Tuesday, January 04, 2011 America at a Crossroads | Glenn Beck

Tuesday, January 04, 2011 America at a Crossroads | Glenn Beck With: Glenn Beck This is a rush transcript from "Glenn Beck," January 4, 2011. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated. GLENN BECK, HOST: Welcome to "The Glenn Beck Program." And welcome to 2011. Things are about to change. It's a New Year. And this program has a new attitude. We face massive challenges and problems. The headlines of the day confirm that. For starters, we have a Congress becoming more irrelevant every single day. Over the break, the FCC did pass net neutrality. They now oversee and control the Internet. The experts told me over and over again, for the last two years, it wouldn't happen, they wouldn't do it. They did it. They couldn't get it through Congress or the courts, so they went around them. The national debt has just surpassed $14 trillion. That's particularly alarming because as you know, as we have told you on this program, we are now getting extremely close to the 90 percent to 100 percent debt-to-GDP ratio that every nation fears. Gas prices are climbing. The national average has now hit $3.07 a gallon. Hmm, where is Chuck Schumer in front of a gas station today? Crude is currently at $92.66 a barrel. Experts predict now it will hit $100 a barrel this year. Why is this happening? Well, number one: the oil price is pegged to the dollar. So the more money we print, the higher the price of oil. Have you heard any program tell that to you? Have you heard anyone in Washington tell that to you? Two: federal regulators said yesterday that 16 offshore drilling projects can now resume in the Gulf. But they still have to follow the all new government mandates and safety mandates imposed after the BP spill. Oil companies, you better wake up and shoot straight with the American people and defend yourself because nationalized oil is not far behind. There is now so much red tape involved to comply with, it is impossible for them to do business. It's impossible for oil companies to war-game every imaginable disaster scenario, which I believe Cass Sunstein is now having them put down in paper. Plus, most locations are still at least a year off from being reopened. Oh, and one other problem that nobody seemed to see coming: the oil rigs are opting to leave the Gulf. They are headed to places like Mexico and Libya and Brazil. By the way, Petrobras just announced they had a fantastic December. What a coincidence. Oil companies were already leaving after the drilling ban several months ago. Why? Because rigs are sitting idle, doing nothing, except losing millions of dollars. I believe this program explained it to the dummies in Washington at the time. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BECK: A six-month moratorium on oil drilling is a death sentence. Why? Why is it a death sentence? Well, you know those big oil platforms that are sitting down and they are going a mile down to drill? Those big oil platforms are not cheap. They don't just sit around if they're not used. They are immediately leased to someplace else in the world and they are used for as long as they lost. You don't just sit around with empty equipment. It doesn't just go back on the beach. So, when it's gone, it's gone. (END VIDEO CLIP) BECK: So, what was the phrase that President Obama used? Oh, yes, I remember: "Energy prices will necessarily skyrocket." But it's not just energy. Some of the other things expected now to cost more in 2011 -- airfare, car insurance, health insurance, grain -- translation: your breakfast -- college, postage rates, refinancing, credit cards, ammunition and gold. Americans are filing for bankruptcy and it is rising, 9 percent last year. Unemployment remains double digits with no sign of improvement. And that is the tip of the iceberg. All of these problems are a little overwhelming. When I told you about all of these problems, we installed a red phone, this one -- because they denied that any of these things would happen. They said, none of the things would happen. And we put the red phone right here on the desk and we said, "Call us. If we got it wrong, call us." They never called. They never will call. I'm not waiting for the call anymore. In fact, if I may -- I'm not interested. There's a new attitude. It is a New Year. Today, this program begins a new chapter. I want you to stop watching this program. I want you now to start using this program. Words are meaningless unless they affect you and change you and lead to action. We will show you in their own words tonight -- the left wants a violent revolution. Tonight, I am going to issue my own call for a revolution -- except this call is for a personal revolution. And let it begin right now. (MUSIC) BECK: Hello, America. America is at a crossroads. And this show is at a crossroads as well in many ways. We have known that America was in trouble for the last 10 years. After every tragic event or bubble, America has gone back to sleep and it makes sense. We all wanted to believe that -- I don't know, that it wasn't as bad as they said it was. That we could have it all. That it's America, it will always be this way. And I have been on this program, stood in this position, at this desk, at this phone, with this microphone, and I have said some pretty outrageous things, some things that were crazy. Everybody said they were crazy and now, they're happening. But, somehow or another, our collective gut -- I don't care if you're from the left or right -- our collective gut told us at every bubble and every tragedy in the last 10 years that it was time, America, to wake up and to use what we used to call "common sense." This is what Americans from all points of the political compass meant when they called for change, because it was the American people. The reason why change worked is because -- it didn't come from Barack Obama. It didn't come from a political genius. It came from a focus group. And everybody was saying the same things. That's why all the politicians were saying it. We've got to change. So, now, what do we do? Because time is passing us by. I told you last year prepare. But I'm not a "hunker down" kind of guy. I'm not going to be sitting in a bunker with, you know, food storage. That's not who I am. If -- I was on vacation this holiday. And I was sitting on the beach. And I thought, man, I don't know, I should just move here. Here's the reason -- because I was born at this time for a reason -- and so were you. This country has afforded me all kinds of opportunity. Fifteen years ago, I didn't have a dollar to my name. I'm a -- I'm a well- off guy now. I didn't have formal education. Nobody in my family, I'm the first ever to go to college and I went for one semester because that's all I could afford. Only in America. We're not going to hunker down. And I'm not going to go live on a beach. I owe the idea of America to my children. After spending years and quite frankly, thousands of man hours in research over the last few years and reflection, and prayer, my team and I have come to realize that when I said a couple of years ago that a fundamental transformation of America was not needed, I was wrong. It is required. But it is the polar opposite and far more powerful than what President Obama meant when he called for transformation of America. President Obama and the progressive ruling class both believe that the parties are the solution. That the politicians, they believe in a collective plan society. I believe America's answers are not to be found in Washington. But they are to be found with, by, and in the individual American honestly, pursuing happiness. Not in any 2,000-page bill. If you want to look for those collective base solutions, you can find them. In this phrase: "America is great because America is good." De Tocqueville said this. When we beg for somebody to fix something, we're begging our politicians or our political parties: make us good. They can't. Try as they may, they cannot make us good. But we can. As individuals, we can. We must. And beginning today, we will. The secret our founders understood is that America is good, because the individual American is honest, just, thrifty, responsible, educated, charitable and God-fearing. America is great because America is good. It's not just some trite slogan. It is a deep and well thought out philosophy that has quite frankly over 200 years of evidence -- 200 years of evidence of its truth. Yet, we are being told that it's all a lie. From every level, from our classrooms to our news rooms: America is not good. And she's never been great. My fellow citizens, this country will not survive much longer if that lie continues to be believed. So, what do we do? Well, I have been thinking about this for quite some time. I have been telling you to prepare and I've also been telling you over the last few months, you wait until the beginning of the year. Well, today -- beginning today, we are going to take a page from our own history. History of the Alamo -- we're going to do what they did in the Alamo. And they are going to say, "I'm drawing a line in the sand. If you are with me, you stand on this line." The line is: you must decide on who you are. You must know what you are capable of. And we must look to the heavens to chart our course again. Do we return to the ideas of the past? Or do we continue west to the yet unrealized and unfulfilled promises laid out by these guys? Our founding ideals, the founding ideas. We must choose as individuals. And then most importantly put those choices in action. We have to demonstrate to our children, to our neighbors and to ourselves, most importantly, demonstrate that it is not policies. It's not politicians. It's not parties, but people that make the nation what it is for better and for worse. It is people. This is a set. This is a set. This is the only thing that's real on the set. This isn't connected. It looks like it, but it's not. This would ring if you would have ever called. We have to get to real life. This year, I want to talk to you about what I am going to do and invite you to join me. This year, as an individual, as Glenn Edward Lee Beck who was born in Everett, Washington, in 1964, just like you, a private citizen, not a talk show host -- I stand at the same crossroads that you are standing at now, that our country, every citizen, it's not a collective thing. It is individual. I stand here today and boldly declare my choice. I will not accept that America's best days are behind her. I will no longer accept that there is no such thing as American exceptionalism. There was. There is again when we choose to be exceptional people. I will not stand silently by as the most charitable nation in the history of mankind, now apparently needs the IRS to act as our charitable collection basket. I refuse to believe that Eric Holder is right when he states that we're a nation of cowards when it comes to race. We are not. Look at our history! Look where we have come! My gosh, can anybody put it in context? I will admit our wrongdoings. Have you seen a show talked about manifest destiny before? This one has. But I will also not be a constant apologist for our nation's mistakes. I'll put us up against anybody else -- maybe not so much anymore because we're becoming just like everyone else. I will look to history for the path forward, for the mistakes and context. I believe that while many Americans may be ignorant of even the basics of our history, Americans are waking up in record numbers and they are educating themselves like never before. And when they do, one of the first things they'll learn is that when Americans wake up, Americans change the world for the better. You know, I said the other day, it's time to take the tie and jacket off and time to roll up the sleeves. That is true. I am tired of waiting around for a George Washington or a Ronald Reagan to appear. If they appear? Great, great. I hope they appear down the road because we're moving forward. I will no longer look to others for leadership or answers. We're out of time. I will lead. Me. My family. And I will teach my family and myself to be independent, honorable, educated, self-reliant and charitable. And with firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, I choose to refound this amazing nation by rediscovering it within myself and sharing it within the circle of my own influence. The principles and the ethics that define American exceptionalism -- when we rediscover them as individuals, we'll be exceptional again. In the last 12 months, we have talked about these things. We have talked about faith, hope and charity. But it is time to expand that idea. Will you change this? It is time to put things into practice. We can't just be philosophical. Over the next 12 months, all of the divisions of my company, which I run, called Mercury Radio Arts will focus now on what I call the E-4 solution. The four Es. They're over here. E-1 is enlightenment. "I am that I am." Who are you in relation to everything? Education -- how did we get here? What did people sacrifice? What were the mistakes? Empowerment -- do you know the power that you have as an individual? You're in America. Stop sniveling. Stand up. You were born at this time with the skills you have for a reason. And, entrepreneurship -- when did we stop believing a brighter future -- always changing but always brighter? When did we stop being the people that think out of the box? When did we stop saying, let's build better things, a better way? Let's just take all these things away. That's ridiculous. This program -- no. I personally challenge myself and any viewer, any listener, anybody who chooses to chart this course with me to find out this year in the next 12 months, what you as an individual really believe, challenge what you think you know and dig deep to find out what you are capable of. You are capable of -- I was on vacation. I was broke 15 years ago. I was miserable. I lost my family. I was divorced. I was a dirt bag. I was on vacation. I was sitting on vacation just last week and I said to my wife, I can't believe my life. That took hard work. But your wildest dreams are not wild enough in America. If you just know what you're capable of, you know what's true and you stick to the truth. So, in 2011, my wife and I have decided we are going to dedicate significantly more of our personal resources to what some may call charity. Charity to most people is -- you know, I think calling up a celebrity doing a musicathon on TV or texting a donation or even paying taxes. But to me, charity is really about investing in people. Not just having pity on someone less fortunate and dropping him a couple of bucks. That doesn't change anything. How does the person you took pity on then turn around and make a difference? My wife and I are going to put our money where our mouth is and up our charity, and invest heavily in people -- which makes me want to print a T-shirt at GlennBeck.com and sell it and say, "Liberal media and politicians, I've upped my charity. Now, up yours." Content and Programming Copyright 2011 Fox News Network, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Copyright 2011 CQ-Roll Call, Inc. All materials herein are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of CQ-Roll Call. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content.   Carl Ray Louk "FRIENDSHIP NEVER ENDS" SG-1996 "LET LOVE LEAD THE WAY" SG-2000 "THE PHOENIX SHALL RISE" SD "EVEN A MAN WHO IS PURE IN HEART AND SAYS HIS PRAYERS BY NIGHT, MAY BECOME A WOLF WHEN THE WOLFBANE BLOOMS AND THE AUTUMN MOON IS BRIGHT." LT-1941 "FLESH OF MY FLESH; BLOOD OF MY BLOOD; KIN OF MY KIN WHEN SAY COME TO YOU, YOU SHALL CROSS LAND OR SEA TO DO MY BIDDING!" 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