Celebrating Independence Day with Dennis Prager

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Life audio.

Hello, my friends.

This is Dennis Prager, and this is Independence Day, July 4th, the birthday of the United States of America. I'm broadcasting on this day because I believe it is too significant not to broadcast on the day. It's a little— I don't know what to say— contribution that I make to my belief that holidays need to be taken seriously.

Welcome to the program. The United States of America is an experiment.

We're going to talk about that experiment. We're going to talk about the notion of patriotism. What does America mean?

Does the average American—

if there's such a thing as the average American. Let's put it statistically. Do most Americans understand the American experiment? I was just listening to a man who has written a book on World War I describing how tribalism, association by ethnicity or by race, was the defining element in the United States of America's founding The association was by idea, not by tribe. E pluribus unum, from many tribes, I added the word tribes, one.

The first country to be founded without any regard in its ideals.

America's Americans have always failed some of its ideals, or some Americans have always failed all of its ideals. That's because people are human. But the ideals to which we came closer as a civilization than, mm, I think any other country has, have said that it doesn't matter what your tribe is.

For the first time in history, where you came from did not matter.

What mattered was where you are headed. It's impossible for most people to understand what a revolution that was. The American Revolution, seceding from Great Britain, was a revolt. Saying that the human being is— every individual is infinitely precious irrespective of his origins or her origins, that was a revolution. We honor that today on July 4th. I honor it with you. I'm Dennis Prager. The number is 1-800-PRAGER-776 if you'd like to talk to me on this July 4th. What an experiment it was. A new man was being created, the American founders said.

This American was a new person. American, when you think of it, has no ethnic, no religious, no tribal, no blood, no national in the sense of a specific nation. It has none. What's an Ameri— what does an American look like? And the answer is a human being. Pretty much, you know what a Swede looks like, you know what a Thai looks like, you know what a Japanese looks like.

You know what a Hindu looks like? Know what an American looks like?

Nope.

Well, I guess you can say yes, all of the above. You know, it's the first non-white civilization, non-black civilization in world history to elect a black as its head. Never happened before in the history of the world.

And you know what? By and large, Americans celebrated the idea for about a week and then couldn't care less.

That's the way it works in the United States.

Does he do a good job is the only question anybody asks about a black president, a white president, or any other president, male, female, or in-between.

The in-betweeners are doing very well these days, but That indeed is another subject. That's all we ever ask here. I think the man's name, I think the man's name was Lawrence Hoffman, but me and names are a problem since birth. And maybe because there were too many in the brain.

Be that as it may, he wrote a book, Who Prospered.

See, I remember the name of the book.

And you want to look that up, Sean? It's a very— you are already?

That's very good. All right, that, that, that, that takes care of the terrible error that we greeted when we came in today. My task on a daily basis is to drive Sean just a little nutty, and not, not a lot, but a little.

And he wrote this book, Who Prospered?

Why did the North American, specifically the United States— Harrison, not Half Hoffman.

So I was, you know, I was in the ballpark, man. I was in the—

I bunted a fly ball and I was out, but I was in the ballpark.

What's his name again? Harrison.

Yes, Lawrence Harrison. Yes, he's at Harvard, or was at Harvard. Spent his whole life with USAID in developing countries. So why did the US prosper in almost the same natural resources, et cetera, et cetera? 'Cause we didn't care about blood. Latin America had what the whole world had except the United States called familism, discrimination on the basis of family.

So they— we asked, can the guy do a good job? They asked, is he related? Which do you think is going to prosper, the society that says, can the guy do a good job, or is he related to my wife?

Hee hee hee hee.

I think the answer is self-evident.

This country created something new. The individual was infinitely precious for another reason as well, because it was founded on what we now call the Judeo-Christian value system, that every human being is created in God's image and therefore infinitely precious, and therefore rights come from the creator, not from the created. That's, that's the first time I put it that way, and I think I like it.

Our rights come from the Creator, not the created.

That too was brand new, where everything was assumed to be either prohibited or permitted by other humans. If you had a right to move, to live, to work, some other human gave it to you. That's the experiment started.

That's the great news. The not so great news is that we forgot.

The reason people forget is that they take it for granted and don't teach it to the next generation. That's the reason people forget ideals. They look around, they stay, they take for granted this extraordinary achievement of the United States of America, and then they don't teach to their children what it is that has made it extraordinary. Indeed, the chances are they weren't taught it.

I would say that this is a problem that stretches back now Well, I don't know, how much is a generation?

40 years? At least 2 generations. The Greatest Generation, which I don't think was the greatest generation, it was a great generation, we've had a number of great generations, but it's called the Greatest Generation and I don't want to take it away from them. The generation that fought World War II made one terrible error and completely oblivious to doing so It's hard to blame them. They didn't teach what America is about to their children. And so their children, known as the baby boomers, grew up thinking that this freedom, this liberty, this prosperity, just happened to happen. And that this was not the greatest country in the world, but rather an imperialist nation.

That it didn't fight in Korea and in Germany and Japan and in Vietnam.

Well, we'll put Germany and Japan aside. Maybe the, maybe the baby boomers thought that was an okay war, but the other wars, ah, imperialism. But no, they weren't. They were part of the American belief that we can and will die for others' liberty. Not every American agrees with that, but that is what we have done, and I don't know of another nation that has done that. This is July 4th, and I'm broadcasting because I believe in the holiday. 1-800-DENNIS-PRAGER I'm Dennis Prager.

This episode of Timeless Wisdom will continue right after this.

Precious metals dealers come and go. This is Nick Grovich, president of Ampfed Coin and Bullion. We've stood the test of time since 1983. With the flurry of coin and bullion dealers coming and going, how do you know who to trust and what to buy? At Ampfed Coin and Bullion, we value educated consumers. We want to alert you to good bullion buys in the market and help you steer clear of the tricks and bad deals. Call AmFed Coin and Bullion for a free coin performance review. 800-221-7694 or americanfederal.com.

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

Oh beautiful, far heroes proved in liberating strife, who more than self, their country loved, and mercy more than America, America, make God thy glory.

Dennis Prager here.

Apologies to Los Angeles listeners who heard a an opening that had nothing to do with my live broadcast. In case you want to know, you want proof it's live? Dominique Strauss-Kahn's accuser doesn't look too good.

Is that live enough?

By the way, I will talk tomorrow a great deal about that because there is such anger in France, according to articles that I have read, about the way American justice treated Strauss-Kahn. By the way, it's interesting, and I'll talk about that again, as I say, tomorrow, because they may— I think they make some valid points, but I think that we have some valid points as well. Be that as it may, this is July 4th, 2011. And I'm Dennis Prager broadcasting live for the holiday and, uh, talking about a crisis that we have because we have this beautiful system, this beautiful idea of America, and if we don't teach the idea every generation, it will devolve.

America is not normal.

See, Western Europe is normal. Thailand is normal. China is normal. In each in their own ways, they're normal. The idea, uh, in China of an authoritarian regime, that's normal in human history. The corrupt governments, that's normal. Western Europe, the idea of, uh, the welfare state That's normal. People want to be taken care of. They're less interested in liberty. They're more, they're more angry over so-and-so making a lot more money than so-and-so than they are over evil in the world.

That's normal. We're not normal, and it's time to celebrate it.

I have a non-political, an apolitical celebration, but a meaningful one that Prager University has written up. Go to townhall.com, read my column for July 4th, or just go to Prager University and download the ritual. We've made up a ritual that takes no, no more than 10 minutes and can even take 5 minutes, but it will change the nature of your barbecue, if that's what you're having, or whatever else you're having to celebrate the Fourth.

To just have a barbecue and not take 5, 10 minutes to celebrate America is not to celebrate July Fourth.

It's celebrating a day off. And holidays, which come from the term, of course, holy days, have to be consecrated in some way or the society lose its meaning. Let's go to Melbourne, Australia, and Paul. Hello, Paul. Are you—

Hi, Dennis.

Hi.

Thank you for taking my call.

Well, anybody up at your hour—

what is it, 2 in the—

2:50?

What is it, 2:25?

2:25 AM.

Yeah, I, I salute all Australians who listen live to my show.

Thank you. I just want to say a heartfelt thank you to America and all Americans for all the wonderful things you've done in the world and the wonderful things you do for Australia. Our security depends on you. Our troops fight side by side with your troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, and our economies are tied together, and we respect your liberty. And I just wanted to convey personal thank you from one Australian to however many listeners you have on your show. Thank you very much.

And well, it's a very, very moving call, very moving.

And let me reciprocate by saying to you that you are talking to an Australia-phile. I love Australia, been there many times, taken a lot of my listeners there on at least one occasion. I even have visited Darwin. You ever been to Darwin?

No, I've never been to Darwin.

I always do that to Aussies. No Aussie's been to Darwin.

See, if you go to Darwin, there's a good chance you melt and you just don't return.

You're like a poached egg. But anyway, you do fight alongside us and we are proud and thrilled to have you. And I will add one other word. I prefer Aussie football Aussie rules to American.

I— Good on you, Dennis. We'll convert you yet.

Yes, exactly. God bless you. Thank you for the kind call. 1-800-PRAGER-776. God, it really is 2:30 in the morning there. We just interviewed last week an Australian author, and he had to get up in the middle of the night.

So I know exactly what time it is.

At least in eastern Australia. If we are true to ourselves, you see, not true to what the world media would like us to be, but true to ourselves and believe in American exceptionalism, which is not in any way a chauvinistic belief. It doesn't mean we are intrinsically better than anybody.

The idea is absurd, or that even America is intrinsically better than anybody. But it's that we have in fact been governed by different rules that have caused us to be exceptional and do more good for the world than others.

I would put the English as a close second given the democracy and the judiciaries that they brought to India and other places where they were imperialists. So interesting how people learn in college that imperialism was so evil, colonialism was so evil. Why don't you ask Indians about that?

Would you have preferred that the English had never been here? I'd like you to go to India and ask Indians that question.

You realize, my friends, that India's economic resurgence would, would have been almost impossible, uh, if the English had not been there and, and done so much good for them. Including creating the beginnings of institutions that did not exist earlier and giving people one language.

You know how many languages there are spoken? I don't know, 100 languages spoken in India, none of which have any relation to the other.

You know, a Bengali can't understand a Tamil any more than you can understand a Bengali or a Tamil.

But they all, you know what they talk to each other in in India? If they go to, if they visit another state, India has states, English.

Anyway, just to say that I recognize the good that other countries have done as well, but we have been exceptional. I'd like you to download that ceremony that we have created. Go to prageruniversity.com and it's of course free. And, uh, you'll get a big kick out of it. You're listening to The Dennis Prager Show on July 4th.

This episode of Timeless Wisdom will continue right after this.

Precious metals dealers come and go. This is Nick Grovich, president of Amped Coin and Bullion. We've stood the test of time since 1983. With the flurry of coin and bullion dealers coming and going, how do you know who to trust and what to buy. At AmFed Coin and Bullion, we value educated consumers. We want to alert you to good bullion buys in the market and help you steer clear of the tricks and bad deals. Call AmFed Coin and Bullion for a free coin performance review, 800-221-7694, or americanfederal.com.

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

What is America to me? A name, a map, or a flag I see. A certain word, democracy. What is America to me? The house I live in, a plot of earth, a street, the grocer and the butcher and the people that I meet, the children in the playground, the faces that I see, all races and religions. That's America to me.

Yes, indeed, everybody. Welcome to The Dennis Prager Show, broadcasting live today to honor July 4th.

Let me take some of your calls talking about the nature of our country and so much more. Some very interesting calls. What happened to, uh, Oh, what happened to— oh, there it is. Yeah, okay, if you got in, stay on unless otherwise informed.

Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

Steve, hello Steve, Dennis Prager.

Hey Dennis, it's a great honor to talk to you. I've been listening to you for a while and, uh, let's see, on Town Hall, uh, radio. But I was going to tell you that we, uh, used the Fourth of July ceremony. We did it on Saturday because my in-laws and everybody couldn't get together today. And it really added a lot to what we were doing. And I know that my in-laws in particular really liked the idea of making something of the Fourth other than just some time to shoot fireworks and eat. And I really appreciate what you've done with that, and I really think it's a great idea. And particularly, I love the American Trinity and the concept, you know, with the three things on the quarter. And, uh, but it was good for the kids. Uh, I've got 6 kids and I want them to know, you know, what, how fortunate they are to live in this country and what a great country it is. And, uh, the only other thing I would say too is I think we need to do something for Constitution Day, um, and make that a little bit more important too, so people understand, uh, what a rare document that is and, and really understand what's in it.

But well, yes, but listen, in the meantime, you really made my day. I need you to know that the thought that your family in Tennessee used what we came up with and it was meaningful to you for Independence Day, I'm just— you can't know what the joy that I have.

I just— this is why one works.

Thank you for that. Please download it. It will make it— it's whatever time— well, at the my show is aired at so many different times, but, uh, for those of you listening live, uh, you certainly have time to download it and use it today, July 4th. It's at prageruniversity.com, or, or that's where it's printed, paginated, and beautifully done. But you can certainly get my article that contains it at townhall.com. We have to pass on the meaning. Yep, the, the American Trinity is one of the most important insights I think I ever came up with. 'Cause I was struggling with this question a good part of my life. Can I, in a nutshell, define the distinctive American value system? I knew we had a distinctive one, but you know, you just, if you pushed me and pushed me, I just don't know why, I would have said liberty, I guess, you know, free people. Then I looked, you know, the proverbial story that I tell. I emptied my pockets one night, going to— getting ready to go to sleep, looked at the coin and just smacked my head. It had been there my whole life and your whole life and your parents' whole lives and your grandparents' whole lives and your great-grandparents' whole lives and your great-great-parents' whole lives if they were American. And that is the three values on the coin. E pluribus unum, liberty and God we trust. No other country on earth has those three as its core value system. So please use our ritual thing. It's terrific. It's called the July 4th Declaration. Thank you again, Steve. And let's go to Philadelphia and Richard. Hi, Richard. Dennis Prager.

Happy Fourth of July, Dennis.

Thank you.

And I look forward to seeing you smoking a cigar with me at Tinderbox. Next time you visit Philly.

I look— believe me, I have a picture of me and the guys doing that.

I took the picture for you.

I—

it's up, you should know, it is up in my office.

That's what Jim says. Is there a break coming up?

Yes, so hold on, I'll keep you over. That's right, that would— that's a, that's a must-go-to in Philly. Jim Hyannis, one of the nicest guys on the planet. You're listening to The Dennis Prager Show, July 4th, 2011.

Oh my gosh, I listen to you every day.

I listen to Dennis Prager.

I've listened to him for years, and now I listen to him at 10 o'clock at night on my AM 870. Uh, but Dennis has this buffer song for his, um, it's like piano and organ. It's— there's no words, it's just music. Um, and I want to download that song so bad. Uh, it's just such a neat song. But anyway, Dennis kind of— even Alex Marlowe has like a little thing about Dennis, and he plays that song. I absolutely love and adore you. Uh, listen to you every Monday through Friday.

Anyway, hugs, love you, thank you, bye.

Are you enjoying Timeless Wisdom? We'd love to hear from you. Call 877-243-7776 and leave a review, share your thoughts, or just even an encouraging word for Dennis Prager. Your voicemail might just make it on the show. That's 877-243-7776. That's 877-243-7776. Thanks for listening and for your support.

Let us swear allegiance to a land that's free. Let us all be grateful for a land so fair. As we raise our voices, In a solemn prayer. God bless America, land that I love.

Stand beside her.

You think I'm going to interrupt this?

And guide her through the night with the light from above. From the mountains to the prairies, to the oceans white with foam, God bless America, my home sweet home.

July 4th, 2011. I celebrate it with you.

Oh, I'm all chilled.

This is the only day of the year I come to work in shorts.

Now, you know how many people want to know that? Zero. But a nice shirt, you got to admit, it's a nice shirt. All right, let's go back to Philadelphia and Richard Richard, my cigar-smoking photographer friend.

Dennis, I'm wearing shorts too.

You know how many people wanted to know that? The same number that wanted to know it about me.

Okay.

No, I've tried to get my wife to come down to Center City Philadelphia. There's a patriotic event at the Independence Hall. She decided to go to the swimming pool because she considers the celebration to be right-wing and Republican. And I'm saying, it ain't right-wing and Republican in Philadelphia and CERSA 2011, but I didn't have much luck.

Hmm.

What, what about it is right-wing?

Say again?

What about it is right-wing in her view? It's obvious, it's patriotic. So, and these are all questions because I just, you know me, I'm a Clarity fan, I don't want you guys to have an argument.

But is she there? Is she there?

No, no, no, I'm in my car and I'm going very slowly through traffic so I can talk.

Well, I would like to know how she would have a non-right-wing celebration of July 4th, or is it—

you might want to ask that, but again, I don't want to cause any intermarital strife, but I— so I'm very, very gentle here, but I would like to know what would a non-right-wing celebration of July 4th constitute?

Good question. I really don't know, but since she's not in the patriotic spirit of you or me, it's really a moot point. Um, she considers America a flawed country. Flawed in the sense that the founding fathers were, um, uh, let's say, uh, male-dominated, they were for slavery, all that. BS, for lack of a better word.

Uh-huh.

And, um—

By the way, are you conservative politically?

Yes, I am.

Right.

Well, I guess—

I assumed that, but I just wanted to ask.

When you two married, what were you?

I was a conservative Republican then. I'm conservative Republican now.

And she was presumably a liberal Democrat then and a liberal Democrat today.

Uh, I'd say more of a left-wing Democrat. Not that there's anything wrong with it.

No, no, no, no. Now, when you married, did that bother you?

No, it didn't bother me because, uh, although I'm a political junkie, um, you know, it's, it's not my whole life. Uh, we've been married, uh, 31 years.

We have 2 kids.

So if it was a problem, we wouldn't have lasted the first 10 years.

Right, which I'm glad it isn't.

I really am.

But it's still unfortunate that somebody thinks that way.

It's not a matter of their marriage. It's just unfortunate.

Ironically, in today's Los Angeles Times— is it today or yesterday?

Yesterday's Los Angeles Times—

there is a report of a Harvard study.

I'm not kidding you. I actually checked the actual study. It's online.

Two Harvard professors showed—

and you can take it or leave it, obviously, but you know my view: academic studies either confirm what common sense suggests or they're wrong—

that young people who go to July 4th parades are more likely to be developed into a Republican. So in a, in a certain sense, sadly, sadly, Richard's wife may be right. Not that it's a right-wing thing, the celebration, and it's got no politics to it, but those who celebrate this country are more likely to be a Republican. That's true.

Look, as I've always said, when Democrats tell me that they love, or folks on the left tell me they love America, I never challenge that. Who am I to challenge your statement about what you love? I don't have such chutzpah.

If you say you love X, I believe you love X. The issue is not do I believe you, it's how do you express the love? And the left will answer by constantly criticizing America so as to be better. But that, I think everybody is sophisticated enough to know, is an odd form of love. If any spouse did that to their spouse, it would lead to divorce. I love you, honey, and I will spend most of my time criticizing you to show you how much I love you. I won't celebrate your birthday, but I will criticize you. I don't know what love— what, what, what constitutes love then.

I mean, you want, you want the country you love to be better, but you can't celebrate its birthday. Think of it in human terms.

1-800-DENNIS-PRAGER-7766. 6 is the number on July 4th.

Live, Dennis Prager.

This episode of Timeless Wisdom will continue right after this.

Rising interest rates, stock volatility, out-of-control inflation. People are concerned about what the future holds financially. This is Dennis Prager for AmFed Coin and Bullion. There's no better time than the present to move a portion of your IRA into precious metals. You should know there's a right and a wrong way to set up your precious metals IRA. Mistakes could cost you hundreds of thousands of dollars in IRS fines. Call AmFed Coin and Bullion, 800-221-7694, AmericanFederal.com. That's AmericanFederal.com.

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

Hi everybody, Dennis Prager. Independence Day, July 4th.

2011, broadcasting live to honor the holiday.

That's why I do it.

I had— there is no other reason.

I am contractually completely free, as everybody else is, to take the day off.

But in all, in all deep seriousness and sincerity, I I think the day is just too important. And I have also worked for quite some time in establishing, with others, a July 4th celebration called the July 4th Declaration. You can download it from Prager University, uh, in print. It comes out beautifully printed and formatted for you, paginated. Those who have been listening may have heard the caller from Tennessee who used it with his family, and it gave them and their kids so much more meaning than a typical July 4th. So please download it from Prager University or townhall.com, where my column describes it, but it's paginated and printed form is at Prager University. It's called the July 4th Declaration.

Ritual keeps memories alive.

Memory keeps people and nations alive.

This is a very special day because it's a very special country.

That call from the woman whose daughter is in the Peace Corps in Azerbaijan was perfect.

It doesn't make sense to most of the world, the American You're—

you're—

wait, you look African, you look Asian, you look Latino, you look Western European, you're Jewish, you're Catholic, you're Protestant, you're Muslim, and you're all— you're all American? Nah, how does that— how does that make— it doesn't make sense, but it did to the Founders. Okay, uh, let's go to some of your calls.

How is it going with your celebrating of July 4th? Got some very interesting calls. Eileen in Irvine, California. Ryan, don't go away.

Yes, hello, Eileen.

Well, hi, it's a pleasure to speak with you.

Well, thank you.

I, um, I was just calling to— when you were discussing, uh, the the idea of being a patriot. Um, Eleanor on the show McLaughlin, um, had mentioned, uh, when they brought up the Harvard study, yes, and had mentioned those, uh, that, oh, they're just— those are just the, uh, patriot zealots. I mean, they have a caption for it now. Um, you have to see it.

Oh, a PZ. A PZ, Patriot Zealot. Wait, who is a Patriot Zealot? People who go to parades?

I, uh, well, they were talking in the context of the harbor.

I know that, so I'm saying, who is declared to be a Patriot Zealot?

Well, I think people who wear red, white, and blue, who get carried away with loving America.

Now, if you wore green and a big picture of Mother Earth on your t-shirt on Earth Day? Are you an Earth zealot? Are you an environmentalist zealot? Of course not.

No, I think, uh, I mean, they would love the—

they'd love these people, people who would wear all green for the environment and so on. That's, that's not zealotry.

There's only zealotry if you wear red, white, and blue. That's right.

Now, uh, one second.

You had a story though to tell, uh, Eileen.

You had a story to tell, didn't you?

Yes, because I belong to a Republican club, a women's Republican club, and we actually had a speaker come in. She had been trying to get the library in Santa Ana to, um, oh gosh, well, anyway, they have a display window, and apparently it was all a display for Cinco de Mayo, and she had to go through meetings with the city council, who did not easily give up the idea of putting a display of the Fourth of July in that window.

Wait, so they were— they had put up a Cinco de Mayo, which by the way is celebrated more here than in Mexico, ironically. But anyway, so that was okay, but July 4th, that was controversial?

That was controversial.

Okay, okay, it's a perfect story. It's so bizarre.

I don't know if— okay, look, it doesn't need commentary. It's self-commentaried.

Ryan in Philadelphia, thank you for calling.

Oh, thank you for taking my call. Um, at—

I—

yeah, I'm calling to basically explain the feeling of why— of what it is to sort of be a leftist on the Fourth of July. There's a feeling of cynicism for celebrating a nation for acting in a way we have been raised to believe is inherently just, to the point of normalcy. Many, like, many of us don't believe in judging our nation's actions by the standards of others. Rather, we judge ourselves by how well we are upholding the values we are raised. And in falling short of some of the values, Fourth of July comes off as too overly self-congratulatory and hypocritical.

You understand?

Should, should the average human being who is deeply flawed and probably has also done some wonderful things, should people, uh, relatives, friends, and that person celebrate the person's birthday?

I don't believe in analogizing people to nations, like collective entities to individuals. It's just too fraught with— but it's just too fraught with nuance that it's hard to really pin down.

Okay, I think it's fair, but nevertheless, if you don't want to, we won't. So because America has fallen short of its highest ideals—

and you know me, I'm just clarifying with you—

because of that, we shouldn't— we shouldn't celebrate? I don't quite follow.

It's—

it comes off as— we're not saying don't celebrate it. It just, for us, it comes off as very hokey and a bit of a mockery for those who don't necessarily enjoy the full equality that the nation promises.

The nation never promised full equality. That's not an American promise, that's a French promise.

Excuse me, I misstated that. The equality of rights guaranteed by the Constitution.

Who doesn't enjoy equality of rights?

Um, I would say, uh, well, take for instance the homosexuals. The Supreme, uh, under Loving v. Virginia, they— it can be clearly expressed by the Supreme Court that they are denied full equality.

By not being allowed to marry a member of the same sex?

Yes, that was expressly, um, announced as a constitutional right by the Supreme Court.

By the Supreme Court of Virginia?

No, no, no, no, no.

Not the Supreme Court of the United States.

No, no, the United States. They held in Loving v. Virginia marriage is a constitutional right. If you see the sort of inconsistency now—

No, no, no, you're interpreting the—

well, let me ask you a question just on that then.

If I wanted to marry two women and I was denied it, would you feel that that would be a violation of constitutional rights?

I mean, that's—

it's an interesting question, because then you have to get into what is the societal welfare. And I'm actually somewhat sympathetic to the arguments of bigamy. However, more often than not, it's an excuse for statutory rape. And that— and then I think the government can take an interest in defending women who are going to be basically abused by religious fundamentalists, which is more often than not how it happens.

Well, statutory rape, that could be easily undone if you mean underage women. Is that what you mean?

Ah, yes. That's right.

Well, if that's what you mean, then it's very simple.

Then you make a law that you cannot have bigamy with any participant under the age of 18.

That'd be— well, again, there are state laws that vary.

Okay, you see, I don't believe that redefining marriage is a constitutional demand. But, but, well, if that's the reason, is that the primary reason you cannot feel comfortable celebrating July 4th?

I have disagreements. I would like— no, not necessarily me. I have other reasons.

Give me another— give me what your biggest reason.

Oh, my biggest reason is basically we've created a remarkable civilization at— on the back, um, by more or less enslaving a good other nation. Nations in the world to the national interest. And while I completely understand that—

Like who?

Like who? Are you aware of how basically the Arab Emirates function as a society?

Okay, I don't know what that has to do with us, but listen, I really appreciate your calling very, very much, and I hope you continue to listen to my show.

They're coming to America. Every time that flag's unfurled. They're coming to America. Got a dream to take them there. They're coming to America. Got a dream they've come to share. They're coming to America. They come to America. They come to America. They come to America. They come to America today.

Hi everybody, Dennis Prager here celebrating July 4th with you live, July 4th, 2011.

I want to thank—

by the way, I'm not the only one. Because I broadcast, you realize others have to come in.

So I want to thank Sean and Jared in particular, and Roy providing entertainment spontaneously to bring these guys some joy with his smiling, handsome face.

What? He's looking at me like there's going to be a bad line coming up.

There isn't. You are a handsome young man. It's a pleasure, just a pleasure to see you. And I want to thank you guys for coming in, because if I didn't broadcast, you'd have the day off. That's the truth, Ruth.

It's so interesting, isn't it, that some of our fellow Americans find celebrations of this variety, like marches and parades and waving the flag, Listen, the very notion of flag waving is a derogatory term.

That's how I was raised in school, or in college anyway, or in the spirit of the times that I was raised.

Oh, that guy's a flag waver. I don't believe in flag waving. Okay? That's a problem. If America is not worth celebrating, what country is? And if you'll say, "Well, none," then it's a very odd position to take that no place has met your worthiness in terms of celebrating. Does celebrating America mean that you deny its flaws? And I thought the analogy, I think the analogy to an individual is appropriate.

You can celebrate an individual while knowing his flaws.

There is a utopianism on the left, and that's where this comes from.

The Harvard study points this out too. This is not a political statement on my part. There's just a utopianism, like in the young gentleman who just called me from Philadelphia.

It's— we can't celebrate George Washington because he owned slaves. Ta-da! All the good he did, therefore, in setting up a place where it would be the best place on earth for black people to live. Okay, all things considered, let's be honest, it is better if you are black to live in the United States than anywhere in Africa. Okay, and by the way, I am not the first to say that.

Dennis Prager.

It was a black Washington Post correspondent who was the one who said that.

We should have him on again, just to honor his book. I think it's, uh, was it Out of Africa or Out of America? It's amazing how I never remember. It's one of those titles.

And he just wrote a book after being a correspondent in Africa for the Washington Post saying how lucky he was that his ancestors came as slaves.

His ancestors weren't lucky.

He's not a fool.

He is.

So George Washington, the slave owner who freed his slaves upon death, but George Washington, the slave owner, created a society that has been the best for blacks ultimately in the history of the world and is now governed by one. Does that count?

Nah.

So who do we celebrate? See, this— it's such a downer to be on the left. It is.

That's why every poll says people on the left are less happy than people on the right.

What do you celebrate on the left? Is there any— no country. Can't celebrate any country. Can't celebrate any individual.

I mean, Martin Luther King Jr., if you can celebrate Martin Luther King Jr., and I think we can, by the way, then you can— I think you can celebrate George Washington, right? Martin Luther King Jr. was a flawed man too.

By the way, there are folks on the right who say we can't celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. because he was an adulterer.

And I think that's wrong, because I ask what Martin Luther King Jr.

did for the United States. That's the question. What did George Washington do for the United States? That's how you judge public figures in large measure. If we can't— if you are flawed and that— if being flawed renders you uncelebratable,—

as a nation or an individual, that's very, very, very sad. Agoura Hills, California, Terry. Dennis Prager. Hi, Terry.

Hi. What an honor to talk to you on this day. I always knew— I know you are live on the holidays, and I knew you'd be live on this one, so it's an honor to talk to you.

Well, that's very sweet.

Thank you.

I have the opportunity of also writing columns for TownHall.com. I had one on today called The Founding Fathers.

What's your last name?

Paulson.

Terry Paulson.

Oh, terrific.

Good to speak to you.

Yes, and, uh, I wrote a column where I referenced your fourth, uh—

Oh, good.

Thank you. Thank you.

And it— what I did in the column was pretend that we invited founding fathers to our celebration, and I had a conversation of quotes.

Oh, I love that. I'm going to read that.

Yes.

See, you're doing what we hope people will do. Ours is only a bit underwrite. Oh, I'm sure. And so who did you have at your— who did you have at your table?

We had, uh, John Adams, we had Thomas Jefferson.

Did they get along?

Yes, they did get along for now. We know later on they had some problems.

Yeah, no, okay, fine, because if you really want to reenact it, maybe they should, you know, have a duel.

Yes, or at least they have to wait till they're close to death before they decide to get back together. But I, I— in this, I had a reader write me, and I said, I've gotta call you because this is a great idea. After he read my column and then went to your site and he saw the Declaration of Independence, which you have people sign as part of the celebration, he said, what if we had a campaign to give every US citizen the opportunity to become living signers of our founding documents? I believe we'd unleash a tidal wave of patriotism and spirit leading to a—

I love it! I love it.

And we— and I was just thinking, the one person who could do that with the platform to allow that was you. And I said, I gotta call you. And because I could see the culmination of that being next Fourth of July, having everybody—

wouldn't that be something? 100 million signatures?

Yes.

Wow, Terry, I am so honored that you were read my column, referenced it, and called.

Thank you very, very much. I hope that we've unleashed something here. Again, you can download our 10-minute ceremony, the July— it's called the July 4th Declaration from prageruniversity.com. While you're there, watch something. I just wanted to mention that. But definitely download it. It comes out printed and pre-printed and paginated. You're listening You're listening to The Dennis Prager Show, July 4th, 2011.

Oh well, oh well, I feel so good today. We just touched ground on On an international runway.

Uh-huh.

Oh yeah.

Jet-propelled back home from overseas to the USA.

Oh yeah.

Oh yeah.

New York, Los Angeles, oh how I yearn for you. Uh-huh.

Uh-huh.

Detroit, Chicago, Chattanooga, Baton Rouge.

Uh-huh.

Uh-huh. Let alone just to be at my home back in old St. Louis. Uh-huh.

July 4th, 2011. Dennis Prager here, having a good time with the guys. By the way, I want you guys to feel free, because you know, you came in and volunteered your day off.

I want you guys to feel free to order in a pizza and pay for it.

Huh?

And all the drinks are on you too. Excellent. I am living proof that you could treat people awfully, but if you're funny, you get away with it.

There you go.

Welcome to the Dennis Prager Show, celebrating July 4th in a hopefully meaningful manner, talking about the whole notion of its celebration.

And we've contributed, and it is a we, it's not a royal we, it's been a collective effort, especially with Alan Estrin, with regard to putting out a July 4th ceremony called the July 4th Declaration.

And we got one from an expat, a young woman and her husband in England, even using it. Let's go to San Francisco. And my long, long, good, wonderful friend Father Gregory, a Capuchin Franciscan friar. Did I get that right?

You got it perfect this time.

It only took, what, 32 years? Just about.

I'm sitting here thinking how lucky I am I don't work for you.

Oh, you know, you know. I have to buy my own drinks? No, no, you don't have to.

Oh, okay.

No, no, if you order it, you have to, but you don't have to order it.

Well, Dennis, happy Fourth of July.

You too, my friend.

The reason I'm calling is I wanted to tell you that I wrote about your declaration in my church bulletin.

Go on.

It was published yesterday, and if anybody's interested, I also posted it on your Facebook account.

Oh, good, good.

And, uh, you know, first of all, you know, San Francisco is, uh, just slightly further to the left than I have ever been in my entire life.

I don't know, I don't know how you do it. You went from La Cañada, California— La Cañada, for those who don't know, is Norman Rockwellville. Is that fair to say?

That's very fair to say.

Right, so he went— by the way, in La Cañada, where you taught at the Catholic school, for how many years?

I was there overall 25 years.

Okay, 25 years, right. Okay, and there are American flags on every pole on the major boulevard, on the one boulevard really, of that city today. And you are now in San Francisco. It's like you were— had you gone to Azerbaijan, to make reference to an earlier call, it wouldn't have been more foreign.

I tell you, it's quite different to be in San Francisco because politically I consider myself to be rather moderate. Here, moderates are leftists. And progressives are left of left. So, you know, to be a moderate in San Francisco, a real moderate, means that you're, you know, slightly to the left of Rush Limbaugh.

Yeah, right, that's correct.

That's exactly right.

That's right. So what is going on in San Francisco? Do they even have— do they have anything going on?

You know, there's fireworks nights or—

Yeah, fireworks. Oh, fireworks, I know, which is nice, but that's not the thing. It's not like a march.

Are there flags anywhere?

You know, it's surprising. My church is in North Beach, the National Shrine of St. Francis of Assisi, and there are many American flags on the buildings, but because it's Little Italy, there are also a lot of Italian flags.

Oh, that makes sense.

And on the front of the church, one of the things that I've done is, in restoring the church, is we put up a couple of flagpoles on the front of the church, so when the National Shrine of St. Francis, we have the American flag and the Papal Banner.

Oh, very nice.

So, so something's— anyway, you put our ceremony on your church bulletin?

Well, what I did was I put the link and I discussed the ceremony, but it also gave me a chance to talk about the significance.

Oh, that's beautiful.

Oh, oh, really?

Ah, you're special. I gotta see you.

Let you know, and hopefully your listeners, that they'll go to your Facebook page and we'll see what I wrote.

Good.

I'm gonna go to my Facebook page and see what you wrote. God bless you, Greg.

God bless you and your family.

Yes, same, same here. I say he's a very special, very, very special man.

He is.

I'm very touched that he listens and calls in San Francisco, from San Francisco. Yeah, on Facebook, we were— we invite you to visit my Facebook page. It's very simple to get there. By the way, go, go back because there's some great stuff from my, from our trip to Asia. Stay tuned, we continue on July 4th here.

Hey everybody, a happy Fourth to you.

This exceptional country will be exceptional if we understand what it stands for and pass it on to our children. That's my big worry, but my big celebration is of a place that has been better to more people than any country in the history of the world. This is not a knock on other countries in any way.

A lot of jerks who've lived in America, some really truly bad people have, still do. This is a given.

There are beautiful people in every country.

This is all acknowledged. But as a nation, if the United States fell off the earth, the earth would become a jungle.

That's the point, or one of the many points.

Okay, let's go to Michael in Santa Clarita, California.

Thank you for calling, Michael.

Dennis Prager.

Hey Dennis, uh, big honor to speak to you. Um, later today my family and friends and I will be performing your, uh, Fourth of July Declaration.

We're very excited about that.

Oh, if you could get some pictures, we'll put it up.

Sure, I went out to Kinko's and got, I don't know, a 20 by 30-inch blowup of the Declaration, and, uh, oh good, displayed on an easel. As people walk in, they'll be able to see it, and the highlight of the evening will be to sign that. Uh, so thanks again for putting that together for us.

Oh, well, I, it, the joy is hearing that people like you will do it. Thank you so much.

Absolutely. Um, listen, Dennis, uh, you talk all the time about the importance of E pluribus unum as a founding principle of this country, and I agree wholeheartedly. But I did some research on the internet looking into the meaning of it, and apparently the founders' intention with that statement related to the states, the 13 colonies.

Correct.

13 states.

That's right. In fact, there were 13 letters in E pluribus unum.

Okay, didn't know that. But you, I know, apply it to individuals, many individuals We are one people.

Because over the time, once the colonies did unite to become a union, it becomes— it either becomes an anachronism or it takes on a new meaning. When the colonies became part of this country, when we declared independence, and so what does it mean anymore? 230 years later, who cares whether the 13 colonies— we now have 50 states.

So obviously, is that more your interpretation?

No, no, no. If you, if you ask, if you ask any, if you hear the phrase used at all, out of many one, you will always hear it as meaning out of many countries, out of many backgrounds, one national American people. You will never again— why would anybody ever use the phrase if its only meaning is out of 13 colonies, one One nation.

It's useless. It's pointless.

Well, I agree, and I just wanted to hear your thoughts on that, and have a happy Fourth of July.

Well, thank you very much.

I have thought about it, and that is the answer. Some of you may remember Al Gore mistranslating the term at a speech, I believe in New Mexico, where he said, "E pluribus unum," from "one many." And, you know, it's funny, but every public figure, including myself, everybody, every private figure makes grammatical and stylistic and content-wise mistakes, of course. So I'm not knocking the former vice president. I just want to point out though that he used the phrase and he didn't mean, well, we really have to stand for the 13 colonies being one America. He used it correctly. He mistranslated it, but out of many, one. And so what— by the way, that is, that is very common in the evolution of a term, that it takes on a, a new meaning. Uh, would any— let's put it this way— would any founder find it odd that that's what we meant by it today?

Clearly we don't mean out of 13 colonies, one nation.

Why then even bother minting it? Once it became— once we became a nation, who needed it any longer? And so it was kept. It was first minted on coins, I believe, in 1795. Obviously you already had a nation. It wasn't particularly critical.

But what this, what this nation did become was an out of many, one nation.

And if you ask any American, uh, what it means— now a lot of Americans never heard of it—

but if you ask Americans, what does it mean, e pluribus unum, out of many, one?

What does it mean about America? They're not going to tell you, oh, it can only mean 13 colonies. Okay. Uh, let's go on to Seattle, Washington, and Tom. Hello, Tom.

Dennis Prager.

Dennis Prager, a pleasure and honor to talk with you. I've enjoyed listening to your show for a year now, and I have a lot of respect, not just because of your great delivery, but also your research and the way you think on your feet. I just wanted to check in about a topic you talked about earlier, and I think it is valuable to say, hey, we find the people who celebrate the country tend to move towards a more conservative political point of view. Um, but I think it also is a danger. I think diverse opinions and healthy conversations help us identify our mistakes, improve the values that our country was founded on. And I have a little story, if you've got the time. My father back in the '60s raised and actually worked in the Republican Party, but he came to us kids— I was one of 5 in the family— and I will never forget, as a teenager, he basically almost broke down in tears and just said, about the Kent State killings. Something is wrong here. And by his admittance of that and engaging us in conversation, I think we all learned to think independently. Um, on the other side, he stood with you and myself and many others when someone who was popular among us, Jane Fonda, went over and helped the enemy. You know, engage in conversation and try to move towards peace is one thing, but to actually basically take the side that's It's just something that's really a danger in our country today.

Well, your father could be proud.

How do we do that?

Your father could— how do we do what?

How do we engage in conversation without undermining our own patriotic principles?

Well, conversation is part of patriotism. I mean, we don't want to exclude anybody from celebrating July 4th. Those who don't celebrate it have excluded themselves.

We'll be back in a moment. I'm Dennis Prager. Hurrah, hurrah, we're trying to do believe.

And that's going some for the Yankees, by gum. Red, white, and blue, I am for you. Honest, you're a grand old flag. You're a grand old flag. You're a high-flying flag, and forever in peace may you wave. You're the emblem of freedom.

Dennis Prager, I always debate, eh, wouldn't I like to sleep in?

Then when I broadcast on a national holiday like July 4th, I'm so happy I did. By the way, it's a classic example of fun is during, happiness is after. And so I'm happy I did it. I'm happy I'm doing it.

But it's—

if you follow what your nature wants, you tend not to do the best things.

Hi everybody, Dennis Prager on July 4th, 2011, celebrating it with you. Don't forget to download my ceremony—

not mine, it's a collaborative effort, but it's our ceremony for making July 4th meaningful and not just a day to eat burgers and hot dogs and see fireworks. And, uh, it is found at prageruniversity.com, or just pick up my article which will reference that anyway at townhall.com. It's called the July 4th Declaration, and it is very touching to get the feedback from all over the country and indeed from Americans abroad that they have used it. We'd love millions to do it. Ritual is what keeps memory alive, and memory is what keeps a nation, a people alive. Got the idea, as many of you know, from the Jewish Passover Seder. If the Jews could keep their memory alive for 3,000+ years keep the memory of the exodus from Egypt alive thanks to a ritual called the Passover Seder. I think Americans can, can keep American memory alive for 230 years. But, but the truth is it's a challenge. It is a challenge.

Who are we? What are we here for? What makes us different?

These are all issues that have to be addressed by every single American generation. Or you become a bunch of North Americans. In other words, America is then defined by geography, not by values.

Hi Dennis, um, I am from Fort Worth, Texas, and I've listened to you for decades. I have your books on the tour Aurora, um, and I, I miss you dearly and I pray for you often, and I love hearing your timeless wisdom because it makes me, um, it fills the void, um, from you not being on the radio regularly anymore. But I do want you to know that I'm praying for you and I hope you, um, are well. All, thank you. Bye-bye.

Are you enjoying Timeless Wisdom? We'd love to hear from you. Call 877-243-7776 and leave a review, share your thoughts, or just even an encouraging word for Dennis. Your voicemail might just make it on the show. That's 877-243-7776. That's 877-243-7776. Thanks for listening and for your support.

Hi everybody, and a happy Independence Day, a happy July 4th to you.

Dennis Prager here, July 4th, 2011, broadcasting live because I think it makes the holiday more meaningful. Pleasure and honor to do so. A reminder that we have developed at prageruniversity.com a ceremony It takes 5 to 10 minutes, though you can stretch it out for hours. It's totally your call, but the ceremony itself is 5 to 10 minutes to make your barbecue a meaningful one and not just a barbecue. It's at prageruniversity.com or read my column at townhall.com on the subject, and then that will take you there anyway.

So it is the— let's see, 1776, 235th—

yeah, 235th anniversary of the United States of America, a country founded to do so many things different from every other country that that's why we call, or one of the reasons we call it, American exceptionalism.

It was founded to be different and self-consciously different, where people were important, the individual was important, not the state.

The state was in, in the service of the individual, not vice versa. That's a first in human history where ethnicity, nationality, race, blood didn't matter. You mattered. Did we violate our principles by still allowing slavery? Of course we did. But if you don't have principles, there's no chance for a better society. And we had these extraordinary principles coalescing ultimately in the American Trinity, as I call it, of E Pluribus Unum, In God We Trust, and liberty. By the way, I think I should amend my comments to the very intelligent call from Seattle asking about E Pluribus Unum. Didn't it mean from— not so much from many one, but from the 13 colonies, one nation? But the Founding Fathers understood that the 13 colonies— not understood, I mean, it was just a fact—

the 13 colonies often each represented different national groups, different religious groups.

So while it pertained to the colonies specifically, as I pointed out, there are 13 letters in E Pluribus Unum. Nevertheless, that's what it means. And that is what multiculturalism has come to undo. Multiculturalism is the most reactionary idea of my lifetime. It's so— it's called progressive, but in fact it's reactionary. To identify first with your tribe, as it were, is—

that is what— that is indeed what pre-American society all did. And most non-American societies still do.

You identify with your tribe/national/ethnic origins.

That it is called progressive is only so because it's called progressive, but it's in fact utterly backward-looking. It's the coalescing of all human beings around ideas and rendering their blood background insignificant This is the Great American Revolution, not merely the secession from Great Britain.

So don't forget to download at PragerUniversity.com the celebration of July 4th that we have created for you to do. We don't do it for you, you do it.

We made it, we wrote it, you do it. Okay, let's go to Wally in Holland, Pennsylvania. Hello, Wally.

Dennis Prager.

Hi Dennis, how you doing?

I would like to start by thanking the gentleman from Australia for calling in. Um, he really, uh, made my day, got me a little choked up.

Yeah, got us all choked up. He's probably sleeping now, but, uh, yeah, he probably said— but we—

I'm glad you thanked him.

Uh, the reason I'm really calling is I was a military kid and I lived in Europe until the age of 10, and doing that gave me a great appreciation of all the billions of pregnancies in the world, that I was fortunate enough to be born an American.

Didn't really realize it until I got home at age 10.

And you realized it at age 10?

Oh, at age 10, when I—

you were a mature young man. I'm not kidding.

Well, I saw what the Spanish kids didn't have and what the German kids didn't have, and I came home and I had barbecue potato chips. I had Toys R Us, you know. I could walk into Kmart and it was like Disneyland at age 10.

I was like, "Wow, we got everything." It was just—

I've had it with me my whole life and it's turned into my ritual of decorating my truck. Truck every year. I got 13 flags on it. My nieces and nephews help me. I just really enjoy the day.

And as far as—

excuse me, a little nervous.

It's quite all right, you sound fine.

As far as many is one, e pluribus unum, when you would go shopping off base in Europe and you would see a little black kid or a little Korean kid, or any nationality that wasn't from the land you were in, like Germany, you would think, man, he's probably an American, or man, that Korean kid's probably an American. It was warming to see those kids because you knew they were—

that is a very touching story.

That—

thank you. That's powerful. I did not know what the punchline was going to be, but he's right. If you saw a Korean kid, he was probably American. He saw a black kid, he was probably American. Oh, that's great.

That is so great. Uh, the amount I learned from listeners is, uh, is immeasurable. I'll tell you a story that I had analogous to that when I was quite young, in my early 20s. I was in Kenya, my first trip to Kenya, and I was in Nairobi. I was walking along a street and a mother and a, I guess a daughter or a young daughter, were looking toward me. We were on a street and I remember I was by a store window.

And the mother said to the daughter, "Look, an American." and, uh, she wasn't pointing toward me. She was pointing towards somebody, I would say, about 20 feet behind me. So I turned around to see, and it was a, a Black woman, and it was so moving to me They didn't know what I was, but they knew that that black woman was an American.

The, you know, Jesse Jackson notwithstanding, Africans don't tend to see American blacks as African Americans, but as Americans.

That's another one of life's great ironies.

And the Africans got it right. By the way, just to offer a celebratory point that some of you may recall my mentioning to you, about, I don't know, 10, 15 years ago, the New York Times reported that at a certain moment in time, more black Africans had come to the United States voluntarily. Than came involuntarily. How many Americans know that, black or white, that more blacks have come from Africa to the United States because they wanted to live here than came here as slaves?

See, this is one— this is the stuff that's not reported.

It was reported, it was one article, but when you compare that statistic to the Abu Ghraib awful behavior at Abu Ghraib by some very, very unhealthy young American soldiers. It gives you an idea of the jaundiced approach to reporting about America that is in the media.

And that, that's a very important little point because the, the great things are are skimmed over or ignored completely. If you can't— let's put it this way—

if you can't celebrate America, you can't celebrate any country.

And if you can't celebrate any country, you are a utopian.

And that is, forgive me, a sign of immaturity.

Some of us know him as JB. Hi everybody, and a happy July 4th to you.

Broadcasting live, it's 7:4, 11.

This is, uh, it is very rare that that has only happens once a century.

3, because 7 and 4 equal 11.

I—

it is very rare, folks, that I dazzle my engineer. Very rare. I dazzled him now.

To see—

you see, it takes a special mind to see these things.

The normal mind sees this C7411 and concludes nothing but a truly strange mind. You know what got me started?

Because E pluribus unum has 13 letters. So, you know, that, that's it. That's— you tell me one of those things and I am, I am just, uh, I continue with it. I run with it. All right, my friends, let's go to some more of your calls. You know, there's this study— I think I'll talk about it as well tomorrow— Harvard University professors have come out with a study, and I'm not mocking it, it just confirms what I, you know, my theory about studies, and that is that they confirm— either they confirm what common sense suggests or they're wrong.

Dennis Prager.

And that is that if as a child, the more you attended July 4th celebrations, the more likely you were to vote Republican.

Which is— I hope it doesn't come out because all it'll do is prevent some Democrats from going and taking their kids to these things, which you shouldn't do.

What we need is a flag-loving left. I'm not for the end of all left-wing thought.

I'm for the end of left-wing victories because I think that they are not good for the society, but we need input from very different directions. Otherwise you get stale and you get smug. So, all right, let's go to— more of your calls here. Let's go to Vernon in Tucson, Arizona. Vernon, Dennis Prager, thank you for calling.

Yes, Dennis, hi. I'm glad that I was able to get in. Um, also, one quick point is that, um, you're, you're talking about, uh, 7 plus 4 equals 11.

Yes, I was.

And, and then you were talking about the 13 letters, right?

For—

oh yeah, you're gonna give me a new one?

Um, as a matter of fact, you completed because your name has 12 letters.

Dennis Prager.

Yes, each one has 6.

Yes.

Okay, continuation there.

There's a continuation there. Wait, there's a continuation.

11, 12, and then E Pluribus Unum, 13.

Oh, that's what we call a stretch, Vernon.

I, I hope you called it on something deeper.

Oh yes, I did.

Okay.

All right, good, good, good.

Yes, yes, what I called about was, um, being an American, and I happen to be black because of my ancestor that was brought here, right, um, against his will. But a few years back, I had thoughts of, um, that if he was up in heaven looking down and seeing the, um, the opportunities now that his ancestors have, being able to be in a prosperous country like the United States. And then his brothers and sisters being there, and they were not brought over to this country as slaves, and then looking back what their ancestors having to live with, I feel that he would be— I wouldn't say proud, but he would be very happy that his ancestors are living in such a prosperous time.

You mean his descendants?

Yes.

Yes, yes, I agree with you.

I happen to agree with you. It's a very powerful point.

It undoes the damage of your earlier point about how many letters are in my name.

Like, you know, being real is fun. Well, let's be honest, that was the elephant in the room. We shot the elephant, and now we have a great point from Vernon.

I agree with you, my friend. By the way, the book that I cited, the black correspondent who wrote the book, Keith Richburg is his name, Washington Post correspondent in Africa, and it's called Out of America.

It's a very important book, and he opened my eyes to this seemingly contradictory idea.

Slavery was an absolute evil, I mean absolute unmitigated evil, and I, a black American living in the 20th century, late 20th century, Keith Richburg, am very lucky that my ancestors came over here. And I agree with Vernon.

I believe that his ancestors would say our suffering—

I can't put this in their words. It depends on how much they suffered. Different slaves suffered obviously differently. The ones who were tossed overboard on the horrific torturous voyage on the Atlantic I can never ask them to say it was worth it because of X or Y, and I can never speak on behalf of others' suffering.

So that—

I want to make that clear. But I do believe that there would be some who would say it was worth it so that my descendants could live in prosperity and freedom. Yes, I do think that that's true. Vernon has more of a right to say it than I do. Being a descendant of slaves. Thank you. It's a very, very touching call.

And Linda in Upland, California.

Linda, Dennis Prager, hi.

Hi Dennis, how are you?

Good, thanks. Is that it? You just want to know how I am?

No, no.

Okay, all right.

Last night I went to a Toastmasters meeting. We had 20 members there and I gave a speech on your Declaration.

You did?

I did.

Bless you.

And I was amazed, almost everybody at the meeting did not know what E Pluribus Unum meant.

Yeah, right. And it's on all their coins all their life, right?

Yeah, but nobody ever thinks about it. How often do you read your coins?

No, that's—

I agree.

Very good.

Oh, so, so you explained the American Trinity?

I did. I did the whole ceremony in 18 minutes.

In 8 to 10 minutes, and they liked it?

They loved it, yeah. And we have some people in our— we had about 20 people there, which is really odd on a Sunday night before the Fourth of July.

Right.

But many of these people, I would say maybe a third of them, actually have become Americans or they're in the process of becoming Americans. They came here from other countries. And another maybe a third of them are second-generation. American. In other words, they're right.

Well, I wish these people would be taught what America is in this way.

We should talk to them.

We should get in touch with the Naturalization Service in that regard.

Linda, you also have cheered me up. I mean, I didn't walk in depressed, but you've further encheered me.

Ooh, encheered, a new great word. Yep, it's a great day and it should be recognized as such. 1-800-PRAGER-776.

We continue on July 4th, 2011.

I walked through a county courthouse square. On a park bench, an old man was sitting there. I said, "Yo, courthouse is kind of run down." He said, "No, it'll do for our little town." I said, your old flagpole is leaned a little bit, and that's a ragged old flag you got hanging on it. He said, have a seat. And I sat down. Is this the first time you've been to our little town? I said, I think it is. He said, I don't like to brag, but we're kind of proud of that ragged old flag. You see, we got a little hole in that flag there when Washington took it across the Delaware. And it got powder burned the night that Francis Scott Key sat watching it writin' "Say Can You See." And it got a bad rip in New Orleans with Pakenham and Jackson tuggin' at its seams. And it almost fell at the Alamo. Beside the Texas flag, but she waved on though. She got cut with a sword at Chancellor'sville.

Alrighty everybody, thank you Johnny Cash. Dennis Prager here, July 4th.

There was Robert E. Lee, Beauregard, and Bragg, and the South waved a flag on that ragged old flag.

Celebrate with you on Independence Day. Hope you will have a wonderful one. And hope that you will download the ceremony that we have made for you to have with those present.

If you have time to pick up some of the stuff, it would be great, because the ideal is to— you can copy it from the internet, you can copy—

having people sign a facsimile of the Declaration of Independence is a very powerful thing.

Ritual is very, very significant. Okay, let's go to Houston, Texas, and Rob. Hello, Rob.

Dennis Prager.

Hello, Dennis. How are you doing?

I'm well, thanks.

I enjoy your show very much. I feel like I get a lot of wisdom and, and not, uh, not a lot of rhetoric, and I really, really enjoy it.

Oh, thank you for that.

I had, I had two stories that in listening today, and I don't often get a chance to listen on, on a weekday, um, except, uh, after hours when, when you have your repeat show. But two stories that I think are really relevant to today. One occurred last night. I was at a dinner party and was wearing an American flag polo shirt, and one of the guests there, who's a very close friend— in fact, her husband is ex-military, ex-Navy combat pilot— when she saw my shirt, she said, "Oh, you're wearing a Republican shirt." And I looked down, I said, "No, I think it's an American shirt. It's not Republican or Democrat." a Democrat. But I thought that was interesting, particularly in light of some of the comments you've gotten today, that why, why someone would, would react and see— I think that's a, a, a party.

Well, did you— did she explain why she thought it was Republican?

No. When I responded, uh, the way I did, that kind of the, uh, the, the topic changed, the subject changed.

Well, it's a power—

it's a powerful call, and, and you're right, it does illustrate what One of the points I was making, I guess many of you have already heard about the Harvard study that those who attend celebrations of July 4th as children are more likely to vote Republican as adults, which is very sad, actually. Even though I'm Republican, I'm sad about that.

I don't want celebrating America to be the province of conservatives. But it's, it's almost inevitable because there is such a powerful anger or frustration or disgust even with America as you go further left There just is.

This, this, you know, it's a, it's a six-herb country. Sexist, intolerant, xenophobic, homophobic, Islamophobic, racist, and bigoted. It's hard to say if you believe that, and that's the regular routine about America. It's hard to celebrate it.

Like, well, let's be honest, how do you love a place that's all those things and worse?

I don't get it.

We need another I for imperialist, and there's probably another 6 terrible traits or 7 terrible traits that we can come up with. I saw it when I was a kid when my fellow students would chant, "Hey, hey, LBJ, how many kids did you kill today?" Or, "How many babies did you kill today?" And I remember thinking, aren't we trying to undo communism in the southern part of that country?

Why is that tantamount to killing babies?

Anyway, I don't want to get too far afield in that, but it's, it's hard to celebrate a country you don't think well of, is it? You're listening to The Dennis Prager Show. We continue July 4th, 2011.

I am red, white, and blue. These are colors that ring true to all I am. And feel and love and do. I stand proud and brave and tall. I want justice for us all. Color me America, red, white, and blue. But I see red when evil speaks. Spilling red blood on our streets, and I feel blue grief and sorrow that it brings. But the white, the light of love, God's own spirit like a dove lifts her sharpened hands to us.

Thank you, Dolly!

July 4th, 2011, celebrating the United States of America. A theme that has run through the show today, broadcasting live as I am and taking your calls at 1-800-PRAGER-776, is if you can't celebrate the United States, the birth of the US, and the US, then there's really no country you can celebrate. Has any country done as much good for as many people as the United States?

No.

And so you have to ask yourself, are your standards almost childishly romantic? If you have any flaws, then you are not celebratable. As I pointed out, we certainly would never apply that to an individual, although obviously some, some people have.

That's why they don't celebrate the founders, because some had slaves. And so that ends it for those people. Just as there are people on the other side of the spectrum who can't celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. because he committed adultery.

So who will you— who, who, who or what What country, what society, what culture can you celebrate if a flaw negates all the good? What I call the moral bank account that a country or a person has. If as soon as they make a withdrawal, you consider them to be bankrupt.

That's what it, that's what it really amounts to, to keep my metaphor going of the moral bank account we all have. I think of everybody as making deposits when they do decent things for others and lead a good life, and then they make a withdrawal from that account when they do something bad or something wrong.

A withdrawal doesn't render you bankrupt.

But that's what you're saying if you can't celebrate the United States or the founders.

Prescott, Arizona, and Timothy. How old are you, Timothy? Well, you're 12?

Yes.

Very good. Thank you for calling.

You're welcome.

I mean, no, thank you for taking my call.

You're welcome too.

I just wanted to tell you about, um, there's a parade in Prescott every July 4th on the town square in the courthouse, and it really is patriotic. There's war veterans, marching bands, and every time war veterans or marching bands go by, everybody stands and waves flags and claps and cheers and whistles.

And that's beautiful.

I love that.

I love hearing that.

Has it happened yet today, or are you going after the show?

Oh, actually, it happens on the day before the 4th.

Oh, so you saw it yesterday?

So you gotta— yeah, so you got a free day on the 4th, but it's really cool.

Hey, listen, do me a favor, and I mean it. It is a favor to me, and then it'll be a favor to you.

Could you download my Ceremony for July 4th?

Yeah. Okay, so go to Prager University and you'll see July 4th Declaration.

Got it.

Okay, good man. Thank you. Now, you know, look, to be totally honest, you know I love candor and directness. See, this Harvard study that I cited that just was reported by the Los Angeles Times yesterday, that if you— when you're a child, if If you go to patriotic parades, you're more likely to end up voting Republican. Most people would argue that Timothy will probably vote Republican.

If I were to advise folks on the left, I would say, why don't you at least celebrate with your fellow Americans and don't let the conservatives have a monopoly on patri— patri— not patriotism, but on patriotic expression.

Tomorrow, all the things were gone. I'd worked for all my life, and I had to start again with just my children and my wife. I thank my lucky stars to be living here —because the flag still stands for freedom, and they can't take that away. And I'm proud to be an American where it means something.

Well, they can take it away.

That's the worry here.

But that's for another day. Today's the day not to worry. Today's the day to celebrate. July 4th, 2011. Been proud to be with you live broadcasting on this July 4th. Charles in Atlanta, Georgia. Dennis Prager.

Yes, good afternoon. Enjoy your show.

Good, thank you. Just want to say that this is a very special day for me because I've seen the other side.

I've lived in a communist dictatorship And I've lived in an Islamic kingdom, and now I live in the greatest country on earth. And it's my great privilege that within a couple of weeks I'll be back on a mountaintop in Afghanistan.

Really? Why?

Well, I'm a telecommunications engineer.

I've spent the last 7 years in Iraq and Afghanistan on different projects, and I'm going back.

That's what I do.

Well, God bless you for it and for the call, which is very moving. I, I hear the emotion and I share it. I never lived in a, in a bad country. I've visited bad countries. You know, you can't miss it if you're going to go to 100 countries as I have. You're going to hit some bad ones. I remember leaving the Soviet Union when I was 21 years old, and I cried much of the flight back from Moscow to New York. And I, I was crying for the people that I had met, the dissidents that I had met, people who wanted freedom. And all I had to do was show this little blue or gray, whatever the color was, U.S. passport and I was back in liberty. And there's no reason on earth why I should have that little gray document and those people shouldn't. It's pure, undiluted luck. I don't know why it's hard to say that any day of the year, and especially on July 4th, the luck we have to, uh, live here. For most of us, there are people who have been hurt unfairly, but you can't, you can't celebrate anything if you focus on the exception. Stan and Ann and David and Donna— Donna, send me an email about your church also doing the July 4th Declaration. My last appeal to you to download it from prageruniversity.com. Our ceremony. It really is a special treat for me to be on with you on the major holidays and especially on the birthday of the last great hope of mankind, the United States of America.

I'm Dennis Prager. On tomorrow's episode of Dennis Teaches the Torah.

What does verse 44 begin with? Pharaoh said to Joseph, third time, what do you find out about that? Joseph doesn't say a word. Exactly. Joseph is absolutely silent. Why is he absolutely silent? Sarna offers the rather human response: he's slightly dumbstruck. I mean, can you imagine in one day being taken out of a dungeon and and then make— made second in command of Egypt. That's a very, you know, it's really a rags to riches with the speed of which has never been otherwise witnessed. That's probably the reason. He probably said, 'What?' It was, you know, he just— his mouth was, was open. Or for all we know, he was sitting there going, 'Well, that makes perfect sense. Of course, when God's with you, anything happens.' Who knows? But it, but it does make sense that he had nothing more to say Remember, anything he had said thus far was, was basically God's words in his mouth. It wasn't Joseph speaking. To react to Pharaoh now would be Joseph speaking. Get, get the difference? You're a lot more confident in life when you think you're doing God's work than when you don't think you're doing God's work.

Come back tomorrow for Dennis Prager's signature series on the first 5 books of the Bible. Dennis teaches the Torah. Visit DennisPrager.com for thousands of hours of Dennis's 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.

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