The Glenn Beck Program - Best of the Program | 8/20/18

Episode Date: August 20, 2018

Ep #163 - Best of the Program: 8/20/18    - American Idiot' 2018? - Apologizing for privilege, is an insult to our ancestors?  - 'Addicted To Outrage' and in need of some R-E-S-P-I-C-T? - Democratic Socialism vs. Capitalism (w/Giancarlo Sopo)  - The Real Story on Venezuela (w/Mariana Gonstead)  - Long-life Catholics speak out?   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Blaze Radio Network On Demand Hello, it's Stu along with Mr. Glenn Beck and today the podcast has a lot of really interesting things including the way we've changed in a very short amount of time how things just from a few years ago are now completely accepted by the other side and everybody's switched and it's really hard to understand.

I used to be a woman. Right. I think Glenn used to be a woman, a very attractive woman. Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate it. And we go into also the alternative spellings, discovered by Al Sharpen of Aretha Franklin songs. Oh, it is, oh my gosh. It is so good.

It is so good. We like this. We also talk to a Democrat, Jean-Carlo Sopo, who is a guy who, it's hard to even imagine he is a Democrat because he's saying things about democratic socialism that normal Democrats are supposed to say. He's also saying it about the press and the cover-up of the violence of Antifa, I said to him maybe three times. You're not a Democrat.

You're not a Democrat. But he believes that there are a lot of Democrats in the country that just need the courage to speak out. And he's trying to provide the beachhead to say, yes, you have to say it or you're going to lose your party entirely to crazy radicals. We also go to Venezuela, not literally, unfortunately, but we talk to someone who's just there and had to deal with just being able to find food. They were there for two months. weeks they lost 14 pounds. There was there a part of you that that thought that maybe I should go to Venezuela?

That's not a bad diet. Yeah. Because I feel like, and I know this isn't true, but I feel like I can do anything for a couple of weeks. In reality, a couple of minutes go by and then I get another sandwich. But in my head, I could do it for a couple of times. Yeah, she said it was horrible. And she said she got calls from Venezuela last night.

They knew she was going to be on this program. And they said, please tell America this about it. Yep. And we'll talk about what. what's going on with Catholic Church as well, which is interesting. And turning into something we're not, it's a little bit different than we've heard so far. And we're going to, we're going to cover that in detail tomorrow. But we had quite an interesting conversation with phone calls today,

callers from around the country that are Catholic and just don't know what to think. All on the podcast. You're listening to the best of the Glenn Beck program. It's Monday, August 20th. It's amazing how much is just coming down. How the walls of everything are, it's almost like a prediction I made about 15 years ago, how everything that you thought was so solid is just coming down. You know, the education system, the Hollywood system, the entertainment, television, media, news, politicians, courts, police, neighbors.

I mean, everything. Has your opinion, is your opinion solid? on anything. Is your opinion what your opinion was on anything? 10, 15 years ago. On anything? Well, yes, of course. But there have been changes.

There have been changes. I've certainly lost faith in any aspect of government to do anything, correct? Correct. I didn't have a lot of that? No, I never was. But I had some. Yeah. I had some.

Yeah. There was definitely a change in that level of trust. I believed in the judicial system. Nope. I mean, I still think it's pretty good if you compare it to anything else, any other judicial system around the world. But, you know, it's definitely, there's been hesitations there. I used to believe that for the most part, justice is done.

And it's, and I'm not sure anymore. I've gone through it. And I've seen the underbelly and how politics plays a role and what the government can and can't do, or can and won't do. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. Yeah, there's more abuse of it than I think I would have expected.

Expected back in those days. And the same thing I think applies to issues of war and privacy, those sorts of things that we've, I think, both moved towards the libertarian way a little bit more. I mean, I was listening to the 2000s on CNN. Oh, you're the one watching CNN? I don't know that anyone is. But it was slipping me through the channels, and it was on the 2000s.

And they're talking about the Rock of the 2000s. And they're giving examples when they give Coldplay and then Nickelback. And their basic concept was that the Rock of the 2000s, you know, was terrible. Right. Like this is just like, you know, Coldplay was catchy. Nickelback had a lot of fans, but these, this is, they meant nothing. Rock's supposed to have this message. Shut up.

They said the one example from the 2000s is Green Day. because they were taking on the establishment. They stood up and they took a stand. Yeah. And they pushed back against the man. Yeah. Right? That and Pearl Jam.

No. Yeah. That was more of the 90s. I mean, they were in the 2000s. So it was Green Day from the 90s. Right. The American Idiot was their big example. If you remember this, it was a big deal at the time.

Sure. And they started, you know, they do the typical thing where they have people commentating on it. And then they go back to clips of the song and they bounce back and forth. And I'm listening. And I haven't listened to that song in years. And I remember at the time it being sort of annoying. I mean, you know, American idiot. It's so easy, right?

But you go back and look at the lyrics to the song. And it's every, it's the exact opposite. These sides have completely changed. Oh, give me, give me the lyrics. So what is their complaint there? You don't want to be an American idiot. Do you want to be a nation under the new media, right? The media is controlling the agenda, they say, throughout.

It's all about that. Now, of course, it would be the right saying that now, right? The media is influencing people the wrong way. Right. They also go into, can you hear the sound of hysteria? It's the age of paranoia. Well, what side is making the handmaid's tale right now? It's not the right.

It's not even that they're making the handmade's tail. They're praising it. They're praising it and saying, look at the parallels. Exactly. What parallels? There's no parallels. Right. I mean, think about, you know, we have Alyssa Milano out in a pro,

this weekend in the Handmaid's Tale outfit saying, I think it says never Kavanaugh, never Gilead. Gilead's the fake country that sprouts up in Handmaid's Tale, that we're going to wind up, subjugating women and all these terrible, terrible things. Combined that with climate hysteria, where's the paranoia coming from? It's certainly not the right. So we're talking about the Green Day American Idiot was a stance against the machine. The machine at the time, as the left saw it, was evil,

George W. Bush and the evil media supporting the Iraq war in their mind, right? So here, now we're on the other side of this. Who's creating the paranoia, clearly the left? The media is clearly controlling the conversation in ways that the right is not uncomfortable with. And then the president, who's a Republican, has the same view of the Iraq war as they did in the song. They both thought. So they actually got the view on that war that they wanted in office,

and they're still constantly complaining about it. I mean, these things change so fast. This is the exact flip of what we're talking about now. And it was this big monumental thing back in the day. It was an important piece of art according to CNN. So, you know, I have a couple of things from this weekend that are kind of similar to this. I went to see crazy rich Asians. Have you seen that yet?

I did not. Okay. Big movie, that was number one. Really good. Really, really good. First movie with an all or mostly Asian cast in 25 years? Yeah, it's since the Joy Luck Club.

It's really good. And funny and fun and yada, yada, yada. But basically, it's a little bit of the great Gadsby scenes where it's just... I mean, it's the most accurate movie title I've ever. It's crazy rich. Asians, okay? I really thought there was irony in the title, but there's not. They're crazy rich, crazy rich, okay?

And it takes place in Singapore. And it's about a guy who basically is, you know, he's like a Prince Harry kind of character from Singapore. He's not actually royalty, but wildly famous, the most famous bachelor in Singapore, you know, good looking, wildly, wildly wealthy. I think their grandfather, you know, bought it when it was just like a cricket club and bought all the land, you know, in Singapore and then built Singapore. So they're that rich. And he's educated in Oxford.

He moves over to the United States. He doesn't really want that lifestyle and doesn't want to be known as that. So he never tells this girl he's dating. Now, this girl he's dating is Chinese. She's an immigrant to America. Her mother fled China from a bad situation, comes over to the United States, works two jobs. I mean, is the idyllic American immigrant and works hard. And now her daughter is teaching game theory like Columbia University, okay?

So now what happens is they go over to Asia. mom and the family do not want an American Chinese. She's not Chinese. She's American. Okay. Oh, so bigotry and racism? Okay. All right.

Interesting. Yeah. You know, we've got to stop America and redistribution of wealth. And, oh, my gosh, our conspicuous consumption is horrible. Don't worry about us, gang. Don't worry about us. Capitalism is alive and well in us. other parts of the world and the conspicuous consumption, it makes us look tame.

It makes us look tame. And what are you going to do? So we go communists and what happens to them? I mean, it's, yeah, I mean, we actually are starting to head into a place where you probably need to redistribute some of that wealth over to the United States. Well, yeah, that's interesting because there is a, there are certain cultures in which it's okay to, to, you know, aspire to being incredibly wealthy. Right. And it's not, it's not, you don't, our politicians all come up in front of you and say, we all aspire to be middle class.

And it's like, well, there's nothing wrong with being middle class. It's great life in America. It's one of the greatest, it's certainly the greatest middle class life in human history in the United States. But still, that's not necessarily what you aspire to. Right. You aspire to, you know, to do even better if you can make life easier if you can. It's not a downplay against the middle class, but you look at, you know, wait until Joe Biden starts this campaign. Middle class Joe, as everyone has called

him since he was born. Middle class Joe. Now there's no record of anyone calling him that other than himself. Right. However, that is what he's going to hit constantly. Sure. And it's going to be this situation where he is going to tell everyone. I don't want to aspire to a middle class guy who got rich by going

to Congress. Yeah, terrible. I mean, that's a terrible example. I, I, uh, you know, look, I've been rich, I've been poor. I've been happy both times. I've been happy both times. And sad both times. And sad both times. And periods of sadness as well.

I mean, it's just, it's like it's, it's, that's, that's an illusion. All of that is an illusion. Yes, it makes your life easier. Make some of the tension at home kind of go down, which is really nice. But that's the only real benefit out of it. Well, that in private air travel. Those are the only, those are the only real advantages. to being rich. I tweeted last night and people are like, oh my gosh, Glenn, you're going to get pulled

off the air for saying that. This is crazy. I am not going to apologize for my privilege because I don't have privilege. What do you mean privilege? My ancestors came here with nothing. For over a hundred years they've had nothing. I'm the first successful one in the family. My great, great, great grandfather was killed in Andersonville, the concentration camp, the notorious concentration camp of the Confederacy. He was fighting for the union. My great, great, great, great uncle was also put, I mean, they were losers. They just, I mean, they were in the, they joined the army, and they fought for about four weeks, and they were thrown into a BOW camp. My great, great, great-grandfather died and his brother never recovered from Andersonville. Well, they were fighting

to stop slavery. Yeah, I know you're joking by saying they're losers. That's an incredible story. No, it's an incredible story. No, I know. I know. I mean, it's just like, you know, it's just like, you know, it would be a back that we're like, I'm going to sign up next day you're in a camp. Okay. Wow, we made a difference. So, you know, nobody in my family. But, Every single member of my family has fought for a better life for their children. Now, why would I apologize for my father and my grandfather and my great-grandfather and my great-great-grandfather all working so their children could have a better life? That better life that they worked for is my so-called privilege.

It's an insult to apologize for what my ancestors did so I. could have the opportunity. Are you going to apologize for doing what you're doing so your children will have a better opportunity? Yeah, how would that feel to you? Your kids later on in life were like, I'm so sorry for my, my dad. My dad did. Oh, my dad, you're killing yourself to do that for your son or your daughter.

Right. And they're going to apologize for what you did later on? No. That would be. No, they can apologize for my mistakes. Sure. They can absolutely be ashamed of me for my mistakes, but for working hard so their life was better so they had opportunities that I didn't have don't you dare apologize it is an insult to

your ancestors one of the best tributes i heard all weekend you know to a wreath of franklin had to come from al sharpton uh he is just do we have that audio by any chance sarah zal sharpton and his uh memorial message we're talking about female canines you know what they say about Payback, it's a real Well, you, I'm sure you know the word I'm thinking of. So in the words of my late friend, Aretha Franklin,

show some R-E-S-P-I-C-T. Some respect. You get a black woman and a beagle confused. Remember this. I got you. Whoa. That is the single worst delivery of a line.

First of all, at the beginning of that, where he tries to fake you out that he's going to say the B word. And then R-E-S-P-I-C-T. And how do you not? Respect. Have a little respect. What is? Respect. It's not a thing.

Oh, yes. Yes, it is. Al Sharpton, he's got you covered. If you're suffering from respect, he's got you covered. Hi, it's Glenn. If you're a subscriber to the podcast, can you do his favor and rate us on iTunes? If you're not a subscriber, become one today and listen on your own time. You can subscribe on iTunes.

Thanks. Addicted to Outrage. Yes, we have another addiction to outrage segment for you. There's nothing better than this. Really. You know, just getting up in the morning and just saying, you know, what can I be pissed off about? I had a good weekend, you know, enjoyed my family and yada, yada, yada. Now I got to get back into what really matters.

and let's talk some politics, and what can I possibly be outraged? I've got something that's going to really push you over the top. It's Alcy Hastings. He is in Florida. He's giving a speech, and violence breaks out. Here it is. He said, do you know the difference between a crisis and a catastrophe? And no one held their hand.

So, Harry answered for us, he says, a crisis is if Donald Trump falls into the Potomac River, and can't swim. And he says, at a catastrophe as anybody say, he says, That's violent speech. That was a death threat to the president. I mean, I could do everything that the press does

to the right. We know that there's a double standard, right? But if you want to fix, if you want to fix today, if you really want to be outraged, because we are addicted to outrage, hit the jingle. Addicted to outrage.

If you really want to further your addiction, let's be pissed off about that. And we can be so easily. And justifiably. Justifiably. Because you're right, the standard that would be held against a conservative making a joke about a Democratic president. And we saw it happen during the Obama administration over and over again. They acted as if they were legitimate real threats. Oh, yeah.

They acted as if they'd call it a bomb threat to the White House. I'm going to target a district. Everybody knew what that was. Everybody knew. Right. They faked outrage and tried to make it into something that it wasn't. So now we have a choice. And one is satisfying.

It really is. One is satisfying. One is because it sets off all the good chemicals in your body is being outraged by it. I'm angry because look at the double standard. Look at the double standard. They would never do that to give us the benefit of the doubt. Why should I give them? Because if I've been giving in them the benefit of the doubt, I haven't changed my behavior.

And the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. So I'm going to get angry about it. And I'm going to be outraged. And I'm going to express my outrage. And that feels good. It does. Doesn't it? Oh, it feels fantastic.

Yeah, it does. You get your motor running, your juices flowing. Yep. You know, you feel like you're doing something. maybe even you can get to get to a point where this particular representative would be punished in some way, maybe he loses his job, there's a real goal to get to, is maybe he loses his job and they replace him with another Democrat. Still, they've been doing this to us for years. We're just starting to make progress on this. We're just starting to get people, we're just starting to get people, you know, being held responsible and they're getting kicked out.

Yeah, I mean, you know, that's, if that's your goal, right, then, then you have something there. It's interesting because I think we have become as conservatives experts in pointing out the double standard. To the point where you used to stop us from saying it on the air. You know, like when Pat was here, we would talk about this. We'd be like, this is a complete double standard. And you say, all right, and we know it's double standard. All right, let's move on.

And it's true. We are experts at identifying that. But there is an additional step. Now you have two. No, no. Well, hold on. No, there's not. You've got a double standard.

That's it. Now you have two standards in front of you. right two standards now you have to choose which one the outrage one the outrage one you can choose that in the one I want the outrage one does it make you feel good in anything other than the very short term nope I guess is my

question nope doesn't seem to make anyone feel good no everyone's applying the standard all the time and they get more and more pissed off all the time and everybody says I can't read it anymore I can't look at it anymore and as soon as you have the opportunity to apply it you go for it and I think that that's the wrong way to go I mean look choose the standard that you think the world should have

you know, you're right. Like sometimes you're living in a world where you don't get what you want, but are you acting in the way that you believe is the right way? Or are you acting in a way that you believe is improper? And I think constantly, because we feel, and correctly feel, by the way, that we've been victims of a double standard over a very long period of time, we justify behavior we wouldn't normally justify because we feel like, well, we've been wrong, so therefore we can do wrong.

and that's not a good way of going through life. So where is this, where is this, where is this anger coming from? Where is this willingness to become that which we gaze upon, become that which we despise, become the monster in trying to kill the monster? Where does that come from? What is the root of that motivation? Do you think, you know, I have a theory. I'm not to hear it.

we all feel judged. We all are insecure and we all feel judged. Somebody is judging me and they're judging me harshly. They're judging me improperly and unfairly. And the left and the right, I think, feel this way. you know the the guy from queer eye um what was his name jonathan van ness he came out and he said hey we've got to stop saying that everybody who voted for donald trump was a racist they're not just like as he says everyone on the left isn't evil he's right he's absolutely right but that's what

everybody's feeling we're being shoved into these corners and we're being told we're enemies one side is evil, one side is racist, and people on both sides feel like they're judged. Even when we get together, we still feel judged, because somebody is trying to change your mind. We're not comfortable anymore, just being friends. How many friends do you have that really disagree with you politically? Have you lost any friends or family? Ask yourself why. Is it because you tried to change their mind or they tried to change your mind?

And so you're arguing about it and you have no place to go. And that's become your relationship. You're judging them. They're judging you. You're right. They're wrong. They're right. You're wrong.

And so there's absolutely no place to go except away from each other or to gather for battle. I was singing this weekend, the serenity prayer is what we really need a healthy dose of. You know, addicted to outrage, I've said this for years, that I think this audience would be the audience that can turn this around, save the nation in the end. and when America decides to do a 12-step program, when they decide to admit that they have a problem, not that others have a problem, that we have a problem, we'll be taking our first step towards recovery

and being the people that we are. The serenity prayer, every alcoholic knows it. God give me the grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed what can't be changed what can't be changed I can't change other people

I can't change them I can however allow them to change me I don't want that I saw a story this weekend where they were trying once again, trying to change history, trying to take more statues down. You can't change history.

History is there. Let it change you. Learn from it. Learn the good things from history and learn from the bad things in history so you don't do it again. But I can't force you to change. I can't force you to learn from history.

You have to. How many times? have you heard of a friend or a loved one who's an alcoholic and has been in rehab ten times? They just can't change. Well, because they don't want to. You have to hit a place to where you want to change. And that's really hard. It's really hard.

Because it requires you to just focus on you and nothing else. And while we are egomaniacs, we're self-loathing ego. maniacs. So nobody really wants to do, look, if you really start to look into yourself and you really start to say, maybe I have a problem here. Maybe I'm causing some of my own stress and, you know, I don't need to be outraged by all of this because I'm not going to change that person who I love, like, was friends with, I'm coworkers with. I'm not going to change them. They believe what they believe. Instead, I'm just going to love them. It's really hard. I'm just going to love them. I'm going to serve them. I'm going to be helpful. I'm going to be kind. I'm going to be the opposite that they are. Not to change them. Not to change them. Just to stand guard against them changing you. If they agreed with you, if they had your same political stance, if they were kind to you, would you be kind back?

so they're not kind to you they do bad things to you so what's changed you you've allowed them to change you give me the grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed the courage to change the things which should be changed and the wisdom to know one from another that's how we receive I can change these things, and the biggest thing I can change is me. So I can change these things. I cannot change people. Number one problem. I cannot change people.

Anybody who thinks that you're going to change Twitter, well, we're going to change Alex Jones. No, you're not. No, you're not. Not unless he wants to. You're going to change Donald Trump? I can change Donald Trump. What are you doing? The press thinks they're going to change him?

You're not going to change him. You're not going to get him to admit anything. You're not going to get him to change his ways or see the light or anything else. If he decides, you know, I don't like my life right now. And I think he loves his life. I don't like my life right now. I've got to change. Then he'll change.

But the press, and really 90% of this country, has allowed one man to change them fundamentally. Think of that. One man has changed people's positions, their viewpoint, not based on facts or an argument, just because of the fight. One man has changed probably 90% of the American people, fundamentally at the core they've changed.

I don't think that's something to be proud of. You can't change people, but people can certainly change you if you allow them to. This is the best of a Glenn Beck program. Jean-Carlo is a public affairs director on Latin America, and he's a Democrat.

And he was on with us last week, I think, two weeks ago. And I had him on because he's taking a very strong stand against Democratic socialism. And we don't necessarily agree on policies. He's a Democrat. But he is trying to alert America, and especially the Democrats, how bad Democratic socialists are, what it really means. It's not, you know, some Norwegian, I have some Ludovsk and maybe some free health care and everything will be great. not that. This is not the Swedish or Danish healthcare system or system.

They don't have that. He reached out, we had him on last time because he had reached out to some people over I think in Denmark some economists and said, hey, I just want you to see what the Democratic socialists are saying

here and want here. Is this what you have? 11 out of 12 said, no, that's really radical. and he's warning about the danger, and he's taking a beating from the left, and he's taking a beating from many Democrats as well. Jean-Carlo Sopo is with us now. Is it, I want to make sure I get this right.

Is it Jean-Carlo? Either one works. It's like the same name as the baseball player. He knows nothing about Jean-Cardlo-Stanton. No idea. He has absolutely no idea. Jean Carlo. Okay. So there was a new, there was a new Gallup poll out. And it shows that Democrats now have a more positive view of socialism than capitalism. And what does that say to you?

You know what it says to me is that I think most people have no earthly idea what socialism is. because that same poll also showed that 92% of Americans support small businesses. 86% have a positive view of entrepreneurs, and 79% of Americans said that they support the free enterprise system. So what that means to me is that most Americans, when you ask about socialism, they are, like you said earlier, they have some fairy tale like concoction in their mind of Scandinavia. But in reality, that's not what socialism is. That's not what the Democratic Socialists of America are proposing. And I believe that this level of disinformation is dangerous to the American people,

because I strongly believe that there is a significant constituency. Let me just be clear. I think the vast majority of Democrats, if you just speak them on a right level, they just want better access to health care and things like that. But there is a small but growing minority that wants to go much farther than what they have in, say, Denmark. They would like to actually socialize the economy. They want to abolish private ownership of enterprise. I think that's dangerous, and it looks absolutely nothing like the kind of system that they have in Scandinavia.

I checked with a dozen Norwegian economists, 11 of which said, no, these views are fringe, including by our standards. I mean, the Scandinavian countries, in some cases, are more free than we are at this point. I mean, the capitalist system, they just take more in taxes and then give more out. But the actual business is not regulated like it is here. Yeah, it's probably easier to start a business in Copenhagen than in California now. That's crazy. Yeah, I mean, those countries are incredibly free. Even by conservative estimates and conservative rankings and libertarian rankings,

countries like Denmark performing incredibly well, according to the World Bank. Denmark and Norway and Sweden are some of the freest economies in the world in easiest places to start a business. Some of them even outranked the United States. And not only those countries, but also we're talking about Canada and the UK as well. So I think there is a very tremendous misconception in the United States as to what democratic socialism is and what it is not. the words might be phonetically similar, but social democracy and democratic socialism are not the same thing. They're like distant cousins that at one point were much closer aligned, but after World War II, they started moving in different directions, particularly at the height of the Cold War, where the social democrats said this is now what we want and we want to move in a different direction.

So do you see anybody? I mean, I follow you now on Twitter, and I see the beating your, see the beating that you're taking. And, you know, I understand that. I mean, you're taking on your own party. Do you see anybody really standing up? I mean, look at Cuomo last week. He was only doing that because he's in the race for his life. And he had to come out and say, hey, I'm socialist too.

Do you see anybody standing against the Democratic socialist in the Democratic Party really taking a principled American constitutional stand? I think what most Democrats who I speak with and whom I pay attention to they're like

trying to weather out the storm and then you have a small group that I believe is trying to utilize this momentum as an opportunity to increase their power and I think that's dangerous. I remember, well I didn't see it personally obviously but

President Kennedy's inaugural address where he warrants developing countries around the world not to ride the back of the tiger or else they're going to end up inside. And I believe that if we continue fueling this rise of democratic socialism, the Democratic Party is going to go from being what's historically been a center-left party with maybe a socialist wing to being a socialist party with a centrist wing. I believe that's dangerous for the country and it's moving in the wrong direction. You don't think that that's already happened? I mean, you know, watching, I think the, I think the last 12 years have been pretty remarkable on how far left the Democrats have moved.

I think on some issues, I believe, for example, this rise of intersectional identity politics, I think is dangerous. I believe in that this knee-jerk reaction to thinking that the first solution to any problem is to say, well, let's get the federal government involved. I think that's not a wise decision. So I think in some regards, yes. In some regards, in other ways, I think more like on social policies, you know, on some economic policies, they've moved more to the left on others. They've kind of stayed where they've been historically.

What I'm worried about is the silence, and I think more people need to speak up about this. I believe it's important. There is, like I said, I think there's a massive disinformation campaign underway. And there are members of the press who are complicit in this, who are issuing these phony explanations of what democratic socialism is. Of course, they always leave out the part about nationalizing businesses and turning small companies into co-ops. I mean, Glenn, imagine if you had to turn your business into a co-op, you wouldn't survive. It's not how most businesses should be designed or can function that way. So I think more people need to speak up about this.

And I welcome the beating. I think it's entertaining sometimes. But it's nothing compared to what people in places like Venezuela are going through on a daily basis who have to live under this system, which is absolutely terrible. And, you know, it's funny. I was this weekend I went to Disney with my wife. According, you know, what's bizarre is that, you know, comes from a socialist country, she goes to a place like Disney and she's in heaven. She

thinks it's amazing. I know you're a big fan of Walt Disney too, and I saw your Prigger you video. When you take a Democratic socialist to Disney, their first reaction to start, hurling accusations of racism and inequality and so forth. I mean, I don't understand in what version of the universe these people live in, but you cannot give them an inch. That's what I'm absolutely convinced of. And I believe it's shameful that the party of Kennedy, the party of Truman. I mean, how did we go from being the party of Jack Kennedy and Frank Sinatra to being the party of Bernie Sanders and some guy now who's going out there saying that

America has never been a great country? I think that's absolutely shameful. This is the best of the Glenn Beck program. And don't forget, rate us on iTunes. Marianna Gonstead, she is a woman who has all kinds of titles behind her name. and is a very accomplished woman. But we'll get to that in a second. I first want you to hear her just as somebody who grew up in Venezuela

and whose family is in Venezuela. She was there in May of this year, and we wanted to get her on the phone to talk to us about it. Mariana, how are you? Fine. Thanks for having me, Glenn. You bet. So tell me about your trip to Venezuela. Yes, well, I grew up in Venezuela and I was there until I finished my law degree and I worked for the Supreme Court before Chavez started this new regime.

So I haven't really lived in Venezuela since 1998 when he won elections. But I have been working with all Latin America and countries. And I went in May because there was going to be a national election on May 18th. And the elections were not going to be recognized. And my father was in a critical condition. So, but when I was first there in December, I have to go there because my father couldn't even find Miralax. And I have to fly there with two bags, like of mirrorlaks and protein shakes.

my father ended up in the hospital because of the lack of medicine, basically. So you... You... Go ahead. Venezuela used to be a... And it still is. That's the most fascinating part about all this is that I think Venezuela is like Apple. It's a country with extraordinary resources that have not been, that are still there.

It's just Apple with a government that doesn't allow the people to participate. is very unstable, but I grew up in a country where we have everybody in a life. I mean, most Venezuelans used to be able to travel to Florida, and there was a saying, saying, like, it is so cheap, give me too. We were used to have, like, the luxury brands that I have not even seen in the United States. Venezuelan were used to luxury. They were used to, like, have the best shampoo brands in the world, and now there is not even like bar soaps or anything.

And there was not even water. I couldn't even shower when I was there. You basically have to, I shower twice in 14 days. I ate like from a load of bread in 14 days, and I end up losing 14 pounds. People are now starving. I talked to one of my friends last night, and he was in tears. and basically said, if you're going to say something, make sure the audience in the United States knows

that this oil-rich country is starving. Families are eating out of the garbage can. This is unbearable. What happened? What happened? How did the country go from a country very much like the United States, very, very wealthy, to a country now that, literally they have eaten the animals in the zoo.

Yes, I have to tell you this. I grew up with a mother that told us that we were fish of a tank, and if my parents stopped feeding us, we would perish. And whenever we drove by the poor neighborhoods that used to be 80% of the population or approximately that percentage, and now is even more, she actually told us that they were fish of the ocean and that the fish of the ocean knew how to survive if they were not fed. So I grew up with a deep admiration for the poor. They were able to figure it out.

When I was at Harvard, I realized that at the business school, they were trying to teach, like, creativity, like teamwork. And at the same time, I was conducting clinical projects on participation in Venezuela. And I saw how the leaders of these low-income communities have developed all these skills that you have to develop when you lack resources. And yet, they were not allowed to participate. They were invisible. So it is a very volatile situation when you have the majorities, the majorities. Even during the 40 years of democracy in Venezuela,

We're disenfranchised. That is not sustainable. I remember every time we were going to the university, I studied with my brother law. And when we were going to the university, like you have to drive through like a lot of like poor neighborhoods. And I said to him over and over again every morning, this only needs one leader, one leader to mobilize this massive social injustice. And sure enough, in my second year or third year of law school, Chavez attacked the president. residential palace with a tank. Nobody knew who he was, and he became a hero. And he became a hero because of the silent majority, the ones that had been excluded and the very poor.

Correct, yes. And the economic measures that were taken at that time with an increase of the gasoline. So is this something that seems, I mean, it happens a lot in Latin America, and I don't understand why and maybe you can explain it. Sure. The, the, the, up until recently, the United States, the presidency has not been, you know, a regal thing. And we haven't looked to a strongman who could just tell them all to sit down and shut up. And we're becoming more and more like that.

That seems to be very Latin America, where they look for a hero, just to come in and solve the problems. Is that accurate at all? Correct, yes. Like I have been working for the past 20 years with other countries in the regions precisely to try to address this mindset that always look for like a savior. Like they're called a caudillo, like a strongman that is supposed to like help them and liberate them. Like so in the past it was Simon Bolivar and right now, well like recently it was Chavez. And it's so much to the point that Chavez is dead and Venezuela still scream, Chavez is alive.

So they don't see him, they don't see him any differently than, you know, Sean Penn in Hollywood. They don't see him as the beginning of the problem. Yeah, no. And to be complete honest, my main concern with Venezuela is not even what's going on right now. And not just Venezuela, the entire region is that the Chavez regime, has called, like, the regime a participatory and protagonistic democracy in which, like, one person is the one that

makes their decisions. That actually breathes corruption, abuse, and massive exclusion. It's like having a solo instrument playing. The world has not seen like what Latin America could look like when every person is allowed to participate, including the fish of the ocean. So, that we would move. So right now, Latin America has moved historically from a solo instrument leader to massive revolutions. So all the instruments playing at the same time producing noise.

It is about time to have a very different type of leadership, a participatory leader that really like the maestro of an orchestra is able to not just play like a solo instrument, but be the conductor of the orchestra and allowed every instrument to participate so that we can move from noise to music. The world is not going in that direction. I mean, nobody is, nobody is headed in that direction. Well, actually, Glenn, we did, you are absolutely right. And that is the very reason why I became a law professor in the United States. I used to represent 11,000 students in Venezuela. So if I was there right now, I would have been killed or incarcerated. And I thought and I thought and I saw how participation could be done. And when if you have the channels and you

develop the skill to participate, and we did it in Brazil. So I became a law professor to be able to prove to the world that it could be done. And in Brazil, like you can anyone can go and Google it we actually were given an opportunity at St. Thomas to with that two experts in civil procedure they were going to pass a law and they decided that they wanted to be more participatory and we selected leaders well Brazilian selected leaders from seven sectors of society from business leaders low-income community leaders, the legal field, the judicial sector, the nonprofit sector, and they build

consensus three times, first per sector and then at a national level regarding what was the preferred option to resolve their disputes. And it was very interesting because it took like six months to train the mediators, and then the mediators trained the leaders, and then the structures were put into place. And the main difference was how they were given a seat at the table, but they were also trained in how to participate rather than just persuade others. Basically, the main difference on participation was that the final agreement has to have the flavor of all stakeholders. And it is possible. I mean, I didn't invent this.

This is basic consensus building from MIT, Larry Susskind, and it has been done. It's called collaborative governance. When citizens can participate at the local level, we did it at the national level just to prove it could be done. And in Brazil, that is the fifth largest country in the world. So if the stakeholders, if the leaders learn the skills and the structures are created, It's called building the Latin America that we want you in SSRN and anybody can can access it. It's free. It's online and they can see what we have done. The mediators in Brazil are still there. They are alive and they they could lead. I train them.

We work it together and just to demonstrate that it could be done. But you need to have and you need to have representative democracies and this will supplement the representative democracy so that that right now, as you said, Latin America look at heroes, right? And when they look at heroes, they basically gave them like a blank check, you know, so that they can do whatever with their mandate. Well, this is like a way to supplement representative democracies with consensus building so that when they have the mandate, they have like an organized civic society that would limit the political power.

Mariana, let me take you back here to Venezuela. You lost 14 pounds. You don't recognize some people that you even grew up with because they've lost so much weight. Do you have friends that have gone to prison for their political stance? Yeah, well, I mean, I haven't, I don't live there since like 1998. But I do have, I do know like many, um, Venezuelan students and members actually of the National Assembly, like most recently, like there were like two brothers that were incarcerated.

And one of them was actually a member of Congress and was incarcerated for giving a speech that I would have given. So you can basically not speak up or you are in jail. And they are like two legislative bodies right now, two Supreme Courts. There is a Supreme Court that actually is operating from Colombia, and no news. I mean, the most desperate part about all these, Glenn, is that none of this is covering the media. You know, it's like there is a Venezuelan Supreme Court that is operating in Colombia, and they sentenced the Venezuelan government to 18 years and three months.

And we don't hear about that here. You know, daddy's not heard of. The Best of the Glenn Beck program. I want to go take Steve in New York, who's been holding for a while on the topic of the Catholic Church and what's happening with the church and the massive scandal in Pennsylvania. Hello, Steve. Hey, good morning, Glenn. How are you? I'm good. Well, I'm a lifelong Catholic, and I've seen this a long time.

I've been exposed to this for a long time. And my heart is broken, but I've despaired even further because I haven't seen them addressing one of the worst problems in the Catholic Church, and that's the specific incidence of homosexual pedophilia. This is, of course, a very politically incorrect topic to bring up. Yeah, I was going to say I saw a lot of people saying that there is no such thing as homosexual pedophilia. But, I mean, I think there is. They were abusing, in some cases, small number of girls were abused, but the vast majority was boys. Now, maybe that's just access or, you know, I don't know.

I mean, you're sick either way, so it doesn't matter. But the problem here is there is some real sickness in the way the priests, I don't know, are selected or are. live or what? The culture is obviously very, very bad. Well, I am so glad that you mentioned that, because that's really what I want to talk about. There's an excellent book on this subject written by Michael Rose called Goodbye Good Men. And it's a very, very knowledgeable and deeply researched book. And I read it years ago. He talks about how this is not just haphazard. This was a very deliberate movement within, you know, among the leaders of the Catholic Church.

They deliberately recruited people who are sympathetic to this, this lifestyle. So, Steve, as a Catholic, I mean, I'm not a Catholic, but, you know, as a former Catholic, I would want to see the Pope get on a plane and clean that. that thing out from top to bottom and make a huge deal out of this. This is the second time, and I don't see that happening, do you? No, I don't. And that's the real heartbreaker of all of this. I don't see any attempt to address what is the problem.

I mean, the problem is not, you know what the Catholic Church refers to this as sexual immaturity, for instance. But they will not call it by its name. It has a name. Its name is perversion and homosexual metaphilia. That's what we've got. Steve, thank you very much. We'll be watching it, and as you watch it, make sure you

call up and give us an update. Irma, North Carolina. Hi, Glenn. It's an honor. Thank you. A true honor. Thank you. Glenn, I'm also. a lifelong Catholic like Steve and in trying to

distill all of this and incorporate it into my faith and my everyday life. You know, there's anger and there's shame and there's just, to use your word, outrage, and

I'm not addicted to it, but in this case it applies. Power corrupts when you get right down to it. There's a story on page 14 of our diocesan newspaper. And although it's way in the back, I mean, it's pretty thorough, but it includes information that I was unaware of, the abuse of Catholic sisters, the abuse of students. I mean, it just goes on and on. Yeah, it's bad. And fairly disgusting.

Nobody's talking about term limits for the hierarchy in the church, and I think we need to do that. And I think that... Would you be for changing the way that... allowing priests to be married? I think we need psychologists and psychiatrists to help us dissect what's happened and understand what's happened to see if that's a problem. I mean, you know, when I think of,

well, you talked about humility a week ago when the person that came to mind is my own husband, you know, I couldn't imagine being married to somebody who has this kind of propensity. So I don't know how that can be the solution, but I don't know enough about it to say, you know, yay or nay. But I would certainly be interested in hearing what other people think the solution is.

I know the church is talking about panels that include lay people and, you know, other members that are not priests who work within the church. And I think that's all fine and good. but I think, you know, like Steve said, we have to understand why this is happening before we can get to a solution. But, you know, there's an analogy to be made here with our own government. It's the church is big. And it might be, it might be beneficial to move people around more. Parish priests are transferred from one parish to another.

But that was part of actually the deal. they were, you know, that was what happened in the 90s, and they just made it worse here. Right. Shuffling it. However, however, it would leave, it would, when it's less concentrated, and as our awareness increases, it's just a good, it's a good example of how perception is not reality all the time. and I think that as lay people, as the people within the church become more conscious of what's going on, and, you know, victims or people who feel that they might be becoming a victim are encouraged to speak out,

then they would not, I think the power would not be so deep-seated. But I do think that this, I don't understand enough about being a bishop to say whether or not it would be applicable. but, you know, maybe they need a term limit. Okay. Irma, thank you so much for your phone call. I appreciate it. The Blaze Radio Network. On Demand.