'Glenn Beck': The State of Florida

This is a rush transcript from "Glenn Beck," March 26, 2010. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

GLENN BECK, HOST: I was going to call this show tonight our listening tour — listening to the concerns of the average Americans. I am going to call it a listening tour, but I don't need to listen. I don't think you need to listen. I think these people — these people — all need to listen. These are just a few of the people that represent the good people of Florida. These people should be listening to these people.

Welcome to the program, guys.

I want to — I want to cover these questions with you. And it's just an open forum and just raise your hand and let's go to it. These are the questions, and I want to start first: how do you feel this week?

You? And I'm not talking about your neighbors or anybody. How do you feel? Anybody?

Yes, sir?

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Well, we now have $1 trillion government-run, I say welfare program on top of trillions of dollars of debt. Where does it all end? I mean, what are we passing on to our children and our grandchildren? If we don't get these people out of office before they spend this country into oblivion, I fear that our grandchildren and children are coming back and ask us, where were we?

BECK: There are two things that came out today, I don't know if you saw the news. First, "The New York Times" said that the — every major part of this health bill is about redistribution of wealth. Did you see that?

Yet, when were on the air saying that this is about redistribution of wealth, this isn't about health care, this is about changing money, taking it from the rich and giving it to the poor — we were mocked and called crazy. Now The New York Times says that.

We have senator from Montana also saying that this is redistributive change. That's what this health care is about.

The other story that came out today is by 2020 — 2020, every dollar, every tax dollar will be eaten up by Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and the interest on the debt — every tax dollar that we currently bring in. That's 10 years from now.

Is there anybody here that thinks that — and were you — when you say these people, were you referring to the Republicans and the Democrats or just — both of them?

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Well, both of them. But it's really gotten out of hand lately. I mean, the Democrats complained loudly about George W. Bush's — what — $500 billion deficit, and they get in office and they promptly quadruple it.

BECK: OK. Anybody else? How do you feel this week?

Yes?

AUDIENCE MEMBER: I'm definitely feeling certain about the way, that I don't think that this is a republic anymore. I mean, I just don't see any evidence of that and I'm worried about the ramifications of, you know, post-2014 when we are grouped into this sort of bureaucratic pool as far as health care is concerned — young, old, sick, healthy, preexisting conditions, whatnot — everybody just thrown into this pool and given a bureaucratic number just seems inhumane almost. And I just wonder, can we get through to people and stop this and show that compassion within freedom — free enterprise.

BECK: Let me ask you a question: how many people here believe that our health care system is broken? I mean, it is — it needs to be reformed, not saying what kind.

So, everybody here believes it needs to be reformed. Just not this kind of reform? And when I say not this kind of reform, what do you mean by that? Anybody?

Yes?

AUDIENCE MEMBER: I wouldn't go out and buy insurance or a car or anything for myself without reading all the fine print. I want to know how much it's going to cost me personally. I want to know the details, what kind of coverage I would be having, what are my co-pays, who is administering it. Is there —

(CROSSTALK)

BECK: So, in other words, you don't agree with what Nancy Pelosi says, is, just wait until this bill passes and then you'll see what's in it?

AUDIENCE MEMBER: No. I mean, that's just ludicrous. I wouldn't buy a house without reading all the closing statements.

The other thing that bothers me as a nurse is Obama's platform when he was running for president was to build the infrastructure of America. He's going to dump 32 million people into a health care plan without bolstering the infrastructure of medicine and nursing and hospitals?

BECK: How many of you are aware of what's happened with the education reform this week? OK. You know, that is the second part of health care, that you no longer can get a private loan from a private bank for — so, in other words, it's the government takeover now of education as well. I believe their answer to you would be, we are — because now, we control the education. The way they say they're going to fix the system is to encourage more doctors to be G.P.s and not specialists. And so, they're going to do it that way.

You don't buy into that?

AUDIENCE MEMBER: No, they are not going to have G.P.s in four years when they start implementing Obamacare.

BECK: Why is that?

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Because it takes college, four years of medical school, three to five years of a specialty.

BECK: And now, you are using too much logic.

(LAUGHTER)

BECK: Anybody else? Yes?

AUDIENCE MEMBER: I develop cancer treatment centers and I'm concerned —
BECK: Wait, wait, wait. You do what?

AUDIENCE MEMBER: I develop and build cancer treatment centers across the country. And there's a concern of keeping up the quality of treatment. (INAUDIBLE) that we've been improving over the years in treatments.

BECK: You know, see, I think — I think all of us — and that's what the "American Revival" is about tomorrow, it's faith, hope and charity. And we've been talking this on the show. And that's the thing.

It takes — in my keynote address tomorrow, my daughter gave me this song. I'm trying to remember it, somebody's song (ph) — and she gave me this — she gave me this C.D., and one of the songs on it, I don't remember what it is, but the hook line in it is, let's get rich and then buy everybody a sweater and a house for our parents in France.

And I called her up after I heard that and I said, I've got good news and bad news. Don't buy me a house in France, ever. It's France.

(LAUGHTER)

BECK: Second, that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard, let's buy everybody a sweater. What about the people who live down by the equator?

But the great news is, is that that was a hippie song that understood, get rich and then buy everybody something that you want to do. Do something charitable for you, what you want to do. But I think what we've done here is we've destroyed everything which gives you the ability to get rich and build cancer centers. I mean, everybody comes up on the technology that is being made for somebody else.

Am I wrong, Robert?

AUDIENCE MEMBER: No, that's right, exactly. The technology is really important. And there's just a real feeling of disappointment that the technology that's been improving over the last 10 years, very rapidly, just can't maintain that any longer.

BECK: All right. Let me ask you this, because I want to get into — I want to get into something different than just the usual health care talk. We had a chat before we went on the air. And I said to you, where's the dumper sticker, Zach? Do you have the bumper sticker? You're college Republican.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: College Republican.

BECK: OK. And this is a —

AUDIENCE MEMBER: A "scam" bumper sticker.

BECK: Scam. And we were talking about that and I said, you know what, I feel like we've been scammed. I feel like the debate isn't even real any more.

Why have the debate when it's real — all this people now, you know, the Jim Wallis, who is the spiritual adviser for the president, he wants to debate me and the, what's his name, the "Titanic" boy, he wants to debate now on global warming, whatever! I can't debate anybody if you won't say that we're right about some of the things that we've been right on.

And I feel like we don't — we just keep treading water here with them. We're going — you know, I'm not a socialist, I'm not socialist, it's not a socialist program, not a socialist program. "New York Times," it's a socialist program. It's not redistribution of wealth, not redistribution of wealth. A senator, it's redistribution of wealth.

Wait a minute, wait a minute. Does anybody else feel like there's almost no point in talking, because we can even have an honest conversation? We're just shouting slogans at each other. Anybody want to comment on that?

Yes, Jan?

AUDIENCE MEMBER: I'm just frustrated because, as you say, we're down here speaking, we're trying to get — the tea parties are going, we're trying to get Washington to hear us. They are not hearing us.

BECK: No, they are hearing you.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: They're not paying attention to us.

BECK: Does anybody think they are not hearing you?

AUDIENCE MEMBER: They are not paying attention.

BECK: Yes. They are ignoring you.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Right.

BECK: Yes.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: How do we make a change? I mean, how do we go about getting them out of office, or you know —

BECK: OK. Let me — may I propose — we're going to — we have to take a break. I'm going to propose an idea and it's something that I'm doing at the "American Revival" tomorrow. And I honestly don't know if it will work, but I don't know an answer. I don't think the conventional thinking is going to work, I really don't. I think we're in a different world today.

Let me propose that — next.

(APPLAUSE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(APPLAUSE)

BECK: We are in Orlando, Florida. We are talking about America's future. I'm here in the UCF Arena where, tomorrow, there will be 8,000 Americans gathered together and we're going to be talking about how to revive America.

I don't know, but Jan asked me a minute ago, and she said, how exactly do we do it? We're trying to organize tea parties and everything else.

I think — I don't know if anybody saw the episode where I talked about mutually assured destruction. Did anybody see that episode? Yes. OK.

Mutually assured destruction — that was the idea of — that's why we don't bomb each other and kill each other. Everybody knew, if you have enough nukes and I have enough nukes, you launch against me and I'll launch everything against you and we'll blow each other up, and that will be the end. That was the idea that stopped us from nukes.

But in 1962-ish, there was a book called "Tragedy and Hope" with Carroll Quigley, and he announced that there was another mutually assured destruction they could announce now and they were very excited about. They have been doing it since the 1940s, to guarantee the tragedy was war, the hope would — was that there would be no more war, because they have tied our economies together.

And so now, and he predicted in 1962 — and in fact, he didn't predict, he stated that from here on out, because the economies were all tied together, there would be no full-out war any more. He said, it always be a police action or a war and it would build up but then it would peter out. There would be no clear victors any more and there would certainly never be a world war.

And ever since he said and he wrote that in '62, every war has been like Vietnam, every single one has just kind of petered out. And look at what we are doing in Afghanistan and in Iraq. Is there anybody — any doubt in your mind that if the United States decided to put their full force and power behind it, this thing would have been done years ago?

So, he said, what we've done is we've tied everybody's economy together, and if one country goes after another, everybody is tied together so the whole thing will just collapse because — in that way, the world pressure will come on through the United Nations. So, that's for — was for nukes.

But I contend and I haven't heard anybody say this, if this system was in place to stop us from nuking each other because if one economy goes down, they all go down, when our economy the economy of Greece, the economy of China, the economy of Mexico, it doesn't matter. When that goes down, doesn't this pull us all down? Doesn't that make sense? Why is nobody talking about that?

It was done for a good reason. And now, it's being used against us — not intentionally — but because that's the way it was designed.

But I believe political parties are the same. I believe the political parties are so tangled up in themselves. Now, it's not quite the same as mutually assured destruction, but it is. Our answer I think is the same.

When it comes to the nukes, if you wanted to win a war, if it was — they had nukes, you had nukes, you needed something new — you needed, what, you needed "star wars," you needed something that spat you out of that system and said, "I don't really care what you do because I have this," right?

With the economy — the economy, all the world is spiraling out-of- control, and we know they are all tied together, then we need something dramatic to spit us out of that system! We need colossal, colossal 50 percent spending cuts. We need taxes, the lowest by far in the entire world — because as everything is spiraling out-of-control, there is great wealth on this planet and they are looking for a place that's going to be stable. What's stable? What's stable with their citizenry? What's stable where I can put a business and I can rest my money?

We're always the one. If we would dramatically reduce our costs and our budget, and cut it in half, if we would then go and take our spending and cut it, and our taxes and say, it's going to be safe here, you can make money — the world will flee to us.

But the same thing can be said for the political parties. I am convinced — this game has been going on for a long time. I've never felt more set-up in my life than I do right now. I feel like we've been duped. This game has been coming for a long time and none of us saw it coming. We all just went — it's going to be fine, it's going to be great, oh, no, I got get my guy in. No, you got to get my guy in.

It's been a game. So, the American people have to play a different game.

Does anybody here think that these problems are going to be solved in Washington?

Nobody.

Then what are we doing standing around waiting for they will to solve it? It's a fundamental transformation of our system. It's a fundamental transformation of our country. Then we have to fundamentally transform.

How many of us were out-of-control spenders? At some point in our life recent, how many of us have spent too much? And probably spent — just got into debt, OK? OK, that's great!

Now, what are you going to do about it, Bill?

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Cut expenses.

BECK: Yes. And learn from our lesson, and stop playing the same game.

How many of us know they're going to bailout the mortgages now? Not the mortgage industry, but anybody's house that is under water. And President Obama said today, it's not going to cost anybody — the taxpayers' dime because we're just going to use TARP money.

Oh, that's free money.

Does anybody think that's going to work? Stop doing the same thing!

I think and what I'm laying out tomorrow and I'll be laying in the coming weeks on the TV show and radio is again — faith, hope and charity. Each one of us have to fundamentally change ourselves and not be dependent on anyone else because when are — you want to know when they are spooked? When we don't need them, when we don't need them. When we say, whatever, you keep going on your little magic box over there yelling at each other everyday on TV, you go ahead and do that, I don't really give a flying crap.

How much production time do we lose in this country? We lose hours and hours and hours yelling at each other. For what? For what?

We need to fundamentally transform ourselves and spit ourselves out of the system. And when we do, others will come rushing to us, because our lives will be stable.

Everybody right now, good portion of this country, good portion of this country, let me ask you this question: how many are fearful of the future of this country right now? Fearful? How many believe that's different than concerned?

I've never — I've never feared the future of America — really — until really this week, because I start to see the things that I've been saying are coming, happening. That's different. That's what we need to concentrate on. Get your self out of the system.

Back in just a second.

(APPLAUSE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: Hello, America. We're back in the UCF Arena where tomorrow I'm doing an event with 8,000 people. I think there's a few hundred tickets available still. But we are going to be talking about what it will take to revive America.

And we are sitting here with about 40 people from around Florida now that - we're just discussing what has happened this week, where we're headed. And we've been on to this topic here for a few minutes of - the system has to change. The system has been gamed. So now, what do we do? What do we do from here? And Jim you were talking in the break.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: My question is, if you opt out of the system and you move way from the parties what is happening — I'm the state president of Ronald Reagan Republican Assembly which are conservative Republicans in the state.

And our Republican Party became fiscally irresponsible during the Bush years - no question. We abandoned our fiscal and social principles. So conservative Republicans moved out of the Republican Party and became independent. Reagan Democrats have been left behind in the Democratic Party.

And as we've seen in the recent weeks, conservatives in the Democratic Party are lost. They really don't have a home. So if we opt out of the parties instead of trying to build one party back into the conservative party, what other alternatives are there?

BECK: It's a great question because this is not what I'm suggesting. I'm not suggesting anything about parties. I'm not suggesting leaving or joining. You have to still be in the system. You still have to go out and vote, otherwise - you think this is bad. Wait until you see what you get.

What I'm saying is, is that we as individuals change and unite. Change and unite. They're going to have to come to us. You know, I've been talking to some religious leaders this week. I said to them, the Christian Coalition needs to come back, but not as a political force. Not as, "We're going to support this candidate and we're going to go to Washington and we're going to talk to these people."

When you get churches of all faiths together, and they say, "These are the principles that we stand for. And there are millions of us," they will come to us.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: You have to vote in the primaries.

BECK: I'm saying - I am not suggesting leave your party. I'm not suggesting that. I'm not suggesting don't go out and vote. I'm not saying be a Democrat or be a Republican. You change yourself. And out of that group will come people. We need good people with values, not politicians. We need good people with values.

You got a bloc here of two, three million people. Somebody is coming out of there and it might be a Democrat. It might be Republican. They may be all Republicans, all Democrats — it doesn't matter. Are they good people? Then we're together. We have to change who we are. Does that make sense, Dave?

AUDIENCE MEMBER: I think that what we've done is we've abdicated our responsibility as neighbors to the government, to even state agencies. And we've outsourced everything to Washington.

BECK: We have.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: It is time to take it home and just take care of each other again.

BECK: Yes. I mean, I know this sounds bad. And here's a clip that will be run forever on - you know, calling me violent. When did "get off my land" lose its meaning? When did "get off my land" — when did we stop saying that? Get off my land. It's my land. I don't want you here. I don't want you here. This is my land.

And the neighbors coming next to say, "Yes. Damn right. I don't necessarily agree with him on a lot of stuff but that's his land and this is my land." That's what we need to back, not in a violent way. Just, you know, "What the hell are you even doing here? Who are you? Exactly right. The Constitution. The Constitution.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Glenn, we need to remember that we're the one that hired these people work for us in Washington. So we've got to fundamentally change how we go about hiring these people.

And one of the things that we have to do is realize that the first thing we do is we're teaching them to be crack addicts before they ever get elected because they have no limits on what they can spend in order to get the job. So the first thing, I think, we need to do is put limits of maybe $1 per voter that they can spend on their election. And the balance —

BECK: Term limits.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Yes, you got that right.

BECK: Term limits. It's good enough for the president. It's not good enough for them? Term limits is the limit that we need to find.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Absolutely. But we've got to get — we've got to get the people. We've got a lot of brilliant people out there. They have great ideas that don't have enough of the right friends.

And we've got to make the playing field to where they can get their voice heard and maybe we can hire better employees through the process.

BECK: I will tell you this — I've been kind of the fish out of water my whole career. I've been the guy who is on the air on talk radio that was funny and everybody was like, "Oh, why don't you do that.

And I talked about different things and spirituality. Oh, you want to talk about politics. And I just — I did my thing. I've been the fish out of water over at CNN. I mean, you want to talk about — I mean, I was in the middle of the desert over there!

Here I'm a fish out of water, too, because I don't really — I don't care about the parties. And people don't understand that in America. They just don't understand that. It's good to be a fish out of water.

You don't have to necessarily have friends. Do yourself a favor. Don't make as many enemies as I have made myself. But you don't necessarily have to have a lot of friends.

Let me rephrase that — don't ever lose your soul for a favor. When you go down — I was doing an interview today with somebody and they said — what Aaron is saying, wrap it up. I'll be back for the rest of that story. It is a good one. Hang on just a second.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: All right. We're back in Orlando, Florida where I'm doing the "American Revival." I'm standing here and I'm thinking, it is like that movie where we're talking about the president.

And you know — and then he's just screwing — he's behind me, isn't he? I want to talk to you a little bit about — what I was saying when we into break is — I was talking to somebody today and he is a big businessperson.

And I said, "So what's the secret? What's the secret? Because you were bottomed out, you know, 15 years ago. And you had nothing 10 years ago. Now." I said, "The secret is not caring. Losing absolutely everything and then saying, 'I'm alive?' And I have my soul. And I'll even lose my life but I won't lose my soul."

That's where we have to be. And we have to — the secret is getting there before we bottom out, because somebody has to be strong to hold everybody else up. And Josh we were talking during the break and you said that you're changing your whole life. How do you mean?

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Well, I've a pretty stable job and a good family. You know, we're not, you know, in trouble in the grand scheme of things. But just over the year — last year or two, I've just realized that something I've been drawn to finding out more learning about the truth of the country and just the way things are supposed to work, the way they used to work.

And I'm back in school now taking political science classes. I'm not looking for an actual career change. If I never get a new job, it will be fine with me. But just having that — you know, that knowledge so that I can sit here and say, "I know what's going on."

I might not be able to - myself, to do something about it. But I think that is the secret. If I do that and Chris does that and everyone in here does that and people across the country do that and get the knowledge of what this country was about, why it was started —

BECK: There's a reason — there's a reason why they changed the history books. Woodrow Wilson, who I hate with every fiber in me, is the one who changed the history books. He got together with his scholarly friends at Columbia and they changed the history books.

At the same time in Harvard in 1920, they changed the way we read the Constitution. In law school, ask any attorney how many of the constitutional convention did you study? None. They don't even listen or talk about the arguments made on the Constitution.

They don't read any of the founders. They read case law — that's 1920. The reason why they do that is because if you don't know what we were, if you don't know what the meaning is behind, you just drift. You've lost your polar star, and that's what we need to change again. You're on the exact —

AUDIENCE MEMBER: And that's how you change it because if you have a case, a Supreme Court case, and you go back and judge it by the Constitution, it is a certain way. But if you can change it in 1980 — 1880 —

BECK: Exactly right.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: And then you use case law, then you change it a little more, a little more, a little more, then it is completely — there is no Constitution.

BECK: This is what is happening in America right now. We all felt something was wrong and we did this, instead of going, "Hey, what does that mean?" and looking to a politician. We went and we checked navigation. And we looked to the Constitution. We looked for the polar star and we went — holy cow it is over there.

And that's what is happening in America. Once we lock ourselves on that polar star, it is going to be good. I want to take a quick break. And when I come back I want to tell you about the next thing that I think is coming.

And I want to ask your opinion on whether or not this would be a good resolution to illegal immigration because that's next on the president's plate. And they are going to jam this through — amnesty. Next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: During this past hour, I have challenged to you explore who you are and what we are all about. And I do that every single day, I hope, "Question with boldness even the very existence of God for if there be a God, he must surely rather honest questioning over blindfolded fear." Thomas Jefferson.

That phrase changed my life. Question everything. Don't look for the answer you want to be true. Look for the truth and then just hold on to it. We were just talking here about illegal immigration and the numbers that are going to change.

I mean, once you get illegal immigration passed, if the Democrats win, then they have control for the next 60, 70 years. Same thing with the Republicans. They are playing politics.

I think that we have a problem in America of people who understand and appreciate this country. And I was just out. I had to take a call outside. And I was walking across the street.

The guy stopped his car and he was from Jamaica. And he said, "Glenn Beck man." And I said, "Yes?" He said, "I love you, man. I watch you all the time. I'm going to be here tomorrow."

People who are from a different country understand this country because they know how crappy their country is. I think we need to lead the way on illegal immigration, not amnesty. Legal immigration. I think we need to start an Ellis Island program. And we welcome people in here. You've got to go to classes.

I'll help you learn English, because you are trapped if you don't know English. I'll help you. And you know what? People can play games with you if you can't speak the language. So teach them English. Teach them the real history of America.

They want that freedom! Otherwise, they would have stayed in their own place. They don't want corruption in their new government because they know what it was like in the last place.

Do you think we could sell to Washington? Do you think we could find a group of people that would stop playing politics in Washington and start rebuilding real citizens in America? Do you think we could find that?

Susan says no. Does anybody? Who says yes? Wow. Bill, you think so?

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Yes. If you look far enough you will find all the people you need. But we've got to dig for them because they don't want to come out.

BECK: Who says no, that we couldn't? Why? Does anybody want to say no.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: There's no integrity in Washington. It is not going to come from there. There's no integrity.

BECK: So then, how do we solve the illegal immigration problem? Because they're going to solve it one way or another.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: What I've experienced just — well, like last night. I saw that there was an accident in our town. And it was a hit- and-run accident. And so this guy pulled out in front of this kid driving his car and the kid hit this guy and this guy fled the scene. He took off.

And there was the guy in the parking lot who saw this. He jumped in his truck. He chased that guy down because he recognized what was wrong.

When Americans see something wrong, they stand up. And they will not tolerate this. We're just waking up. We just got hit by the car. And so Americans are now coming alive and we're hungry.

BECK: Do you think that this puts a damper on the tea parties? Or do you think it explodes now? It really wakes America —

AUDIENCE MEMBER: This rips the veil away and it sets it on fire.

BECK: OK. Back in just a second.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: Back in UCF Arena. Keith?

AUDIENCE MEMBER: I think what is mostly important about the desire to bring about change is obviously a passion to bring about change, but also to bring about this change with like you said on your radio show, with the anvil of truth and nonviolence, the hammer of nonviolence. I think the constant pressure of telling truth with that passion.

BECK: Let me tell you something. Our relationship has to change. Your relationship with me has to change. You have to have the anvil of truth and the hammer, as Gandhi said, of nonviolence and hammer that truth away every single day.

Content and Programming Copyright 2010 Fox News Network, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Copyright 2010 Roll Call, Inc. All materials herein are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of Roll Call. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content.