Timeless Wisdom - The Day After Christmas - Open Lines

Hey girl, yes you. You are seen, you are loved, and you were made for more. Created especially for teen girls, chart-topping Christian artist Ann Wilson invites you to her 40-day devotional, Hey Girl. Through honest stories, scripture, and journal prompts, Ann talks about real struggles, comparison, insecurity, doubt, and faith, reminding you that God is always near and fighting for you. Hey Girl, from K-Love Books. Get your copy today at klove.com/books.

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. Wow, I'm nostalgic already. We're not opening with Christmas music. It goes fast. It does. It is my favorite time of year. That's part of why I like It's a Holly Jolly Christmas. It's the best time of the year. It is the best time of the year in the United States. I mean, let's be honest. It doesn't matter what your religion is. It's just a fact. I'm Dennis Prager, and I welcome you to The Dennis Prager Show. And I hate putting in the, uh. Isn't that amazing? I don't do uh much. But when it comes to the name of the show, because I'm self-conscious about it to this day, right? You understand what I'm saying? It would be as if, welcome to the Dennis Prager Bridge. They named the bridge after me? They named the show after me? You know what I mean? Does that make any sense? I'm continuing. My plan was as of, oh, let's see, a week ago, whatever the date was. That we're gonna talk about everything until January 1st, really until December 31st. So you can call in on whatever's on your mind, and I hope you didn't have too much conflict with any family members. That's a, it's a real possibility for a lot of people. We've talked about that on a number of occasions. Remember, you choose your friends, but you don't choose your family. That's why, in effect, Families broaden you. Even though we think of families as insulating you, they also broaden you because you have to relate to folks that you would never relate to ever. Sean, how was your Christmas, sir? Was it a pleasant day off? Yes? It's not the most enthusiastic nodding of the head that I've ever encountered, but all right, I'll take it.

No, no, no, no, no.

Oh, he gave his French Bulldog yam and ham. You never give rhyming food to a dog. I can't believe you got a dog license. It's elementary, my dear Watson. That's correct. So 1-800-PRAGER-776, and I welcome you to the Dennis Prager Show. We will have the male-female hour on next, so that will be according to schedule. But now we can talk about anything. Did you hear about this man who murdered those two— I'm trying to avoid the news as best I can. I'm sorry for this one though. That man in Western New York State who murdered 2 auxiliary firefighters, volunteer firefighters, Webster, New York, and he shot 2 others, critically injuring them after he had set fire to his house. So everybody will talk about guns again. But how about this possibility? This man, was it his grandmother? Was it— was, uh, Sean, was that his grandmother that he— that he had murdered with a, uh, with a hammer? He had bashed her head in, and he served 17 years in prison for doing that, and now murders two others. And I don't know what damage done to the two others and burned his home and it caused other homes to burn that were adjacent to his home. We, we need liberalism control more than we need— we need leftism control, if you will, since there's no difference. There used to be a difference between liberal and left. There isn't. Left took over liberalism. And if you can tell me who's a liberal today and not on the left, I don't mean you or your cousin Jerry, I mean in public life, in politics, in writing, in activism. Leftism control would do a lot more good for this country than more gun control. The left believes that— whose ideas are— who thinks up the idea that a man who hammers his grandmother to death only serves 17 years in prison?

Who—

is that a left-wing idea or is that a right-wing idea? Is it possible that if this man had been in prison, or as I believe should have been killed— but the left hates capital punishment. Oh, it is one of the tenets of leftism. You cannot join the European Union if your country allows murderers to be killed. So enlightened Norway, considered one of the most enlightened countries in the world, only allows a maximum, I believe, of 21 years in prison, including for a guy like Breivik. So he murders 70 or so young people, 21 years. What did we figure out? It was about 4 months a person. Get 4 months per person that he murdered. But to the progressive, that's progressive. So those firefighters would be alive today had we not listened to the left on punishing murderers. Okay, is anybody talking about that, or are they going to talk about guns again? 1-800-PRAGER-776. It's very infuriating to me. That that man was let out of prison after 17 years. What do you think will happen? What did they think when they let him out? What did they think when they sentenced him? A man who takes a hammer to another human being's skull and— 92-year-old, yes— and smashes that skull while the person is conscious to death, he is going to be a good citizen in 17 years? This is not allowing some sort of tornado into your culture, but a newspaper outside of New York and in Westchester County, for example, has just published all the names of people who have gun permits with their addresses. What service were they doing exactly then? I'd like to know, what is the point of that? Is that like publishing the names of Johns? Men who go to a prostitute? Is that what they're doing? I don't even quite understand. Is it to shame people? Be interesting to find out how many of those people are liberal. That's Westchester County, after all. Be very interesting to find out how many of them are on the left. Remember that newspaperman who constantly railed against guns and for gun control? He was a columnist for the Washington Post for many years. Turns out a man came into his house to rob it, and he took out his gun and stopped it. Now that seems to me to be one of the rare times the H-word would be properly invoked. H as in hypocrite, not as in Hippocrates. Yes, what is the purpose of publishing the names of those people? It's the new method of the left. It's to shame and publicly destroy as many people who oppose them as possible, like the people who supported Proposition 8 in California to retain the definition of marriage as male-female. Because as you know, if you're on the left, you feel good about yourself. You're kinder, finer, smarter, better, more decent, more compassionate, more progressive by definition than your opponents. So therefore you can use any means at your disposal to destroy the right, which is venomous. And so that is what I would like to know. If we had more gun control or we had more criminal control, which would reduce death by gun more readily? A post-Christmas thought for you. That's the Dennis Prager Show, just offering one thought because you are invited to call in on anything thine heart desires. I did, by the way, do what I recommended to you. And raised at a family get-together of my wife, uh, that, uh, my wife's family. And we, uh, I raised the issue of what do you think the 11th commandment should be. Didn't go very long. It— people there, people have all desires of talking. I, I'm not a utopian. It's just good to raise thoughtful ideas at family or friends get-togethers, in addition to the wonderful talk that friends have. And I stick with my idea, although you had some terrific ones when I did it for 2 hours 2 days ago. What should the 11th commandment be if there were one? And I'm sticking with the one that I finally came up with after I rejected my own. I finally came up with this: Thou shalt battle thine nature. I can't think of a greater single vehicle to goodness and a better world than if everybody battled their own natures. So that's my— that is my ongoing recommendation for Commandment 11. Your calls are coming up, and you are listening to the The Dennis Prager Show. PragerHillsdale.com is a way to know your country better, and it is free. It is good for you, it is good for Hillsdale to get its words out, it is good for my show that you go to what we ask you to, and everybody wins by this because they're a great institution. Welcome back. I'm Dennis Prager. On the annual DAC show, and that is not digital analog converter show, even though as soon as I hear DAC, that's what I think— digital analog converter. It's a stereo term. It's the day after Christmas. I'm a big lover of acronyms, as you can tell. Well, indeed. Let's take some of your calls as promised to you. And let's go to Keith in Los Angeles. Hello, Keith. Dennis Prager. Well, hello, Dennis.

That was very quick. I thank you very much for taking my call. I just wanted to say I love your phrase about battling the nature. And of course, I think that that implies to me, it implies some type of moral or religious edict or something that we have to follow in order to be able to do that. And I would say that the Trinity that you talk about, you know, the American Trinity, is a perfect example of self-government and how the founders at least gave us a constitutional republic that only a governing and religious and moral people could follow.

Whoops, sorry, one second, there was a click. Yes, you're— I entirely agree with you. That's, that's my supposition. We are undoing the American Revolution. The left is undoing the American Revolution. Uh, it— leftism is more powerful than American values right now, even in America, and it's certainly more powerful than American values everywhere in the world.

And can I say one more thing? Uh, you know, it's interesting to note that, um, if in the schools, you know, we talk about, uh, you know controlling guns, controlling, putting out more police, or putting more people in authority that can handle guns. But what about teaching our youth, teaching kids to be self-governing in the sense that they can control their passions? I mean, that's something that seems to me across the board that everybody should control their passion.

What's the matter? You have not read anything on the left that tells you that kids are going to have sex anyway?

Yes, I understand.

All right, bless you. Thank you very much. Here's a, uh, here's a question that I have. I would like to know if you went to church, uh, anytime during Christmas and you are not a member of a conservative church like a, like an evangelical Christian one, what did your pastor or priest speak about? If your pastor or priest is not conservative, what did he or she— not in the case of priests, there's no she— but what did he or she, Protestant, what did he, if Catholic, speak about? Wonder. I, I mean, I'm just curious. I'm very curious what a non-conservative clergy person would have spoken on I watched the Pope from Rome. This is an entire life tradition that started in my home as a child, to watch the Mass from the Vatican. And the Pope spoke about needing time in our lives for God, spoke to within the most secularized place in the history of Earth, Western Europe. You realize that in recorded history we do not know of a place as godless as Western Europe is. It's an experiment in human development. It's failing, but to the believers in secularism, it is never enough and certainly never too much. You can be too religious, but you can't be too secular. That was, uh, in fact, or in effect, what the Pope was talking about in our lives. The necessity of God and religion. You look at the Western world and its advances in virtually everything and then wonder, might it have anything to do with the way in which Christianity and then Judeo-Christian values took root. Is that possible? Is the most successful country in the history of the world rooted as it is in Judeo-Christian values? Quite affirmatively, quite consciously, taking a verse from the Torah to put on the Liberty Bell, Christians putting that verse there, announcing in effect that it is a Judeo-Christian country. Might that have anything to do with our success? Or in the— in an arrogance the likes of which is unparalleled, in my opinion, is there a belief that, as I said, we can undo the American Revolution, which was a revolution of ideas? Yes, there was a revolutionary war. They're not undoing that. They don't want us to become a British colony again, although they would like to see us essentially become part of Europe ideologically. But yes, it's undoing the American Revolution of ideas, and it is an idea that a free people cannot exist if they don't feel accountable to God. You have to— no, they didn't trust the human. Oh, everybody will be accountable to his own conscience. Give me a break. Gotta be accountable to God. And let's go to more of your calls. In New Jersey, it's Michael. Hello, Michael. Dennis Prager.

Good afternoon, sir.

Hi.

Quite an honor.

Thank you.

I've often heard you talk about everybody has a moral bank account.

Yes.

And I would like to know if said account is utilized for earthly or divine or purposes, or a little bit of both?

Well, a lot of both, but when I talk about it, it's, it's earthly.

Okay. Would it be possible that there lies unseen within the human mechanism something that each act of good and each act of what is evil or sin or the opposite of good somehow affects something, and then this something, when the physical dies, it is turned over to God and Yeah, well, I believe we answer to God for our moral bank account, of course.

And God knows the moral bank account better than man does. But whenever I use the term, it is vis-à-vis other people that we need. Thank you, thank you very much. Thank you for calling. We need— I came up with this idea when Clarence Thomas was being humiliated by the left. Humiliation is a major weapon of the left. And that's— so to speak about a man the way they did was fine because a black conservative should never have gotten onto the Supreme Court. The most hated group in the United States, not Muslims, it's not gays, it's not the usual, certainly not blacks. It's black conservatives. That's the most hated group in the United States. You don't believe me? Ask them. They call this show regularly. Seriously, I want you to name me a group as hated as black conservatives. 1-800-PRAGER-776. You're listening to The Dennis Prager Show, and if you're thinking of last-minute contributions Americans, think of Prager University. Tax-exempt, works very hard to restore American values. But in any event, do visit it. And of course, I renew my appeal for the Salvation Army at the red kettle that you will find at DennisPrager.com. We have raised the most in American radio on this show for that wonderful organization, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart. This is the Dennis Prager Show, and if you are a new listener, we talk about everything in life. Next hour you will see an example of that because we have the male-female hour coming up next hour. That's Wednesday, the second day. I have lost such track of the days of this week because of Christmas. I keep thinking it's Thursday and I don't understand why. I, I've had myself a day ahead each day this week, and I don't know why. It doesn't particularly bother me, but that's the fact. Let's go to more of your calls. You're free to call in till December 31st on anything. Normally I set the agenda and we have dialogue, but now you do. Johnny Whittier, California. How old are you, Johnny?

Hi Dennis, um, pleasure to be on your show.

Thank you. How old are you?

I'm 18.

Uh, you in school?

Uh, yeah, I go to Whittier High School, as a matter of fact.

Very nice. What's on your mind, Johnny?

Um, I had a question about the, um, whole fiscal cliff deal.

Fiscal cliff, take it away.

Um, so we know that the Republicans let the fiscal cliff fall, they're not going to get reelected. But yet, if they go along with Obama's plans, they might as well not get reelected again from the right side.

Well, that's exactly their dilemma. It's a rock and a hard place.

So what would your solution be?

My solution would be to articulate what we stand for. We are a selfish generation and we are immorally bequeathing to you, Johnny, and your generation debt so that we could live better. And the fact that the Democrats think that that's altruistic is turning altruism and decency upside down. That's what I would say, and that would be effective. But we have virtually no effective spokesmen in politics. We have enormous numbers of effective spokesmen in writing and in speaking outside of politics, but not within the Republican Party elected officials. It is the tragedy of my time that the Republicans have not been able to articulate, and often not even exemplify, conservative principles. Thank you for calling and asking it. It's— these are wonderful men, wonderful men. John Boehner, Eric Cantor, these are wonderful men, and they're earnest and they understand the issues, but they don't speak in the grand terms that the left does. Grand terms win, folks. You want the moral high ground, left? We have the moral high ground. You have the selfish high ground. You have the misguided high ground. You have the un-American values. Not patriotic, not lovers of America, not lovers of American values high ground or low ground. You just repeat over and over The dilemma is big government and spending that is immoral. We will not be part of the immorality of taking money away from the next generations to pay for our schemes that don't work. We will not be Greece as long as there is a Republican Party. Thank you, Mr. President. Imagine that. You talk in clipped staccato sentences so that the morons in the media, the herd, have no choice but to repeat your good lines. That's what you do. It's not Robin Hood, in fact. It's taking from the future to pay for the present. If that— that's the Democratic Robin Hood. Okay, let's use all their terms and then show what they actually mean. It is immoral. If anything is immoral, robbing from the future to pay for the schemes and selfishness of the present is one of them. That is what the Democratic Party stands for, American people. We don't. We were the party that opposed slavery, and today we are willing to fight for opposing the robbing of our children. You're listening to The Dennis Prager Show. Hello everybody, you're listening to the Dennis Prager Show in Rockland County, New York. It's Kara. Hello Kara, Dennis Prager. I'm sorry, what was that?

I just asked how are you doing?

Oh, I'm well, thank you.

Great to hear.

That's better.

I just wanted to comment on the situation with the Journal News in my county. Of course they published the information for both Westchester County and Rockland County. I believe they wanted to publish for Putnam County, but I don't think the information was available. But what stunned me was that they also wanted to publish more information. They wanted to publish how many guns were in these homes and what types of guns were in these homes. But The county clerk told them that, uh, that information wasn't, uh, to be made public. Um, but the thing that also gets me is that, you know, you have former law enforcement on that list, you have, uh, you know, DAs and things on that list, people who are protecting their families and might legitimately have people that are coming after them.

They don't care. You don't understand. The left will destroy anything and anyone to get its ends met because they're so noble. They know they're noble and they, they don't have to consider the effects of what they support. This is classic leftism.

Yes, anything for the cause, right?

Yes, that's right. Isn't the cause of saving kids from being shot Worth it? That's how they think. It's all emotional. I— it is one of the most important points in my book about Americanism, Leftism, and Islamism, Still the Best Hope. And that is that I make— I show how Leftism is emotion-based. If you— to understand the Left, you must understand it is not reason-based. It is emotion-based. The entire battle here vis-à-vis guns is emotional. They hate guns, they hate nuclear weapons, so therefore the United States should not have any. It's the same exact mode of thinking. Values do not animate people. Inanimate objects are what we should fight. They don't fight evil people. And therefore those who fight them are evil. And so you're so right, not only is the address written of all of these people who own guns, but the fact is the address is given. And in some cases where it might be a judge or might be an ex-judge or a law enforcement officer, that is the last thing they have ever wanted published. All this will do is now have people take out guns with an address that is not their home. Simple. It's easy to do. That's all it is. It will make Americans more secretive. It is an utterly destructive act. But remember, the moment you ask, does it work? You have become a conservative. When you ask, do I feel good about myself, then you are on the left. Self— the self-esteem movement, as I have pointed out a thousand times, came from the left in California where I live. I give you the dates, I give you the person, John Vasconcellos, a state senator who had therapy later in life and realized that his Catholic upbringing, or so he realized, and he felt did not give him high self-esteem. And now he was a better person for having high self-esteem. He confused psychological health with moral health. They're not identical. They are not identical, and I'm not sure how morally healthful high self-esteem is. It is certainly not morally healthful. I don't know if it is psychologically as healthful as people think. Ask anyone you most admire, ask the people you most think highly of as a human being in your life, relative or not, did they have high self-esteem when they were a child? And the answer will be no. Overwhelmingly likely that the answer will be no. So they have self-esteem at the newspaper that did this. The, uh, was it the New York Journal News? Yep. The Gun Owner Next Door: What You Don't Know About the Weapons in Your Neighborhood. Because as you know, these are the people you have to fear, right? Judges, policemen, retired policemen, FBI agents. And now we know where they live because these, uh, fools The Journal News, owned by Gannett Newspapers, published this. I can't imagine that, you know, other, other liberal papers and others will not join the fray thinking they're doing a great service. All righty, let's go to Kathy in El Segundo, California. Hi, Kathy.

Hi Dennis.

Hi.

Wondering if you had a recommendation for a version of the Bible that's really true to the real translation that's not the King James Version, that may be also easy to read.

Well, easy to read is in some conflict with You know, accuracy. Yes, that's right. Okay, I know the— I know Biblical Hebrew very well, and so I was— I'm able to, uh, to see how the translations work. Uh, I love the King James, as it happens, I really do, but I fully understand people want a more readable modern version. I use the NIV for modern readability. I, I use also the, the Jewish Public Publication Society translation. So those are two that I use for readability. I constantly, in teaching the Bible, have shown where you get real inaccuracies, but nothing is perfect in life. So try those. Male-female hour coming up. Hi everybody, Dennis Prager here in Northridge, California. Robert, hi.

Hi Dennis.

Hi. Thank you for taking my call. Thank you for calling. A couple, 3 months ago, I think it was, you had, you were talking about something and you mentioned that a man's mission or purpose was to figure out work and sex.

Do I have that right?

Well, you have to figure them out. I don't recall saying it quite that way, but it's, uh, let's say it's, it's not an invalid point, but I, I don't know. I said that he has to— I know what I have said. Boys are raised properly to know that they have to fight two parts of their nature at least, and that is physical aggression and sexual predatory urges. Okay, uh, that I've said many times, and, and then I always juxtapose it with, and so what do we raise girls to fight in their natures? And there we've made a big mistake. We don't teach girls to fight their natures nearly as much as we teach boys to. Well, I guess I heard it wrong then. Well, the fact is though that the sentiment is accurate. It is certainly part of what a man has to do. Is to figure out what you just said, that figure out what he will do for work, that is in the outer world, and how he will control himself sexually, that's the inner world.

Yeah, it's just kind of a question I've always had, and I, I may, maybe I, maybe from pondering that a lot, maybe I, that's how I heard you say that.

Yeah, well, that's one of the reasons that I repeat very important points. Yeah, I have learned over time that people do mishear completely understandably. So do I. We all do. And since I want to touch your life with ideas, I will repeat them. I will often repeat them in different ways, but I will repeat them. As I have come up with this saying— what is it? Let's see, uh, repetition is the mother of pedagogy. There you go. Pedagogy is teaching, specifically children, but it means teaching or education. And repetition is the mother. And you will say these things to your children when you lie down, when you rise up, when you walk by the way. In other words, it has to be repeated. We have not repeated the American value system and we're losing it. It's truly as simple as that. Remember, once again, leftism has been the most dynamic religion in the world. That includes Christianity and Islam. Leftism has been more dynamic. It's too bad because Americanism, which includes Judeo-Christian values and God, should be the most dynamic because it's the one that has worked best. Doesn't that matter, what works best? Who has done more good on Earth than the United States? Shouldn't we ask Why? Now the male-female hour follows. This has been Timeless Wisdom with Dennis Prager. Visit DennisPrager.com for thousands of hours of Dennis' lectures, courses, and classic radio programs, and to purchase Dennis Prager's Rational Bibles.

Hey girl, yes you, you are seen, you are loved, and you were made for more. Created especially for teen girls, chart-topping Christian artist Ann Wilson invites you to her 40-day devotional Hey Girl. Through honest stories, scripture, and journal prompts, Ann talks about real struggles— comparison, insecurity, doubt, and faith— reminding you that God is always near and fighting for you. Hey Girl, from K-Love Books. Get your copy today at klove.com/books.