Still the 'Land of Opportunity': Glenn takes callers success stories highlighting the American Dream

August 11, 2021

WRITER

The flood of bad news is permiating all of media but there are still good stories to be found. On radio Tuesday, Glenn spoke with listeners who have overcome a bad hand to not just make the most of their lives, but have created a legacy of success.

There were more than just a few people who had amazing stories to share and Glenn wasn't able to get to them all on air. Jenean wrote in and this is her story:

"Growing up, I was raised by a single mother in San Diego in the 1950s. My mother was a non-drinking alcoholic, unstable, and mentally ill. When I was 12, she pretended that her young male lover was my boyfriend, and he molested me continuously for two years. My sister had a baby out of wedlock and abandoned the child — I dropped out of regular school and took care of the baby during the afternoon and night, and went to a continuation school. (He didn't want to be around a baby, and she could no longer hide him.)

Two years later, my sister gave the baby up for adoption, and my mother took her rage out on me. She kicked me out of the house when I was 16, and told the cops I ran away. She was cruel and verbally and physically abusive, at one point taking me to pose for nude photos. The photographer told me to put on my clothes and never let her make any more decisions for me.

I married at 18 and had a baby by a sailor who deserted me when the baby was three months old. I went on welfare ($148 a month), no food stamps, or rental assistance. I married again three years later, had a stillborn baby and then my daughter. My husband left when my daughter was two (February 1972). In April, a man broke into my house and raped me at knife-point in front of my son, who was then seven. I married a third time a year later, but he was (unbeknownst to me) a heroin addict. I divorced him and started working in a factory.
My first job.

I finally learned how to drive when I was 24. I developed Meniere's disease when I was 30 and had to have ear surgery to be able to walk. (I was first diagnosed as nutty). During a lunch break, at the factory, I decided I'd had enough. I walked off the job and enrolled at Mesa Community College on the welfare's dime with the goal of becoming an interpreter for the deaf (I was told I would eventually become deaf from the Meniere's). I started with one class. The next semester, I took four. Mother died the first summer I was in school, and I was completely alone with my kids. I graduated with my BA, Magna Cum Laud, Phi Beta Kappa in 1984. My druggie ex committed suicide three weeks prior, but I didn't find out until after I'd graduated. I finished an MA in Sociology and I started teaching government and Sociology (that was when it was still sane) for the military and continued my education.

I got my second MA in Poli Sci in 1995. I'm 74 and just finished an MFA degree at Eastern Kentucky University. I was always writing and decided it was time to learn how. I have been published in over 265 venues: short stories, flash fiction, poetry, book reviews, etc. I've written six novels, the last one as a thesis for my MFA. It was hell, but I never gave up my dream of going to college even though we were dirt poor and I was the throw-away kid. I am having the best retirement I could ask for. I live with my daughter and her husband and have the time to write I always wanted.

Today, Glenn said he wanted stories of real people who 'made it'... well, I have. By the grace of God, no matter how poor and hungry we were, somehow I got my children raised. They are good people, both in happy marriages. They are my crowning achievement. Please forward my story to Glenn. Let him know, I am a devout believer in freedom: it is the natural inclination of all children to be free. I am one of those who would rather die than live in the prison I grew up in."

If you missed the radio program, here is a clip from David in Missouri's call:

The Biden admin has let in MORE illegal aliens than the populations of THESE 15 states

GUILLERMO ARIAS / Contributor | Getty Images

There are currently an estimated 16.8 MILLION illegal aliens residing in the United States as of June 2023, according to the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR). This number is already 1.3 million higher than FAIR's January 2022 estimate of 15.5 million and a 2.3 million increase from its end-of-2020 estimate. Even Democrats like New York City's Mayor Adams Mayor Adams are waking up to what Conservatives have been warning for years: we are in a border CRISIS.

However, this isn't the same border crisis that Republicans were warning about back in 2010. In the first two years of the Biden administration alone, the illegal alien population increased by 16 PERCENT nationwide, imposing a whopping net cost of $150.6 BILLION PER YEAR on American taxpayers. That is nearly DOUBLE the total amount that the Biden administration has sent to Ukraine.

This isn't the same border crisis that Republicans were warning about back in 2010.

These large numbers often make it difficult to conceptualize the sheer impact of illegal immigration on the United States. To put it in perspective, we have listed ALL 15 states and the District of Colombia that have smaller populations than the 2.3 MILLION illegal immigrants, who have entered the U.S. under the Biden administration. That is more than the entire populations of Wyoming, Vermont, and South Dakota COMBINED—and the American taxpayers have to pay the price.

Here are all 16 states/districts that have FEWER people than the illegal immigrants who have entered the U.S. under the Biden administration.

1. New Mexico

Population: 2,110,011

2. Idaho

Population: 1,973,752

3. Nebraska

Population: 1,972,292

4. West Virginia

Population: 1,764,786

5. Hawaii

Population: 1,433,238

6. New Hampshire

Population: 1,402,957

7. Maine

Population: 1,393,442

8. Montana

Population: 1,139,507

9. Rhode Island

Population: 1,090,483

10. Delaware

Population: 1,031,985

11. South Dakota

Population: 923,484

12. North Dakota

Population: 780,588

13. Alaska

Population: 732,984

14. Washington DC

Population: 674,815

15. Vermont

Population: 647,156

16. Wyoming

Population: 583,279

POLL: Should the Government control the future of AI?

The Washington Post / Contributor | Getty Images

Earlier this week, tech titans, lawmakers, and union leaders met on Capitol Hill to discuss the future of AI regulation. The three-hour meeting boasted an impressive roster of tech leaders including, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, and others, along with more than 60 US Senators.

Tech Titans and Senators gathered in the Kennedy Caucus Room.The Washington Post / Contributor | Getty Images

The meeting was closed to the public, so what was exactly discussed is unknown. However, what we do know is that a majority of the CEOs support AI regulation, the most vocal of which is Elon Musk. During the meeting, Musk called AI "a double-edged sword" and strongly pushed for regulation in the interest of public safety.

A majority of the CEOs support AI regulation.

Many other related issues were discussed, including the disruption AI has caused to the job market. As Glenn has discussed on his program, the potential for AI to alter or destroy jobs is very real, and many have already felt the effects. From taxi drivers to Hollywood actors and writers, AI's presence can be felt everywhere and lawmakers are unsure how to respond.

The potential for AI to alter or destroy jobs is very real.

Ultimately, the meeting's conclusion was less than decisive, with several Senators making comments to the tune of "we need more time before we act." The White House is expected to release an executive order regarding AI regulation by the end of the year. But now it's YOUR turn to tell us what YOU think needs to be done!

Should A.I. be regulated?

Can the government be trusted with the power to regulate A.I.?

Can Silicon Valley be trusted to regulate AI?

Should AI development be slowed for safety, despite its potential advantages?

If a job can be done cheaper and better by AI, should it be taken away from a human?

Do you feel that your job is threatened by AI?

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Glenn wrote this essay on September 12, 2001. Are we the same people now?

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Twenty two years ago today on September 12th, 2001, Glenn wrote an essay called "The Greatest American Generation." These were his visceral thoughts immediately following the 9/11 attacks. This beautiful essay calls upon the American spirit to rise to the occasion to pull us through what was one of the darkest days in our nation's history. He called us to unite around the common vision that unites us as Americans.

Yesterday, Glenn revisited this essay, wondering if we are the same people who could have pulled through that dark hour. Do you still believe the things that he wrote in this essay? Or have we become a people too divided to overcome a tragedy of the magnitude of 9/11? Consider these questions as you read Glenn's essay below, "The Greatest American Generation," published on September 12, 2001.

I've always believed that the greatest American generation is the one that's living, in the here and the now. The question is not if this is the greatest American generation. The question was when were we going to wake up? I remember staying at my grandparents' house in the summer when I was small. Every morning my grandmother would open the attic door and call up, "Kids, time to wake up." For me she'd have to do this a couple of times before I'd lumber out of bed and cross the cold, squeaky wooden floor. But finally, I would. And she'd be there in the kitchen ready with breakfast. My grandfather was already outside in the henhouse because there was work to do. They were hardworking, good and decent people. Seemed to me that they were from not only a different time but a different place. They weren't.

The spirit of our parents and our grandparents isn't from some foreign place. It hasn't died out. It's a flame that flickers in all Americans. It's there and it's ready to blaze to life when we're ready to face the challenges that now lie at our feet. It's what sets us apart. It's what built this country. It's why our borders still teem with the poor and the tired and those yearning to be free, burned with zeal in the hearts of millions of immigrants from every corner of the Earth who came here in search of a better way of life. The flame that Lady Liberty holds is the American spirit which burns deep within all of us, no matter what our race, gender, our religious background. And today the world is watching us. It's really nothing new. It always has.

Since the dawn of man people dreamt of a better life, dreamt of a better way, of freedom. But it was Americans that finally found a way to build it. And out of all that we've built, the powerful machines, the computers, the weapons of mass destruction, hardware and software that we spent millions on every year to protect and keep the plan secret, our biggest seeming secret, the one the world wants most of all, isn't a secret at all. It's something we freely give to the rest of the world. And while it seems self‑evident to us, for some reason it can't be duplicated. Yet it can be passed on from person to person, torch to torch. It's the American spirit.

If you weren't trapped in one of those towers or on a plane or in the Pentagon, then you have great reason to humbly give thanks today, not for our lives but because we're the lucky ones. God hasn't forsaken us. He's awakened us. Standing at the bottom of the stairs, he's gently called out, "Kids, it's time to wake up! We've been given another chance."

Thousands of years ago in Babel, the great civilization in their arrogance built a tower that reached the sky. It crumbled and they were scattered. Our heart and steely symbols of power and wealth may have crumbled, but we have not been scattered. Americans aren't ever going to scatter. Let the world recognize through our actions today that those firefighters in New York are not the exception. They are the rule. Americans don't run from burning buildings. We run into them. It was a beautiful fall morning on the edge of the land created through divine providence. Coffee shops were open. Children were on their buses and people easing into another typical workday when America's greatest generation heard the voice: "Kids, it's time to wake up."

Several times we've ignored the voice. We've drifted back into twilight sleep muttering, "I know, I know, in a minute." But finally we are awake and out of bed, for there is much work to do. The task before us is much more daunting than what our grandparents and parents faced, but we are stronger, a more prepared nation. The torch has been passed. We are the greatest American generation. The American spirit is alive and well. Our flame has not burned out. It had just been dimmed while we were asleep."

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