Timeless Wisdom - Ruing the Family During the Holidays

America's about to lose the AI arms race. Not because of chips or code, but power. AI runs on energy and we don't have enough. China's building a new coal plant every week while Democrats cancel pipelines and block drilling. No power, no progress, no AI future. That's why we need you. Sign up now for free at oilfacts.com to get your free report on the AI arms race before rolling blackouts wipe out our future. oilfacts.com, powered by Prairie Operating Company, a high-growth, low-cost producer of safe and responsible American energy. 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 Rational Bibles, go to DennisPrager.com. Hey everybody, this is Dennis Prager Live. There's no rest for Prager. Yes indeed. What is today's date? December 23rd. Welcome to the program. No repeat here. No pre-recorded. I love that term. Not even pre-pre-recorded. Just got a chance to have a fun day. An interesting— I don't mean fun in the sense of silly. I, you know, though I have a perfectly highly developed ability to be silly. But, you know, just I was thinking about two things for this hour. One is some of you have perhaps rarely, and some perhaps never, heard what I generally do on my third hour on Fridays, and that is just open the lines to anything you want to talk to me about. Here we are, two days before Christmas, two days before Hanukkah. They, they have an amazing ability to coincide this year. It's a remarkable thing. They very rarely coincide to the day. It usually coincide, you know, to a couple of weeks, within a couple of weeks. So anyway, it's a, it's a, it's a big, big holiday time. Obviously the vast majority of Americans celebrating Christmas. And I have two things for you. What would you like to ask me? What's on your mind? What you like to talk about, whether it's about the, the season, or would you like to ask me anything? Because I do that the third hour. It's very popular hour. And if you haven't heard it, you'll get an idea. Ask me anything, as I always say, for my favorite cigar or pipe tobacco. Mmm. Just saying it. Just saying it makes me salivate. Am I the only national talk show host who actually acknowledges use of tobacco? As if all tobacco use is the same anyway. That just drives me a little nutty. The other thing is I was thinking about how many of you are going to have a Christmas dinner, Christmas Day, with the relatives, friends. And I'd love to know, is there anybody that you're going to be with for the holiday that you really rue being with? So in case you don't have a question for me, I have a question for you. I want you to tell the country who it is you really don't want to be with that you're going to be with, uh, this holiday. 1-800-PRAGER-776 is the number. It's a mischievous— why do people say mischievous, by the way? Isn't it mischievous? Check, check that out, Alan. I— is that— by the way, isn't it great to have an Alan? You just wonder about something, Alan. Just want something remembered. Alan, hey. Of course, he runs everything, but nevertheless, I do that. I tell him what to do. Nevertheless, he runs me and I run him. I think that that is a very fair way to put it. Be that as it may, this would— who do you know you're going to be with and you really, really rue it? Is there, is there any— how about this? Is there anybody who has someone that they have to be with on a major holiday and they just know they're going to be with the person and just know they don't want to? But that, that is— oh, excuse me, that's not what the question that I was thinking. Is there anybody who doesn't have somebody like that? It's hard to imagine that anybody has someone, that anybody doesn't have someone who they're stuck with on a holiday that they wish were not there. You know my view on family in any event. Family, and I certainly, it's both for immediate and extended, but certainly within the extended. Family forces you to relate to people that you otherwise would barely acknowledge their existence. That's the way it is. In a sense, ironically, while family can be very narrow, socially narrow, it also broadens you because it forces you to relate to people you would never otherwise relate to. I don't think people think of— I know you know that's true, but I don't think if people think of family as broadening our horizons, but by Golly, they do. For most people, they force us in America certainly to relate to people of different political views, of different religions very often, and certainly of different personalities than we would otherwise, than we would otherwise really ever be associated with. So it's an ironic thing that we think of family as narrowly focused. And it certainly can be, and it could make people, you know, pretty provincial. But in fact, it's a pretty broadening thing. So let's take your calls here. Again, the number is 1-8-Prager-776, and that translates to 877-243-7776. Let's take any— again, anything on your mind, and then there's the one that was on my mind. And it could be on any subject, including sensitive ones, whatever you'd like to raise with me. And West Chester, Pennsylvania. And Eileen, hello Eileen, Dennis Prager.

Hello Dennis, hi, an honor to speak to you.

That's very kind of you to say, thank you.

Um, I have a question for you. Yes, are you familiar with the term Messianic Jews?

Sure.

Could you tell me why do Jewish people have such animosity towards people who call themselves Messianic Jews? In other words, they believe in Jesus as Yeshua, right?

Now I'm gonna— I'm gonna— I'm gonna give you a completely honest answer, and this an accurate answer. Whether or not you and I agree with it is a separate issue, but I'm going to answer your question, okay? Uh, Jews totally— I'm not talking about most Jews, there's always exceptions to everything on Earth, okay? But you're asking in general, I'll answer in general. Most Jews totally recognize that this is a free country. People could become a Christian. Jews— people born Jewish can become a Christian, could become an atheist, could become anything they want, become a Muslim, anything. And that's, that's, that's that. Whether the Jew is happy with that or not, that's that person's business. They feel that when a Jew accepts Christ, he should call himself a Christian, that there, that there is here a certain theological dishonesty, not necessarily at all intended but, but, uh, in fact happens that when it— if a, if a Christian takes on, uh, Islam, they don't call them a Christian for Muhammad. When a, uh, uh, when a, a Jew becomes a Mormon, they don't call them a Jew for Joseph Smith or Jew for Mormonism. They call them a Mormon. So they want Jews who take on belief in Christ to call themselves Christian and that they feel that it's deceptive to Jews. That's— that is the whole 99% of the reason.

Oh, really?

Yeah.

And, but, um, and the term Yeshua, what does that mean?

And no, that, that's merely Jesus, uh, in, uh, in Hebrew.

Oh, okay, that's just his name in Hebrew.

Yeah.

Oh, I see. Okay. Okay, well, thank you so much.

All right, thank you. Yeah, God bless you. I should have wished you Merry Christmas, on the assumption you were Christian, which I think was a fair assumption. See, folks, so anything that you would, uh, anything you would like to ask, all right? And, um, obviously a lot of times people do ask religion, but it's funny, it's a small part of the show, but it, it's, it's one of the unique aspects, I think, of my program, because that is a very strong part of my own background and deep passion. But you can ask silly stuff too. These are— this is, this is not the third hour. For those of you just, just tuning in, this is not the third hour of my show. The Happiness Hour follows this. But I figure on this weekend of Christmas and Hanukkah, just let's open up and have a good time. And, uh, ah, we have, uh, we have some good ones. Pennsylvania's coming in very strong today on the, on the open line. Alrighty, and, uh, let's go to Gilbertsville, Pennsylvania. Hello, Ray.

Yes, Dennis, it's delightful to talk to you. Happy Hanukkah and Merry Christmas.

You're very kind. Whichever applies to you, the same. Go ahead.

Merry Christmas. Thank you.

Good. Merry Christmas.

You asked about folks that, uh, might visit with their family and friends over the holidays, but there are folks that, uh, they may not necessarily actually want to see.

Not even not necessarily, simply don't want to see.

Well, okay, well, I'll say simply don't want to see. I have a large family and we have a terrific get-together on Christmas Eve, right, my parents' home, right? And it's fairly festive. My family has a bunch of personalities and a couple characters, so no kidding. Some years it's tremendous fun, some years it's tremendously stressful, right? But for me, it's always stressful because I am completely, in every stretch of imagination, completely dichotomous from my father.

And every opinion, really everything, even on how you react to the movies.

Oh, everything, absolutely everything.

That is a very—

he's a very staunch Democrat, I am not, and he antagonizes me. So over the years it has been extremely difficult, you know, as much as I want to see my brothers and sisters and the many—

I have a suggestion, Ray, hold on.

Sure.

I have a suggestion for all of you. Whose relative, some relative you're gonna be with, is going to bait you on politics. I have a suggestion, and we will be back in a moment. This is Dennis Prager, special show here, having a good time on this Friday of the big weekend in America. 1-800-PRAGER-776, The Dennis Prager Show. All righty everybody, welcome to the Dennis Prager Show. And on this holiday weekend, and it's fair to say holiday because it is Christmas and Hanukkah, but of course for the— I know, and I defend the fact, in fact, as you know, that's the majority of Americans, it is Christmas indeed. And a lot of you are going to get together on Christmas Day or Christmas Eve, and some of you of course will have Hanukkah parties, but Christmas getting together is the huger tradition. And you're gonna have some relatives or friends, usually relatives that you don't care for, or as in the case here, which I return to, to Ray in Gilbertsville, Pennsylvania. So you and your dad have opposite views on just about everything, and you say he baits you. Is that right?

Absolutely, without question. I mean, pick an issue.

So for example, the family's having a good time talking about how delicious the food is, or about what cousin Jerry has just done, and out of nowhere— and tell me if this is accurate, I don't want to make up a scenario and just have you assent to it— but your father will then say, "So, come on, tell me Bush is not an idiot." Is that something that would happen?

Absolutely. Okay, fine. Or maybe not that direct where he would say President Bush, but— no, actually he would do that. Yeah, he completely baits me, uh, in the most inconvenient times.

Uh, all right, you know what, here is a general approach that I, I have found works.

It will—

there are people it won't work with. There are people who want to have a fight, who actually hate you for being conservative or being Republican, and that's— there's nothing you can do about it, right? But, uh, if it's a relative like a father, or it's a relative period and you have any ability to say this, you know what, we really, you know, we've known each other our whole lives and we love each other, and it's just, it's really crazy for us to mess that up with political talk because I'm not gonna convince you, you're not gonna convince me. What's the matter, you can't discuss things just because you don't agree? Then you can say, okay, I'll happily do it, but I, again, I would just like to make clear, I want to understand dad, or I want to understand my brother-in-law, or my son, or whatever. I want to understand where it is that we really differ. So you feel, and that's helpful. You know what, I don't want to win, but it'll really be helpful for me, because you want to be understood. I'd like to understand where it is we exactly differ.

Well, you know, Dennis, I've actually gone down that route in a couple different ways. I even suggested one time when he obtained a computer and decided that all of a sudden email was a valid technology, I decided since we can't talk face-to-face, why don't we try an email exchange?

Right, I'm a big believer in that, yeah.

And it would be maybe more civil and so forth and less emotional and so forth. He couldn't deal with that emotion. I mean, he actually asked that we turn that off. It is, uh, it's, it's, it's unbelievable, the stress and tension that, uh—

Well, what are the other members of the family, even liberal members, are they happy with this tension? I can't believe that everybody—

Oh, no, no, no, no, no, they, uh, I mean, amongst my spouses, as an example, uh, 2 are pretty much almost agnostic to anything, uh, political.

Then why don't they say, you know what, listen, Dad, I'll happily have this, but you know what, I don't think this is exactly what everybody wants. And, you know, or even ask people in advance quietly. Say lovingly to Dad, Dad, come on, Dad, every year this is, you know, this is happening.

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.

You know, you and Ray love each other, but all we see is tension here. So you have to try to defuse it in that way. Because you know what, you're not going to convince your dad, he's not going to convince you. And it's pretty pointless. But for all of you— thank you, Ray, and a Merry Christmas to you— for all of you though, if that happens, my view, and it is not a gimmick, it is not at all a gimmick, is let's at least achieve real clarity on where we differ. All right, so you believe the president lied, and I believe that the president conveyed almost universally known intelligence or believed intelligence and acted in the best interest of the country. You don't believe that, and I do. So, so what are we going to do? I believe it is a wonderful thing, and history will record that the, that the beginning of the end— it'll be a long time— but the beginning of the end of that swamp that creates terror, known as Arab dictatorships, is beginning to— began its journey to some freedom in the Arab world thanks to America. You believe that we have created a greater place of terror. Okay, so let's just understand. Alrighty. And I'm laughing about the next question. Marie in Scottsdale, Arizona. Dennis Prager, what do I wish you, Marie?

Merry Christmas.

Merry Christmas, Marie. Go ahead.

Thank you, and a happy Hanukkah to you and your family.

Thank you kindly.

Quick question for you. For Hanukkah, sometimes I see it spelled C-H, Hanukkah, and then sometimes it's H. Can you tell me the difference?

There is no difference. The technical transliteration would be H with a little dot under it. That's what scholars do to make the sound H. Okay. I've even seen— yeah, I'm not— no, I've not seen K-H. You're right, H or C-H is no difference, and it isn't Chinooka. And not everybody could say H. Can you say H?

How's that?

Uh, if I had to grade it, a D. Oh no! But no, no, but not an F. Well, that's good. Yeah, exactly. No, see, you didn't see— you saw the, the glass as half empty. Yeah, you passed, you passed.

Oh, that's great.

Well, all right, go ahead. What— so what's your question?

Flying colors. My question is for you: how do I quote you or reference your ideas without driving my family nuts and yet give you the proper credit that you always say that we should?

Oh, that is— that Oh God, you don't know how you touched me. Not because it's— no, not just because it's me, because it's— when I put out a moral idea and then people take it to heart, you don't know, I— endorphins, I feel, I really, you don't know what you did for me. Because that idea that we shouldn't steal ideas from others but cite them is very strong to me. That's why I cite people all the time here. I even cite people when I don't know their name. I'll say that's not my idea, but I don't know whose it is. Anyway, look, at a given point, you just let common sense dictate, because if you're going to start turning them off, you know, they're sick of this guy, hearing about this guy Prager, or you'll sound like some sort of cultist.

Like a robot.

Yes, exactly. Then it's not a good idea.

Right. My dad and I reference you frequently by using the code name DP.

That's funny.

And most of the time I completely agree. I just haven't formulated my own words, and it's just easier to say, well, you know, I heard— now I say a talk show host the other day, and if I know him really well or don't know them really well, say he's really good, you should listen to him.

Well, that's certainly true, that, that you should. Well, I, I hope I meet you on, on a future trip to Phoenix.

Actually, we have met before. I don't expect you to remember, but it was an honor to meet you a couple— well, I was a couple years ago, um, when you were in one of the temples in Mesa. So I look forward to meeting you again.

Well, thank you again and have a great Christmas.

Thank you, and you have a great holiday.

Thank you so, so much. Yeah, that is a big deal. Uh, I have a column coming out in the Los Angeles Times on New Year's Day. Oh, Alan, put this down. It's a great subject. I may do it next week even. Why I think Do Not Steal is the most important of the Ten Commandments. And one of the things that we do steal is, and people even say it, oh man, I'm going to steal that idea. I've had clergy say that to me about some of my ideas. And I say, yeah, but what about thou shalt not steal? I don't always say that, but that's what I think. We'll be back in a moment. Dashing through the snow in a one-horse open sleigh. O'er the fields we go, laughing all the way. Bells on bobtail ring, making spirits bright. What fun it is to ride and sing a sleighing song tonight. By the way, I just, I just had a thought of an interesting trade you might want to make. Those of you who listen to my show and agree with me— there are those of you who listen to the show and don't— but those of you who listen to my program and agree with me, this is Dennis Prager, welcome back. This Christmas weekend, Hanukkah weekend. Welcome indeed to the, to the show. And here's an interesting thought, a proposal. Tell me how it works if you can get through. If you have a relative that, or friend, that really differs with you politically, and you might have said at some point, well, why don't you listen? This guy's very rational, very calm. This guy Dennis Prager, why don't you Listen to him for a week and then tell me what you heard that is just illogical or makes no sense in some other way. And they say, "Come on, give me a break, I'm not going to listen to a right-winger." So why don't you make a deal and say, "You know what, I'll tell you what, I'll read or listen for a week to what you want and you read or listen for a week to what I want." And how's that for— how's that for a nice trade? 1-800-PRAGER-776. Let's go. This is to whatever you want to ask me about, even though we do it the third hour on Fridays. This is, uh, the special holiday weekend. We're gonna break the rules. I don't want to talk to you about just what's in the news, even though it's tempting, but I won't. Anyway, it is really a show where we talk about everything in life. I did— I have done shows an entire hour On Martin Van Buren, an entire hour on how bees make honey, which incidentally changed Alan's life. You never know what will affect somebody. He has been, uh, uh, he's become an amateur expert on honeys and has honey every day for health reasons. I mean, he's a very healthy guy, but just believes it's— he and I, I also increasingly believe that God has provided within nature tremendous medicinal benefits. And even there are many of you who don't believe necessarily that God is the provider, but understand that nature gives great health benefits. So, and honey has a lot of good constituents. Anyway, don't get me started. Don't get me started. And we continue here. Uh, we go to Minneapolis and Eric. Hello, Eric. Dennis Prager.

Hi, Mr. Prager.

Hi.

I have a pen in hand and I, uh, thoroughly enjoy your bumper music.

I'm sure there's a lot better stuff out there. But I am very ignorant when it comes to music.

Oh.

And there's many times when you're playing the bumper music where I'd like it to go on and on, but obviously it has to be cut off. So I was wondering if you could give me the title of your favorite 3. Even better though, there is another large overnight talk show. I won't list it. I'm sure you know who it is. But they put their bumper music titles up on their website.

Yeah, why don't we do that? I thought we listed on our website our bumper music.

You know what, if it's up there, I guess I didn't look.

No, no, I thought we did. Alan, Alan, you got to clue me in on this, uh, on whether we, uh, whether we do or not. And, uh, well, there is, there, there are two pieces, what the titles are. And yeah, there are two things, and the Ramsey Lewis, uh, and the, uh, and the Take Five.

Ramsey Lewis.

Yeah, and Take Five. But you know what, even better than that, I need to do a music show. On my favorite music from all the different genres, from classical to jazz to soundtrack to popular. That's what I need to do, because I do believe that my taste is pretty much universal, because I know it because of the reactions. Even the classical— Joe, sitting in for Sean today, do you have my original theme music, the Handle theme? Yeah, if you can find that. I know, I know it's there somewhere, but you may, you know, just—

well, I'll tell you, Dennis, about a year and a half ago, my wife and I, we took, uh, Medved's advice and got rid of our TV. And ever since then, it opens a whole new world in your life.

It does indeed.

Those new openings is, is the enjoyment of music.

That is— yes, isn't that true?

And it's just utterly fascinating.

Maybe we'll do, you know, maybe we'll do an hour, uh, of, uh— hold on one second there, Joe. I think we should do an hour on those who did get rid of their TVs, what happened. Alan, put that down. I I really want to hear from families who've done that. Now, Eric, here is, uh, how long are you a listener to my show?

How long have I been listening? Yes, probably about 4 years now.

So you might remember this. This is a, uh, this is a piece of classical music, obviously, but this is what my opening theme was for many, many years of my show. Here it goes. Do you remember this, Eric?

I, I don't know if I remember listening to it on your show, but I certainly recognize the piece.

All right, now do you like it?

Absolutely.

All right, we'll be back in a moment.

Frosty the Snowman.

Boy, I had no idea that was coming up. That introduction gave me no clue. I'm not saying it was a bad one, but I had no idea Frosty the Snowman was following. Hey, all righty, special day here, December 23rd. We are live on the Dennis Prager Show, 1-800-PRAGER-776. I don't normally do this. In fact, I've never done this. It's always reserved for the third hour on Fridays, but this is the first. And whatever is on your mind on this holiday weekend, and I hope, uh, for the vast majority of you celebrating Christmas, it is a meaningful one, and that you don't have too many, uh, relatives you really don't want to be with at your festivities. All righty, and let's try to, uh Take some more calls, but I, we definitely have to do that. Eric, oh yeah, let me— Eric, did you like, did you like that piece?

Uh, not Frosty the Snowman. I'm not too particular about that one, but the one you played before.

Yeah, yeah, that's what I meant. Yeah, Handle. Most people believe that Handle is superior to Frosty the Snowman. Anyway, you have given me—

you know, Dennis, there's one I have no idea if it's— it just, in my ignorance, it sounds like an Irish song and it's very quick. It's one of your bumper pieces, and that's the one in particular.

But I have to figure out what— which one that is. But I will tell you that if you just go on to my website, okay, you will, you will find there's a— there's an FAQ area, frequently asked questions, and just put in bumper music. Okay, real good.

Thank you, Dennis.

All right, thank you. All righty, let's, let's go to some more of your articles. Articles, that's funny. That's one of the things here. Should we stay in Minnesota? I'll stay in Minnesota for a moment. And Luke, how cold is it in St. Paul right now?

It's actually— it feels like 45 degrees.

45? It's really warm. You guys have an undeserved reputation of being cold in winter.

Yeah, I know. Last week, or I should have called last week.

Yeah, what was it last week?

It was Well, below 30, probably around 20.

Below 30? Come on, you can't say anything till it's zero. At zero, I start sympathizing with you. Go ahead.

Uh, well, Dennis, I'm glad you took my call. Actually, my heart gets, uh, a little, uh, faster just thinking about it. But my mother, uh, I love her to death, but she drives me absolutely crazy, and more and more so every, every time we get together. Um, She's another one of these people at every family thing, every time we get together, turns out that we end up talking about politics. Um, she'll do little neat things like leave a Newsweek article open about how Bush lied, things like that, just to get under my skin. Um, the day I went up to their house there and she had left open a letter from Amy Klobuchar from, uh, like public broadcasting systems backing Amy Klobuchar, and that drives me absolutely nuts because, you know, all my taxpayer dollars going towards—

what, you should give her the articles from even her favorite newspapers like the New York Times that speak of how— there was an article just this week in the New York Times about how profoundly Iraq has changed just in the last few months for the better. Yeah, why don't you leave that for her about how in fact The truth is we are liberating a country. This is a news piece, not an editorial piece. Certainly not editorial, but I mean not opinion.

Yeah, I, I, I've got it, but it won't matter.

It won't matter. You know what I wonder though, right? This is— I would love— I don't know if there's any way to assess this, but I would love to figure out if we had a divine, uh, you know, eagle's view of, of life and we could peer into every family, uh, this, uh, this Christmas weekend and see how many times it's the conservative who starts the argument and how many times it's the liberal who starts the argument. And I don't have an answer. I don't have— but I say I would love, I would really love to have an answer to that. I have a suspicion, and I'm very open with you, I think it's more often the the person on the left, and I'll tell you why. For the vast majority of people on the left, politics is more all-consuming than for the vast majority of people who are on the right of center, because very often it is their religious view. It is what— it fills their life. So you might want to even say that, you know, Mom To be honest with you, this stuff is really important to me, but you know what? Family love is more important to me. I don't know, maybe she'll, you know, maybe she'll smack you. But it is true. All right, thank you, Luke. Good luck. All right. Oh boy, this is a great one. Let's go to Louisville, Kentucky. Jennifer. Hi, Jennifer. Dennis Prager.

Hello, I'm so excited to be able to be on this type of hour you've got going on because they don't carry your third hour where I live.

Oh, I, you know, that does exist in some cities, and as, as for many shows, that is the case. And so I thought it would be a good idea to do this for those of you who don't get the third hour. Go ahead.

It's perfect. My question is, I'm going to ask the question, then I might give you just a little bit of background how this goes on in my home. I've always heard you say you hated it or hated it when you hear parents say, yes, I don't care who started it, you know, it doesn't matter, that kids need justice. Well, I used to believe that when I was a younger mother. Now I don't care. I just want it quiet. And so I, you know, find myself saying I don't care, or I will try to go, well, what happened? Well, he did this. Well, why'd you do that? Well, he did this first. Well, then why'd you do that? Well, he did— it goes on and on and on, and I can't get to the the core of it.

Yeah, you're right, that's correct. Here is what I— I'm so touched again because, you know, I sit here and think, is anybody really taking this in? So when I get this feedback, I am just happy as a clam. I don't know why clams are happy, I've never understood that phrase. But anyway, I didn't like as a kid, for the reasons that you know, when a parent or a teacher would say, I don't care who started Because to me, of course, it's like saying, you know, World War II, I don't care who started, just stop. But yeah, but they, they, they murdered people at Pearl Harbor. We didn't do it to them. I mean, you know, that, that's a fair statement. Now, having said that, what I have done with my son and friends is, as at a given point, I will say, I care who started, but let me tell you this, you better care too. Because you are all out if there's any fighting. So you better stop it. You better figure out a way not to have this go on. If it means that you have to come to an adult, then come immediately. If it means that you have to just, you know, take it in. But I, I, from my perspective, I can't tolerate more of this fighting. We'll be back in a moment. You're listening to The Dennis Prager Show. All right, you're listening to The Dennis Prager Show. Let me try to take as many calls as possible. The Happiness Hour coming up next. I've done something I've never done before— the first hour just devoted to anything you want this holiday weekend. It's a great thing to do. And let's go to Bradenton, Florida, and Phil. Phil, Dennis Prager, hi.

Hi Dennis, how are you?

I'm well, thank you.

I, I first would like to say that it's a real thrill and a privilege to speak with you.

Wow, that means a lot to me. Thank you.

Well, you'd ask the question earlier about if there were some conservative folks that had recommended their liberal friends listen to you.

Yes.

To hear your very cogent, thought-out, and interesting views on things. Well, I'm kind of turning the tables on that. I'm a liberal, but sometimes I have some conservative folks that I feel need to have their views tempered sometimes with a touch of extra thought and really moral founding, foundation that you give. And so I recommend that they listen to you.

Wow, that's really— I'm so afraid, you know, I'll sound, I don't know, self-aggrandizing just even having you on. But that means the world to me. That is— look, if I were to make a list of all the areas where I have challenged religious folks and conservative folks, it would be It would be a very realist. I hope that I take positions because they're right with a small r, not right with a capital R. I agree.

I think you say it often, and I think foremost your concern is to find the truth in issues.

And so I am curious, in light of your respect for my way of thinking, have I in any way influenced you?

I would say yes. I think my exposure initially to conservative talk radio with, unfortunately, some darker individuals that actually sound somewhat paranoid schizophrenic if you listen to them enough— Mr. Savage and others— And I found that you have a very— first of all, I can tell that you're very moral, very cogent individual that doesn't just arbitrarily babble about a topic. There's no frivolous conversation, and I respect that. And that has given me more respect towards some of my conservative friends. And I'm really disgusted, in fact, with some liberals when They attack folks with four-letter words.

Well, that in and of itself is a big deal. You're very— you're a worthy adversary. It's the highest compliment I could pay you. Well, they're probably higher, but it's a high one. Okay, Tom, James, Andy, and others— ooh, and Margaret I told to hang on for the happiness hour, and you should all do the same. Coming up on the Dennis Prager Show. This has been Timeless Wisdom with Dennis Prager. Visit DennisPrager.com for thousands of hours of Dennis's lectures, courses, and classic radio programs, and to purchase Dennis Prager's Rational Bibles.

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