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Speaker 1: Welcome to Timeless Wisdom with Dennis Prager. Here thousands of

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Speaker 1: hours of Dennis's lectures courses in classic radio programs had

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Speaker 1: to purchase Dennis Prager's Rational Bibles. Go to Dennisprager dot com.

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Speaker 2: Mister Dennis Prager, IK, Hi, everybody, does anybody know here

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Speaker 2: or Susan or anyone? What number? This is? For me

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Speaker 2: speaking to this group the seventeenth time I began in

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Speaker 2: high school. And it's amazing how time flies. Wow, seventeen

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Speaker 2: that's really something. Well, Hi, everybody, it's something that means

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Speaker 2: a great deal to me. Is because there's a proof

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Speaker 2: of that. The proof is that I'm here. We don't

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Speaker 2: get paid for this. We come out here because we

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Speaker 2: love this country and believe that you are going to

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Speaker 2: be among its leaders. And I don't mean you have

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Speaker 2: to be president or senator. You're a leader, in my opinion,

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Speaker 2: if you raise a good family and you touch your friends'

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Speaker 2: lives and you touch your kids' lives. The notion that

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Speaker 2: the only way to better society is through the political

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Speaker 2: realm is alien to my thinking and alien to actually

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Speaker 2: the American ideal. The world is made worse in grand

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Speaker 2: numbers by individuals In other words, it's a lot easier

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Speaker 2: to do a lot of evil in your life than

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Speaker 2: a lot of good. The way we do good in

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Speaker 2: this world is overwhelmingly one by one by one. I

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Speaker 2: give you a very simple analogy, the freeway. In order

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Speaker 2: for the freeway to keep running, to keep the traffic flowing,

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Speaker 2: tens of thousands of drivers have to drive properly. You

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Speaker 2: can stop an entire freeway. One person can stop the

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Speaker 2: entire freeway through driving a drunk or driving recklessly. So

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Speaker 2: the ability to keep the freeway moving is one by

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Speaker 2: one by one, but just one person can ruin the

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Speaker 2: whole freeway. That's the way that life works. So as

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Speaker 2: important as quote unquote leaders are, what millions do individually

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Speaker 2: is always infinitely more important. Anyway I want to talk

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Speaker 2: to you about, and I've always debate because I am

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Speaker 2: as happy to talk about the differences between men and

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Speaker 2: women as I am about happiness to subjects I talk

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Speaker 2: about on my national radio show regularly. But my biggest

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Speaker 2: concern right now is what I just have my book

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Speaker 2: published on and it's called Still the Best Hope, and

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Speaker 2: the subtitles actually why the world needs American values to triumph.

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Speaker 2: I believe that the greatest set of values to make

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Speaker 2: a good society, a kind, decent, fair, open society, were

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Speaker 2: developed under what's called American values, and they are better

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Speaker 2: for the people of Ecuador, the people of Burma, the

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Speaker 2: people of China, the people of Zimbabwe. I think that

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Speaker 2: these values, I don't think. I'm certain that these values

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Speaker 2: are applicable to any country. And they are what I

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Speaker 2: call American values. And I'd like to explain them to you,

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Speaker 2: because they are almost never clearly explained. When you hear

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Speaker 2: what I have to say, you can say you differ,

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Speaker 2: but at least you will know what you're differing with.

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Speaker 2: This is not I don't appeal to your own motions.

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Speaker 2: I'm appealing to your brain. And I didn't know these

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Speaker 2: values until about twenty years ago, even though I had

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Speaker 2: majored in history, I had studied American history, and I

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Speaker 2: had studied American life. And if you'd have said to me, Okay,

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Speaker 2: is there such a thing as American values, I'd have

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Speaker 2: said sure, And then you'd have said, Okay, what are they?

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Speaker 2: And I would have rambled on for about ten minutes,

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Speaker 2: and as your eyes began to roll, I would realize

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Speaker 2: that I had not made any point because I couldn't

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Speaker 2: make it myself. Incidentally, just a piece of advice. You

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Speaker 2: want to think more clearly, I have a fool proof method. Right.

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Speaker 2: If you want to see what your face looks like,

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Speaker 2: what do you do you look in a mirror? What

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Speaker 2: if you want to see the way your mind looks

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Speaker 2: where do you look in your writing? MRI is the brain,

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Speaker 2: not the mind, And so you want to know what

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Speaker 2: your mind looks like, then write. And if you don't

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Speaker 2: write clearly, it means you don't think clearly. It's no

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Speaker 2: knock on you. That's the human condition. Most people don't

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Speaker 2: write clearly. So it's a very good test. In other words,

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Speaker 2: if you had to write, this is what I believe about,

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Speaker 2: and I don't care what it is about my parents,

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Speaker 2: about my siblings, about my religion, about my school, about

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Speaker 2: my teacher, about myself, about the movie I just saw.

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Speaker 2: I mean, watch a movie and then write a two

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Speaker 2: hundred and fifty word little essay what was the meaning

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Speaker 2: of that movie? Very interesting, good exercise. But you got

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Speaker 2: that just in case you ever wanted to know how

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Speaker 2: to attain clarity, The answer is largely through writing. Anyway,

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Speaker 2: I couldn't write on it, and I couldn't speak on it.

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Speaker 2: And then one night, and this is exactly what happened.

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Speaker 2: It's one of these amazing moments they're called epiphanies, when

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Speaker 2: you know, the proverbial light bulb goes on in your

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Speaker 2: brain or if you will, your mind. And what happened

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Speaker 2: was getting ready to go to bed, emptied my pants

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Speaker 2: pockets and sure enough emptied the coins that were in

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Speaker 2: my pocket, and there they were the American values system

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Speaker 2: on every coin. For well over one hundred years, America

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Speaker 2: has been announcing to every American what our values are,

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Speaker 2: and nobody bothered looking at it. Every coin and every

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Speaker 2: paper bill has what I call the American trinity, and

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Speaker 2: that is liberty in God we trust, and epluribus unhem.

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Speaker 2: No other country in the world has those three as

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Speaker 2: its values. You may like them, you may not like them,

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Speaker 2: but that is the American value system. And I use

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Speaker 2: the coin as proof that I didn't make them up.

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Speaker 2: They precede me by one hundred years. I didn't make

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Speaker 2: this up. This is not novel, this is not new

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Speaker 2: to me. All I have done is popularize and publicize

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Speaker 2: and explain what this is about. Liberty in God we

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Speaker 2: trust e pluribus unum. E pluribus unum is Latin for

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Speaker 2: from many one. And I will explain each of these three.

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Speaker 2: And they are to put it in a phrase that

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Speaker 2: perhaps Washington and Madison might not have used. Mind blowing.

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Speaker 2: They are mind blowing because they work. They have produced

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Speaker 2: the society that has done more good for humanity than

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Speaker 2: any other. Say this, casam American. I say it because

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Speaker 2: it's either true or not true. And it is true.

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Speaker 2: If it weren't for the United States, too, horrific, horrific,

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Speaker 2: cruel systems of vast mass murder would have prevailed Communism

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Speaker 2: and Nazism, or weren't the only ones who fought, but

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Speaker 2: we were indispensable to the achievement of victory Over then,

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Speaker 2: the only reason that the southern half of Korea is

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Speaker 2: not a concentration camp, most of North Korea is a

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Speaker 2: concentration camp. It is a unique nation. It is one

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Speaker 2: large prison. And the only reason all of the Korean

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Speaker 2: peninsula is not a large prison is because thirty six

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Speaker 2: thousand Americans died to keep at least half of Korea free.

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Speaker 2: I don't know of another nation in the history of

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Speaker 2: the world that has died in so many numbers for

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Speaker 2: the liberty of people. They did know. The average American

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Speaker 2: never met a Korean, didn't even know where Korea was.

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Speaker 2: They just knew one thing. Totalitarians want to take over

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Speaker 2: this peninsula. We Americans prefer liberty to totalitarianism. We will

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Speaker 2: prepare to die for them, as we have, and we

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Speaker 2: did in a war that you don't learn much about,

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Speaker 2: but you should. It's the best example of selfless desire

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Speaker 2: to liberate people perhaps in world history, the Korean War.

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Speaker 2: Everybody talks about World War Two. You hear a lot

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Speaker 2: about Vietnam, which, by the way, was motivated by the

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Speaker 2: same thing, save half of Vietnam from communist totalitarianism, and

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Speaker 2: for reasons that Bruce Herchison may have spoken to you about,

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Speaker 2: but has certainly written about, we didn't prevail there to

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Speaker 2: the great tragedy of the of the Vietnamese people. Okay,

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Speaker 2: here they go. Liberty and God we trust epluribus une

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Speaker 2: first liberty. This country was conceived in the belief that liberty,

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Speaker 2: that the human being, the individual, should be free. Freedom

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Speaker 2: is dependent and this is key on small government, because

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Speaker 2: the bigger the government, the less the freedom. That makes

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Speaker 2: perfect sense in New York City right now, there has

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Speaker 2: been a suggestion made by the Mayor of New York

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Speaker 2: City that there should be a ban on the size

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Speaker 2: of cups in which you can have a sugared drink.

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Speaker 2: That the Mayor of New York City has suggested this

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Speaker 2: and he wants it to be the policy of New

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Speaker 2: York City. You cannot get a Coca cola or a pepsicola,

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Speaker 2: or an orange soda or whatever it might be in

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Speaker 2: a cup larger than sixteen ounces, because we have an

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Speaker 2: obesity problem in the country. Sugared sodas are a tremendous

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Speaker 2: source of calories, useless calories at that, and so for

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Speaker 2: the good of the citizen, he will restrict your ability

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Speaker 2: to get soda. Now here's a great example of big

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Speaker 2: government and less liberty. By the way, I completely sympathize

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Speaker 2: with him. I have been drinking Da drinks since I

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Speaker 2: was a kid, so I have great sympathy for the

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Speaker 2: notion that it's a ridiculous amount of sugar for one,

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Speaker 2: you know, big huge gulp that you finish in you know,

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Speaker 2: five minutes or even less. I have total sympathy for

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Speaker 2: the idea that you teach people about calories in drinks.

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Speaker 2: I have no sympathy for legislating it. The reason I

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Speaker 2: have no sympathy for legislating it is, as I have

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Speaker 2: said on my radio show on a number of times,

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Speaker 2: I would prefer to be obese and free than to

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Speaker 2: be skinny and unfree. Okay, between the two, I would

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Speaker 2: rather be skinny and free. That's my first choice. However,

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Speaker 2: if the issue is obese or free, I'll take free

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Speaker 2: and obese or obese and unfree. I should say. It's

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Speaker 2: like in Cuba when people come back and tell us

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Speaker 2: that all Cubans are literate. What an achievement of the

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Speaker 2: Castro dictatorship that Cubans are all literate, to which I

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Speaker 2: have always responded, what is the good of being literate

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Speaker 2: if you're not allowed to read what you want? I'd

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Speaker 2: rather be illiterate and free than literate and unfree. Okay.

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Speaker 2: Just that's how much I love liberty. That's very American

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Speaker 2: of me to love liberty that much. Give me liberty

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Speaker 2: or give me death. You probably have heard that phrase

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Speaker 2: of Patrick Henry, one of the founders of the country.

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Speaker 2: That's right, that's a big deal. Give me liberty. We

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Speaker 2: want to be free. That means free to get fat,

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Speaker 2: free to do stupid things, free to watch television six

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Speaker 2: hours a day. As most Americans, this is a form

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Speaker 2: of mental soda, and that is us. That's it. You

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Speaker 2: should be free. I will do everything possible. Look, I

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Speaker 2: would like to. I want Americans to watch much less television.

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Speaker 2: But I won't legislate it. I will educate, I will

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Speaker 2: offer ideas, I will offer suggestions. I will tell you

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Speaker 2: why you are blowing the most precious thing you have

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Speaker 2: in life, which is time. But if it doesn't work,

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Speaker 2: so be it. It's your right, your right. You have

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Speaker 2: the perfect right to throw away your life. You have

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Speaker 2: that and you but it comes with the beauty of

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Speaker 2: the perfect right to do whatever you want to make

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Speaker 2: a good life as well. In Germany, you are not

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Speaker 2: allowed to keep your store open after a certain time,

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Speaker 2: like six o'clock at night, maybe even five. You know why,

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Speaker 2: because it's unfair to the next guy who has a store.

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Speaker 2: If you stay open an hour longer, you will make

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Speaker 2: more money and have more business. So, since they care

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Speaker 2: about fairness and equality more than liberty, there are laws

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Speaker 2: in Germany what time you must shut your store twenty

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Speaker 2: four to seven. That's an American invention. You want to

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Speaker 2: work harder, work harder, and make more money, not in Germany,

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Speaker 2: which is the quintessential European idea of equality over liberty.

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Speaker 2: What I'm telling you is life changing. I don't care

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Speaker 2: what your position is on this nearly as much as

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Speaker 2: I care that you're clear about what America has stood

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Speaker 2: for and what American values are. Liberty is more important

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Speaker 2: than equality. Another equality example in Norway. The Norwegian law

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Speaker 2: is that every large corporation on its board of directors,

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Speaker 2: half the seats must be for reserved for women. Beautiful idea,

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Speaker 2: right equality just as many women on boards of directors

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Speaker 2: as men. But it's not liberty. A company should be

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Speaker 2: free if they want to put twelve I don't know,

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Speaker 2: midgets on the board. I don't know. Small people is

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Speaker 2: the current term. I think if they wish to put

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Speaker 2: twelve small people, all of whom can sing the Norwegian

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Speaker 2: national anthem in Swahili, that should be the right of

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Speaker 2: that company to do so. The odds are the company

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Speaker 2: will go out of business having an incompetent board, but

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Speaker 2: that is its business. You are free to go bankrupt.

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Speaker 2: Liberty is the American ideal. Equality material equality is the

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Speaker 2: European ideal. The United States is in a bat whole,

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Speaker 2: a major nonviolent civil war. That is how big the

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Speaker 2: battle is between whether European ideas or American ideas will triumph.

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Speaker 2: Until the late nineteenth centuries, there was no debate about this.

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Speaker 2: But in the late nineteenth century professors came over largely

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Speaker 2: from Germany, where the first state with the first welfare

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Speaker 2: state was created under Bismarck, and that that was where

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Speaker 2: the influence began. Let's be more like europe liberty rather

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Speaker 2: than equality, liberty rather even than perfect health. New Yorkers

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Speaker 2: may be healthier if they ban seventeen ounces or more

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Speaker 2: servings of Coca cola. That's true. But if you believe

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Speaker 2: in liberty, you are prepared to say, let people be

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Speaker 2: responsible for their own weight. The government can teach, but

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Speaker 2: not coerce. Because we believe in liberty. Okay, brings us

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Speaker 2: to American value or the second member, if you will,

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Speaker 2: of the American trinity, and that is in God. We trust.

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Speaker 2: In God we trust is so deep a motto in

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Speaker 2: this country that I will tell you something you probably

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Speaker 2: don't know. I didn't know until I went to Congress.

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Speaker 2: I was invited by a member of Congress to watch

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Speaker 2: President Obama give a speech a number of years ago

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Speaker 2: to a joint session of Congress. If any of you

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Speaker 2: have ever watched a president speak before Congress, usually the

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Speaker 2: State of the Union address, you will see now picture

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Speaker 2: this please. You will see the president, and behind the

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Speaker 2: president you will see two people, the Vice President of

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Speaker 2: the United States and the Speaker of the House. You

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Speaker 2: get the picture in your mind if you've ever seen it.

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Speaker 2: I have seen this since I was your age. I

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Speaker 2: didn't know this. About ten feet above where the Vice

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Speaker 2: President and the Speaker of the House sit, giant letters

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Speaker 2: chiseled into the marble wall of Congress are words. The

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Speaker 2: words are in God we trust. The members of Congress

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Speaker 2: as they're staring at the President are staring at him

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Speaker 2: God we trust. The entire time. I never knew it. Now,

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Speaker 2: how could that be? That's because no television network ever

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Speaker 2: gives you a wide angle view. They always give you

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Speaker 2: a telephoto view of the president while he's speaking. But

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Speaker 2: why don't they ever pull out That's a question that

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Speaker 2: I find fascinating. But beyond the scope of this lecture,

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Speaker 2: because it's not normal not to give you a wider angle.

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Speaker 2: Think of a sport. You get a close up of

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Speaker 2: the player, and then you get a wider angle of

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Speaker 2: the player. Whatever the sport, basketball, hockey, football, baseball, doesn't matter.

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Speaker 2: But you don't see that chisel in the wall. In

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Speaker 2: God we trust. It's the motto of the country in

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Speaker 2: many ways. Why is that important? The founders understood the following,

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Speaker 2: and if you get this, you'll get the essence of

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Speaker 2: the American value system. If people are free and government

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Speaker 2: is small, how do you keep people from doing bad

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Speaker 2: things with their freedom? Right? Think about it. What's going

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Speaker 2: to prevent people from killing one another, from robbing banks,

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Speaker 2: from mugging other citizens if you have a very weak government?

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Speaker 2: Right as this was the belief. But I have to

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Speaker 2: explain this at length, at some length, what keeps people

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Speaker 2: good if there are no police around? Well, there are

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Speaker 2: two essential answers conscience, God, God slash religion. The people

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Speaker 2: who say you don't need God will say conscience is enough.

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Speaker 2: So here is where I have to digress for another

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Speaker 2: incredibly important point. The founders of this country did not

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Speaker 2: believe people were basically good, Nor do I, nor did

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Speaker 2: Judaism or Christianity. The religious foundations of the country. In fact,

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Speaker 2: no religion has ever argued that people are basically good,

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Speaker 2: not Buddhism, not Hinduism, not Islam, not Judaism, not Christianity, nothing.

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Speaker 2: The idea that people are basically good arose in the Enlightenment,

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Speaker 2: what's called the Enlightenment, in the eighteenth century and nineteenth century.

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Speaker 1: This episode of timeless Wisdom will continue right after this.

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Speaker 1: Now back to more of Dennis Prager's Timeless Wisdom.

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Speaker 2: I have been battling this belief in my public life,

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Speaker 2: my entire life. There are a few things that drive

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Speaker 2: me crazy, But on the top five is when an adult.

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Speaker 2: I understand when a kid says this, because kids don't

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Speaker 2: know as much about life as adults should know about life.

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Speaker 2: If you've had seventeen years of life, you're supposed to

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Speaker 2: know less than someone who's had forty years of life.

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Speaker 2: You don't know any more about life than at seventeen.

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Speaker 2: There's something wrong with you, right, I mean, it's just

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Speaker 2: a given. Correct you know you think about you? Why

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Speaker 2: are you seventeen on average? Okay? Do you think you

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Speaker 2: know a lot more about life than you did three

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Speaker 2: years ago? Okay, let me tell you three years from now,

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Speaker 2: you will still say yes. I never met anybody liberal, conservative, right, left, atheist,

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Speaker 2: religious who doesn't believe they know a lot more about

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Speaker 2: life today than they did twenty years ago. So I

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Speaker 2: expect young people to have a romantic view of human nature. Ah,

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Speaker 2: babies are born beautiful, pure. We'll talk about babies in

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Speaker 2: a moment. But nothing drives me crazier than when an

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Speaker 2: adult says people are basically good. It's so obviously untrue.

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Speaker 2: All right, you want to go to babies. Here's the

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Speaker 2: story on babies. Babies are born innocent but not good.

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Speaker 2: There aren't good babies now. It's true. There aren't evil

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Speaker 2: babies either, that's true. I never heard of a baby

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Speaker 2: rapist or a baby embezzler. That's true. I am unaware

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Speaker 2: of it. Or as people you may know, they're wanted

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Speaker 2: posters in post offices. There are no baby pictures up

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Speaker 2: in post offices. I understand that, but they're not good.

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Speaker 2: In fact, here is the average baby, if it could talk.

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Speaker 2: I want mommy, I want nipple, I want to be fed,

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Speaker 2: I want to be loved up. And if you do

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Speaker 2: not do all of these things immediately, I will ruin

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Speaker 2: your day. Okay, Babies in fact, are the essence of selfishness.

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Speaker 2: I want, I want, I want, and I'll never forget

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Speaker 2: my second child. I actually followed his first three words.

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Speaker 2: First word was mama, second word was dada, and his

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Speaker 2: third word was more. That's that's what they want. They

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Speaker 2: want mommy, daddy and more of mommy and more of daddy,

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Speaker 2: and more of food and more of drink, and more

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Speaker 2: of being held and more of being played with. Has

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Speaker 2: any baby ever said enough? Thank you? I don't believe

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Speaker 2: such a baby has ever lived or even thought about it,

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Speaker 2: or I think I could talk to you about this subject.

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Speaker 2: I don't think that there was a baby. If baby

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Speaker 2: babies were good, you know what they would say. You know,

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Speaker 2: I've been throwing up and puking and had diarrhea for

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Speaker 2: the last week. I've been crying for the last six weeks.

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Speaker 2: Mom and Dad haven't been able to make love in

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Speaker 2: a half year. I'm going to shut up tonight. If

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Speaker 2: a baby were good, that's what it would say. I'm

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Speaker 2: gonna let mom make love with dad because I've really

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Speaker 2: stopped their love life that which produced me I have ended.

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Speaker 2: And so if a baby were good, that's what it

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Speaker 2: would say. But when you are very young. You don't

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Speaker 2: even think about others. We are born narcissists. I am

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Speaker 2: interested in me, and on occasion, I'm also interested in me,

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Speaker 2: and on other occasions, I'm interested in me. In other words,

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Speaker 2: I'm always interested in me. We have a society that

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Speaker 2: cultivates staying baby. When I was young, at your age,

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Speaker 2: there was a big movement looking out for number one.

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Speaker 2: What's a big deal about that. That's what babies do

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Speaker 2: is looking out for number one. Number one was my women.

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Speaker 2: I'll never forget. My kid couldn't believe they weren't embarrassed.

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Speaker 2: They wore necklaces, gold chains that had number one. That's like, hello,

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Speaker 2: my name is narcissist. That's what they were wearing. Babies

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Speaker 2: are not born good. They're not born bad necessarily, but

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Speaker 2: they're not born good. How many times did your parents

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Speaker 2: tell you say thank you? Why didn't it come naturally?

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Speaker 2: If you're basically good, why would you have to be

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Speaker 2: told to say thank you? That's pretty basic, isn't it

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Speaker 2: saying thank you if somebody does you a nice, kind thing.

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Speaker 2: We don't even have gratitude built into us unless it's taught.

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Speaker 2: I wish I had a Nickel for every time I

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Speaker 2: said to my kids, say thank you, say thank you,

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Speaker 2: say thank Eventually I just said, this is a recorded announcement,

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Speaker 2: say thank you, and that's what I felt like. I

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Speaker 2: felt like a recording. And then one day I heard

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Speaker 2: my kids they thank you, and thought, wow, it worked.

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Speaker 2: This is an amazing day. And I get such joy. Really,

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Speaker 2: I got such joy when I would see my kids

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Speaker 2: sit in a restaurant and say thank you to the

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Speaker 2: waiter or a waitress. There's a big deal. You have

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Speaker 2: to teach goodness. You ever see kids at a birthday

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Speaker 2: party their cookies available, The kid takes as many cookies

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Speaker 2: as possible. If they actually eat all the cookies they take,

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Speaker 2: they would have to have their stomach pumped at a hospital.

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Speaker 2: But they take it anyway. And then if you say, well,

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Speaker 2: why don't you share it here with little Joanne, and

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Speaker 2: the kid knows, no, no, they're mine, but he can't

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Speaker 2: even eat all of them. No, no, they're mine. You

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Speaker 2: have to teach kids to share. Very few kids share automatically.

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Speaker 2: Because people are not basically good. Something must control their behavior.

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Speaker 2: You see, I don't believe that bad is unnatural. I

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Speaker 2: believe that on certain bad things like I believe sadism

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Speaker 2: is unnatural. I mean through love excruciating pain. In another

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Speaker 2: there's something I admit that there was a rye there.

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Speaker 2: But bank robbery, burglary, rape, you think that they are unnatural.

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Speaker 2: A man takes a woman he is attracted to and

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Speaker 2: takes it and grabs her for sex. That's not unnatural,

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Speaker 2: it's just immoral. That's the whole reason we have morality.

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Speaker 2: We have moral law because we need moral law to

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Speaker 2: fight against human nature. Otherwise, who needs moral law? We

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Speaker 2: don't needn't We wouldn't have to be taught good and evil.

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Speaker 2: Just be told to what your nature tells you to do.

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Speaker 2: The founders understood, and all everyone recognized we're not basically good.

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Speaker 2: Therefore we had a real Kannun room. An American thinking,

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Speaker 2: if the government isn't going to stop you, if the

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Speaker 2: king isn't going to stop you from doing bad, what will?

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Speaker 2: And the American answer was a good and judging god.

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Speaker 2: God judges your behavior, so you damn well better be

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Speaker 2: responsible to this God of you if you will at

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Speaker 2: basic of the ten commandments Thou shalt not murder, thou

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Speaker 2: shalt not steal, etc. Etc. And that was how America

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Speaker 2: was founded. When I was a kid, and certainly well

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Speaker 2: before I was born, there was a term Americans regularly

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Speaker 2: used for a decent man or a decent woman. He

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Speaker 2: or she is a God fearing person. You never hear

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Speaker 2: the term today because we live in a radically secular age.

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Speaker 2: But that was the term. God fearing meant a decent person.

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Speaker 2: But as people don't fear God, they start to fear

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Speaker 2: government or they or you will have moral chaos. That's

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Speaker 2: why in Western Europe, which is very secular, government is gigantic.

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Speaker 2: The more secular the society, the bigger the government. So

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Speaker 2: America wanted small government, but wanted a big God. And

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Speaker 2: here is the unbelievable innovation of American values. The unbelievable

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Speaker 2: innovation was God wants liberty. That's how the first two

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Speaker 2: of the three values come together. It's astonishing. God wants

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Speaker 2: us to be free. Wow. Declaration of independence. We have

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Speaker 2: certain inalienable rights, and they come from the Creator. Where

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Speaker 2: else do inalienable rights come from? Where DNA evolution? Where

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Speaker 2: where there's no such thing as an inalienable right, if

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Speaker 2: there is no creator who makes the inalienability? So this

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Speaker 2: was all the Founders signed on to this. Some of

425
00:31:39,720 --> 00:31:43,240
Speaker 2: the Founders were religiously Christians, some were just God centered,

426
00:31:43,280 --> 00:31:47,920
Speaker 2: but they were all God centered all and understood that

427
00:31:47,960 --> 00:31:52,040
Speaker 2: without God and religion were doomed as indeed, we are

428
00:31:52,600 --> 00:31:55,959
Speaker 2: not doomed to hell, just doomed to making hell in

429
00:31:56,000 --> 00:32:07,640
Speaker 2: this world. So this is what they taught. God wants liberty.

430
00:32:08,520 --> 00:32:11,000
Speaker 2: Let me give you a dramatic example of how this

431
00:32:11,160 --> 00:32:14,960
Speaker 2: works in America. I was talking about on my radio

432
00:32:15,080 --> 00:32:18,200
Speaker 2: show a number of years ago, was talking about some

433
00:32:18,400 --> 00:32:22,680
Speaker 2: taxis drivers in Minneapolis at the airport, the airport I've

434
00:32:22,680 --> 00:32:25,680
Speaker 2: flown into very, very frequently because I go there a lot,

435
00:32:26,880 --> 00:32:31,000
Speaker 2: and a lot of the cab drivers in the Twin

436
00:32:31,080 --> 00:32:36,280
Speaker 2: Cities are from Somalia. They're religious Muslims from the African

437
00:32:36,320 --> 00:32:41,280
Speaker 2: country of Somalia who've come as immigrants. And there was

438
00:32:41,320 --> 00:32:44,320
Speaker 2: a real problem because a lot of them would refuse

439
00:32:44,400 --> 00:32:49,920
Speaker 2: to take passengers who had a beer with them, or

440
00:32:50,200 --> 00:32:55,280
Speaker 2: passengers who had a dog with them, because for many Muslims,

441
00:32:55,440 --> 00:33:01,400
Speaker 2: for all religious Muslims, alcohol is prohibited and many believe

442
00:33:01,480 --> 00:33:06,520
Speaker 2: that dogs are an impure creature and should not be

443
00:33:07,280 --> 00:33:12,040
Speaker 2: indoors with a human being. And I spoke about this

444
00:33:12,160 --> 00:33:15,760
Speaker 2: as wrong. You can believe you can't drink Mormons believe

445
00:33:15,760 --> 00:33:18,360
Speaker 2: that they can't drink alcohol, but a Mormon taxi driver

446
00:33:18,480 --> 00:33:22,080
Speaker 2: is going to take anybody who has a beer. It's

447
00:33:22,080 --> 00:33:25,560
Speaker 2: one thing to believe God wants you to desist from something.

448
00:33:25,600 --> 00:33:28,680
Speaker 2: It's quite another to believe God and your religion demand

449
00:33:28,720 --> 00:33:34,920
Speaker 2: that outsiders obey your religious law. Man called me up

450
00:33:35,360 --> 00:33:40,120
Speaker 2: and identified himself to called was from Denver, Colorado, and

451
00:33:40,800 --> 00:33:43,680
Speaker 2: he called me and said, Dennis, I just want to

452
00:33:43,680 --> 00:33:47,560
Speaker 2: tell you my story. I am a religious evangelical Christian

453
00:33:48,280 --> 00:33:53,040
Speaker 2: and I'm a mailman here in Denver, and I want

454
00:33:53,080 --> 00:33:57,800
Speaker 2: to make your point with an illustration from my own life.

455
00:33:58,200 --> 00:34:06,400
Speaker 2: I deliver pornography. I do people who order or subscribe

456
00:34:06,440 --> 00:34:10,920
Speaker 2: to pornographic journals. I am a mailman. I deliver the mail,

457
00:34:12,680 --> 00:34:15,960
Speaker 2: and the reason is exactly what you said, even though

458
00:34:16,000 --> 00:34:22,719
Speaker 2: it completely violates my religious tenets. Nevertheless, I believe God

459
00:34:22,760 --> 00:34:29,280
Speaker 2: wants liberty, powerful stuff. Huh. Pornography is to an evangelical

460
00:34:29,360 --> 00:34:35,279
Speaker 2: Christian what alcohol is to a religious Muslim. But in

461
00:34:35,320 --> 00:34:38,359
Speaker 2: the Islamic world the idea that God wants liberty did

462
00:34:38,360 --> 00:34:41,160
Speaker 2: not develop, and in the United States it did develop.

463
00:34:42,640 --> 00:34:48,160
Speaker 2: Values are everything ethnicity doesn't mean a damn thing. Everything

464
00:34:48,320 --> 00:34:52,520
Speaker 2: is values, which brings us to value number three. E

465
00:34:52,680 --> 00:34:57,320
Speaker 2: pluribus unum. From many one. It first meant from many

466
00:34:57,360 --> 00:35:02,200
Speaker 2: colonies one's country, but it immediately after that was retained,

467
00:35:02,840 --> 00:35:07,960
Speaker 2: and it means from many ethnic origins, from many races,

468
00:35:08,480 --> 00:35:16,160
Speaker 2: from many nationalities one American people. We didn't live it

469
00:35:16,320 --> 00:35:19,400
Speaker 2: because we had too much racism in American hit history,

470
00:35:19,680 --> 00:35:26,280
Speaker 2: but we at least proclaimed an unbelievable idea. Your race,

471
00:35:26,760 --> 00:35:34,520
Speaker 2: your ethnicity, your nationality don't matter. Blood doesn't matter, skin

472
00:35:34,800 --> 00:35:41,600
Speaker 2: color doesn't matter, origins don't matter. You matter, and being

473
00:35:41,760 --> 00:35:48,560
Speaker 2: American matters. You are all one. If I asked you

474
00:35:48,640 --> 00:35:52,600
Speaker 2: what does a Norwegian or a Swede, or a Chinese

475
00:35:52,800 --> 00:35:56,000
Speaker 2: or a Japanese look like? You would all have an image.

476
00:35:56,440 --> 00:35:58,000
Speaker 2: But if I were to say to you, what does

477
00:35:58,040 --> 00:36:04,520
Speaker 2: an American look like? There is no image none. There's

478
00:36:04,560 --> 00:36:10,760
Speaker 2: no such thing as looking American. You can look everything else,

479
00:36:11,040 --> 00:36:16,799
Speaker 2: but you can't look American. I learned this on a

480
00:36:16,960 --> 00:36:21,759
Speaker 2: street in Nairobi, Kenya, in Africa in my twenties when

481
00:36:21,800 --> 00:36:24,560
Speaker 2: I began my travels which has taken me to one

482
00:36:24,600 --> 00:36:28,719
Speaker 2: hundred countries, and I was on a street in Nairobi

483
00:36:30,920 --> 00:36:36,520
Speaker 2: alone doing window shopping, and a little Kenyan girl and

484
00:36:36,560 --> 00:36:40,520
Speaker 2: her mother were about twenty five feet in front of me.

485
00:36:41,280 --> 00:36:43,719
Speaker 2: And the girl turned around and said in English. A

486
00:36:43,760 --> 00:36:48,479
Speaker 2: lot of Kenyans speak English, apparently even among themselves. Look

487
00:36:48,840 --> 00:36:53,840
Speaker 2: look mommy, or look ma an American. And I smiled,

488
00:36:54,400 --> 00:36:57,640
Speaker 2: but they didn't smile back. I couldn't believe they were rude.

489
00:36:58,280 --> 00:37:00,880
Speaker 2: So I looked behind me, and sure enough, there was

490
00:37:00,920 --> 00:37:06,200
Speaker 2: a black woman about two stores behind me. The girl

491
00:37:06,360 --> 00:37:11,360
Speaker 2: was pointing at a black woman, and incredibly, the girl

492
00:37:11,440 --> 00:37:13,960
Speaker 2: was right. I actually walked over to the woman and said,

493
00:37:13,960 --> 00:37:18,920
Speaker 2: are you an American? She said yes, She identified American

494
00:37:19,280 --> 00:37:29,040
Speaker 2: as black, and she was right. American comes as black, yellow, red, orange, green, white,

495
00:37:29,680 --> 00:37:35,600
Speaker 2: and every mixture in between. Last night, I'm a big

496
00:37:35,680 --> 00:37:41,239
Speaker 2: stereo lover and a guy was over who is a

497
00:37:41,320 --> 00:37:45,759
Speaker 2: stereo salesman. He was putting up some new speakers on

498
00:37:45,800 --> 00:37:50,040
Speaker 2: my desk and we were talking. He is a Mexican

499
00:37:50,160 --> 00:37:54,560
Speaker 2: American civil engineer who does the stereo business as a

500
00:37:54,640 --> 00:37:58,880
Speaker 2: side passion. Makes his money as a civil engineer. So

501
00:37:58,960 --> 00:38:00,760
Speaker 2: we got to talking and I said, are you married?

502
00:38:00,800 --> 00:38:04,120
Speaker 2: He says no, but I'm seeing somebody. I said, Oh really,

503
00:38:04,160 --> 00:38:07,759
Speaker 2: where's she from. Oh, she's Taiwanese. So I said, now

504
00:38:07,800 --> 00:38:13,279
Speaker 2: that's American. A Mexican American is dating a Taiwanese American,

505
00:38:14,040 --> 00:38:18,680
Speaker 2: and then they will have Taiwanese American Mexican children, and

506
00:38:19,120 --> 00:38:23,279
Speaker 2: that kid will probably date a jew and then they

507
00:38:23,280 --> 00:38:28,719
Speaker 2: will have Taiwanese Mexican American Jewish children, and then that

508
00:38:28,840 --> 00:38:32,160
Speaker 2: kid will date an Italian. You'll get the point. And

509
00:38:32,200 --> 00:38:34,640
Speaker 2: that's the way it worked. That's America because we don't care.

510
00:38:35,719 --> 00:38:40,160
Speaker 2: We really don't care. And when we did, when we

511
00:38:40,200 --> 00:38:44,600
Speaker 2: did care, which was horrific, whether it was slavery or

512
00:38:44,719 --> 00:38:47,120
Speaker 2: Jim Crow laws, it was a total violation of the

513
00:38:47,120 --> 00:38:50,160
Speaker 2: American value system. We wouldn't be the first people in

514
00:38:50,280 --> 00:38:53,040
Speaker 2: history to have violated our own values. But we did

515
00:38:53,080 --> 00:38:55,279
Speaker 2: fight a civil war in which the greatest number of

516
00:38:55,360 --> 00:38:59,239
Speaker 2: Americans ever died, and any war died in order ultimately

517
00:38:59,320 --> 00:39:03,600
Speaker 2: to end slavery. And we did. And today, did you know.

518
00:39:03,680 --> 00:39:05,960
Speaker 2: Here's the statistic for you. It's in my book, which

519
00:39:06,000 --> 00:39:09,000
Speaker 2: I pray and hope you get, and not for monetary reasons,

520
00:39:09,520 --> 00:39:13,240
Speaker 2: but because it makes the case so well in print.

521
00:39:13,880 --> 00:39:16,480
Speaker 2: Here's the statistic. You may not know, probably don't know.

522
00:39:17,239 --> 00:39:20,600
Speaker 2: More Black Africans have come to this country voluntarily as

523
00:39:20,640 --> 00:39:26,000
Speaker 2: immigrants than came as slaves. That's a statistic you don't

524
00:39:26,000 --> 00:39:29,120
Speaker 2: read about. But every American, black and white, and middle

525
00:39:29,160 --> 00:39:33,840
Speaker 2: and name should know that, because Africans know, if you

526
00:39:33,880 --> 00:39:36,000
Speaker 2: want to live a free life, you go to the

527
00:39:36,120 --> 00:39:41,440
Speaker 2: United States. That's what everybody knows. That's why France gave

528
00:39:41,520 --> 00:39:45,680
Speaker 2: us a statue of liberty. This is the country where,

529
00:39:46,320 --> 00:39:49,040
Speaker 2: ultimately it really doesn't matter where you're from, it's can

530
00:39:49,080 --> 00:39:49,840
Speaker 2: you do the job.

531
00:39:50,680 --> 00:39:54,040
Speaker 1: This episode of Timeless Wisdom will continue right after this.

532
00:39:59,520 --> 00:40:04,000
Speaker 1: Now back to more of Dennis Prager's Timeless Wisdom.

533
00:40:04,040 --> 00:40:08,040
Speaker 2: A professor at Tufts who spent much of his life

534
00:40:08,960 --> 00:40:13,440
Speaker 2: in US aid to Latin America, wrote a book Who Succeeds,

535
00:40:14,040 --> 00:40:17,760
Speaker 2: And he asked a very interesting question, with all of

536
00:40:17,840 --> 00:40:22,080
Speaker 2: the raw material in South America, with all the land

537
00:40:22,160 --> 00:40:25,680
Speaker 2: in South America, why did South America prosper like the

538
00:40:25,800 --> 00:40:30,080
Speaker 2: United States did, or indeed like North America. And his

539
00:40:30,200 --> 00:40:36,000
Speaker 2: answer was largely famalism, discrimination on the basis of family,

540
00:40:36,480 --> 00:40:42,120
Speaker 2: because in Latin America they didn't trust people outside the bloodline.

541
00:40:42,239 --> 00:40:45,799
Speaker 2: In America, we couldn't care less if you're related. The

542
00:40:45,880 --> 00:40:48,839
Speaker 2: question is can you do the job, not what your

543
00:40:48,840 --> 00:40:55,760
Speaker 2: blood is, e pluribus unum, from many one, from all

544
00:40:55,920 --> 00:40:59,799
Speaker 2: backgrounds one. I have a quote in my book from

545
00:40:59,840 --> 00:41:03,240
Speaker 2: the President of the Republic of Georgia board a little

546
00:41:03,239 --> 00:41:07,120
Speaker 2: country bordering Russia. He was in the United States a

547
00:41:07,120 --> 00:41:11,360
Speaker 2: few months ago, just as I was submitting my final, final,

548
00:41:11,440 --> 00:41:15,280
Speaker 2: final draft of my book. I entered this the last

549
00:41:15,400 --> 00:41:20,480
Speaker 2: day before Harpercollums was said was the deadline. I heard

550
00:41:20,560 --> 00:41:25,439
Speaker 2: him say he was. He spoke English fluently. He said,

551
00:41:25,480 --> 00:41:30,360
Speaker 2: I was at a business I don't remember where in America,

552
00:41:30,400 --> 00:41:33,239
Speaker 2: and he said, it is amazing. I saw Asians, and

553
00:41:33,360 --> 00:41:39,600
Speaker 2: I saw Africans, and I saw every color. But you

554
00:41:39,640 --> 00:41:43,920
Speaker 2: know what I really saw Americans. They spoke American, they

555
00:41:43,960 --> 00:41:49,320
Speaker 2: thought American, they even had American body language. And he said,

556
00:41:49,400 --> 00:41:53,760
Speaker 2: and this was the key. Only in America is that possible.

557
00:41:54,840 --> 00:41:58,120
Speaker 2: If you are a Turk who immigrates to Germany, you're

558
00:41:58,200 --> 00:42:01,480
Speaker 2: still called a Turk three generations later, even if you

559
00:42:01,560 --> 00:42:05,279
Speaker 2: still if you no longer speak Turkish, or you're still

560
00:42:05,320 --> 00:42:08,239
Speaker 2: considered a Turk in the United States. If a Turk

561
00:42:08,360 --> 00:42:11,000
Speaker 2: moves to the United States becomes an American citizen, the

562
00:42:11,040 --> 00:42:13,279
Speaker 2: guy could have the thickest Turkish accent, and we think

563
00:42:13,280 --> 00:42:18,319
Speaker 2: of him as an American, probably call him Joe. I

564
00:42:18,360 --> 00:42:20,480
Speaker 2: saw this one. I was a member of the Rotary Club.

565
00:42:20,480 --> 00:42:24,359
Speaker 2: People from every background. Nobody could care less. Nobody could

566
00:42:24,400 --> 00:42:28,440
Speaker 2: care less anybody's color. A question is are you going

567
00:42:28,480 --> 00:42:31,800
Speaker 2: to volunteer for the retarded kids that we're raising funds

568
00:42:31,800 --> 00:42:35,320
Speaker 2: for or not? That was the only question. Not a Hispanic, Black,

569
00:42:35,680 --> 00:42:44,040
Speaker 2: Jewish Christian atheist. That's this country because of ep luribus unim,

570
00:42:44,840 --> 00:42:48,400
Speaker 2: and that's why we believe in nationalism and not internationalism.

571
00:42:49,080 --> 00:42:52,160
Speaker 2: Of course, we have to cooperate with other countries whenever possible,

572
00:42:52,800 --> 00:42:56,720
Speaker 2: but remember again we have a big conflict. Ep plurbus

573
00:42:56,840 --> 00:43:00,360
Speaker 2: unim not only means everybody becomes American, it means you

574
00:43:00,480 --> 00:43:05,640
Speaker 2: become American, but you don't become something larger than American.

575
00:43:05,760 --> 00:43:09,000
Speaker 2: In other words, you're not just a world citizen, you

576
00:43:09,200 --> 00:43:15,800
Speaker 2: are an American. Nationalism is an American value. We want

577
00:43:16,120 --> 00:43:22,280
Speaker 2: Ecuadorians to feel Ecuadorian. We want Taiwanese to feel Taiwanese.

578
00:43:23,160 --> 00:43:29,040
Speaker 2: We want Uruguayans to feel Uruguayan. It is good, but

579
00:43:29,160 --> 00:43:34,319
Speaker 2: in Europe, which is the other idea, Europe is the

580
00:43:34,360 --> 00:43:37,600
Speaker 2: opposite in many ways of the American trinity. They want

581
00:43:37,640 --> 00:43:40,399
Speaker 2: secular society instead of in God we trust. They want

582
00:43:40,600 --> 00:43:45,239
Speaker 2: equality over liberty, and they want internationalism over nationalism. That's

583
00:43:45,239 --> 00:43:48,839
Speaker 2: why they have a European Union. The hope is that

584
00:43:48,960 --> 00:43:56,080
Speaker 2: Greeks and Italians and French and Germans and Portuguese think

585
00:43:56,160 --> 00:44:00,399
Speaker 2: of themselves first as Europeans. It's not going to work.

586
00:44:01,200 --> 00:44:04,719
Speaker 2: It doesn't work. It's a few bureaucrats in Brussels who

587
00:44:04,719 --> 00:44:07,920
Speaker 2: tell people how to live. It's not good for people.

588
00:44:08,120 --> 00:44:13,200
Speaker 2: A national identity is healthy. That's what has been produced.

589
00:44:14,000 --> 00:44:17,960
Speaker 2: That is the American value system, Liberty, in God we trust,

590
00:44:18,719 --> 00:44:23,080
Speaker 2: and epluribus unum. There is nothing like it. But it

591
00:44:23,160 --> 00:44:26,960
Speaker 2: is universally adaptable. You don't have to be an American,

592
00:44:27,360 --> 00:44:30,359
Speaker 2: you don't have to be a Christian, you don't have

593
00:44:30,440 --> 00:44:34,040
Speaker 2: to be white to adopt the American value system. It

594
00:44:34,120 --> 00:44:38,120
Speaker 2: is applicable to every country, and the more places that

595
00:44:38,200 --> 00:44:41,239
Speaker 2: adopt it, the more liberty and goodness will prevail in

596
00:44:41,280 --> 00:44:45,719
Speaker 2: this world. That's the American value system. Now I hope

597
00:44:45,760 --> 00:44:48,520
Speaker 2: it's clear, and now I hope you'll advocate it. Thank

598
00:44:48,520 --> 00:45:03,719
Speaker 2: you very much. I'm here yep, seventeen times I heard that.

599
00:45:06,800 --> 00:45:09,800
Speaker 2: All right, time for questions, comments and brief alternate speeches.

600
00:45:13,719 --> 00:45:17,439
Speaker 2: Please rise? And why do you usually say what group

601
00:45:17,480 --> 00:45:21,000
Speaker 2: you're with or tell me where you're from. Hi, I'm Robert.

602
00:45:21,080 --> 00:45:22,920
Speaker 3: I go to Saint Vernon at the high school. We

603
00:45:22,920 --> 00:45:26,080
Speaker 3: were talking about earlier, howe how Davies weren't born good?

604
00:45:26,440 --> 00:45:29,360
Speaker 2: So were you suggesting that we are all born animalistic

605
00:45:29,400 --> 00:45:33,120
Speaker 2: in nature? Was I suggesting that we're all born animalistic

606
00:45:33,160 --> 00:45:36,160
Speaker 2: in nature? Yes? I am suggesting that. Did you want

607
00:45:36,160 --> 00:45:39,879
Speaker 2: to have a follow up question? Okay, yeah, I am.

608
00:45:41,520 --> 00:45:46,440
Speaker 2: We are I My other love is right is theology,

609
00:45:46,560 --> 00:45:48,480
Speaker 2: and so I'll just tell you from that standpoint, I

610
00:45:48,480 --> 00:45:51,680
Speaker 2: think we're creating in God's image and animals image, and

611
00:45:51,800 --> 00:45:55,839
Speaker 2: we have a choice every day in whose image to live. Yes,

612
00:45:57,600 --> 00:45:58,600
Speaker 2: my name is con Parker and.

613
00:45:58,600 --> 00:45:59,799
Speaker 3: I'm from pass Grady High School.

614
00:46:00,440 --> 00:46:03,480
Speaker 2: I am currently I enjoy as radio podcast. I'm beating

615
00:46:03,480 --> 00:46:05,680
Speaker 2: a podcast with some students in the future in MEGH school.

616
00:46:06,040 --> 00:46:07,719
Speaker 2: Do you have your tips for someone like maybe some

617
00:46:07,840 --> 00:46:10,920
Speaker 2: interesting radio podcast? You're interested in being a radio Broadkay,

618
00:46:10,920 --> 00:46:13,880
Speaker 2: you'd like to do a talk show? Okay, I do

619
00:46:14,000 --> 00:46:16,200
Speaker 2: have a tip, and you're gonna laugh, but it's just

620
00:46:16,239 --> 00:46:18,759
Speaker 2: the real thing. This is how you'll know if you

621
00:46:18,800 --> 00:46:21,160
Speaker 2: can do it. Want you to sit alone in a

622
00:46:21,239 --> 00:46:27,960
Speaker 2: room and be interesting for three hours. If you can

623
00:46:28,000 --> 00:46:30,040
Speaker 2: do that, and I'm not kidding, then you have the

624
00:46:30,040 --> 00:46:35,520
Speaker 2: makings of the talk show host. It sounds like the

625
00:46:35,560 --> 00:46:39,319
Speaker 2: world's easiest job, and it may be one of the

626
00:46:39,320 --> 00:46:42,359
Speaker 2: hardest in the world. It's up there with being a

627
00:46:42,600 --> 00:46:47,040
Speaker 2: major league catcher. It's our task is to make it

628
00:46:47,160 --> 00:46:52,520
Speaker 2: sound effortless, but it isn't. The other is you have

629
00:46:52,640 --> 00:46:55,920
Speaker 2: to know a lot. Not everything, but you have to

630
00:46:55,920 --> 00:47:00,480
Speaker 2: know a lot about everything. If a caller calls me

631
00:47:00,560 --> 00:47:02,360
Speaker 2: up and says, so, Dennis, what do you think about X,

632
00:47:02,480 --> 00:47:05,960
Speaker 2: Y or Z? Every so often I'm allowed to say, gee,

633
00:47:06,120 --> 00:47:09,000
Speaker 2: I don't. I haven't heard about that. Tell me. But

634
00:47:09,080 --> 00:47:10,839
Speaker 2: if you do it too often, they ask you to

635
00:47:10,840 --> 00:47:14,040
Speaker 2: have another job. So you have to know your stuff

636
00:47:14,640 --> 00:47:20,160
Speaker 2: and be interesting. So good luck. I'll go here and

637
00:47:20,200 --> 00:47:24,879
Speaker 2: then go back there. Yes, Sean Daniel Alchemy in high school.

638
00:47:25,200 --> 00:47:28,000
Speaker 2: What should we do to keep America based on Idanov trust?

639
00:47:28,080 --> 00:47:30,959
Speaker 1: When the government continued Backs's separation of church and state.

640
00:47:31,840 --> 00:47:34,480
Speaker 2: Right, Well, it's a very complex question. You all heard

641
00:47:34,480 --> 00:47:39,400
Speaker 2: it It's a complex question because the phrase itself separation

642
00:47:39,440 --> 00:47:43,040
Speaker 2: from church and state appears in no constitutional document. It's

643
00:47:43,080 --> 00:47:47,200
Speaker 2: not in the Constitution. It was in one letter that

644
00:47:47,280 --> 00:47:52,480
Speaker 2: Thomas Jefferson wrote. That's it. It was always understood that

645
00:47:52,600 --> 00:47:57,839
Speaker 2: this was to be a non sectarian religious republic. Non

646
00:47:57,920 --> 00:48:03,080
Speaker 2: sectarian meaning you didn't have to be a Christian to

647
00:48:03,239 --> 00:48:07,800
Speaker 2: be president. Let's say, there were no religious tests in

648
00:48:07,880 --> 00:48:10,960
Speaker 2: that way, but it was a God centered society. Every

649
00:48:11,160 --> 00:48:16,800
Speaker 2: early president called for days of fasting to pray. Christmas

650
00:48:16,840 --> 00:48:22,080
Speaker 2: is a national holiday. So and I ask people who say, well,

651
00:48:22,440 --> 00:48:25,400
Speaker 2: separation of church and state, than are you opposed to

652
00:48:25,440 --> 00:48:29,160
Speaker 2: Christmas as a national holiday? And the truth is they

653
00:48:29,160 --> 00:48:32,120
Speaker 2: say they are. The ACLU was opposed to Christmas being

654
00:48:32,120 --> 00:48:35,480
Speaker 2: a national holiday. But obviously the founder is not just

655
00:48:35,520 --> 00:48:39,640
Speaker 2: the founders. Americans throughout history understood that there was a

656
00:48:39,719 --> 00:48:42,400
Speaker 2: religious basis to this republic. That's why in God we

657
00:48:42,520 --> 00:48:47,919
Speaker 2: Trust is one of Oromatos. So is there attention, Yes,

658
00:48:47,960 --> 00:48:51,680
Speaker 2: there is attension. There's always a tension between values and life.

659
00:48:52,400 --> 00:48:55,000
Speaker 2: But ultimately we have gone way way far to the

660
00:48:55,040 --> 00:49:01,200
Speaker 2: other end that a principle or a teacher or a

661
00:49:01,200 --> 00:49:05,400
Speaker 2: clergyman cannot say to a graduating class in America, God

662
00:49:05,480 --> 00:49:10,800
Speaker 2: bless this class. Every session of Congress opens with prayer.

663
00:49:11,640 --> 00:49:16,760
Speaker 2: But you can't have God bless the graduating class. It's absurd.

664
00:49:17,040 --> 00:49:22,399
Speaker 2: We have gone. There is religious extremism, there is secular extremism.

665
00:49:22,560 --> 00:49:24,920
Speaker 2: I believe we have gone in that direction.

666
00:49:25,239 --> 00:49:28,600
Speaker 1: This episode of timeless Wisdom will continue right after this.

667
00:49:34,120 --> 00:49:38,200
Speaker 1: Now back to more of Dennis Prager's timeless wisdom.

668
00:49:38,360 --> 00:49:44,160
Speaker 2: Anybody back there? The lady back there? Yes, which high school?

669
00:49:45,040 --> 00:49:58,000
Speaker 2: Thank you? Right? Given that God wants liberty, what is

670
00:49:58,040 --> 00:50:00,880
Speaker 2: my view on the rights of homosexuals? Now? I'm repeating

671
00:50:00,880 --> 00:50:04,760
Speaker 2: her question, such as same sex marriage, that would involve

672
00:50:05,120 --> 00:50:07,480
Speaker 2: I never. I won't avoid your question, but I will

673
00:50:07,480 --> 00:50:10,640
Speaker 2: tell you that a full honest answer would involve about

674
00:50:10,640 --> 00:50:15,400
Speaker 2: twenty minutes. So I will just be very brief. Whatever

675
00:50:15,480 --> 00:50:20,279
Speaker 2: your position on same sex marriage, marriage is not a right.

676
00:50:21,719 --> 00:50:23,759
Speaker 2: It has never been regarded as a right. It has

677
00:50:23,800 --> 00:50:29,680
Speaker 2: been regarded as a privilege. The society confers that privilege

678
00:50:29,760 --> 00:50:33,719
Speaker 2: upon X or Y group. For example, you don't have

679
00:50:33,920 --> 00:50:37,200
Speaker 2: the right or privilege of marrying your brother or sister?

680
00:50:38,000 --> 00:50:44,520
Speaker 2: Why not? Why not? Who is? If we only have liberty,

681
00:50:45,040 --> 00:50:50,799
Speaker 2: then why can't you marry your brother or sister, or

682
00:50:50,840 --> 00:50:54,799
Speaker 2: your parent if you're over eighteen, or your child if

683
00:50:54,840 --> 00:50:59,000
Speaker 2: you're over eighteen. These were very common practices in the

684
00:50:59,040 --> 00:51:01,600
Speaker 2: ancient world. They were uprooted by what we call the

685
00:51:01,680 --> 00:51:13,759
Speaker 2: Judeo Christian traditions. Anyway, rights marriage is a license officially bestowed.

686
00:51:15,680 --> 00:51:20,640
Speaker 2: Everyone agrees that two gay people or three or eleven

687
00:51:21,320 --> 00:51:24,080
Speaker 2: have the right to love one another in any way

688
00:51:24,120 --> 00:51:29,279
Speaker 2: they wish. That's your right to live with and not

689
00:51:29,440 --> 00:51:33,960
Speaker 2: be harassed by the society. But to ask society to

690
00:51:34,000 --> 00:51:39,399
Speaker 2: redefine the definition of marriage. That's different from a right.

691
00:51:39,560 --> 00:51:43,279
Speaker 2: That is not a right, and it's very important that

692
00:51:43,320 --> 00:51:45,920
Speaker 2: people understand it. After all, do you know that Utah

693
00:51:46,120 --> 00:51:49,640
Speaker 2: was not allowed to be a member of the United States,

694
00:51:49,719 --> 00:51:53,560
Speaker 2: could not enter the US until it abolished polygamy. Why

695
00:51:53,600 --> 00:51:57,600
Speaker 2: don't I have the right to marry two people? Seriously?

696
00:51:57,640 --> 00:51:59,520
Speaker 2: And I have asked this. I have debated this with

697
00:51:59,680 --> 00:52:02,759
Speaker 2: LGBT heads for the last twenty five years. I've never

698
00:52:02,800 --> 00:52:04,799
Speaker 2: gotten an answer. All they say is that has nothing

699
00:52:04,840 --> 00:52:07,480
Speaker 2: to do with the issue, which is avoiding my question.

700
00:52:08,120 --> 00:52:11,439
Speaker 2: If there is an unlimited right to marry anyone you love,

701
00:52:11,560 --> 00:52:14,200
Speaker 2: why can't I love two people? Of course, I can,

702
00:52:14,360 --> 00:52:18,440
Speaker 2: and why cant I marry them and get If you

703
00:52:18,520 --> 00:52:20,759
Speaker 2: give me an answer to that, I will rethink my

704
00:52:20,840 --> 00:52:28,120
Speaker 2: position next. Yes, And that was a toughie because I

705
00:52:28,120 --> 00:52:31,960
Speaker 2: pointed to two people, the blue and the plaid. So

706
00:52:32,040 --> 00:52:35,080
Speaker 2: I'll take you both plaid first, that's you.

707
00:52:36,200 --> 00:52:40,600
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm I'm ready as high school. I was wondering,

708
00:52:40,640 --> 00:52:43,799
Speaker 3: you're saying liberty America needs to provide.

709
00:52:43,480 --> 00:52:46,480
Speaker 2: The liberty and get the person, the individual choice to

710
00:52:46,560 --> 00:52:47,360
Speaker 2: choose what they want to do.

711
00:52:47,400 --> 00:52:50,359
Speaker 3: But what are these liberties like hardy individuals such as

712
00:52:50,560 --> 00:52:51,920
Speaker 3: drugs like Amory line.

713
00:52:52,480 --> 00:52:57,040
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a very tough question, and it's it really is,

714
00:52:57,080 --> 00:52:59,960
Speaker 2: because that's why we had, for example, I mean, well,

715
00:53:00,000 --> 00:53:03,200
Speaker 2: I'll give you two examples though, all the banning, all

716
00:53:03,280 --> 00:53:06,960
Speaker 2: the taxation, which is a form of the preprivation of liberty,

717
00:53:07,520 --> 00:53:10,120
Speaker 2: taking people's money away if they want to smoke cigarettes.

718
00:53:10,680 --> 00:53:13,120
Speaker 2: I think people should be allowed to hurt themselves. But

719
00:53:13,200 --> 00:53:15,040
Speaker 2: I do draw the line, and I admit it, I

720
00:53:15,120 --> 00:53:18,239
Speaker 2: draw a line. I'm not a perfect libertarian. I draw

721
00:53:18,280 --> 00:53:22,640
Speaker 2: the line with are to drugs because drugs not only

722
00:53:22,719 --> 00:53:26,520
Speaker 2: ruin lives. See cigarettes don't necessarily ruin lives. Drugs do

723
00:53:29,120 --> 00:53:32,359
Speaker 2: what two thirds of cigarette smokers do not die prematurely

724
00:53:32,480 --> 00:53:35,400
Speaker 2: one third due that's a lot. Obviously, it's in the

725
00:53:35,440 --> 00:53:38,680
Speaker 2: millions because there are so many cigarette smokers. But the

726
00:53:38,760 --> 00:53:42,440
Speaker 2: other thing is, nobody has ever killed for a cigarette.

727
00:53:44,160 --> 00:53:46,479
Speaker 2: I don't have cigarettes. I am going to I'm gonna

728
00:53:46,520 --> 00:53:49,799
Speaker 2: rob a store and kill the seven to eleven storekeeper.

729
00:53:50,320 --> 00:53:54,800
Speaker 2: But people kill for drugs. Clearly, there's no comparison between

730
00:53:54,800 --> 00:53:59,040
Speaker 2: tobacco and drugs. The fact that the California Department of

731
00:53:59,080 --> 00:54:02,759
Speaker 2: Health has said that they are analogous is one of

732
00:54:02,800 --> 00:54:05,120
Speaker 2: the things that I find most upsetting because I don't

733
00:54:05,160 --> 00:54:08,880
Speaker 2: like when the state lies there is no comparison between

734
00:54:09,200 --> 00:54:11,840
Speaker 2: tobacco and drugs. And I will debate that till the

735
00:54:11,880 --> 00:54:16,759
Speaker 2: cows come home, because it's a dishonest message to you

736
00:54:16,760 --> 00:54:20,520
Speaker 2: young people. Because after all, if you watch Winston Churchill

737
00:54:21,040 --> 00:54:24,160
Speaker 2: smoking his cigars, you might as well say, gee, look

738
00:54:24,239 --> 00:54:27,080
Speaker 2: he has cigars. Why don't I have heroin? I mean,

739
00:54:27,160 --> 00:54:30,480
Speaker 2: that's the upshot. If really tobacco is the same as drugs,

740
00:54:30,800 --> 00:54:34,480
Speaker 2: then Winston Churchill was a drug user, which is so

741
00:54:34,600 --> 00:54:40,000
Speaker 2: absurd that I the vocabulary eludes me is to describe

742
00:54:40,040 --> 00:54:42,759
Speaker 2: it further. So I draw the line with regard to

743
00:54:42,840 --> 00:54:45,279
Speaker 2: drugs because of the harm it does not just to

744
00:54:45,320 --> 00:54:49,600
Speaker 2: the individual, but to those around the person. You hear

745
00:54:49,680 --> 00:54:54,920
Speaker 2: about people, especially on the drugs that are in you know,

746
00:54:55,719 --> 00:55:00,840
Speaker 2: created by drug factories as it were, and you know

747
00:55:00,920 --> 00:55:04,920
Speaker 2: people going crazy on them, jumping off buildings, killing others.

748
00:55:06,320 --> 00:55:13,640
Speaker 2: That's Listen is the father of two sons. I would

749
00:55:13,719 --> 00:55:16,319
Speaker 2: rather they not smoke cigarettes. I don't give a hoot

750
00:55:16,360 --> 00:55:19,759
Speaker 2: about the cigars and pipes, but I would rather that

751
00:55:19,840 --> 00:55:22,719
Speaker 2: they not smoke cigarettes. But it wouldn't bother me one

752
00:55:22,760 --> 00:55:28,600
Speaker 2: one thousandth if they were a sniffing heroin. And any

753
00:55:28,640 --> 00:55:31,120
Speaker 2: parent who says it makes no difference to me if

754
00:55:31,160 --> 00:55:34,239
Speaker 2: it's a cigarette or a heroin is sending such a

755
00:55:34,280 --> 00:55:37,920
Speaker 2: bizarre message to their short child that I just I

756
00:55:37,960 --> 00:55:43,520
Speaker 2: don't know what to say, Blue Shirt baby. I was

757
00:55:43,600 --> 00:55:48,719
Speaker 2: learning from Ao Horn what you were saying. You were

758
00:55:48,760 --> 00:55:54,640
Speaker 2: talking about having liberty and the government stepping back and

759
00:55:54,960 --> 00:55:59,920
Speaker 2: having more freedoms for Americans, and I was kind of thinking,

760
00:56:00,400 --> 00:56:02,280
Speaker 2: like talking.

761
00:56:02,040 --> 00:56:03,360
Speaker 3: About like a free market.

762
00:56:03,640 --> 00:56:08,080
Speaker 2: If you have like something they know, government regulation and

763
00:56:08,360 --> 00:56:13,399
Speaker 2: like business and stuff, then businesses can become like very

764
00:56:13,480 --> 00:56:17,360
Speaker 2: large and making monopoly. And I would think that that

765
00:56:17,400 --> 00:56:20,520
Speaker 2: would make less free ends for don't that office out

766
00:56:20,560 --> 00:56:26,680
Speaker 2: there say it does a monopoly or Bob, that's one thing,

767
00:56:26,800 --> 00:56:30,840
Speaker 2: and they can't they can't get a chance.

768
00:56:31,200 --> 00:56:34,319
Speaker 1: And when you.

769
00:56:39,400 --> 00:56:41,680
Speaker 2: Right, let me just say quickly, I agree with you.

770
00:56:42,440 --> 00:56:45,400
Speaker 2: I am not an anarchist. Only an anarchist says no government.

771
00:56:46,840 --> 00:56:51,279
Speaker 2: I'm just saying that at a given point, as government enlarges,

772
00:56:51,480 --> 00:56:57,120
Speaker 2: liberty diminishes. I don't think it's a debatable statement, but

773
00:56:57,239 --> 00:57:00,239
Speaker 2: at a given point, clearly you need government. I don't

774
00:57:00,280 --> 00:57:04,960
Speaker 2: want private air force bombing other countries. I want a

775
00:57:05,160 --> 00:57:09,960
Speaker 2: United States Air Force, not the General Motors Air Force.

776
00:57:10,840 --> 00:57:13,759
Speaker 2: So uh And and everybody agrees with you, except the

777
00:57:13,800 --> 00:57:19,440
Speaker 2: most perhaps out out in the forest ends of libertarian amism.

778
00:57:20,000 --> 00:57:22,920
Speaker 2: So I couldn't agree more. Let me just go in

779
00:57:22,960 --> 00:57:25,760
Speaker 2: the middle here and take the lady right behind you, sir.

780
00:57:25,920 --> 00:57:28,760
Speaker 2: Then I'll take you, sir, because I see the frustration

781
00:57:28,880 --> 00:57:42,480
Speaker 2: on your face. Yes, I'm sorry, Oh hi Olivia. Yeah.

782
00:57:42,640 --> 00:57:44,840
Speaker 2: If somebody is not religious, do I still believe that

783
00:57:44,840 --> 00:57:49,800
Speaker 2: their moral compass theems from God? This is generally speaking,

784
00:57:49,960 --> 00:57:53,640
Speaker 2: in our civilization. I would say their moral compass comes

785
00:57:53,640 --> 00:58:00,520
Speaker 2: from Judeo Christian religion. I do believe that God does

786
00:58:00,600 --> 00:58:04,600
Speaker 2: implant a conscience in every human but most or many

787
00:58:04,800 --> 00:58:09,280
Speaker 2: consciences are broken. But yes, my view is I have

788
00:58:09,480 --> 00:58:11,640
Speaker 2: it's not original to me, and I wish I knew

789
00:58:11,640 --> 00:58:15,080
Speaker 2: the person who was original to because I always cite sources.

790
00:58:15,480 --> 00:58:18,000
Speaker 2: But somebody else came up with the idea of cut

791
00:58:18,240 --> 00:58:26,120
Speaker 2: flower ethic. Ethics are nurtured in a soil, So are flowers.

792
00:58:26,680 --> 00:58:30,000
Speaker 2: If you take flowers out of the soil from which

793
00:58:30,160 --> 00:58:34,280
Speaker 2: they grew, will they live? No, you know that they

794
00:58:34,320 --> 00:58:37,600
Speaker 2: will die, but they don't die immediately. They look like

795
00:58:37,680 --> 00:58:40,280
Speaker 2: they're living right for about I don't know, a few

796
00:58:40,360 --> 00:58:44,560
Speaker 2: days a week. So to ethics. You cut them off

797
00:58:44,600 --> 00:58:48,720
Speaker 2: from the religious soil that nurtured Western ethics, and they

798
00:58:48,760 --> 00:58:54,240
Speaker 2: look like they're living. But just like the flower, ultimately

799
00:58:54,280 --> 00:58:58,400
Speaker 2: they will wither and die. Remember, and people don't know this,

800
00:58:58,440 --> 00:59:01,360
Speaker 2: so maybe remember is the wrong word. Again. This is

801
00:59:01,400 --> 00:59:04,600
Speaker 2: in my book still the Best Hope where I make

802
00:59:04,640 --> 00:59:12,160
Speaker 2: this case the vast bloodshed and sadism of the twentieth

803
00:59:12,160 --> 00:59:18,480
Speaker 2: century all came from secular movements, Communism, and Nazism. The

804
00:59:18,560 --> 00:59:22,600
Speaker 2: next time you hear what really is a lie that

805
00:59:22,760 --> 00:59:25,560
Speaker 2: all the greatest evil by far has been created by

806
00:59:25,640 --> 00:59:28,479
Speaker 2: religion and people who believe in God. It's just not true.

807
00:59:28,520 --> 00:59:32,000
Speaker 2: The greatest evil happened in the twentieth century under Communism

808
00:59:32,040 --> 00:59:38,040
Speaker 2: and Nazism, and they were both secular ideologies. They were

809
00:59:38,040 --> 00:59:40,360
Speaker 2: not Christian, they were not Jewish, they were not Muslim,

810
00:59:40,400 --> 00:59:42,720
Speaker 2: they were not Buddhist, they were not Shinto, they were

811
00:59:42,760 --> 00:59:49,560
Speaker 2: not Hindu. They were secular. So an individual can certainly

812
00:59:49,680 --> 00:59:52,160
Speaker 2: even be an atheist and a kind person. I would

813
00:59:52,200 --> 00:59:54,320
Speaker 2: be a fool to deny that. And there are religious

814
00:59:54,320 --> 00:59:56,200
Speaker 2: bad people, I would be a fool to deny that.

815
00:59:57,280 --> 01:00:00,760
Speaker 2: But everybody knows that, including the founders. They were worried

816
01:00:00,800 --> 01:00:05,320
Speaker 2: about the society itself. If ultimately society doesn't have a

817
01:00:05,360 --> 01:00:08,280
Speaker 2: God who says thou shalt not steal, you will have

818
01:00:08,360 --> 01:00:16,280
Speaker 2: more stealing. And of this I am convinced. Sir at

819
01:00:16,360 --> 01:00:23,680
Speaker 2: any given their and born evil and how good. Ever,

820
01:00:24,520 --> 01:00:28,680
Speaker 2: added something that would inherently evil? Right. I didn't say

821
01:00:28,680 --> 01:00:33,080
Speaker 2: we're inherently evil, and I understand why you would think

822
01:00:33,120 --> 01:00:36,800
Speaker 2: I did, But I'm I've given talks about human nature

823
01:00:36,880 --> 01:00:39,240
Speaker 2: for many years, and I never said we're born evil.

824
01:00:39,520 --> 01:00:42,920
Speaker 2: I said we're not born good, and I said, we

825
01:00:43,080 --> 01:00:46,880
Speaker 2: clearly have inclinations in both directions. It is clear, however,

826
01:00:47,560 --> 01:00:52,200
Speaker 2: left to our own devices without some sort of moral code,

827
01:00:52,760 --> 01:00:56,240
Speaker 2: we will do bad things. Most people will. You are

828
01:00:56,280 --> 01:00:59,160
Speaker 2: not born with a desire to say thank you, or

829
01:00:59,200 --> 01:01:03,240
Speaker 2: the desire to share, or the desire to be selfless.

830
01:01:03,960 --> 01:01:07,640
Speaker 2: We are born self centered. That I will say, not evil,

831
01:01:07,720 --> 01:01:09,920
Speaker 2: but certainly self centered. And that's why I did say

832
01:01:09,920 --> 01:01:13,560
Speaker 2: we're born narcissists. But that is why people believe you

833
01:01:13,600 --> 01:01:18,720
Speaker 2: do need an external code, because that's it's a lot

834
01:01:18,800 --> 01:01:22,120
Speaker 2: more powerful to think God says, do not steal than

835
01:01:22,400 --> 01:01:27,240
Speaker 2: just yourself. I asked three high schools, four high school seniors,

836
01:01:27,720 --> 01:01:31,280
Speaker 2: not for four high schools senior classes, so hundreds of

837
01:01:31,360 --> 01:01:36,160
Speaker 2: kids in Cleveland many years ago, raise your hand if

838
01:01:36,240 --> 01:01:40,200
Speaker 2: you would take something that you didn't pay for from

839
01:01:40,200 --> 01:01:45,160
Speaker 2: a department store, if you were absolutely guaranteed you would

840
01:01:45,160 --> 01:01:48,240
Speaker 2: not be caught. Almost all of them raised their hands,

841
01:01:50,000 --> 01:01:55,240
Speaker 2: and they had very interesting answers. They have insurance, that

842
01:01:55,360 --> 01:01:59,680
Speaker 2: was a common answer. Nobody's hurt, they get they'll get

843
01:01:59,680 --> 01:02:02,760
Speaker 2: it paid for. Another one said, well, I wouldn't steal

844
01:02:02,800 --> 01:02:05,640
Speaker 2: from a mom and pop store, but a department store

845
01:02:05,640 --> 01:02:09,360
Speaker 2: they're so big. What's the difference. But if you would

846
01:02:09,360 --> 01:02:12,320
Speaker 2: ask that in a religious school Christian or Jewish is

847
01:02:12,360 --> 01:02:14,680
Speaker 2: an example. I don't think you would get the same answer.

848
01:02:15,240 --> 01:02:19,400
Speaker 2: Some would, most wouldn't, believing that God said as do

849
01:02:19,520 --> 01:02:21,920
Speaker 2: not steal is a hell of a lot more powerful.

850
01:02:22,000 --> 01:02:30,520
Speaker 2: Then are you hurting anybody? Okay? Yes, Hi, Kelly? What

851
01:02:30,560 --> 01:02:38,479
Speaker 2: school do you go to? Okay? Now wait, it says

852
01:02:38,640 --> 01:02:47,560
Speaker 2: that I am a war for what I just I

853
01:02:47,600 --> 01:02:50,440
Speaker 2: feel terrible. I didn't hear the middle words that it

854
01:02:50,480 --> 01:02:52,280
Speaker 2: sounded like I was in Vietnam. But I'm sure it's

855
01:02:52,280 --> 01:02:54,920
Speaker 2: not what it said. That's what I got here. Say

856
01:02:54,920 --> 01:03:00,680
Speaker 2: it again, shout it. Oh, okay, Champion, is that what

857
01:03:00,720 --> 01:03:05,720
Speaker 2: it says? Okay, go ahead. That's why I think Champion

858
01:03:05,800 --> 01:03:13,320
Speaker 2: threw me off. You know I was okay, Yeah, what

859
01:03:13,480 --> 01:03:31,760
Speaker 2: is wrong with well? You give me an example? Right? Well? Society, Look,

860
01:03:32,040 --> 01:03:35,600
Speaker 2: it's a very it's it's an unanswerable question. We have

861
01:03:35,760 --> 01:03:40,880
Speaker 2: a tension between liberty and what we ban, Like like

862
01:03:40,960 --> 01:03:44,840
Speaker 2: the drugs question. You you mentioned prohibition and alcohol. Would

863
01:03:44,920 --> 01:03:48,360
Speaker 2: society be better off if nobody drank alcohol? Do you

864
01:03:48,400 --> 01:03:53,040
Speaker 2: know the amount of child abuse, spousal abuse, and murder

865
01:03:53,280 --> 01:03:56,120
Speaker 2: and rape that would be reduced if there was no alcohol?

866
01:03:56,400 --> 01:03:58,760
Speaker 2: Why do you think they stopped selling alcohol in the

867
01:03:58,800 --> 01:04:03,480
Speaker 2: seventh inning at baseball stadiums or in the last period

868
01:04:04,440 --> 01:04:08,160
Speaker 2: at a hockey game. That's my sport of choice, and

869
01:04:08,200 --> 01:04:10,200
Speaker 2: I was a good year to have chosen it as

870
01:04:10,200 --> 01:04:15,080
Speaker 2: it happens. But I would just write I mean clearly,

871
01:04:15,200 --> 01:04:18,800
Speaker 2: yet I don't. I am not for banning alcohol, with

872
01:04:19,120 --> 01:04:22,640
Speaker 2: all the terrible things that result from alcohol, I am

873
01:04:22,680 --> 01:04:27,120
Speaker 2: still for allowing it to be drunk. These good people

874
01:04:27,200 --> 01:04:31,000
Speaker 2: can differ on what you ban and what you allow.

875
01:04:31,960 --> 01:04:35,120
Speaker 2: My point is to explain to you simply, this is

876
01:04:35,160 --> 01:04:39,960
Speaker 2: the key that liberty is at tension with other values.

877
01:04:40,280 --> 01:04:43,640
Speaker 2: Health is one of them, equality is at one of them,

878
01:04:43,800 --> 01:04:47,800
Speaker 2: is one of them, and America has generally chosen liberty

879
01:04:48,000 --> 01:04:52,280
Speaker 2: over all other values and hope that the individual will

880
01:04:52,320 --> 01:04:56,640
Speaker 2: not get drunk, the individual will not drink three Coca

881
01:04:56,680 --> 01:05:03,000
Speaker 2: colas a day, et cetera, et cetera. Okay, good, I'll

882
01:05:03,080 --> 01:05:06,120
Speaker 2: just keep alternating, so you two, and then we'll go

883
01:05:06,240 --> 01:05:19,640
Speaker 2: yes to women as it happens. Yes. Point of for

884
01:05:19,760 --> 01:05:20,200
Speaker 2: threading me.

885
01:05:20,880 --> 01:05:23,000
Speaker 3: I think at the time you tells, you come to

886
01:05:23,080 --> 01:05:29,320
Speaker 3: say what it was, because then will as you so

887
01:05:29,800 --> 01:05:31,960
Speaker 3: you need only of man to have gave a way,

888
01:05:32,720 --> 01:05:34,760
Speaker 3: and I think that's why it's kind of like out.

889
01:05:35,040 --> 01:05:39,720
Speaker 2: Anything that I have so en So let me ask you,

890
01:05:40,280 --> 01:05:43,120
Speaker 2: if women could have several husbands and men could have

891
01:05:43,160 --> 01:05:45,920
Speaker 2: several wives, you would be for allowing it and calling

892
01:05:45,960 --> 01:05:52,840
Speaker 2: that a marriage in America. And okay, this is exactly

893
01:05:53,120 --> 01:05:58,560
Speaker 2: you're you're consistent. This is exactly what will happen once

894
01:05:58,880 --> 01:06:00,760
Speaker 2: or if I don't know if it will happen. But

895
01:06:00,960 --> 01:06:04,640
Speaker 2: if indeed marriage is redefined to be same sex as

896
01:06:04,680 --> 01:06:08,640
Speaker 2: well as opposite sex, the next thing to go within

897
01:06:08,720 --> 01:06:12,640
Speaker 2: ten years will be monogamy. It has to. If we

898
01:06:12,680 --> 01:06:14,920
Speaker 2: can't tell people what sex to marry, how can we

899
01:06:14,920 --> 01:06:17,520
Speaker 2: tell them what number to marry? And you are a

900
01:06:17,520 --> 01:06:20,360
Speaker 2: living example of that thing. And I'm not saying this

901
01:06:20,440 --> 01:06:24,200
Speaker 2: in any way except respectfully. You are being more consistent

902
01:06:24,240 --> 01:06:27,320
Speaker 2: than the people I debate. They said, oh no, we're

903
01:06:27,320 --> 01:06:30,120
Speaker 2: not for polygamy, we're just for same sex marriage. But

904
01:06:30,160 --> 01:06:33,080
Speaker 2: that's that's inconceivable. It makes no sense. You make sense.

905
01:06:34,000 --> 01:06:36,680
Speaker 2: So if a woman wants to marry four men and

906
01:06:37,280 --> 01:06:39,480
Speaker 2: they're up for it, who are we to say you

907
01:06:39,520 --> 01:06:50,960
Speaker 2: can't marry? Okay, thank you, yes, you'd like me to

908
01:06:51,480 --> 01:06:55,960
Speaker 2: library more than the African immigrant statistics. Yeah, the statistics

909
01:06:55,960 --> 01:06:57,960
Speaker 2: were actually given in the New York Times. If the

910
01:06:58,000 --> 01:07:01,960
Speaker 2: source is is in my book. And remember, here's the

911
01:07:02,000 --> 01:07:06,840
Speaker 2: amazing thing. We have very strong limits on the number

912
01:07:06,880 --> 01:07:11,120
Speaker 2: of immigrants from anywhere Europe, South America, Africa. If the

913
01:07:11,280 --> 01:07:14,680
Speaker 2: number of Africans who wished to emigrate to the United

914
01:07:14,720 --> 01:07:18,240
Speaker 2: States were allowed, it would be five times the number

915
01:07:18,280 --> 01:07:21,760
Speaker 2: of slaves who came here. This is, with all the limitations.

916
01:07:21,880 --> 01:07:27,240
Speaker 2: The number of free blacks over enslaved and kidnapped blacks

917
01:07:27,360 --> 01:07:31,080
Speaker 2: have come here that we don't celebrate that fact is

918
01:07:31,120 --> 01:07:34,680
Speaker 2: a very sad thing to me. It's a very big

919
01:07:34,720 --> 01:07:39,120
Speaker 2: statement about the way in which people see the United States,

920
01:07:40,000 --> 01:07:43,680
Speaker 2: and it's a and its causes, it causes. I'm totally

921
01:07:43,720 --> 01:07:47,200
Speaker 2: open and I have found it to be always the

922
01:07:47,240 --> 01:07:51,280
Speaker 2: best policy. There is a certain tension between Africans who

923
01:07:51,280 --> 01:07:53,680
Speaker 2: have just come here and African Americans who have been

924
01:07:53,680 --> 01:07:57,080
Speaker 2: here for generations on their views of the United States,

925
01:07:58,120 --> 01:08:01,240
Speaker 2: exactly over this issue. Many Africans say, what are you

926
01:08:01,280 --> 01:08:03,040
Speaker 2: talking about? This is the greatest place in the world.

927
01:08:03,040 --> 01:08:04,880
Speaker 2: And many African Americans say, what are you talking about?

928
01:08:04,920 --> 01:08:07,000
Speaker 2: Do you know about Jim Crow? Do you know about racism.

929
01:08:07,000 --> 01:08:10,160
Speaker 2: Do you know about this and that? So it's it's, it's,

930
01:08:10,360 --> 01:08:13,200
Speaker 2: it's It's not my battle to aage, but my battle,

931
01:08:13,600 --> 01:08:16,479
Speaker 2: first and foremost is to tell what is true. And

932
01:08:16,520 --> 01:08:20,160
Speaker 2: that statistic is available easily. You could google it or

933
01:08:20,639 --> 01:08:25,560
Speaker 2: preferably get my book. Thank you. Let me see I

934
01:08:25,559 --> 01:08:28,680
Speaker 2: didn't do in the center section. Mister Yellow. Oh you're

935
01:08:28,719 --> 01:08:31,719
Speaker 2: pointing to mister Blue. Very nice, mister Blue, please rise.

936
01:08:33,160 --> 01:08:36,719
Speaker 2: I'm awesome boy from Arcadia at High and I'm curious.

937
01:08:37,640 --> 01:08:41,360
Speaker 3: How do you feel we should go about restoring America do?

938
01:08:42,040 --> 01:08:44,519
Speaker 2: How should we go about restoring them? The number one

939
01:08:44,560 --> 01:08:47,840
Speaker 2: thing is to know them. That's why I come here,

940
01:08:49,320 --> 01:08:53,000
Speaker 2: because I believe that it will matter, and that's why

941
01:08:53,040 --> 01:08:55,240
Speaker 2: I wrote my book. I could have written an instant

942
01:08:55,280 --> 01:08:57,559
Speaker 2: bestseller writing on men and women, which is a big

943
01:08:58,160 --> 01:09:00,960
Speaker 2: issue of mine on my radio show. My last book

944
01:09:01,000 --> 01:09:03,519
Speaker 2: was a bestseller on happiness. This is doing very well.

945
01:09:03,560 --> 01:09:05,680
Speaker 2: But I wrote this. It was the hardest thing I

946
01:09:05,720 --> 01:09:09,040
Speaker 2: ever did. But my heart is in this. And you

947
01:09:09,080 --> 01:09:12,240
Speaker 2: know what, when you reach sixty, you start thinking how

948
01:09:12,280 --> 01:09:15,400
Speaker 2: much time do you have left? I'm totally honest with

949
01:09:15,439 --> 01:09:18,599
Speaker 2: you now. My parents, my father will be ninety four

950
01:09:18,640 --> 01:09:21,400
Speaker 2: next month, and my mother died at eighty nine. I

951
01:09:21,400 --> 01:09:24,040
Speaker 2: got good genes. But you still don't know. You don't

952
01:09:24,040 --> 01:09:26,439
Speaker 2: know either. I mean, you know there are drunk drivers

953
01:09:26,439 --> 01:09:30,880
Speaker 2: that don't distinguish by ages. Anything could happen. And it's

954
01:09:30,880 --> 01:09:32,840
Speaker 2: by the way, I've always said to people, if you

955
01:09:32,880 --> 01:09:34,599
Speaker 2: think you're going to die in a year, how much

956
01:09:34,640 --> 01:09:37,599
Speaker 2: TV will you watch? It's just something you should think about.

957
01:09:37,640 --> 01:09:40,719
Speaker 2: If you were a lawyer in Switzerland wrote such a book.

958
01:09:41,120 --> 01:09:43,000
Speaker 2: He was told by his doctor he had a year

959
01:09:43,080 --> 01:09:44,920
Speaker 2: to live, and he wrote a book on how he

960
01:09:45,040 --> 01:09:47,920
Speaker 2: changed his life. It's good to think you have a

961
01:09:48,000 --> 01:09:51,479
Speaker 2: terminal illness, which you do. It's called life, and it

962
01:09:51,600 --> 01:09:54,800
Speaker 2: is absolutely worth thinking that way, because when you think

963
01:09:54,840 --> 01:09:57,479
Speaker 2: that I have unlimited time, you will spend a lot

964
01:09:57,560 --> 01:10:00,160
Speaker 2: more wasting it. I don't know how I got to that.

965
01:10:00,280 --> 01:10:02,160
Speaker 2: What was your original question? Oh? Yes, how do we

966
01:10:02,200 --> 01:10:05,800
Speaker 2: spread the values? You spread the values by learning them,

967
01:10:05,960 --> 01:10:09,519
Speaker 2: learning how to articulate them, and then X tells why

968
01:10:09,560 --> 01:10:13,720
Speaker 2: and why tells Z and then it works. But I'm

969
01:10:13,760 --> 01:10:16,519
Speaker 2: telling you, that's why it does my heart good to

970
01:10:16,560 --> 01:10:18,880
Speaker 2: be in front of so many of you at the

971
01:10:19,200 --> 01:10:23,760
Speaker 2: time on this subject. Yes, sir, okay, then I'll go

972
01:10:23,760 --> 01:10:28,600
Speaker 2: to you. Yeah, Jeff for a man a blaze. We

973
01:10:28,640 --> 01:10:32,280
Speaker 2: were discussing on our doctor there out looking at society,

974
01:10:32,360 --> 01:10:34,240
Speaker 2: you can kind of tell there's a bit of a pattern.

975
01:10:34,439 --> 01:10:37,240
Speaker 2: M going at a bit of a horizontal perspective where

976
01:10:37,560 --> 01:10:40,320
Speaker 2: we go back and forth from say, genocide of war,

977
01:10:40,600 --> 01:10:43,960
Speaker 2: economic troubles. And I'm disagreed in saying, no matter what,

978
01:10:44,080 --> 01:10:45,720
Speaker 2: no matter what kind of troubles we go, but we

979
01:10:45,760 --> 01:10:48,639
Speaker 2: still learn from that and continue to before those always

980
01:10:48,640 --> 01:10:52,160
Speaker 2: disagree that we were only being Horizontaly, do you believe

981
01:10:52,400 --> 01:10:56,080
Speaker 2: as America that without God in the end that we

982
01:10:56,120 --> 01:10:59,840
Speaker 2: can never reach the utopia? Well, Number one, I never

983
01:11:00,200 --> 01:11:05,320
Speaker 2: want to strive to reach utopia. Utopian thinking causes hell.

984
01:11:06,560 --> 01:11:10,479
Speaker 2: It does. It just does. Every doctrine that believed in

985
01:11:10,600 --> 01:11:14,000
Speaker 2: utopia on earth as opposed to utopia in God's time

986
01:11:14,160 --> 01:11:17,880
Speaker 2: on Earth or in an afterlife, has created hell on earth.

987
01:11:19,200 --> 01:11:22,879
Speaker 2: That's why. And I have not been political for one second.

988
01:11:23,600 --> 01:11:27,000
Speaker 2: I differed when President Obama was running for president and

989
01:11:27,080 --> 01:11:30,920
Speaker 2: he said I want to fundamentally transform the United States

990
01:11:30,920 --> 01:11:34,599
Speaker 2: of America, something he said frequently, and when he said

991
01:11:34,640 --> 01:11:38,080
Speaker 2: it before he was elected, I said, that's very worrisome

992
01:11:38,120 --> 01:11:42,040
Speaker 2: to me. I want to improve the United States of America,

993
01:11:42,080 --> 01:11:45,439
Speaker 2: but I don't want to fundamentally transform it. So I

994
01:11:45,479 --> 01:11:49,160
Speaker 2: am scared of all utopian thinking. People are too complex,

995
01:11:49,280 --> 01:11:53,640
Speaker 2: too weak to everything to make a utopia. So we

996
01:11:54,240 --> 01:11:57,920
Speaker 2: can incrementally get better. Ask to the question, if this

997
01:11:58,040 --> 01:12:02,719
Speaker 2: is what you were asking, do societies just morally progress?

998
01:12:04,520 --> 01:12:11,400
Speaker 2: Ask the Armenians who suffered under the Turks in the

999
01:12:11,479 --> 01:12:16,919
Speaker 2: nineteen fifteen does society progress? Ask the Ukrainians starved by stalin,

1000
01:12:17,640 --> 01:12:22,320
Speaker 2: five million of them intentionally, the society progress. Ask the

1001
01:12:22,439 --> 01:12:26,599
Speaker 2: Jews of the Holocaust, the society progress? Ask the seventy

1002
01:12:26,600 --> 01:12:30,920
Speaker 2: five million Chinese killed by Mao the society progress. I

1003
01:12:30,920 --> 01:12:39,400
Speaker 2: think you'll get a very different answer. I hear it.

1004
01:12:44,960 --> 01:12:49,320
Speaker 1: This has been timeless wisdom with Dennis Prager. Visit dennispragger

1005
01:12:49,360 --> 01:12:52,879
Speaker 1: dot com for thousands of hours of Dennis's lectures, courses,

1006
01:12:52,920 --> 01:12:57,560
Speaker 1: and classic radio programs, and to purchase Dennis Prager's Rational Bibles.