Point of View July 3, 2025 – Hour 2 : Today’s Top Stories

[00:00:04] Across America, Live, this is Point of View, Kirby Anderson. Second hour today, we're going to certainly encourage you to celebrate the 4th of July tomorrow. And we're going to be talking about that for some time today in this last hour before we, of course, run a tape tomorrow.

[00:00:31] I might just mention that if you do have a chance to listen tomorrow, the first hour is my presentation on the 4th of July and on the Declaration of Independence, so we'll get into that in just a minute. First of all, let me issue my one concern, and that is if you are engaged in any kind of fireworks, be really careful. As I was coming here today, ran into an individual that actually works for Kelly Shackelford at First Liberty.

[00:01:00] They had all sorts of Star Spangled Banner clothes on and everything and talking about how they've purchased $400 worth of fireworks. And every year they have a parade. Now I've been in some parades with our dogs and things like that, but they have a parade and then they fire the fireworks into the lake where her mother is. And that sounds relatively safe as long as you're not in the front of those, but be careful tomorrow.

[00:01:24] But also take the time if you could to maybe listen to the broadcast or download my commentary and use that to teach a little bit of America's godly heritage. I want to do a little of that in just a minute. Then I want to quote from a piece by Karl Rove that was in Wall Street Journal, one by John Stossel, a little bit later one from Noah Rothman, one from Star Parker, and some other pieces along the way.

[00:01:49] But while we are talking about the fact that we live in a country with such great freedom, I just thought I would mention once again that the Supreme Court today announced that it is going to hear oral arguments in Kelly Shackelford's case. This has to do with Gabriel Olivier. He actually is one that challenged what was happening in, of all places, Mississippi.

[00:02:14] Brandon, Mississippi actually prohibited any kind of religious speech on a public sidewalk near the city's amphitheater. What? I mean, that one sounds like an easy slam dunk. This could be another one of those cases that First Liberty wins nine to zero, but we'll see. But nevertheless, Kelly Shackelford said every American has First Amendment rights to free speech and every American certainly has a right to their day in court.

[00:02:42] Both these rights, free speech, religious speech, were violated for Gabe Olivier. The Supreme Court will now decide whether those rights will be protected for all Americans. And Kelly said on Friday, and he said this off air as well, that this may be the first time in a long time in which you've ever really had an issue related to religious free speech

[00:03:07] in kind of a public forum, which would involve, if you will, evangelism. And, of course, we've had some other cases, one which, of course, talked about whether or not you could even have a prayer before a Christian football game. And the answer was no, because it's a secular institution and it's a secular microphone. I'm having trouble saying that with a straight face. But that's what we're dealing with in a world today. And, again, they're going to win these cases. They've won so many of them. They've won the last nine cases.

[00:03:35] Matter of fact, they've only had nine cases before the Supreme Court, won all nine of them. Most recent one won nine to zero. So we'll see where that goes. But I think we know pretty much. Just before we get into some of the things that other people have said, I have a booklet that we are putting together. And so a couple of months from now, you should probably be receiving that in your mailbox because we try to write them ahead of time. But we will this next year be celebrating 250 years of this country.

[00:04:05] Tomorrow is, of course, the 249th year since July 4th, 1776. But next year, July 4th, 2026, will be the 250th year. Those of us a little bit older recognize I have younger people working on the program here and younger listeners. But those of us that were around in 1776, excuse me, 1976, I should say. Whoops. We certainly remember the bicentennial.

[00:04:33] And so I don't think we're going to have quite the celebration of the 200 years of America that we'll have for the 250 years. But we'll see where that goes. But G.K. Chesterton, the British historian and philosopher, one time said that America is the only nation in the world that is founded on a creed. He says that creed is set forth with dogmatic and even theological lucidity in the Declaration of Independence.

[00:05:03] And one of the things I do want to try to teach this year is the fact that, true, not all the founders were Christians. True, many were influenced by deism and various kinds of Unitarianism, maybe even what we might today call humanism. But they were still very influenced by these Christian principles. And those really show up. And the Declaration of Independence is one of those illustrations.

[00:05:30] The other day, you might remember, we had Bill Federer on the program, William Federer. And he mentioned that the Declaration on four occasions mentions God either explicitly or implicitly. But I think it's even more telling because Thomas Jefferson, who, again, as I've oftentimes said, could not sign the doctrinal statement of your church, nevertheless was influenced by some of the writings. And one of those was what was called the Mecklenburg Declaration.

[00:05:59] That was written under the influence of Ephraim Bivard, who was a graduate of Princeton, which at that time was College of New Jersey. And interestingly enough, you can see the ideas that certainly were in there. Because one of the writers, one scholar said, in correcting the first draft, because we do have that, of the Declaration, we can see in a few places where Jefferson erased the original words, crossed them out,

[00:06:27] and inserted those that were found in the Mecklenburg Declaration, which was actually put together by the Presbyterian elders of North Carolina. And so they concluded that no doubt Jefferson had Bivard's resolution before him when he was writing his Immortal Declaration. Of course, many of the other ideas came from George Mason's Virginia Declaration of Rights. This is from the Declaration of Rights. And see if this sounds at all like the Declaration of Independence.

[00:06:56] The Virginia Declaration of Rights say that all men are by nature equally free and independent and have certain inherent rights of which they enter into the state of society. And then goes on to say those rights are namely the enjoyment of life, liberty, and the means of acquiring and possessing property and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety. Does that sound a little bit like the Declaration? Yes, it does.

[00:07:25] And Paul Johnson, the British historian, even said there's no question the Declaration of Independence was to those who signed it a religious as well as secular act. And the Revolutionary War had the approbation of divine providence. So certainly when we look at things like the Declaration of Independence, when we look at the Constitution, when we look at the Federalist Papers, by the way, written by Alexander Hamilton, you know who he is,

[00:07:54] James Madison, the architect of the Constitution who studied under Witherspoon at Princeton, and John Jay, who at the time was the secretary of the American Bible Society, you can see that certainly individuals with a Christian worldview were certainly addressing many of these issues as well. So that's certainly what we're going to be talking about over the next year before the 250th anniversary on July 4th, 2026. And so when we come back,

[00:08:22] let's see if we can see what some other people have said about the Declaration, and of course giving you some facts and figures and information that maybe you can use, either to pass on to your friends, neighbors, and co-workers, or maybe use that to teach around the table on the 4th of July about the history and the theological influence of the Declaration of Independence on America. We'll come back and talk about that right after this.

[00:08:58] This is Viewpoints with Kirby Anderson. Congress and the Trump administration are currently investigating who ran the U.S. while President Biden was in office. One key element of that investigation involves the use of an auto pen. Merrill Matthews provides some historical background to the use of the auto pen. The legacy press doesn't see this as an important issue. One Associated Press headline reads, Presidents have used auto pens for decades. Now Trump objects to Biden's use of one.

[00:09:26] As someone who reads articles and books on political issues, I wasn't aware that presidents routinely used auto pens. Of course, they were probably used for letters, invitations, even pictures. But that's not what we're talking about. The Constitution in Article 1, Section 7, says that every bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate shall, before it becomes law, be presented to the President of the United States. If he approves, he shall sign it. But if not, he shall return it with his objections to that house in which it shall have originated.

[00:09:55] This seems pretty clear that the President must sign a bill. I even remember stories of legislation that was flown to past presidents so they could sign a bill. But Merrill Matthews cites a Deputy Assistant Attorney General who in 2005 argued that the President did not have to personally affix his signature to a bill. Six years later, President Barack Obama took this step when out of the country. Congress needs to resolve this issue. Does a bill signed by an auto pen have the force of law?

[00:10:24] What about the many presidential pardons supposedly signed by Biden? And what about Biden's executive orders? A pro-energy group is demanding an investigation into those executive orders that affected their business. As you can see, it is time for Congress to resolve this issue. I'm Kirby Anderson, and that's my point of view. Go deeper on topics like you just heard by visiting pointofview.net.

[00:10:53] That's pointofview.net. You're listening to Point of View, your listener-supported source for truth. Beck, once again, one of the things I would encourage you to do is to go to the website today, pointofview.net, and you will see that we've posted a couple of articles. The first one is by Karl Rove.

[00:11:13] Okay, we don't always agree with Karl Rove, but I think this time he's done a very good service by providing us some information that I did not know until I read his piece. And he entitles this, The Declaration of Independence Made America Great. And, of course, you know what he's playing off there. But I thought it was interesting that he said, you know, now we begin the countdown, as all of us are going to be talking about this next year, to the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

[00:11:41] Now, he brings up a very good question. It does, perhaps for some people, seem a bit odd that our focus isn't on, say, the first shots fired at Lexington and Concord. That's April 19th, 1775. You know, if you want to say, well, that's when the American Revolution began. Or that we don't focus on the surrender of the British at Yorktown. That's October 19th, 1781.

[00:12:08] Or at least on the signing of the Peace Treaty in 1783. I could go on and say we could also say when we actually have the Constitution. But no, he says our attention is instead on the Declaration's approval, if it is, of July 4th, 1776.

[00:12:31] Because it was not only a seminal event in the creation of America and the United States, but it was world-changing as well. First of all, he says we have these self-evident truths that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights. And so, of course, we see that he says that it goes on to explain that to secure these rights,

[00:13:00] governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. Now, that's important if you think about this, because up until this time, the idea of individuals having rights that come from God very different. The monarch would give you certain rights, but if the monarch gave you the rights, the monarch could take it away. Dictator could give you rights, but the dictator could take them away.

[00:13:28] Even if you have a Constitution that gives you the rights, well, you could amend the Constitution and take them away. This is a fundamentally different idea. And so, think about, again, he says requiring consent, majority rule, even equality before the law, ensure that people no longer existed in a fixed hierarchical order that was overseen by divinely chosen kings,

[00:13:57] as historian Alan Gilzo argues in his new volume, Our Ancient Faith. So, first of all, he's quoting, and as we go through this, recommending a couple of books that you might want to read this year. My book list just got a lot larger. Unfortunately, the Barnes & Noble near my house is closed down, so I'm going to have to drive a little further to get to the next Barnes & Noble to pick up some of these books. And if there are new books, I can find them.

[00:14:26] And if some of these are older books, I may have to order them online. But nevertheless, that idea of requiring consent, equality before the law, majority rule, very important. Okay, let me always add the disclaimer. We recognize that even though we said all men are created equal, this is a time when we had slavery. I certainly acknowledge that there are dark chapters in American history. As a matter of fact, we're going to talk about those in just a minute.

[00:14:54] But let's at least acknowledge what the goal and the ultimate opportunity was there. And more importantly, you can go from, again, the Declaration of Independence even to Abraham Lincoln. And isn't it interesting that in the Gettysburg Address, four score and what? Of course, he's looking back at what? The Declaration of Independence.

[00:15:20] And here he talks about the fact that what held the nation together was not the mere matter of separation of the college from the motherland. It was the sentiment in the Declaration which gave liberty not only to the people of this country, but I hope to the world for a future time. Direct quote there from Abraham Lincoln.

[00:15:40] And so, again, Karl Rove then laments that many Americans now have lost sight of the treasure those 56 delegates who met in Philadelphia left us. And we should heed the words, he says, of one of the American Revolution's greatest historians. And I would agree. I've got some of his books on my shelf just around the corner here, Gordon Wood.

[00:16:01] And in a speech recently that Gordon Wood gave, he called the Declaration, quote, the most important document in our history because, he goes on to say, it sums up the principles by which the nation lives and deeds and what's hold us together as a nation. In another talk by Gordon Wood, he also said it would be a good time to find out what our revolution was all about. And so, again, that is where Karl Rove says, well, that would be wise counsel.

[00:16:32] He said we'd be better off as a country if individually as well as in our families, neighborhoods, and communities, we use the next year to read, think, and talk about the American Revolution. And I would agree. And so he reminds us of something I did not know about. This fall, November 16th, Ken Burns, you know who he is probably, Sarah Botstein and David Schmidt will premiere a six-part, 12-hour PBS documentary called The American Revolution.

[00:17:00] Those are written by Jeffrey Ward. Actually, it took eight years to make. And so, again, you might remember Ken Burns for the Civil War films and films on baseball and jazz and everything else. But what was kind of interesting is this. Ken Burns, even though he's done films on the Civil War and the Vietnam War,

[00:17:22] he was shocked, as those of us that have actually studied this history, to realize the brutality during the Revolution. One out of every three deaths in the American Revolution was by bayonet. Because they could only fire muzzles so many, you know, these musket loaders so many times. And so they'd fire once, and then the muzzle was empty, and then they would go and stab individuals.

[00:17:48] And as he goes on to say, Ken Burns says that many of these warriors, many of those who were fighting, if they were in the regulars or in the militia, were oftentimes teenagers. And the violence was deeply personal. They tell, in one case, the story of this young Vermont loyalist who killed his best friend in hand-to-hand combat in the Battle of Bennington in 1777.

[00:18:16] So, again, when you look at the per capita deaths, we actually lost even more people per capita in the Revolutionary War than we did in the Civil War. I think most people know that as well. So, again, he also says we don't have to wait for November to dig deeper. There are many new books on the Revolutionary War. And probably the ones that he would recommend are by the Pulitzer Prize-winning military historian Rick Atkinson,

[00:18:45] who actually put together a trilogy on this war, the Revolutionary War, for us. And I think, if I remember right, what are they? One of them is called The British Are Coming, The Fate of the Day, and I forget what the other one was. But these are resources which, again, just help you understand the Revolutionary War. Well, anyway, he closes this off by saying, To celebrate the 250th anniversary is fine.

[00:19:12] To live up the Declaration's promise, however, we must honor its critical role in history by better understanding where America came from. No better place to start than the beginning. No better time than right now. So have your assignments. July 2026 isn't very far off. So, again, we're going to do our best to try to educate you on those issues.

[00:19:40] And, of course, I mentioned a booklet that is coming out, which will probably just be titled One Nation Under God. But I might also recommend one of the booklets we've already made available in the past, and it's about patriot preachers. Matter of fact, Karen and I were talking to an individual that came in the door today, and both of us tried to give her a copy of the booklet, and she already had it. She already read it. But nevertheless, if you would want those kinds of resources, I think you're going to find them very helpful.

[00:20:07] Let me, again, let you know that tomorrow my commentary is on the Declaration of Independence, so you can be able to find that. And our first hour tomorrow is my teaching already recorded on this. So if you want to begin the process of learning a little bit more about July 4th, the Declaration of Independence, that is certainly the case. We come back. Let me, real quickly, a quote from John Stossel, because he is talking about the secret sauce that made America.

[00:20:37] That's freedom, of course, as you might imagine. And then we're going to get into a couple of other pieces, which we've posted, one by Noah Rothman, in which he's talking about why so many on the left run down this country and find, as he calls it, satisfaction in shame. And a lot of that relates both to his piece and the one we have with Star Parker about Gallup.

[00:21:02] And I might just mention, when we come back, I'll show these diagrams again that shows how pride in America has declined precipitously, but there's a very good reason why it has, and we'll get into that in just a few minutes. Let's take a break, though. If you'd like to find some of the material that we have posted on the website, go to the website, pointofview.net, and we'll be back right after this.

[00:21:30] The Bible tells us not to worry, and yet there is a lot of worrying stuff in our world today. Thankfully, the Bible doesn't stop at telling us not to worry. God gives us a next step. He says we need to pray. But sometimes even knowing what to pray can be difficult, and that is why Point of View has relaunched our Pray for America movement,

[00:21:57] a series of weekly emails to guide you in prayer for our nation. Each week you'll receive a brief update about a current issue affecting Americans, along with a written prayer that you can easily share with others. We'll also include a short free resource for you in each email, so you can learn more about the issue at hand. Will you commit to Pray for America?

[00:22:24] Go to pointofview.net, click on the Pray for America banner at the top of the page to subscribe. Again, that's pointofview.net, click on the Pray for America banner. Let's pray together for God to make a difference in America. Point of View will continue after this.

[00:22:51] You are listening to Point of View. The opinions expressed on Point of View do not necessarily reflect the views of the management or staff of this station. And now, here again, is Kirby Anderson. Back once again, let's if we can get to a piece by John Stossel, in which he says the secret sauce that made America, well, that is freedom.

[00:23:20] And again, I agree with him on the freedom idea, but one of the problems with freedom is if it doesn't have any connection to civic virtue, just giving people freedom to do whatever they want, sometimes that doesn't turn out so well. But certainly, he is reminding us that Friday is the 4th of July. He says 4th of July is about freedom. To him, the idea of a limited government that protects individual rights turned out to be America's secret sauce.

[00:23:46] It made us freer and a richer country than any other in history. And that is certainly the case. Now, he acknowledges, and let's again add that to our conversation as well, that we didn't get it all right. As he says, we had slavery, the Alien and Sedition Acts, the Indian Removal Act. Then he mentions one in the 20th century, Prohibition, and then one in the 21st century, the Patriot Act.

[00:24:14] I thought, well, those weren't exactly the founders, but I know what he's getting at here. There have been some times, whether it has been under individuals that were wanting to do good or those who used a crisis to constrain our liberty, that is the case. But nevertheless, he adds those to the list as well. And we do have some dark chapters in American history, and we need to teach that as well.

[00:24:39] He says, but the problem is, today, democratic socialism has become very popular with young people. One of the reasons why I have booklets on everything from socialism to capitalism and socialism is to really give you material that you can hand to a young person that maybe is convinced that socialism is the answer. And so, again, he reminds us that if you say, well, I want to live in a country that has greater freedom,

[00:25:06] well, it turns out that the Cato Institute has ranked various countries in terms of human freedom. And using their criteria, and I would use a little bit different one, but that's okay. I'll use theirs for the moment. Switzerland, New Zealand, Denmark are near the top, but so is the United States. It's further down on the list. And the point he's making is this. Those countries that rank high in freedom are the countries where you really would want to live.

[00:25:33] And so, certainly, the point he makes is we know what works. Our founders found the formula, predictable law plus individual freedom. He says, the Wright brothers didn't invent a plane because Congress issued a grant. Elon Musk doesn't build reusable rockets because bureaucrats tell him to. In fact, as he said, they get in the way. Most good things happen when the government leaves people alone.

[00:25:57] And then talks about the idea that this possible mayor, and again, he hasn't been elected yet, but the likely new mayor wants city-owned grocery stores. And he claims that those will reduce overhead and pass on savings to shoppers. His argument is government stores give you long lines, low-quality products, and shortages. By contrast, supermarkets run by greedy capitalists, he puts in quote,

[00:26:24] are often open 24-7, they're well-lit, have wide aisles, offer amazingly cheap prices, and the quality of what they sell is mostly good. And so, again, he's reminding that whenever the government tries to come in and help you, it doesn't work very well because whenever government grows, freedom shrinks. It's the freedom to be left alone, he argues, that is so important. And the Declaration of Independence says that all men are created equal, endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights,

[00:26:54] the Constitution begins with the words, we the people sets limits on the government. So if nothing else, when people have freedom, amazing things happen. And so it's a good piece by John Stossel. Again, he's looking at it more kind of from a libertarian point of view. And as much as liberty is important and freedom is important, I think the bedrock foundation that has made America great has also been at rest on a moral and religious foundation, civic virtue.

[00:27:21] And so when we, as a country, move away from God, we move away from biblical absolutes, we even move away from moral absolutes, we shouldn't be surprised some of the problems that we are having. This is why I think it is a really strong argument for a revival and reformation. But let's, if we can for just a minute, also spend some time looking at the Gallup polls.

[00:27:45] And one of the things that is so disturbing is to recognize that if you look at, I'll hold this up just for those of you watching online. I used this the other day, but you can go to the latest Gallup poll. It shows that we used to actually have a very high belief in pride for America, going all the way back to post 9-11, in which it was in the 90 percentile.

[00:28:11] Then it dropped to a very low part during COVID and some of the things that happened during the pandemic, then began to rise, but it's now lower than it's ever been. And so this particular graph that comes from Gallup is, I think, illustrative of what is happening today. But as I've also pointed out, if you go a little bit further, you recognize that really 93 percent of Republicans are still proud of this country,

[00:28:41] and they've been proud of this country whether there's a Republican president or a Democratic president. By contrast, the blue line, if you are looking at this, is the Democrats. The reason it's dropped is Democrats will be a little more prideful of their country and have a little more pride in their country and maybe have a greater appreciation for this country, for example, of Barack Obama's president, but have virtually none.

[00:29:09] You can see it dropping precipitously with first the election of Donald Trump. Pump's up a little bit under Joe Biden and now has dropped again. So we can see that is the case. Which brings us to the piece by Noah Rothman, in which he says, This is a concern. And he quotes, first of all, Bernie Sanders, Senator Bernie Sanders, who when asked about the individual Luigi Mangione,

[00:29:36] the individual that killed that individual that worked for UnitedHealthcare CEO, that he says, I condemn it, but then goes on to then make the argument that it's understandable why people would want to kill these individuals because, after all, the health insurance racket makes huge profits. And so he says it's broken and it's cruel. But then you begin to realize he goes through a long list because he then goes on to say, Well, we have a system that's broken.

[00:30:06] We have campaign finance system that's broken. We have a health care system that's broken. Housing system that's broken. Education system's broken. It's all broken. And then Mola Rothman then gives you quotes from all sorts of other prominent leftists that the health insurance regime isn't just inefficient, it's evil. The justice system isn't just imperfect, it's illegitimate. As a matter of fact, it exists to subjugate people. The electoral and political framework enshrined in the Constitution

[00:30:34] isn't just dysfunctional, it enables tyranny. By the way, he gives you a link to every one of these. He then talks about capitalism isn't just devoid of empathy, it's racist. Meritocracy is a myth, and you have this brutal ruling class, enjoys your suffering, and if you're struggling with some unfortunate fate, well, that's only because America already wants you dead. And so what Noah Rothman says is, we're living in a time

[00:31:03] in which we are just, especially people on the left, just have this overflowing cup of misery, and almost find satisfaction in shame. And then the example he uses is simply this, a record low of U.S. adults are extremely, or very proud to be Americans. It's the slowest we've ever had, down even nine percentage points from last year,

[00:31:32] five points below even the prior low in 2020. And again, as he points out, if you look at the top line numbers, they mask the decline, because it turns out that Democrats or independents who are Democrat-leaning are the reasons this precipitous decline is taking place. And Democrats are the most responsible, the poll found, for the drop in U.S. pride, and I think it's an illustration. Now you could say that that is due

[00:32:00] primarily to the election, or in this case, the re-election of Donald Trump, but the decline, if you look at the chart, has been happening with Democrats for quite some time. And so it's just an illustration as well that even when you had for four years the election of Joe Biden, that pride in America among Democrats only recovered by about 20 points.

[00:32:27] And it's again something that is an illustration that always what is happening is they're taking their cues from some of their Democratic leaders, from the legacy press and the rest. By contrast, he says, in this particular case, Republicans' pride in America seems pre-political. It waxes and wanes from roughly 85% to 99% of self-identified Republicans.

[00:32:57] They're proud of America no matter who occupies the Oval Office. So take a break and come back because Noah Rothman quotes from his book, but then it leads and bleeds naturally into a piece by Star Parker as well. And so if we really want to rekindle some pride in America, rekindle some patriotism, first of all, we have to be honest about some of the dark chapters in American history, but we don't need to dwell on those.

[00:33:26] We need to recognize that we have been blessed like no nation before and that we have a greater amount of freedom and opportunity than ever before. And it's about time to rekindle some of that pride and enthusiasm that Americans used to have. We'll be right back. You're listening

[00:33:55] to Point of View, your listener-supported source for truth. Once again, let me just real quickly quote from some rest of the piece by Noah Rothman and then our good friend Star Parker talks about this as well. And he points out that again, Americans sometimes have just gravitated to the sort of negative view of the world. It hasn't helped them because then again in this article, which I really would encourage you to read, he gives you a link to those who then are part of the

[00:34:25] kind of leftist movement who admit that their subculture is unhappy, that they self-report having poor mental health. And he says, well, what's there to be happy about if indeed you are convinced that this is an evil, corrupt society and all the problems that you face are due to the fact that we need to change everything in culture and overthrow the existing system. Well, you can see that. He says, by contrast, conservatives

[00:34:54] actually report higher levels of satisfaction, mental stability. Again, he gives you some of the references so that you can see that as well. And even in his book, he says, look, if you're so worldly and astute that you can see the, and he's being kind of flippant here, the hideous underworkings of the world, if you're a member of that exclusive club, once you taste this vision, a theory that everything shows you the secret, seedy,

[00:35:23] underbelly of society, it can be intoxicating. Those who are attracted to this psychological orientation are likely to find its applications are limitless, and when they apply it to just about everything, they find that just about everything is a problem. And we've been around people like this, just even apart from politics, where everything's a problem, you never get a smile on their face, and here he says, in some respects, there can be a kind of self-satisfaction

[00:35:52] in this idea of having what he calls the left's diffident shame over being born into this exploitative American society. social contract. So anyway, he talks about how this, in some respects, could even be satisfying for individuals, but I thought I'd also bring this very good piece by Star Parker, who also is looking at the latest Gallup poll, and here's what she said. She says, as we prepare to note the 249th anniversary

[00:36:21] of our country, getting ready for the great celebration next year of America's 250th, Gallup poll serves up some sobering data. She says, according to the poll just released by Gallup, only 58% of Americans now say they're extremely proud or very proud to be an American. When Gallup first asked this question in 2001, 87% said they were extremely proud or very proud to be an American. She says, although, but if you dig

[00:36:51] deeper, you see something very different. And so here's the comparison between Republicans and Democrats. Democrats. In 2001, 90% of Republicans said they were extremely proud or very proud to be an American. In 2025, 92% of Republicans said they were extremely proud or very proud. So pretty much a slight increase, if anything. By contrast, in 2001, 87% of Democrats said they were

[00:37:21] either extremely proud or very proud. But in 2025, only 36% of Democrats say they were extremely proud or very proud of the country. So you can see where the drop is. It's not with the Republicans, not even with the independents, except the independents that identify as Democrats. And so again, however, Democrat pride moved with the party in power during Democrat administrations. Democrat pride

[00:37:51] in the country increased, although, as I pointed out, not so much under Biden. During Democratic administrations, it dropped. But on the other side, Republicans, pretty much, no matter who was in the White House, were still proud of the country, even if they disagreed with who was in the Oval Office. She sees a couple of reasons for that. The first one is abortion. Abortion is an issue, she says, touches on all the core values. Abortion is an issue, of course,

[00:38:20] where the country is deeply divided. Again, let's talk about the difference between Republicans and Democrats. Among Republicans, 77% identify as pro-life, 16% as pro-choice. Again, I have some questions about how they define themselves, but we'll just use the surveys there. By contrast, Democrats, 83% identify as pro-choice, only 12% identify themselves as pro-life. Church attendance

[00:38:49] is another one of those issues as well. According to the Gallup survey from 2021 to now 2023 among Americans, we see that individuals who say they have no religion, 63% are Democrats, 26% are Republicans. So again, if you're looking at what is wrong or morally wrong, what is right, what is wrong, you can see very significant

[00:39:19] differences. And again, simply on the issue of abortion, church attendance tells you everything. Among people attending church weekly, 18% see abortion as morally accepted, 71% see it as morally wrong. So again, a lot of this has to simply do to the fact that if you have a different view on something as fundamental as abortion, which I think also is an indicator of other views that you might have on social issues,

[00:39:49] that is the case. And a lot of it goes back to the issue of certainly whether or not you are a church attender, whether or not you say religion is important. And here's, I think, one of the most intriguing issues. She goes back to an even older survey. Back in 1965, if you can believe this, 70% of Americans in this culture said religion is very important in

[00:40:19] their life. By 2023, that was down to 45%. She also does a contrast. Back in 1965, federal spending consumed just 16% of our gross domestic product. By 2023, it was up to 22%. Her conclusion, very simple. Less God, more government. If indeed you do not believe in God, you perhaps are then going to something else to be important in

[00:40:49] your life, and oftentimes government is the case. So she concludes by simply saying, as we move to America's 250th anniversary, let's pray for a great national awakening, restoring the awe of life and personal responsibility that are the hallmarks of a free nation under God. So again, that's something we will be working on this year, and if we can provide you with very important resources, let me encourage you to take advantage of those.

[00:41:19] As you go to our website today, you will see that, first of all, my viewpoints commentary is about the auto pen. Tomorrow, my viewpoints commentary will be about, of course, the Declaration of Independence. If you click on the button that says See More, you will, of course, see information about the book by Dave Bowden, who we've had on the program in the first hour. You have some information on the Declaration of Independence, the secret sauce that made America great, America pride and shame,

[00:41:48] and why aren't Democrats proud to be Americans? So lots of great resources that we have posted for you there as well. And so let me, if I can, provide you with all sorts of information, commentary, and education, and empowerment so that you can make a difference in your community and in your family. Once again, for those of you that aren't familiar with the fact that last week we had our fiscal year end, we were able to meet our match,

[00:42:18] and so again, I want to say thank you to those of you that were able to help us meet that match. We're looking forward to this now new fiscal year starting in July 1st, and here today July 3rd. Tomorrow, of course, will be a tape on the 4th of July, and then we'll be back on the program by the 7th, and I think you will appreciate, or the 6th, I should say, we'll appreciate all the opportunities there to take the time to educate you about some of these really

[00:42:47] important issues that we will be dealing with. I guess this is on the 7th, and so again, take the time to visit the website, find some of those resources, and we certainly do thank you for those of you that made it possible for us to meet our match. One again, I want to thank Megan for help engineering the program. Karen, thank you for stepping in and reproducing the program. See you back here on Monday. It almost seems like we live in a different world from many people in positions of authority. They say men

[00:43:17] can be women, and women men. People are prosecuted differently, or not at all, depending on their politics. Criminals are more valued and rewarded than law-abiding citizens. It's so overwhelming, so demoralizing. You feel like giving up, but we can't. We shouldn't. We must not. As Winston Churchill said to Britain in the darkest days of World War II, never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never.

[00:43:46] Never yield to force. Never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy. And that's what we say to you today. This is not a time to give in, but to step up and join point of view in providing clarity in the chaos. We can't do it alone, but together, with God's help, we will overcome the darkness. Invest in biblical clarity today at pointofview.net or

[00:44:14] call 1-800-347-5151. Pointofview.net and 800-347-5151. Point of View is produced by Point of View Ministries. tudo about 쏟iря, ש..