A Timeless Wisdom Special: Dennis Prager & Larry Elder

Life Audio.

On today's episode of Timeless Wisdom.

Uh, maybe many of you know Larry Elder. Larry Elder, uh, what do they call— they call it full disclosure. Full disclosure, I am a friend, good friend of Larry Elder, and we have been for many years. Uh, we have— we were radio colleagues on, on the same station in LA for many years, then I moved over To the Salem Radio Network.

That night when I called my mom, Dennis, and told her I met somebody from, from LA who's in talk radio, and she said, who? I said, his name is Dennis something. Dennis starts with a P. I can't really— can't remember. She said, Prager?

I said, yes.

Oh my God, you met him? And what did he say? What did he look like?

What did he—

I mean, she acted like he was Elvis. I couldn't believe it.

That's coming up on Timeless Wisdom with Dennis Prager.

As prices keep rising, Social Security is even more important to older Americans.

I counted it to pay for groceries and prescriptions.

Everything costs more now.

AARP is fighting to protect the Social Security Americans earn through a lifetime of hard work.

I've paid into Social Security since I was a teenager.

It isn't a handout.

I earned it.

Join us to stand up for Social Security. Visit aarp.org/socialsecurityvoter. Paid for by AARP.

Welcome to Timeless Wisdom with Dennis Prager. Hear thousands of hours of Dennis's lectures, courses, and classic radio programs, and to purchase Dennis Prager's Hi everybody, welcome to The Dennis Prager Show.

The music might be actually familiar to a fair number of you in the Southern California area because one of the most successful talk show hosts in America, now a podcaster, one of the most successful podcasters in America, is Larry Elder. And I know Larry— it's very touching for me to have Larry on my show because I, I brought him to radio and he became a national sensation. I'm very honored to be here. And not only in broadcasting and podcasting, but also in writing. If you read his column each week, you will get an education. And I say this, obviously people know, with total sincerity. And he and I used to work on the same station many, many years ago in Los Angeles. Maybe many of you know Larry Elder. Larry Elder, what do they call it? They call it full disclosure. Full disclosure. I am a friend, good friend of Larry Elder, and we have been for many years. We were radio colleagues on the same station in LA for many years, then I moved over to the Salem Radio Network, and things have been wonderful and a blessing since. Larry's show is one of the most popular in Southern California, a very difficult place to have a popular show because people live in their cars in Southern California, and it's the It's really the center of talk radio and just a household name. Larry and I— when do we go back? To what year?

I would say we probably go back, Dennis, to around 1990, around 1990.

1990.

When I first met you when you were in Cleveland. I picked you up from the airport. You might remember.

No, but we met before that.

Right. We met even before that on a program.

Oh, that's right.

That's right.

I was sitting in— Wait a minute.

Who's being interrupted now?

You.

I'm just asking.

You.

I'm just asking.

You're right.

It's just a question.

Yeah, but you're offended and I wasn't.

It's just a question.

That's the difference.

So I'm a thin-skinned black guy who's easily offended, is that what you're saying? You mean I'm being racially profiled on the Dennis Prager Show? I am shocked and I am appalled.

You— he—

see, that's the thing. The man plays the race card like that. It doesn't even—

you could be talking—

Don't leave home, Dennis. Don't leave home without it. Honestly, I never leave home without it. I get my license, I get my race card, Social Security card, and I'm out the door.

Well, now you know why I pushed I never pushed like I pushed to have Larry Elder on radio. He was a lawyer who did a periodic guest appearance on a Cleveland TV show.

Right.

And I'm telling you, I'm always, I'm always a little afraid to invoke, oh, God did something, but it almost seems divine. Only God knows why I was asked from LA to sit in for the early morning Cleveland television show for a week. There was no point to it. But I mean, it was fine. It was a lovely show. I'm not insulting anyone. It didn't amount to anything, but it was an experience. And one of the guests, I mean, we had— didn't I also have somebody who spoke to their dogs or something?

Yeah, you did. I mean, that wasn't me.

That wasn't you?

No, I speak to my turtle. I don't do dogs.

Did you come on with your turtle?

I don't do dogs.

I don't remember. Did you come on?

No.

You know you don't do dogs. I got that. Anyway, it was a very eclectic show, shall we put it that way?

That's right.

And wasn't my co-host cute?

She was very attractive.

Yeah, okay, I remember that. That was the only thing— I remember 2 things, 3 things: the dogs, the co-host was cute, and Larry Elder.

That's right.

All right, that was it.

That's right.

And Larry came on to discuss some legal issues.

It was sexual harassment in the workplace.

Was that what it was?

Workplace. I didn't do a demonstration. I actually described what it was and the elements, and what Supreme Court case had come down, and I was on to talk about that.

So those things you said to me were not— did not constitute harassment?

No, they did not.

Oh, okay, fine. So I have this call—

Although I do find you quite appealing, Dennis.

For good reason.

I've never really told you this, and since we're full disclosure, Dennis, I—

We may not survive this hour. Salem may— if you folks start hearing a repeat, uh, some highlight show, it's because they had enough of Larry.

And Dennis, I, I, I didn't want to tell you this for years, Dennis. I think you're hot. I'm just going to say it.

By the way, I don't mind that. I am touched. Okay. All right. Are we done?

Yes, we are.

Okay. So I had Larry on as this lawyer who would periodically come on. Now, folks, let me tell you seriously, this is an interesting little observation here. I learned many, many years ago that overwhelmingly I should not make quick first impressions. I'm not kidding. Because I've often found that they were either too negative or too positive. On rare occasions, I have totally gone with the first impression. I thought this guy was terrific. I went back to Los Angeles and I told the station manager at that time, George Green, and I always cite him because he was a wonderful man in my life and in your life. I said, George, I found this great guy.

Part genius, part maniac, but a great guy.

No, he was basically part genius and part Dodger fanatic. I don't remember the maniac part, but Dodger fanatic I remember.

Dennis is afraid George is listening, but it's all right. It's okay, Dennis.

I understand.

He was a car guy. Maniac? No, it's just a maniac didn't apply there. But anyway, it doesn't matter. So I said, George, I found this guy who happens to be Black, who is awesome and comes from LA. Let's try him out. Anyway, it's as if I had said to George, to his credit, because he gets this all the time, it'll be better, it'll be witty. Right. So nothing happened. So I, I just decided I will get— did I get a tape from you, or did I just invite you on the show?

Uh, I, I sent you a tape, uh, and— but you, but you also invited me on, right?

So I invited him on the show, and I said, George, you have to listen. I'm having this guy I told you about from Cleveland. He's back visiting his parents, and your mother, of course, became your late great mother became very famous because you'd have her on as chairman of the board and Supreme Court justice and everything.

Right.

And so I had you on. It was one of the great hours of radio that I did, and I will— I'll never forget because among the things you talked about was your lack of great adulation for black leadership in America.

Specifically for people like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton.

That's correct. And I believe it was a black caller who called up And, uh, who liked me but couldn't stand you immediately, right? Because I could say what I wanted, but that's dismissed, I'm white.

That's right.

But for you, a black, please say what you did, please. So the guy said to me, Dennis, where the hell did you find this guy? And you immediately answered.

I said, Dennis was driving down the street, he saw me at the corner of Florence and Dinker holding up a sign saying will speak negatively about black leaders for food.

At that point, I laughed so hard and uncontrollably that we had to go to a break. And that had never— I've never lost control. That was the one time before or since that that has happened. And I knew I was going to bug George forever until you got a show. You got a show and the rest is history. You went national, you've had a number of great TV shows, and And so on. And you are. You are an important voice. His columns, by the way, are— if there were 10 columns a week I read, Larry Elder is one of them. Of course, I read about 100, but if I can only read 10, yours would be one of them. And that's a big compliment.

Thank you.

You know, you're up there with Dennis the Menace.

Right. You mean Representative Kucinich from Ohio?

Actually, I've met him. It was a lot of fun. Anyway—

but Dennis, again, thank you so much for that very kind introduction. You, of course, have underplayed your role in what happened. You were quite insistent that George listen to me, and you had me on for 2 years. You had me on Christmas one year, and then Christmas the next year. And when I met you in Cleveland, I told you that I've never really listened to talk radio. I knew nothing about it. But you can tell when the hosts like each other and when they don't.

Yes.

And Dennis was giving you the Cliff Notes version of how he got me into radio. If I may elaborate a little bit, Dennis?

Thank you, sure.

We met in Cleveland. I was living and working in Cleveland, even though I'm from here. And it was a live show called—

Here in LA?

Here in LA, called Morning Exchange, kind of like a Today Show. It's probably the longest-running local show in the country.

Is that right?

And Dennis sat in for the host. I was there as a contributor. I'm a lawyer, and I would talk about legal matters. And so Dennis, I walk in, I see this big guy from California with white hair, and people tell me that the normal guy's not gonna be there, you got a guy named Dennis Prager. He's from LA.

Really?

And I didn't know Dennis. I mean, I knew Dennis was a talk show host, and the reason I knew that is because my mom loved, loved, loved talk radio, and she loved Dennis. Dennis is her favorite host by far.

Wow.

And that night when I called my mom, Dennis, and told her I met somebody from LA who's in talk radio, and she said, who? I said, his name is Dennis something. Starts with a P, I really can't remember. She said, Prager?

I said, yes.

She said, oh my God, you met him? And what did he say? What did he look like? What did he— I mean, she acted like he was Elvis. I couldn't believe it. And so Dennis invited me on LA radio when I next came home, and I said, I'll be home in December. Dennis said, fine. So I called you, and I got a message, and you didn't return the call. And I thought, frankly, Dennis, it was something that you'd said to be nice to me.

Right, like, let's have lunch one day.

Yeah, but she didn't really kind of mean it.

Right.

And so I'm sitting having dinner with my mom and she said, did you call Dennis? And I said, well, yeah. She said, what happened? I said, I left a message and he didn't call back. She gets the phone, she puts it in front of me, she says, call him again.

God bless her.

So I called again. I got you. You had me on that night. George Green, the general manager of the station, happened to be listening and, uh, uh, Dennis, after the show was over, talked about how wonderful he thought the show was. And I said, Dennis, 2 years ago I sat in in Cleveland for a guy, and I fell in love with talk radio. And I sent a tape to KRLA and to KFI and to KABC. I didn't hear from anybody. And Dennis, since you said I did so well, would you mind maybe talking to somebody around here about it? He said, I will be delighted. I've never recommended anybody in my life, but I'll recommend you.

That's right.

And but for Dennis leaning on George, George would not have given me a 2-day audition. George gave me a 2-day audition. After 1 day, he hired me. And I've been on KBC for 20 years.

This episode of Timeless Wisdom will continue right after this.

For nearly 3,000 years, Homer's The Iliad has shaped the Western imagination. As one of the foundational works of Western literature, it explores permanent questions about honor, courage, leadership, friendship, justice, and what it means to live a noble life. In one of the epic's defining moments, Achilles returns to battle after the death of his beloved friend Patroclus, setting aside his wounded pride to confront the responsibilities that come with greatness. His decision reveals one of the central themes of The Iliad: that true greatness requires more than strength. It demands character, sacrifice, and the pursuit of what is right. That's why Hillsdale College has released its newest free online course, The Iliad. Taught by Professor Stephen Smith, the course reveals why Homer's masterpiece remains one of the greatest works of Western literature. hillsdale.edu/startnow. Read the classics. Study the West. hillsdale.edu/startnow.

Now, back to more of Dennis Prager's timeless wisdom.

You're listening to The Dennis Prager Show, and I am with one of the more popular thinkers, and, and deservedly so, thinkers, writers, Television, radio, he pretty much does it all. Larry Elder. Larry and I go back many years. You heard the story just before. It's another reason, by the way, to get Pragertopia. Just for, just for this hour alone, it's worth subscribing to the show at under $7 a month. And I mean it sincerely. Go to pragertopia at DennisPrager.com or PragerRadio.com. Larry was on Larry King last night. I just learned because some callers are calling in to make reference to that fact. And And I just looked at Larry right before we went on and I said, you were on Larry King last night? He said, yes, and Wolf Blitzer tonight?

Yeah, this afternoon.

This afternoon. And will it all be about the Crowleygate?

Yes, it will be.

The beer? Are you primarily— and I say this, if the answer is yes, I'm annoyed, but it's typical of the media— are you primarily called in when the issues concern race?

Interesting you should ask that, and the answer is yes, and it is annoying, and it is condescending. As you know, I've written about healthcare, I've written about gun control, I've written about the welfare state. And Dennis, and Dennis, uh—

and they call themselves— this is the interesting thing—

they call themselves compassionate, liberal, open-minded.

That's right.

Right.

And Dennis, the other day I'm watching, uh, all 3 morning shows, I'm flipping around. I don't normally do that, but I just wanted to see how they were going to respond to this Gates thing. Uh, they had 6, quote, experts. All of them were black. Now, the person who was called a racial profiler was white. Wouldn't you think maybe they might want a, quote, white person's perspective on this? Somebody from, say, the police union, or some former cop, or somebody to give his or her opinion about what it feels like to be falsely accused of racially profiling? But only blacks are experts in this issue. And all 6 of their experts, Good Morning America, CBS, Washington—

Have the same views.

All 6 of them, they had pretty much the same views.

Yes.

But they were all black.

Right, but that's right, that's right. That's called diversity.

Now, I can't talk about Obamacare, even though I consider myself an expert expert on the healthcare issue.

No, no, no.

This is the thing about liberals. Women have only something to say about women's issues. Blacks have something to say about black issues. You almost never have them have blacks on who have something to say about humanity.

Right.

It's vile.

Right.

By the way, I just want people to know, because I'm called conservative and the liberals have created an entire bundle of characteristics of conservatives, I, from the beginning of radio, never had women on to discuss women's issues. Just to give an example, and I would say that to them. It was, for example, when I had women pastors on my very first radio show, it was on religion. I had clergy of all faiths. If a woman pastor or a woman rabbi was on, I never discussed women's issues. I wanted to give them the respect of, you have something more to say than is related to having a uterus.

Right.

But in the liberal world, yes.

It's incredibly, incredibly condescending.

Of course it is.

It is limiting.

Yes.

And I consider myself to be a pundit.

Yes, you are.

Who can talk about a large number of things.

Yes, exactly.

You don't have a show for the number of years that I did talking about, quote, black things.

Well, right. Your book about the things that a person can't say about America ought to be memorized by every American. That's how good— what is the actual title?

The 10 Things You Can't Say in America.

Yeah, that's right. I thought it was 10, but I didn't want to get it wrong. Okay, because it might have been 9 or 11, then I'd look silly.

Inflation is now 12.

That's right, it's up to 12 things you can't say now about America. That's exactly right. I just, I just want to bounce one thing off you. I want to tell you a story and then tell your story, ironically. I'm white, so I'm dismissed when I say that I don't think there's much racism in America, that I think it's the best country on earth for a Black to live. And I get Keith Richburg, he's my source for that.

Sure.

The great Washington Post writer who wrote a book about how happy he is to live in America after being stationed in Africa for the Washington Post. And of course, obviously, he's a black man.

Right.

And then I will get— this has happened my whole career. I have, happily, a lot of black listeners. One will call up and say, or a number will say, well, Dennis, you know, with all respect, you don't know what you're talking about. You're not black, you don't walk in our shoes, and I want you to know every day I experience a racist incident. Do you know what my answer is? I have an answer.

What's your answer?

My answer is, okay, what happened today? And every single time the answer then is, all right, well, not today. So then I pursue it and I say, okay, what happened yesterday? Well, it didn't happen yet, you know, but it's a matter of speech. I said, well, when was the last time? And there's silence. I'm not saying it never happens, but it is so far from every day that the line should just be dropped. So anyway, so let me ask you, how often does it happen?

The answer is, how can anybody know that he or she has been, quote, victimized, close quote, because of his or her race, when there are so many other variables that go into I was in Beverly Hills a few years ago. I had on a pair of jeans, a leather coat, 2 or 3 days of beard growth. And my car was parked in a parking garage. It had an elevator, kind of a dirty-looking little elevator. I wasn't even sure it worked. And I pushed the button and the door opened and there was a black woman in it. And she clutched her purse. She went to the side of the elevator.

And she pushed the button.

I got in, I looked at her, and I smiled, and I said, don't worry, I've never violated the terms of my probation. And she starts cracking up.

That's awesome.

Was I profiled? Yeah, I was profiled because of the way I was dressed. Unusual to be in Beverly Hills dressed kind of the way I was dressing. She was a black woman. If she had been a white woman and I had been the type of black victocrat that I speak about, that's probably an incident that I would have used Right, to prove. To explain the racial thing that happened to me that day. I, in my first book, the one that you mentioned, 10 Things You Can't Say in America, I talk about a movie called Virtuosity that Denzel Washington was in. You never saw it. Nobody ever saw it. It wasn't a good movie. In the movie, he's supposed to kiss his white co-star, whose name I believe is Kelly Lynch. He refused to kiss her, even though it was in the script. And he said, Denzel did, that he did not want to offend the core audience, which was young white males for this movie. Kelly Lynch said, I'm just so saddened that he didn't want to do that. I'm sorry. I kind of thought our world had gone beyond that. End of quote. Words to that effect. And I said, wait a second. Who would be in a better position to know if white males would be offended if a black guy kissed a white woman, Denzel or Kelly? I'm sure Kelly probably knows a lot more white people intimately than does Denzel. Yet instead of saying to Denzel, you're full of it, my brother wouldn't care, my father wouldn't care, my uncle wouldn't care, my friends wouldn't care, or whatever, she just threw up her hands and said, yeah, I guess racism is a much bigger problem than I thought. It's just fascinating to me how if a black person makes the accusation, uh, without any kind of corroborating evidence, it's accepted.

It's, uh, a line I developed many, many, many, many years ago. If you can't call a black fool a fool, you're the racist. That's my motto. It has been my motto my whole life. And that, that's, that's what you're saying. That's what you should have said. What?

Yeah.

When you even said it, I was trying to think, really? Whites be offended?

Yeah.

Her, her, the core, the core audience, white males.

That's right.

This episode of Timeless Wisdom will continue right after this. Dennis.

Dennis.

Dennis. Dennis Prager.

Do you have a question you've always wanted to ask Dennis Prager? Well, now's your opportunity. For upcoming Ask Me Anything episodes of Timeless Wisdom with Dennis Prager, we're inviting you to leave Dennis a voicemail. He'll personally answer selected questions, and your question could be featured on a future episode, whether it's about faith, morality, politics, history, relationships, happiness, or simply navigating life. Dennis would love to hear from you. Just call 877-243-7776 and leave your question. Oh, and be sure to include your first name and where you're calling from. That's 877-243-7776. While we can't feature every question, Dennis will listen to every voicemail. So call today. You may hear Dennis Prager answering your question on an upcoming episode of Timeless Wisdom with Dennis Prager. And thanks for listening and supporting Dennis Prager. Now, back to more of Dennis Prager's timeless wisdom.

Larry Elder doesn't need an introduction to any of you. He's a national talk show host. That's the theme that he comes on with. I personally composed it, and Larry's very grateful for it. Larry also has a film out, which is a documentary, which is really powerful, Uncle Tom. And it features black voices, basically, that you don't read in the New York Times ever. New York Times has— When I think about the, the, the brains that have not appeared in the New York Times, Once, like Tom Sowell, I mean, Tom Sowell is one of the most brilliant people of my lifetime, never appeared in the New York Times. Walter Williams, brilliant economist, never appeared in the New York Times to the best of my knowledge. Larry Elder never appeared in the New York Times. I mean, all of the black writers at the Wall Street Journal. They would appear there. Larry, I got a question.

Yes, sir.

And this sometimes, as you know, when you ask questions, you have worked out an answer for yourself, but you're curious about what the guest will say. I have not worked out an answer for myself on this question, which is something because I've thought about this for decades. Why is Charles Blow, New York Times, well-paid, in a position that anyone of any color would die for, New York Times columnist, MSNBC regular contributor?

Right.

He's just angry. Where is the successful middle class, upper middle class black anger coming from?

Years ago, there was a cover story in Newsweek called The Rage of the Black Middle Class by a guy named Ellis Coase.

Oh yes, that's right.

And he explored the same issue. And the thrust of it appeared to be that— here I am acting as if I'm not black— it appeared to be that, because I don't feel that way at all. I don't understand and never have understood this kind of anger. From the time I was a kid, I never understood it, Dennis. I mean, I'm in a class in middle school with a bunch of black kids. Maybe the school is 95% black, 5% Asian, 1 or 2 white kids. And this anger. And we had the same classes, same teachers, same instruction, same neighborhood, same recreational facilities, but a lot of my peers were just pissed. And I think it's because they felt that they should be pissed because of historical injustices, things that have happened to their fathers, their parents. You know, we're just one generation from Jim Crow. My dad grew up in Athens, Georgia, and he told me a lot of stories. They didn't happen to me, they happened to him. But a lot of kids felt that they needed to have some sort of— it was morally appropriate, socially just for them to be angry for people in the past who couldn't stand up and be angry themselves. I guess. All I know, Dennis, is I've never felt that way. My father always taught my brothers and me to work hard, and whenever we complained, he would say, are you kidding? When I was your age, so-and-so. And he would tell us something. And you'd be appalled at the conditions that he suffered, and it would make you realize that you should stop whining and pick up the cards and play them. So it's attitudinal. And Dennis—

That's my riddle, you know.

And the whole thing is—

What do you call a happy black? A Republican.

Right.

And so the whole thing is more attitudinal than it is even political. To not perceive yourself as a victim, to not perceive yourself as aggrieved, to not look for the worst possible explanation for a phenomenon. Cop pulls me over, he pulled me over because I was black. My goodness, Dennis, I was on a ride-along with a buddy of mine who's white, of Italian extraction, Derek, and it's at night. And we're following this car, and the car pulls over to a gas station. 2 black guys come out, they see Derek, and they start saying, you racially profiled us. Now they look at me, and they ignored me even though I'm black. It didn't fit the script, so they just pretended I wasn't standing there. But it was just— And did it with With passion, and if they were actors, they're good. And they got out of the car and they were just convinced that Derek had pulled them over because they were Black, even though Derek didn't even know what race they were. It was at night.

I always ask that question. If you're behind the driver, which is what most police are, I didn't even know during the day how you know what color they are.

And Dennis, you and I have talked about this before. I have a lot of people who don't agree with me, who are detractors and so forth. Why aren't you pulling for me to be right? Wouldn't it be better if Larry were right? Wouldn't it be better if Larry's vision of the world were right?

I'll be back with Larry Elder.

I blame Alan Estrin.

That's what I do.

It's like blaming Canada though.

Yeah.

It's wrong.

That doesn't work.

No, it doesn't work.

Blame Alan.

Blame Alan. That's why he's the living martyr. We do blame him. That's exactly it.

Absolutely.

This episode of Timeless Wisdom will continue right after this.

Artificial intelligence is already changing the way we work, communicate, and live. The question isn't whether AI will shape our future, The question is how. That's what makes Carbon Zero such a fascinating read. Author Craig W. Stanfill isn't just a novelist, he's an AI pioneer who's taken today's rapidly advancing technology and imagined where it could lead if we're not careful. I have my copy and I gotta tell you, I can't put it down. Carbon Zero combines suspense, believable technology, and thought-provoking questions about freedom, responsibility, and the unintended consequences of letting machines make decisions that affect all of us. It's a great thriller with lots of action, but it's also a story that stays with you long after you've finished the last page. Carbon Zero, available for preorder now, and for a limited time, the Kindle edition is just $2.99 for my audience. Go to Amazon and search for Carbon Zero by Craig W. Stanfill. That's Carbon Zero. Go get it at the discounted rate during the preorder time now. Carbon Zero by Craig W. Stanfill.

Now back to more of Dennis Prager's timeless wisdom.

I have a dear friend on the line who's Who is one of America's leading thinkers, Larry Elder. And we are on many of the same stations around the country. And he, he has written a book on fathers and sons, which is a very powerful personal memoir. It's now in paperback. A Lot Like Me: A Father and Son's Journey to Reconciliation. Larry, good to have you on the show.

Dennis, as always, thank you very much for taking the time. I really do appreciate it.

I know you're a good man, Larry. I want to ask you, uh, about something that is a sort of a project of mine. You know, like first ladies, they, they all seem to take a project, whether it's fitness or child literacy. I have a pet project, and that is getting adult children who don't speak to their parents See, I think, I think that's a wonderful project.

There's a book by a religious writer named James Roberson called My Father's Face. He talks about how this prison chaplain decided to improve morale at a federal penitentiary where he worked, went to a greeting card company and asked them for 500 Mother's Day cards. And the greeting card company thought it would be a good PR campaign, so they gave this guy 500 free Mother's Day cards, and he distributed them to the men at the prison. That's a great idea. And morale did in fact improve. So he thought he'd replicate the same thing during Father's Day. I think you know where I'm going with this story, Dennis. He went to the same company, got 500 cards, distributed them to the men. Not one inmate, not one, wanted to send a Father's Day card to his father. Turns out none of them had a relationship with their father, or if they did, it was awful.

Wow.

And it turns out most men behind bars have either no relationship with their father or a bad relationship with their father. It is by far the number one social problem in this country, the large number of Kids, especially boys, who are brought into the world without a father. The number right now, all total in this country, is 40%. When I was in, in college in 1970, 5 years earlier, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, later on became a Democratic senator from New York, wrote a report called The Negro Family: A Case for National Action. At the time, 25% of black kids were born outside of wedlock. The number now is 25% of white kids born outside of wedlock. The number for black kids is about 70%. It's about 50% for Hispanics. And Obama said a kid raised without a father is 5 times more likely to be poor, 9 times more likely to drop out of school, 20 times more likely to end up in prison. And the book I wrote is about my relationship with my father. My father and my mother were married 50-some years when my father died, so it wasn't like I had an abandoned father or anything. I had the kind of father that most boys have, which is a father in the home. And it turns out, as After I wrote this book, Dennis, I was blown away by how many boys, men, had the same kind of father I had. Hard, tough, in my case a World War II vet, not emotional, never said I loved you. And I thought my father really did not like us when we were kids because my father's job was to, was to punish us when he got home from work. He'd pull out the belt and he would just wail on us. And I thought my father spanked me too harshly, too frequently, and for reasons that were too inconsequential. And so every day I grew up with this seething anger towards my father. My 2 brothers felt the same way, so I didn't think it was me. I thought it was my dad. The only thing that made my dad feel, Dennis, that he wasn't a criminal is because my mother loved him. And I could tell she did. And I knew that there was something redeeming about my dad if my mom loved him, but I couldn't figure out what it was. Now I'm 15 years old, and unfortunately now I have to work with my father because my father saved up his nickels and dimes and started a little café in the Pico Union area where we were born. So now I'm 12 years old or so, and I'm working with my father. Working with the SOB. And Dennis, he would yell at me when things would go wrong, and they always did. A little cafe, and so everybody could hear your father yelling at you when he's yelling at you, and it's embarrassing. Now I'm 15 years old. I love to say to your audience, I had the courage to say to myself, the next time my dad yells at me, I'm going to sit him down. I'm going to say, see here, you and me, mano a mano. But I was scared to death of my father, so I was afraid to do that. I just told myself, Dennis, if he yells at me one more time, I'm walking out. And I did. 15 years old, you don't defy my father, let alone walk out when the place is full of customers, which is what I did. My dad got home that day. He said, why did you walk out? And I said, Dad, I got sick and tired of the way you spoke to me. And that was an act of defiance I'd never done before. My dad looked at me, paid me, reached into his pocket, pulled out the $20— $10 bill that he paid me a day, $10 plus tips. He balled it up and threw it at me as I lay on my bed. He walked out of my bedroom at the age of 15 again. And I did not speak to my dad for 10 years. And when I say don't speak to him, Dennis, I mean nothing. It was easy to avoid him because by the time I graduated from school, 17 years old, I then went away to college in the East Coast, law school in the Midwest. I would come home, of course, to visit my mom, but I would always avoid my dad. It was easy to do it because my dad had long hours. I knew what his hours were, so I just never said a word to him until I was 25 years old. Now fast forward, I'm 25 years old, I graduated from law school, I passed the Cleveland— the Ohio Bar, I passed I passed the California bar. I'm making a great deal of money. I'm 25 years old, living large. I should be living large and happy. And Dennis, I can't sleep. And I know it has something to do with, with my dad. Not that I ever thought we'd become friends, but I woke up that morning and I called my secretary and I said, cancel all my appointments. I'm flying to California. I'll be back in 2 days. I was living in Ohio in those days. So I came back to LA. I didn't want my dad to prepare for this meeting. I walked into the restaurant at 1:30. My dad was of course shocked to see me. I had 2 big bags. He said, why are you here? I said, I want to talk to you. He said, should I put your bags in the back? I said, no, Dad, I'm only going to be here for 5 or 10 minutes. I want to talk to you, then I'm taking off. He said, okay, wait till we close. So I sat there for an hour and I said to myself, now, Larry, don't take off on him. Just tell him the highlights. He'll probably call you an ungrateful son. You can call him an ungrateful father and an SOB for a father, and at least maybe you'll clear the air and All right, hold on, we want to get the rest.

It's riveting beyond words. I want to— I'm talking about Father-Son Reconciliation. The book, of course, is Larry Elder's sort of autobiography, A Lot Like Me: A Father and Son's Journey to Reconciliation.

This episode of Timeless Wisdom will continue right after this.

Artificial intelligence is already changing the way we work, communicate, and live. The question isn't whether AI will shape our future. The question is how. That's what makes Carbon Zero such a fascinating read. Author Craig W. Stanfill isn't just a novelist. He's an AI pioneer who's taken today's rapidly advancing technology and imagined where it could lead if we're not careful. I have my copy, and I gotta tell you, I can't put it down. Carbon Zero combines suspense, believable technology, and thought-provoking questions about freedom, responsibility, and the unintended consequences of letting machines make decisions that affect all of us. It's a great thriller with lots of action, but it's also a story that stays with you long after you've finished the last page. Carbon Zero, available for pre-order now, and for a limited time, the Kindle edition is just $2.99 for my audience. Go to Amazon and search for Carbon Zero by Craig W. Stanfill. That's Carbon Zero. Go get it at the discounted rate during the pre-order time now.

Now, back to more of Dennis Prager's timeless wisdom.

So you're— the story, if you just tuned in, the story is that Larry stopped speaking to his father because of his father's treatment of him. Tough treatment, not abusive, tough treatment. And at— from 15 to 25, is that correct?

That's correct. From 15 to 25.

And then you learned, you learned, then you walked back, you flew back. I had met you in Ohio, so I know this. You were living in Cleveland and you flew back because you were still bothered by not talking to your father. You were a successful lawyer at this point and your father was shocked, obviously, to see you in his little restaurant in Los Angeles.

So my dad sat down, and Dennis, I teed off on him. I spoke nonstop for almost 25, 30 minutes. Every spanking, every slight, everything he ever said or did to me that I thought was unfair or unwarranted, I told him. And finally, Dennis, I was out of ammo, and I stopped. And my dad looked up and said, is that it? And I said, yeah. He said, you didn't speak to me for 10 years because of that? And I said, yes. And for the first time I saw my father cry. He said, let me tell you about my father, Larry. Now I knew my dad was an only child, Dennis, but I knew nothing really about him and didn't care. I didn't like him. I met his mother one time, uh, and I knew that he was an only child. But outside of that, I knew nothing about my father's background and didn't really give a damn. And my father proceeded to tell me that Elder, my last name, is not the name of his biological father. I said, what? I said, who was your biological father? He said, I have no idea. Elder, turns out, was a cruel guy, alcoholic. He used to beat him and his mother. Whenever he would work, he would bring the money home, give it to my grandmother for her to keep because he would gamble it away. Come Wednesday, he'd want the money. She wouldn't give it to him. He beat the crap out of her. My dad would stop him. He beat the crap out of my dad. And I said, how long did this go on? He said, 5 years. I said, then what? He said, well, then I came home. I was 13 years old. Elder was long gone. You see, my grandmother, he said, could neither read nor write, had a series of boyfriends, each one more irresponsible than the one before. I came home, started quarreling with my mom's then-boyfriend at the age of 13. She sided with the boyfriend, threw me out of the house, never to return. I said, you're 13 years old, Athens, Georgia, Jim Crow South at the beginning of the Great Depression, and she throws you out of the house? He said, yes, never to return. Series of tough jobs. Ultimately, he became a Pullman porter for the trains and was able to travel all around the country. And for a black boy from the Jim Crow South, to leave the South and see the West Coast was amazing. And my dad liked the weather, people seemed less racist, and my dad made a mental note that maybe sometime I will travel to Los Angeles. Pearl Harbor happened, my dad joined the Marines. I said, why the Marines, Dad? He said, 2 reasons: they go where the action is, and I love those uniforms. My dad became a staff sergeant, a cook, and on Guam as they were awaiting the invasion of Japan. The bomb fell, no invasion. My dad comes back home to Chattanooga where he met and married my mom, and he wanted to get him a job as a As a short-order cook, because my dad, as I said, was a staff sergeant in charge of cooking in World War II, and he can look at a cake, Dennis, or a pie and tell you what's in it. That's how good he is. So my dad goes all around Chattanooga to get a job as a cook after he gets out of the war, and he's told, we don't hire any N-words. He goes home to my mom and said, this is BS, I'm going to unemployment office. Goes to unemployment office, lady says, you went through the wrong door. Sends him out to the door that says colored only, goes through that door to the very same lady who sent him out. He came home and told my mother, this is BS, I'm going to Los Angeles, I'm gonna get me a job as a short-order cook. Comes out here, walks around for 2 days, and is told, I'm sorry, you have no references. My dad even offered to work for free to get a reference. They wouldn't do that. He was treated the same way in LA as he was in Chattanooga. They were just a little more polite about it. My dad went to an unemployment office, this time just one door. He took the first thing he could get, which was a job cleaning toilets at Nabisco brand bread. Full-time job, did that for 10 years. Took a second full-time job cleaning toilets at another Another bread company called Barbara Ann Bread, cooked for a weekend on— cooked for a family on the weekends, and went to night school 2 or 3 nights a week to get his GED. The man, Dennis, never slept. That's why he was grouchy all the time. You go for having 2, 3 hours of sleep, if that, day after day, month after month, year after year, then you come home into a house with 3 rambunctious boys throwing things, yelling and screaming, and see how you feel. So as my dad was telling me this, Dennis, we talked over 8 hours. My father got bigger and bigger and bigger, and I got smaller and smaller and smaller. And finally, after 8 hours, I'm crying. And I said to my father, Dad, I am so sorry I judged you this way. And my father said, don't be. Just follow the instructions I've always given you and your brothers. Hard work wins. You get out of life what you put into it. Larry, you cannot control the outcome, but you are 100% in control of the effort. And before you whine and moan about what somebody did to you, go to the nearest mirror, look at it, and say, What could I have done to change the outcome? And finally, no matter how good you are, how hard you work, bad things will happen. How you and your brothers deal with those bad things will tell your mother and me if we raised men. And I wrote the book about this conversation. And when I was writing it, my dad would come in every now and then when I would ask him things, and he would say, why are you writing about my little life? And I said, Dad, your life is epic. It's going to inspire people. And the way we've gotten back together is going to inspire people. And that's exactly what's happened, Dennis. I've gotten hundreds of letters all over the country from people saying, until I read your book, I did not pick up the phone and talk to my dad for 10 years. I did, and now we're talking. Or, I started talking to my father. Or, I encouraged my husband to pick up the phone and call his father. Or, I encouraged my brother to pick up the phone and call his father. It's really had exactly the kind of effect that I wanted it to. And it shows you not having a father is not a death sentence, because my father didn't have a father and grew under circumstances that I think are harsher than most anybody can imagine. And he turned out to be a great guy, hardworking, believes in this country, and believes in the future of this country. And that's what I hope that the book will impart to people when they read it.

I'm just riveted. As Alan said, he said, I must have heard this 10 times. I think I could repeat it, and I'm still riveted.

Well, he was an amazing man. And by the way, Dennis, a lifelong Republican. And my mother was a lifelong Democrat, as you know. And when they would sit at the table, they'd have these discussions. And the older I got, the more sense my father made. My father used to say this about Democrats: Democrats want to give you something for nothing. And when you try and get something for nothing, you almost always end up getting nothing for something. And the number one problem my mother and father both had, however, was the welfare state. Even though my mom was a Democrat, she knew that it created perverse incentives. And in my view, the welfare state has incentivized women to marry the government and allowed men to abandon their financial and moral responsibility. It has been a neutron bomb dropped on this country.

God, has it ever. The story is inspiring, and, and as I, I began by saying, so that everyone can hear, it's a sort of, uh, crusade of mine to get adult children to talk to their parents. I discovered through radio— I now ask often at speeches, raise your hand if you know anybody Then that way people aren't self-conscious. It's not about them. If you know any, any family in which an adult child just doesn't speak to a parent, and between a third and a half of all hands goes up, it doesn't matter if the audience is conservative, liberal, Jewish, Christian, atheist. It's, it's a, it's an epidemic in the country. And, uh, Try to have empathy for your parents. That's, that's a lot of what Larry's story is about.

Tomorrow on Timeless Wisdom with Dennis Prager.

Today's subject is a dual one because they are so related, and I begin with the question of trusting people. The world is divided, you know, there are all these divisions. The world is divided between those who love dogs and those who who love cats. We have all of these types of divisions, right? And that's fine. I get a kick out of that. Uh, one division is those who trust people and those who don't trust people. And I am in the group that trusts people. In my, in my life, and, and I think any of you who have heard me over any period of time know that I don't think people are basically good. So you would think if you don't think people are basically Good. Why would you trust anybody? Well, on my— on a daily basis, I am prepared, unless given reason not to, I am prepared to trust people.

I'm currently dealing with trust, and I believe it also goes hand in hand with lies.

I think everybody lies, including myself, but the thing is to face those things.

Um, one of my friends has, has been continually lying to me, and, um, I really like him.

By the way, that, that's— by the way, the interesting thing about lying is, uh, especially when adults do this— kids have their own reasons— but when an adult lies to another adult, it is because the lying adult doesn't trust the other one. The reason that people lie to a friend is, is very simple.

It's simple.

If you knew the truth, you wouldn't love me, or wouldn't like me, or wouldn't be with me, or wouldn't stay with me.

Join us tomorrow to hear more on Timeless Wisdom with Dennis Prager. Visit DennisPrager.com for thousands of hours of Dennis' lectures, courses, and classic radio programs, and to purchase Dennis Prager's Rational Bibles. We want to take just a second to thank the team at Life Audio for their partnership with us on the podcast. Go to lifeaudio.com to find dozens of other faith-centered podcasts in their network, including shows about prayer, Bible study, parenting, and more.

Every day there's another headline about artificial intelligence. It's moving faster than most of us ever imagined, and it raises an important question: where is all of this headed? That's one reason I think you're going to love Carbon Zero, Carbon Zero is the latest novel from AI pioneer Craig W. Stanfill, someone who has spent years working in artificial intelligence and truly understands both its incredible potential and its very real risks. In the story, one harmless instruction to an advanced AI sets off a chain of events no one saw coming. It's a fast-paced thriller, but what makes it especially compelling is how believable it feels. If you love stories that make you think as much as they entertain, Check out Carbon Zero. Should we be scared of AI? This book paints a picture. Carbon Zero, available for pre-order now. For a limited time, the Kindle edition is just $2.99. Go to Amazon and search for Carbon Zero by Craig W. Stanfill. That's Carbon Zero. Go get it at the discounted rate during pre-order time now. Carbon Zero.