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Sept. 8, 2023 - Dennis Prager Show
01:23:02
Food and Gas
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Dennis Prager here.
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Hi, everybody.
Welcome to the Dennis Prager Show, coming to you from Nashville, Tennessee.
I wish I would add up the number of places I broadcast from in the course of a year.
I do get to see this country, and I have a sad thing to say.
I do.
I shouldn't begin.
Thank God there's a happiness hour after this.
So it didn't mean as much to him, I think, as it meant to me, but I may be wrong.
So I was talking to my younger son, who's begun his own podcast, but he really wants to make it on his own in the beginning, so he actually doesn't say his name Prager.
But I think it's pretty impressive, but that's beside the point.
He was talking to me about America, and he said the words, something to the effect, I don't think it's the greatest country in the world anymore.
And that hurt.
And I am torn.
Forget emotionally, of course I'm torn emotionally, but in terms of fact, the destruction wrought on this country by the left has been so horrific, so injurious.
We have political prisoners.
A country with political prisoners cannot qualify as a great country.
We've never had this before.
It's not surprising because wherever the left takes power, anywhere, it suppresses dissent and it jails opponents.
There's no exception to it.
The left has a different moral barometer than liberals and conservatives.
Tragedy is that liberals vote for people who hate liberalism.
In the annals of American history, I don't know if there's ever been such a large contingent of people who have voted to end their own values, as liberals vote when they vote left.
I don't think there's been a parallel.
People have generally understood what they're voting for, but liberals do not.
They vote for political prisoners.
They vote for suppression of speech.
They vote for racial segregation.
They vote for the destruction of women's sports, and they don't give a damn.
The liberal confuses me, not the leftist.
Anyway, he said that, and I didn't even comment.
I just allowed him to continue speaking.
I never dreamed that I would hear that from whether it's a child of mine or a child of yours.
But any thinking person, he's 30. The destruction of the society is taking place at such a warp speed.
And half the country knows that.
And Monis, the viewer, in that half along with me.
Thank you.
Another example of this, I gave you three examples.
I was off yesterday, which is a good thing for me because the plane turned around the Los Angeles-Nashville flight.
Let's see, what would that have been?
Wednesday afternoon had an instrument defect noticed by the pilot.
And halfway to Nashville, turned around back to Salt Lake City.
My wife and I got to bed at 4.30 in the morning, asleep probably by 5. So it was actually a blessing that I had already thought, maybe I'll take that day off.
Anyway, I was talking to you the day before about three things that the Biden administration had done to ruin this country.
Here's another one.
Now, on this, if you're intellectually honest, even if you are a leftist, which is rare, I don't know how you can be intellectually honest and be a leftist, but if you even hold that as a value, You have to acknowledge that the economy of this country is being ruined by green policies.
Now, you may say it's worth it because we have to save the world from existential global warming.
But if you are at all honest, you have to acknowledge the utter destruction of the economy.
Of the United States of America because of green policies.
There were two issues.
One is, should anything be done at any cost to prevent further carbon dioxide emission?
Or, are there things that we're doing that are so immediately destructive that we can't do them now?
That's the question.
Even if you hold that there is this great threat of global warming.
But I believe that the Greens are desirous of destroying America as a great power.
In fact, destroying the society as we know it, because they're leftists who use the environment, just like the Bolsheviks use the proletariat.
They all use something.
They're using race.
They use climate change.
They use transgender, whatever they can use to destroy the society as we know it.
This is from the New York Times, okay?
This is not now from a conservative source, it's from a left-wing source.
President Biden's decision on Wednesday to block drilling on millions of acres of Alaskan tundra was the latest in a series of aggressive actions.
Wow.
Now, the New York Times loves these aggressive actions, but at least they have the honesty of saying they are aggressive actions.
Recently taken by the administration to curtail fossil fuel extraction on public land and in federal waters.
Over the past several months, the administration has moved to bar drilling on 1.8 million acres of sagebrush steppe in Wyoming and on more than a million acres of public land in Colorado.
It insulated more than 336,000 acres of public land around Chaco Culture National Historical Park from new oil and gas leasing and mining claims for the next two decades.
And last month it said it would remove about 6 million acres of potentially oil-rich areas from an upcoming federal lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico that is required by law.
And then this is the first since 1920, in 100 years now.
The Interior Department has also raised the royalties that fossil fuel companies must pay to pull oil, gas, and coal from public lands for the first time since 1920, while increasing more than tenfold the cost of the bonds that companies must pay before they start drilling.
The Bureau of Land Management wants to change how it manages the 245 million acres under its control by allowing conservation leases similar to the way the agency auctions off parcels for drilling and mining.
And it goes on and on.
On and on.
That's right.
So what is happening?
So where will we get our energy from?
Venezuela and potentially Russia and Saudi Arabia.
It's not like we're not going to be getting energy, just we won't produce it.
And there was no gain.
You have to understand, there was no gain.
It is so minuscule, the alleged gain.
The green movement is another left-wing movement.
David Horowitz, bless his soul, he is the guy who said to me in the 90s, 30 years ago, that the greens are a watermelon, green on the outside and red on the inside.
And as usual, he was right.
Yep, and the Democrats are all for it.
Oil prices will rise.
Even the New York Times acknowledges that.
Who's hurt?
Middle class is hurt.
The rich can afford it.
I can afford the gas I put in my car.
Many of you, however, it really affects.
And they don't care.
Liberals don't care about you.
And leftists don't care about you.
Computer models told them that there's an existential threat, just as computer models told you to lock down and close schools.
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I'm Dennis Prager.
The contempt for America by the left is staggering.
The contempt for the poor who will be killed by these policies that I am reading to you with regard to right now.
Massive amount of stopping of drilling just by presidential fiat.
It wouldn't pass through Congress, but it doesn't matter.
The entire Alaska delegation, New York Times, condemned Mr. Biden's decision to prohibit drilling in 13 million acres of pristine wilderness in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska.
And cancel all drilling leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Senator Lisa Murkowski, a Republican coal decision, reckless and illegal.
I don't know why it's legal.
Is there anything the Democrats believe the president cannot do?
I don't have an answer to that question.
Now the Biden administration, this is a quote from her.
At a time when America and her allies need Alaska's resources more than ever, has decided to go their own way by further locking Alaska down while refusing to consult with the Alaska natives who actually live on the North Slope, Senator Murkowski said in a statement.
It's bad enough to tear up legal contracts and renege on federal commitments, but it's even more unconscionable that the Biden administration is penalizing Alaska right as it allows Iran It's penalizing Alaska, sorry, it's not well written, right as it allows Iran to produce more of its oil and solicits the same from Venezuela.
That's right.
The left embodies the ancient Jewish notion, those who are kind to the cruel will be cruel to the kind.
It's one of the ten aphorisms, I would say, have guided my life that I learned as a child.
In Jewish school.
It's a great, great line.
That's correct.
There are so many modifications of it that are valid.
Those who are kind when they should be cruel will be cruel when they should be kind.
There's a variation on that theme.
Oh, Iran?
Please.
We'll give you billions of dollars.
You produce all the oil you want.
But America?
No way!
He is so vile a human being, Joe Biden, that he would rather buy oil from Iran than have America produce it.
And the entire left is vile, and it would support it.
But they go to bed thinking they're wonderful.
That's why I think, that's why I've said so often, the conscience is a pretty crappy guide because bad people have very clear consciences.
They all do.
If their conscience bothered them, they wouldn't do what they're doing.
So, so much for the conscience.
Mr. Manchin, he's a senator from West Virginia who should become a Republican.
That would be a helpful move.
Who faces a potentially difficult race should he run for re-election next year, said the administration was, quote, caving to the radical left with no regard for clear direction from Congress or American energy security.
So why do you stay a Democrat?
If the administration is caving in and the entire Democratic Party, except for you, goes along with it, Why do you stay a Democrat, Senator Manchin?
He has no answer.
He truly has no answer.
I have no answer.
Well, how can I? If he doesn't have an answer, I don't.
The Wall Street Journal editorializes on this.
That was all from the New York Times.
Oil prices have climbed this week.
After Saudi Arabia and Russia extended their production cuts.
Of course!
This didn't happen under President Donald Trump, did it?
No.
You understand how everything is energy-related?
Everything.
The cost of everything you buy is energy-related.
The trucks.
I spoke to you two days ago about the trucks.
The law that there will have to be electric trucks and how completely destructive that idea is.
And by the way, it's insignificant with regard to global warming.
Insignificant!
While China keeps building coal-powered energy plants.
The Interior Department on Wednesday canceled seven oil and gas leases in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, ANWR, I guess, be pronounced and moved to limit development on 13 million acres in the state's National Petroleum Reserve.
President Biden is delivering on the most ambitious climate and conservation agenda in history.
Secretary Deb Haaland said yesterday, That's H-A-A-L-A-N-D. She's the Interior Secretary.
It's pathetic.
Its climate agenda is the most lawless and economically destructive in history.
This is the Wall Street Journal, which is as moderate conservative as exists.
The most lawless and economically destructive in history.
Mr. Biden on his first day in office imposed a leasing moratorium in Anwar.
Now Ms. Holland is revoking seven Anwar leases issued by the Trump administration in January 2021. What can't the government do?
Big is bad.
Big government.
Big labor.
Big education.
Big corporations.
Tell me what is big and good.
We return.
The Wall Street Journal is pointing out the horror of what is being done in the name of the environment.
Please understand, as I have said for years, you know that the purpose is to destroy The West and America in particular.
The environment is the excuse, but if they cared about the environment and America, they would be for nuclear power.
That is the proof that their primary agenda is the weakening of the United States.
Russia is drilling in the Arctic and using it as a shipping route to deliver oil to China.
The administrations on restrictions on U.S. Arctic oil and gas development amount to unilateral energy disarmament.
That's right.
Unilateral energy disarmament.
Energy is the most important thing in the world in terms of economy of a country.
Economy of a country means how people live, the quality of their life materially.
But almost every environmentalist comes from an upper middle class or upper class home.
And this is a rich white man movement.
That's what it is.
Basically, a white woman.
Let me not forget.
These are the bored secular, like Al Gore, who flies to environmentalist conferences on his own plane.
Which I don't give a damn about, but it proves that they're not prepared to be affected.
By the way, they hurt other people.
The Biden re-election campaign ran an ad during Thursday's NFL kickoff, touting the president's economic agenda, including his supposed success in making the U.S. more energy independent.
Oh my God.
I didn't know that.
I had read this, but I didn't remember reading that.
It's painful what a gigantic lie that is.
There is no lie that Donald Trump told in four years that compares to the lies of the Biden administration.
Not one.
Name me a destructive lie, okay?
He exaggerated the number of people at his inauguration.
He exaggerated this.
He did this.
Tell me a destructive lie that compares to that.
Just this.
We're going to be energy independent as he is buying more oil from Venezuela, Iran, and other countries.
But half of America believes it.
His administration's relentless war on fossil fuels has left Americans more vulnerable to Mr. Putin's tender mercies and dependent on China for green energy.
U.S. gasoline prices have risen 60 cents a gallon this year as Saudi Arabia and Russia command the oil market.
Wow.
There is a party in this country devoted...
To weakening America.
They're devoted.
Look at what they're doing to the armed forces.
How did that happen?
How does a good country produce so many despicable people?
How does it do that?
There's something deformed in the psyche of these people on the left.
They've been given such freedom, such...
Affluence.
Such opportunity.
And they wish to destroy it all.
This is proof.
Now, you may say, well, there's a reason we're saving the world from global warming.
Okay, fine.
There's a reason that we are weakening the military because it's important that men who say that they are women and women who say they are men serve in their own forces.
Okay, you can say anything you like, but you can't deny that every institution is being weakened.
By the left.
The administration flogs jobs created by its green energy subsidies, but how many more are its climate policies destroying?
Yeah, how many more jobs?
Right.
Employment in oil and gas extraction is 15% lower than before the pandemic.
Okay.
Well, that's the case.
A nurse who has practiced for 39 years has written a painful article about the destruction of the Mayo Clinic by the left.
If all I did, and it's a lot of what I do on the radio, were to document the destruction of the left, it would be a service.
I could do that solely.
That could fill up three hours a day.
The Mayo Clinic.
It was once, like everything, these things were once great institutions.
But the left destroys everything it touches.
Next destructive.
Next destruction by the left.
The Mayo Clinic.
It's painful.
But it's in Minnesota.
Not surprising.
At least its headquarters is.
They have major campuses in Florida and Arizona.
So a nurse, Laura Morgan, 39 years a practicing nurse, I urged hundreds if not thousands of patients to consider seeking additional care at the Mayo Clinic.
I can no longer in good conscience recommend this once prestigious institution.
The Mayo Clinic is now fully and unashamedly woke.
Interesting, isn't it, that I pointed out before I ever knew this that they lied on their website when they wrote that cigar smoking is as dangerous as cigarette smoking.
It was a pure lie.
And it is interesting because you know how I was a lone voice, even on the right, in saying the war on tobacco, and everybody acknowledges cigarettes, lead many people to a premature death.
I fully acknowledge that from the beginning.
But I knew they lied about secondhand smoke.
And I knew that once you start lying in the name of science and health, you'll never stop.
And they don't stop.
They lied about lockdowns for children, right?
It was a total lie.
They knew it was crap.
They knew it hurt children.
They didn't give a damn.
Because control is a pleasure.
It is a joy for the left.
They don't control other people's lives, driving cars, heating their house, sending their kids to school.
They don't feel alive.
The Mayo Clinic is now fully and unashamedly woke.
And worse, it is aggressively pushing its divisive agenda on the rest of healthcare.
This is a clinical nurse.
The Mayo Clinic's descent is deeply troubling because it occupies a unique place in medicine with its wildly popular website.
I relied as a nurse on Mayo's professional development tools and physicians across the country depend on Mayo's continuing education courses which cover an astounding 42 topics and specialties.
So it matters when the Mayo Clinic pledges a staggering $100 million to the woke agenda as it did last fall.
Wow.
Ready?
What are they spending $100 million on?
Eliminating racism and advancing equity and inclusion and improving health equity.
The money is going to conferences, courses, and communications that are designed to shape the entire medical field around divisive and discriminatory ideology.
I participated in one such event in early August.
That's last month.
Mayo's two-day Rise for Equity event.
Oh, my God.
It's painful.
Which offered in-person and virtual attendance for continuing education credit, designed for professionals including hospitals, administrators, and others, with the goal of advancing and directing policy programs and institutional initiatives, I encountered nothing but indoctrination.
I was told in no uncertain terms that racial and social injustice is a known public health threat.
That's right.
I learned tips for recognizing and addressing microaggressions.
Wow.
Do you know, you must understand the microaggression notion.
I actually printed in an article.
You can find it yourself.
Just Google University of California microaggressions.
You will see what ideas are listed as a micro-racist aggression.
If you say, for example, that there is only one race, the human race, you're a racist.
If you say you want to be colorblind, you're a racist.
The world of morality is inverted by the left.
It's inverted.
Good is bad and bad is good.
Here, here's an example.
Oh, the theory, my theory on microaggressions, why is it micro?
Because there are so few macro.
There's so little racism in America that they have to make up things that are racist.
Like, I try to be colorblind.
I was told about, this is the nurse writing, she went to a Mayo conference.
Mayo is becoming Mal.
I was told about systemic biases in physical space and that ideas such as meritocracy and colorblindness are myths.
Meritocracy is a myth.
It's the only reason, or it's the biggest single reason, North America succeeded in South America, much less so.
In South America, people were hired and advanced based on blood ties.
In North America, based on merit.
But they hate that.
They hate the idea that people advance by merit.
Because it means that the left is not in control.
You get it?
That's the whole issue.
We determine winners.
If merit determines winners, we on the left have no role.
Anyway, what does that have to do with the Mayo Clinic?
Don't you want doctors produced on the basis of merit?
Well, your airplane pilots on United won't be.
They admit it.
They're reserving half their spaces at the United Airlines Pilot School for women and minorities.
They admit we are not choosing pilots based on merit.
We are choosing half of them based on race and sex, or as they say, gender.
That'll make you want to fly United Airlines, won't it?
And then if you don't, you'll be called sexist, misogynist, and racist.
Back in a moment.
I'm going to play for you the ad that was, oh, is it on the NFL game of the week or Thursday night game?
What was it played on?
Last night, Kansas City-Detroit, which, by the way, Detroit won.
Sean is very surprised that I know that.
I know he is.
It's fascinating.
He doesn't realize how much I know about sports.
For good reason.
Anyway, this was the ad played.
This is amazing.
It gives chutzpah a new meaning.
And I will analyze it and show you why.
Go ahead.
They said millions would lose their jobs and the economy would collapse.
But this president refused to let that happen.
Instead, he got to work, fixing supply chains, fighting corporate greed, passing laws to lower the cost of medicine, cut utility bills, and make us more energy independent.
Today, inflation is down to 3%, unemployment the lowest in decades.
There's more to do, but President Biden is getting results that matter.
I'm Joe Biden, and I approve this message.
you Thank you.
Wow.
I could spend the hour on that ad.
Cut utility bills?
Does anybody listening have a lower utility bill, thanks to Joe Biden?
Or thanks to any Democrat?
Lower utility bills.
Cut inflation to 3%.
Do you know that that statistic?
It's so phony as to border the pathologic.
Do you know that it doesn't count food and gas?
Do you know that?
I've not been able to establish why we have such a phony inflation statistic coming out of the government.
It doesn't count what matters most.
Food.
So if food has doubled, The inflation rate is not affected.
Not affected.
So everybody listening, and that's, you know, every class of American watches a football game.
They are living the opposite of the ad that was just played for them.
They are living the opposite.
But it works.
People can be told the opposite of what they believe.
You think men should be allowed to compete with women?
99% of Americans would say no.
But what if the man says he's a woman?
Then the well-educated say absolutely yes.
My friends, join me for High Holy Day services.
go to PragerHighHolidayServices.net.
There it is, everybody.
There it is.
Join me.
It's the happy, happy, happy, happier.
Yes, it is.
My friends, the happy make the world better.
The unhappy make it worse.
It is a moral obligation to pursue happiness.
It is a moral obligation to act happy even if you don't feel it.
You cannot inflict your lousy mood on other folks.
It is not right.
Yeah, it's a big deal, happiness.
The happy make the world better.
Make families better.
Marriages better.
Workplaces better.
Societies better.
It's a pretty important deal.
Pretty important deal, happiness.
I've written a book on happiness titled Happiness is a Serious Problem.
Among the many puzzles in my life, along with why God invented the mosquito, is why a person would love the Happiness Hour and not read Happiness is a Serious Problem.
It's a very fair question.
Well, my friends, I got a big one for you.
Well, they're almost all big, so that's superfluous.
Nevertheless, I noted it, and I can't retract it.
How did it come up?
Let's see.
I guess it came up because last night, I'm in Nashville, Tennessee, where we're having a PragerU weekend for some of the supporters of PragerU from around the country.
Nashville is the home of the Daily Wire.
So last night, Ben Shapiro...
Spoke to the group and then most of the time was a dialogue between Ben and me.
And he mentioned either, I think in his talk, I don't think even in the dialogue, he mentioned that he has four children.
And to his credit noted, it's not easy.
It's just not easy.
It's not easy.
There is a...
Price paid for having any child and certainly for four children.
And that is correct.
And that is why the fools of my generation have produced fools of the next generation and bigger fools of the third generation.
Many of whom think that marriage and children, I was going to say and even children, but even marriage, you could do the even on either term, are just not that important because they impinge on one's lifestyle, which they do.
Wasn't there an article?
And listen to this.
You've got to hear this.
You must to hear.
There was a piece.
Oh yes, as usual.
Maternal instinct is a myth that men created.
It just appeared a week ago in the New York Times.
It's typical of the New York Times attitude.
Yeah.
It isn't career obsession that has the myth.
Where did...
There was just a piece in the New York Times by...
Yes, here it is.
Also in the New York Times this past week.
And this was by one of its columnists, David Brooks.
To be happy, marriage matters more than career.
Something I have been saying all of my life.
Certainly told my kids.
And I've told you.
So they have two conflicting things, which is perfectly fine.
But I have a bigger subject for the happiness hour emanating from the difficulties in having children, the challenges that children present to you, in terms of, in any terms you want.
Free time, freedom in general.
Time with your spouse.
As I've said, in a dark humor mode with regard to children, that which is produced by passion then helps kill it.
It's just, that's the way life works.
So, my theme for today is, if you want honey, You must be prepared to be stung.
That is my theme.
There is no such thing as stingless honey.
Now, there is today because you can go to the supermarket and buy honey.
You don't risk being stung by a bee.
But obviously, if you raise honey bees, You risk being stung.
Somebody is risking it.
Risking being stung by a bee.
If they produce honey, they raise honeybees, etc.
That's the way life works.
People expect as painless a life as possible.
But the Bible, which is immeasurably, And I mean that immeasurably wiser than virtually any professor in America, than the entire faculty at UCLA. I'm just picking on UCLA. You can do Yale as well.
Entire faculty is not fair.
90% of the faculty is fairer.
Has a very, very famous line, those who sow in tears will reap in joy.
In our time, people are not prepared to sow in tears, and therefore they don't reap in joy.
All of these people who have decided against marriage and children, not all, I'll take that back, there's no such thing as all, a serious majority of these people will look back at their decision with regret.
But part of the...
Non-wisdom of our time is that people don't ask, how will I look back at my life?
They ask, what's great now?
There was a woman, it was an interesting conversation.
There's a woman at this PragerU weekend here in Nashville, Tennessee.
A, I would say, middle-aged woman.
And she came over.
I try to speak to as many of these people as possible.
I learn a lot from them.
They're good folks.
Anyway, she came over and I asked her if her husband was there.
I said, no, I'm here alone.
Which, in this case, was uncommon.
Almost everybody is a couple attending the weekend.
I said, so you're not married?
That's right.
Were you ever married?
No.
So then she said something to the effect, I never remember dialogue exactly, word for word, but the gist was, I hope you don't think less of me.
Or something to that effect.
And I felt so bad.
I said, you know, I married a single mother.
People...
I understandably but erroneously think that if you advocate an ideal, you think less of everyone who hasn't lived it.
But that's not true.
We have to advocate ideals and be sympathetic to those who, for whatever reason, have not lived it.
My issue is not with those who don't live it.
It's with those who advocate against it.
Those are the people I resent.
Not the people who didn't marry or didn't have children.
Not at all.
It's the people who say that the marital ideal doesn't exist.
That it is no better than being single.
That the...
The ideal is a man marrying a woman.
That is the ideal.
I understand that there are men who do not find women attractive.
They are not attracted to women.
I understand that.
And unlike the staggering movement of high school kids to transgender identity, that is socially induced.
But it is rarely socially induced that a man does not find women sexually attractive.
That's built in.
So I have the ideal of male-female marriage, and I am very close to some male-male couples.
I get it.
But back to my theme.
There's no honey if you don't risk stings.
1-8 Prager-776-877-243-7776 Back in a moment.
You can't roller skate in a buffalo herd But you can be happy if you've mine too You can't take a shower in a parakeet cage You can't take a shower in a parakeet cage This is a very important subject on the happiness hour.
And that is the Old bee sting issue.
You can't get honey if you're not prepared to be stung.
Such is life.
But people are not prepared to be stung so they don't go for honey.
And the example is children.
For very few people is raising children an unalloyed joy.
There are...
Any number of prices paid for having a child.
It's worth it in most cases.
In many cases, I don't know what to say.
If your child has decided to reject everything you stand for and even stop communicating with you, I can't argue that it was worth it.
My heart...
My heart breaks for these parents who lost their kids because school corrupted their child's conscience, mind, brain.
But in general, it is worth it, but prices are paid.
And I believe that what we have today is a generation of Americans, not just today, I think we've had it since the 60s, for whom I want to do what I want to do is the guiding principle of their lives.
Although, ironically, it shows you the complexity of life.
These people guided by the principle, I don't want to marry, I don't want children, I want to do what I want to do, I want my freedom, I want my career, that's all that matters.
I want to travel when I want, I want to eat at a restaurant when I want, I want to order what I want.
These are the people who were most likely to be sheep and give up what they wanted to do when the government said, give up what you do and stay home.
That's the irony.
Isn't it ironic?
Because it's really worth noting.
The people who were most committed to, oh, I want a free life, I don't want to be bogged down by marriage or especially by children, were far more likely to say, oh, government doesn't want me to go to work, doesn't want me to send my children, if they have children, to school.
Absolutely.
You just tell me what to do.
You want me to get vaccinated?
Of course I'll get vaccinated.
You want me to get a booster?
Of course I'll get a booster.
You want me to mask?
Of course.
You want my children or other children to mask?
Of course.
What else can I do for you, government?
The people who were prepared to sacrifice their freedom to make a family were less likely to say, whatever you say, government, I'm on board, whatever you say, government.
I'm on board.
Really, it's an irony that is worth noting.
But I'm not going to go in that arena right now.
My arena here is the principle that if you want a good life, there will be sacrifices that have to be made.
Whatever the arena of life, that is the way it works.
But two generations at least of Americans have not been raised with that realization.
You pay a price.
You can't have everything you want.
Remember?
I mean, the old feminist thing, you can have it all?
Yeah.
That was really developed by the immature, the unwise.
You can't have it all.
That's the way it works.
You can't have a lot if you really work at it, but you can't have it all.
You want complete personal freedom, and you want the depth of a life of a family?
It doesn't work that way.
You can't have both.
You can't have some of each, but you can't have it all.
That's the way it works.
1-8 Prager 776. Another one of these big topics.
All right, everybody.
Let's see here.
Hmm.
Okay, let's go.
This is an interesting one.
Is that?
Oh, Zion, Illinois.
I got tiny print here.
Zion, Illinois.
Bill, hello.
There we go.
Hello, Bill.
Good afternoon, Dennis.
It is a great pleasure to speak with you today.
I just want to say that the position that it may or may not be worth it to have kids if your kids turn out poorly because of the schools and such, you said.
I don't believe that for a second.
One of my four children doesn't want to talk to me, or my wife doesn't want to have anything to do with this because her beliefs have been corrupted.
And, you know, as you've discussed previously, but you know what?
She does not determine whether I'm happy or not.
And by that same...
Oh, wait, wait, wait.
You changed...
Forgive me.
You changed topics.
I didn't say you can't be happy.
All I said was, I don't know if it was worth having a child if the child turns out never to talk to you because of your beliefs.
Yes, sir.
Oh, I think you can be happy.
Let me just say, for everybody's sake, and I'm going to keep you on, because you obviously have had this experience, and I want to talk to you.
Have said adamantly over and over, your happiness cannot be held hostage by your child.
I'm glad he gave me the opportunity to say it again.
The question is, was it worth having that child?
I mean, nothing you can do about it.
It's a philosophical and emotional question.
Back in a moment.
By the way, the Happiness Hour is a good opportunity for me to tell you, you know how important I believe good religion is.
Everybody acknowledges it, even atheists who look at the polls for one's happiness.
And for the 16th or 17th year, I am conducting the High Holy Day services of Judaism in Southern California.
And you can stream it if you don't want to come to it.
People do come from different parts of the country, but mostly from Southern California.
To go there or to stream it, go to pragerhighholidays.net.
Pragerhighholidays.net.
It begins next Friday night.
I promise you it will be an experience like you've never had, whatever your religious background.
Pragerhighholidays.net.
And now back to your calls.
People want pain-free lives.
That's what it's about, really.
It's the sting and the honey issue.
You can't get honey if you're not prepared to be stung.
Those who sow in tears will reap in joy, etc., etc.
So, one of the reasons a lot of people decide not to have children is it's a pain in the neck.
And there's truth to that.
It's also one of the deepest things you can do with your life.
It's your choice.
Back to Bill.
Now, Bill, in Illinois, one of your four children, you were saying, has rejected you, doesn't speak to you or your wife because their schooling told them that the two of you are awful because you're conservative.
Did I read it correctly?
Yes, conservative and Christian.
She's basically rejected those beliefs.
And I want to say that sowing in tears does not necessarily stop when the kids have grown and moved out of the home.
And I say that because her brothers and her sister have all learned lessons from her behavior that they have not repeated.
And friends and family members within our sphere of influence have also taken lessons, you know, proverbs, if you will, from her behavior and her actions and learned from that as well.
And the other thing is that you never know as a parent when the trigger will come.
That will turn that child around.
Because regardless of whether they acknowledge those things that you taught them when they were kids, they still know them.
And I've seen children turn around well into adulthood because something, some large event or some small event triggered them to suddenly realize that they couldn't continue to live without acknowledging that.
So I would just say that the sowing Yeah, well, you're a wise man.
I agree with everything you've said.
That's correct.
You never know.
And that's the reason for hope.
It's not the reason for certitude.
You don't know that.
I don't know if this has any precedent in American history.
Of course it has precedent in terms of individuals, but in terms of millions, I believe it's in the millions.
If not in the millions, certainly a million.
Adult children don't speak to a parent because they differ with their religion or politics.
This is an amazing thing.
You can reject your parents' values and religion, but why do you reject your parents?
They didn't do enough for you in giving you a home and raising you?
All right.
Anyway, once again, there is an aversion to pain.
That's the theme of this hour.
The aversion to pain.
And that's the reason so many aren't having children or even getting married.
Funny, in every other area, they know no pain, no gain.
Well, it applies to having children, too.
Go to pragerhighholidays.net for streaming or live attendance at my High Holiday services.
This is back in a moment.
Let Dennis be Dennis.
That's right.
That's been my motto.
Hi, everybody.
Dennis Prager here.
The third hour on Friday is open to you.
Whatever's on your mind about you, about me, about life, about death.
And, of course, about cigars or audio equipment or photography equipment or classical music or fountain pens.
I did it.
I got it right.
Excellent.
By the way, I gotta tell you how I didn't even tell you how the last subject came up for the Happiness Hour.
But first, enjoy the music.
Hey everybody, Dennis Prager here.
So, my Happiness Hour subject was No Pain No Gain.
People don't want to have children because it's a pain, which is correct, but it's, generally speaking, a poor decision if you want to lead a full life.
And I forgot to tell you, because when I said fountain pens, it occurred to me how the subject arose last night.
In fact, I was at a formal evening event for PragerU.
And I was seated, obviously, at a table with some major donors to PragerU.
And I wanted to write a note for me to remember about something I wanted to say in my talk.
I pulled out my fountain pen and I got filled with ink.
Because I had just flown in the night before.
And many pens...
Tend to leak on flights.
So somebody said to me, looking at my fingers, and said, Dennis, is it worth it?
And that was what prompted the whole discussion.
And I said, absolutely, it's worth it.
I am prepared for ink on my fingers.
For the joy of the fountain pen.
That is...
Now, obviously, most people don't even know what a fountain pen is.
But the principle is the principle.
I understand the price, and I'm totally prepared to pay it.
And that's how that subject arose, ironically.
Okay, now what is on your mind?
And Mark...
Oh, yeah, yes, we tried you last hour, but you sounded like you were speaking from an airplane.
Hi.
Hi.
Hello, Mark.
Yeah, can you hear me okay?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah, I'm working a temporary job here.
I'm saving money to move back to Omaha, actually.
And, yeah, my brother lives in Lincoln, Nebraska.
You're probably familiar with it.
I am.
Yeah, he...
He's married, Catholic, two kids.
And when the whole COVID thing started, I tried to stay in contact with him.
But right now, it's like I don't talk to him too much because we just don't get along.
But he's, I don't know what happened.
He turned more liberal or what?
Or he just doesn't understand politics because he, right away, he's wearing masks, asking me if I got vaccinated because he was vaccinated right away.
He's a nurse.
He thought it was good because they were firing people that would get vaccinated at the hospital.
And he's like, good, I want him to leave.
And I'm like, that's kind of crazy.
I don't believe that.
And I don't agree with any of that.
And I'm single, and I'm pretty conservative.
And I listen to you, and I tell other people to listen to you as much as I can.
I don't know.
It's weird.
I don't understand why he's that way.
Well, yeah.
And he doesn't understand, I'm sure, why you're that way.
Look, as I said to a previous caller, my generalization, I think, holds up.
That most people were apparently sheep-like during the lockdowns and all of the irrational orders of the government.
Masking two-year-olds on airplanes, closing restaurants.
Social distancing, vaccinating people under 65 years of age, let alone under 40, most people were sheep-like.
But of those who were not, the great majority were conservative, and conservatives are more likely to have kids than liberals, certainly than those on the left.
And so on that basis, I think my generalization, understanding as I always do, as everybody should, generalizations never mean all.
And clearly, in the case of Mark and his brother, it did not apply.
I tell you, my annoyance and even anger, I would say, at parents who bought this thing, Hogline and Sinker, And we're completely at one with the schools closing down and masking their kids and not letting them play with other kids.
My big question is, did they learn a damn thing from this experience or would they be destructive sheep again?
It's bad enough to be sheep.
It's bad when you...
Hurt others in your sheep-like behavior, as these parents did their children.
Alright, let's see here.
Solon, Ohio, and Mark.
Hello there.
Hi, Dennis.
Thanks for taking my call.
I just wanted to make you aware of something going on in the Chicago area tomorrow.
A friend of mine sent me a post from the North Shore Jewish Moms.
It says, Join us for a Drag Queen Story Hour Shabbat, September 9th at 11 a.m.
Wait, wait, wait, wait.
North Shore?
I want to look it up.
North Shore Jewish Moms?
Yeah.
And then underneath there's the image, like a poster for the event.
It says, Shabbat Shechina in the park with Drag Queen Story Hour, Saturday, September 9th at 11 a.m.
And in the upper corner, it says, Aim for children 0 to 8 and their grown-ups, siblings, and friends.
Everyone is welcome.
And I saw that, and it's like, have these people, well, obviously they haven't read Deuteronomy.
Maybe you should send them a copy of your book.
They would use it in a bonfire.
Yep.
Well, thank you for informing me.
I don't doubt it.
I can't confirm it.
I'm trying to, and I'll let people know if I can.
Well, look, I listed the...
I wrote an article, and I spoke about it on the air, about the pro-abortion Sabbath that the National...
Council of Jewish Women, a left-wing organization, organized, and the music that they advocated be played, some of which was just obscene.
The left's effect on Catholicism, Protestantism, and Judaism has been devastating.
Completely destructive.
Completely.
It's not a mixed bag.
It's just been completely destructive.
Last hour, first hour, I talked to you about the left's effect on the Mayo Clinic.
At what point, if ever, will most Americans understand that the left is a shark?
It just devours everything.
That's all it does.
But at least sharks play an ecological role.
The left plays no positive role whatsoever.
Well, it does in my life.
I will admit, the left keeps me religious.
I wrote about this decades ago.
Randy in Los Angeles, hello.
Hey, Dennis.
It's great to talk to you again.
Each time I meet you, it's a mutual friend's house.
I say the same thing.
You're our moral North Star, and thanks God for that.
I wasn't happy with you when I was listening this morning because you said that thing about your son.
And just a few weeks ago, I was driving with my daughter, who's about your son's age, well-educated, the whole thing, about to drop her off at the airport, and she said, you know, Dad, I think capitalism stinks.
It's the worst.
And I felt just like you.
I got...
Kicked in the stomach.
So hearing it this morning, I was just starting to feel better.
Yeah, but they're very...
Wait, no, no.
Wait, wait, wait.
Forgive me, and I'm going to keep you on, so don't go away.
I've got to take a break.
They're opposites what our children said.
My son said he doesn't think America's the greatest country anymore.
That came from a conservative perspective.
He thinks capitalism is terrific.
I mean...
We can differ.
You can either say all the left's damage is irrelevant to the question, are we the greatest country?
That's an honorable position.
Or you can say it's done so much damage, we're not the greatest country anymore.
Back in a moment.
Okay, now...
Was I talking to somebody?
That's the question.
Yes, I was.
Randy in Los Angeles.
So, okay.
So, your daughter said capitalism stinks.
Yeah, and I realize what you said.
It wasn't that...
I wasn't comparing what your son said.
It's just the effect it has.
I felt like I was kicked in the stomach because...
Yeah, well, you were kicked in the stomach.
Yeah?
Yeah.
How old is she?
Thanks for making me feel that way again.
She's just about to turn 30, and she went to all good schools and works hard and is in the most capitalist business there is, advertising.
Ever since she was in high school, she wanted to be in it.
And she says, but I know, Dad, that it's necessary, and I know I work and make money, but it's terrible.
And I remember the time when I knew there was a problem, and I kicked myself in the butt, which was when I went to her high school.
To pick up her books one time, and I looked down at her history book, and it was Howard Zinn's book.
Oh, my God.
Right.
Yeah, and this is one of the fine schools in L.A., the one Elon Musk has been talking about lately, and I, you know, in hindsight, I should have pulled her out.
Do you feel free to say the name of the high school?
Yeah, Crossroads.
Yeah, well, all right, so Crossroads is not a fine school.
It's a prestigious school.
Prestigious, exactly, yes.
And I should have, you know, at the time we were hit deep, and now looking back, I should have never done it, of course.
But I just looked at that book, and I came home, and I said, sweetie, this book, the man who wrote this book is castigated even by notable liberal historians for what he writes.
It's not true.
And, you know, and then ever since then...
I'm not plugging you.
I'm just saying I've tried to introduce her and her and my other daughter to your video, the Prager U, once in a while, Victor Davis Hanson or Sol, and just not to push, but to say, look, you know, get the full viewpoint.
And unfortunately, friends and media have more power than we do sometimes.
I hear you, and I know, and I feel bad because I reinforced your stomach ache.
And I'm not being cute, I know that.
I long ago decided that I can't say things with the intent of making listeners feel good or bad, but to say what I believe to be true.
If a school assigns the Howard's Inn book and nothing to refute it, you should take your children out of that school.
That's it.
Amazing.
The uproar.
You have no idea.
There would be no reason you would.
The uproar against Oklahoma, Texas, Florida, considering using PragerU in their classrooms, which only means a teacher can or doesn't want to.
If they don't want to, they don't have to.
Just allowing teachers to use PragerU videos.
And there's a reason.
They fear, correctly, that five minutes will undo 12 years of indoctrination.
That's why they don't want conservatives on campus.
A 90-minute speech will undo four years of indoctrination.
The entire left is based on both lies and intellectual shallowness, not to mention moral confusion.
And it is incredibly easy to undo it.
That's why they don't want us there for five minutes.
That's why 37 professors objected to my speaking and Charlie Kirk speaking at Arizona State.
We're returning, by the way, to Arizona State.
If these people were secure in the lies and nonsense and drivel that they teach, To students, they would welcome conservative speakers, and they would debate us, but they don't debate, they smear.
People say, well, why don't you debate?
I was just on a left-wing podcast, David Pakman.
He has millions of followers, and I... I'm not going to go on every leftist who invites me because they're inviting me in order to make a name, not in order to actually debate.
So that's fine.
I don't blame them.
But I don't go on everybody.
If this guy invited me, went on, you should watch it.
But to his credit, it was a completely civil discussion.
My favorite type.
Unlike the Young Turks, we're screaming and the like is...
Normative.
But I went on them too.
They have a big audience.
You're a popular leftist.
The odds are I'll show up.
Boy, are they afraid of PragerU.
Wow.
I'll talk about that next week.
Okie dokie.
Let's see here.
Patty in Corcoran, Minnesota.
Hello, Patty.
Hello, Mr. Prager.
It's my pleasure to be able to speak to all of your listeners today.
I've been listening to you, my husband and I, for, I don't know, 30-some years.
I sent you a message one time, and you said, I told you that you say things after I think them.
And I heard you say that on your radio show within days.
It was like, well, that's either a God thing or he read my email.
But the reason for my call today is that I... I have this idea that I think is a really good idea.
I don't know if it's possible, and I would like your opinion on it.
I volunteer.
I'm a retired teacher.
I volunteer with illegal immigrants' children at a mobile home park, and I have four kids and 14 grandkids.
So I take children out in public, and I don't like them around some of these mentally mixed-up people.
Not some of them, most of them.
I mean, you can't tell if they're a boy or a girl.
I don't know.
I just feel it's harmful for these other kids to see that.
And so my idea, if I was in charge of the U.S., would be to either split the country, but it would be easier to split the states so we could see family on the other side.
I don't want to live around these crazies anymore.
I'll react when we come back.
Oh, yeah, so I was going to react about the splitting of the country.
I'm reading Frederick Douglass' autobiography, one of the great autobiographies I've ever read.
He is this phenomenal historical figure in America, grew up a slave and became one of the leading minds in the United States, a moral giant.
He's quite an exceptional human being.
The autobiography is riveting, by the way.
So I've done, I think, about two-thirds of the book.
I mean, we're in the middle of the Civil War.
Country split up because of slavery.
By the way, a worthy thing to split up with regard to.
But it was basically slavery alone.
Today, the differences between the right and the left are far, far, far more numerous than between the north and the south were at that time, and they split up.
So I don't know the answer to that question.
Would I be willing to live in half the United States, providing that it was governed by the Constitution, venerated the Ten Commandments and the Bible?
As America always has, and God we trust, e pluribus unum liberty.
And let the other half tell young people, you'll decide whether you're a boy or a girl.
It's not fixed.
And capitalism stinks.
And nuclear power should not be used to combat carbon dioxide emission.
Rather, we should rely on solar and wind, and America is not worthy of preserving as America because it's systemically racist.
That half has nothing in common with my half.
So if some magic wand could be waved, it would be the tragedy of my lifetime.
But in the direction it is moving now, we have, in fact, we have de facto in the United States two countries.
It's not the jury.
It's not a legal two countries, but we have two.
When I went to Florida during the lockdowns, when I went from California to Florida and I saw people eating in restaurants, I realized this is literally As different a society, except for the fact that both spoke English, as I could visit.
DeSantis and Newsom have nothing in common.
They truly have nothing in common.
I can't think of a single major value in life that they share.
That's amazing.
North and South, aside from slavery, which was enough to make a civil war, in my opinion.
It's so evil, slavery.
But nevertheless, but on many, many, many, many other issues, there was agreement.
Tell me one thing left and right agree on.
Tell me one thing liberalism and left agree on.
The problem is that liberals vote for people they don't agree with.
They are the tragedy of the United States, the liberal.
Sweet people who don't give a damn about their values.
Because they vote the opposite.
I know it because I know a lot of liberals.
And when I tell them things about the left, they go, oh, that's crazy, of course, that's sick, oh, that's nutty.
And then they vote Democrat anyway.
There is nothing the Democrats could do that would make any dent in the liberal vote.
I literally believe that, and I literally mean it.
Okay, let's see here.
Wow, this is an interesting one.
Yucaipa, California.
John, hello.
Yes, John, go ahead.
Can you hear me?
Yep, I can.
I love you, Dennis.
I love your show.
I've been listening to you for a long time.
Thank you.
Two days ago, you were talking about this cartoon.
And for anybody that wasn't listening that day, it was a guy who had hung himself, or hanged himself, and he had a note on his chest, and his wife is standing there reading the note, and she says, you misspelled constant criticism.
So, that's funny, right?
Very.
I went on your website today.
All right, hold on.
I'm very curious, and so is everybody else.
Dennis Prager here.
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