics class.

I can't remember -- do you remember what it was called, Pat? It wasn't Christian ethics.

PAT: I can't remember.

GLENN: But it was based on Christianity. That we're not fighting for vengeance or any of that. And he stopped that immediately. Which, when you're sissifying a bunch of battle people, why wouldn't you keep that in? Unless you had a problem with religion. And so we took that out. And that was what really tempered us.

So it will be interesting to see if we reinstate that class because we need that class more than ever. Because if we have a bunch of people who -- whose instinct is vengeance, whose instinct is, "Get them. Make them pay," it needs to be tempered. And we put the teeth back into this military. We better be really careful. Make sure we put them back in the way they were in the first place.

STU: I will say too that this pick has very little in common with a person who is not an interventionalist or a person who is going to hold back and avoid conflict. Now, Mattis is very balanced and very smart.

GLENN: Hang on.

STU: But, again, a supporter of our conflicts.

GLENN: Hang on. Hang on.

Pat, you and I are more interventionalist than probably you guys, right? Pat and I are both: Close down our bases overboard seas. Come home. I don't want anything to do with anybody else.

Pat, I am the president of the United States and I think it would be the same with you, you're my adviser, do you think that I would want you to come in with a bunch of namby-pamby guys in the Defense Department or people who have been in the worst battles in the history of America and know it and know that war is to kill the other guy faster than they can kill you?

PAT: Definitely that.

JEFFY: Yeah.

STU: Again, to me, it's just another piece of evidence that he is closer to the average Republican in -- in these matters, than he is --

GLENN: Not necessarily.

STU: -- to the Democratic positions he had leading into the --

GLENN: Because you could say -- I mean, look, I want to stop the wars. And I want to bring people home. So I'm going to put the biggest bad guy in I could find. I don't mean bad guy, but biggest war dog I could find, who is going to make my military rough and tumble again. Because here's what's going to happen. I'm going to go finish those wars so I can bring everybody home. And I'm going to finish them in such a way that everybody goes, "Good God Almighty, don't mess with them."

STU: And it's consistent with what he said, for example, ISIS. Right? Like, I'm going to bomb the hell out of -- like that type of attitude.

GLENN: Right. Right. Finish it. Bomb them, fight them. Kill them. Finish it. Come home, and you won't have to go back.

I think this is a great pick.

STU: Right. I'm with you.

JEFFY: That's kind of -- I mean, that's Donald Trump's way forever anyway. I'll destroy you, and then, ah, you're okay now. I've destroyed you. I beat you. You're down. I'll talk to you.

PAT: Well, you know --

GLENN: Well, he doesn't do that with everybody.

PAT: No. Not everybody.

GLENN: Not everybody. Mitt Romney.

JEFFY: It's funny that you say that.

GLENN: But he hasn't done that with everybody.

PAT: He does claim he's a counterpuncher though, and that's what you want now, right? That's what we want.

JEFFY: Yes.

PAT: We don't want to go out and get our fat face into everybody's business. But if you attack us, we're going to hit back so hard, you'll never do that again.

JEFFY: Yes.

GLENN: Right. I don't want a guy who wants vengeance.

PAT: Right.

GLENN: But I do want a guy who, when you punch me in the face --

PAT: We're coming after you.

GLENN: -- I'm going to break your arms and your legs and maybe snap your neck.

PAT: We're coming after you. Yeah.

GLENN: Don't ever punch us in the face.

Featured Image: US President-elect Doanld Trump poses for a photo with US Marines General (Ret.) James Mattis James Mattis and Vice President-elect Mike Pence on the steps of the clubhouse at Trump National Golf Club November 19, 2016 in Bedminster, New Jersey. / AFP / Don EMMERT (Photo credit should read DON EMMERT/AFP/Getty Images)

A Sharia enclave is quietly taking root in America. It's time to wake up.

NOVA SAFO / Staff | Getty Images

Sharia-based projects like the Meadow in Texas show how political Islam grows quietly, counting on Americans to stay silent while an incompatible legal system takes root.

Apolitical system completely incompatible with the Constitution is gaining ground in the United States, and we are pretending it is not happening.

Sharia — the legal and political framework of Islam — is being woven into developments, institutions, and neighborhoods, including a massive project in Texas. And the consequences will be enormous if we continue to look the other way.

This is the contradiction at the heart of political Islam: It claims universal authority while insisting its harshest rules will never be enforced here. That promise does not stand up to scrutiny. It never has.

Before we can have an honest debate, we’d better understand what Sharia represents. Sharia is not simply a set of religious rules about prayer or diet. It is a comprehensive legal and political structure that governs marriage, finance, criminal penalties, and civic life. It is a parallel system that claims supremacy wherever it takes hold.

This is where the distinction matters. Many Muslims in America want nothing to do with Sharia governance. They came here precisely because they lived under it. But political Islam — the movement that seeks to implement Sharia as law — is not the same as personal religious belief.

It is a political ideology with global ambitions, much like communism. Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently warned that Islamist movements do not seek peaceful coexistence with the West. They seek dominance. History backs him up.

How Sharia arrives

Political Islam does not begin with dramatic declarations. It starts quietly, through enclaves that operate by their own rules. That is why the development once called EPIC City — now rebranded as the Meadow — is so concerning. Early plans framed it as a Muslim-only community built around a mega-mosque and governed by Sharia-compliant financing. After state investigations were conducted, the branding changed, but the underlying intent remained the same.

Developers have openly described practices designed to keep non-Muslims out, using fees and ownership structures to create de facto religious exclusivity. This is not assimilation. It is the construction of a parallel society within a constitutional republic.

The warning from those who have lived under it

Years ago, local imams in Texas told me, without hesitation, that certain Sharia punishments “just work.” They spoke about cutting off hands for theft, stoning adulterers, and maintaining separate standards of testimony for men and women. They insisted it was logical and effective while insisting they would never attempt to implement it in Texas.

But when pressed, they could not explain why a system they consider divinely mandated would suddenly stop applying once someone crossed a border.

This is the contradiction at the heart of political Islam: It claims universal authority while insisting its harshest rules will never be enforced here. That promise does not stand up to scrutiny. It never has.

AASHISH KIPHAYET / Contributor | Getty Images

America is vulnerable

Europe is already showing us where this road leads. No-go zones, parallel courts, political intimidation, and clerics preaching supremacy have taken root across major cities.

America’s strength has always come from its melting pot, but assimilation requires boundaries. It requires insisting that the Constitution, not religious law, is the supreme authority on this soil.

Yet we are becoming complacent, even fearful, about saying so. We mistake silence for tolerance. We mistake avoidance for fairness. Meanwhile, political Islam views this hesitation as weakness.

Religious freedom is one of America’s greatest gifts. Muslims may worship freely here, as they should. But political Islam must not be permitted to plant a flag on American soil. The Constitution cannot coexist with a system that denies equal rights, restricts speech, subordinates women, and places clerical authority above civil law.

Wake up before it is too late

Projects like the Meadow are not isolated. They are test runs, footholds, proofs of concept. Political Islam operates with patience. It advances through demographic growth, legal ambiguity, and cultural hesitation — and it counts on Americans being too polite, too distracted, or too afraid to confront it.

We cannot afford that luxury. If we fail to defend the principles that make this country free, we will one day find ourselves asking how a parallel system gained power right in front of us. The answer will be simple: We looked away.

The time to draw boundaries and to speak honestly is now. The time to defend the Constitution as the supreme law of the land is now. Act while there is still time.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Why do Americans feel so empty?

Mario Tama / Staff | Getty Images

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The crisis beneath the headlines

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

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

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

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

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

The quiet return of meaning

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

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

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

Harold M. Lambert / Contributor | Getty Images

Where renewal begins

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

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

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

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

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

Gary Hershorn / Contributor | Getty Images

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

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

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

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

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

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

What triggers the Bubba effect

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

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

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

A country cracking from the inside

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

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

The Bubba effect is what fills that vacuum.

The dangers of a faithless system

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

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

The question is what — and when.

The responsibility now belongs to us

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

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

How to respond without breaking ourselves

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

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

Adam Gray / Stringer | Getty Images

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

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

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

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Grim warning: Bad-faith Israel critics duck REAL questions

Spencer Platt / Staff | Getty Images

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

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

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

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

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

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

Truth-seeking is real work

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

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

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

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

Bad-faith questions

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

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

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

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

Anadolu / Contributor | Getty Images

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

The real target

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

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

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

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.