In a monologue that aired on August 5, political commentator and journalist Tucker Carlson shared a proposal and outline for a way forward in the United States. “Our political system has collapsed into paralysis and looting. Change is coming. Here’s what America should be,” the description of the video reads.
In an age where we are facing nuclear war and the rapid growth of artificial intelligence (AI), which Tucker argues are “the two greatest threats arguably in all recorded history,” course correction is needed because the future of our country and our children and grandchildren is at stake.
“We know that changes in technology or power shifts globally, all of these facts on the ground are accompanied by, followed by political changes…and will it be a third party? Probably. The most radicalizing fact of American politics in the last, I don’t know, century is the confirmation that we got on or about February 28th that the parties on the big issues are identical,” Tucker says.
“Trump initiated the one thing he said he’d never do: a regime change war in the Middle East against Iran, a country much bigger and more powerful than the last regime change we attempted, which didn’t work. And there were no protests against it because of course the leaders of the other party, his supposed enemies, agreed with him completely as they did with his budget fundamentally – certainly with the tax code that he endorsed,” he continues.
Essentially, both political parties are unwilling to make changes based on the majority of Americans’ expressed desires.
Tucker outlined ten main points for a new path forward:
1. America Should Be Fair
“This country needs first and foremost a recommitment to fairness which to remind you is your birthright. Fairness is promised to you by God. And how do we know that? Because we know that God created every person,” Tucker says. “The founders knew whether they were orthodox Christians or not. Not one of them doubted that the point of this project was to guarantee the inherent fairness which derives from the inherent equality of all peoples because they share a common origin which is God.”
Financial outcomes should not be determined by inside deals “or who you know or where you were born,” and rules need to apply equally to all people, full stop. Why are people so infuriated by the Jeffrey Epstein case? Not just because of his crimes, according to Tucker: “It’s that he got a pass because of who he was. The rules did not apply to him.”
2. America Should Be Sovereign
“Sovereign means free from outside influence,” Tucker says, “the right to make decisions on your nation’s behalf or your own behalf without being told what to do.” The government should be representing the people, not lobbyists.
Tucker also criticizes the apparent usury in our country that is enslaving people. “Unless you’re very rich or extremely disciplined beyond what the average person can be expected to maintain, you’re going to be in debt…a society organized around debt at the sovereign at the national
but on the personal level is not a healthy society because it enslaves people,” he argues.
The “real third rail” is debt, according to Tucker, especially with rates around 25%. “And by the way, for generations, members of the mafia were put in jail for loaning money at that rate. It’s called lone sharking. And it was illegal. But suddenly, it’s common. That’s approaching the average credit card interest rate.”
3. America Should Be Productive
“Productive means that you make things worth having from which you derive joy, that improve the lives of other people, or that just are inherently beautiful,” Tucker says.
“The idea that it is your duty and pleasure to produce something worth having has kind of been lost and been replaced by the idea that the point of work is to make money to pay for all these things mostly to pay interest on all these things,” he continues. “It’s part of the debt cycle and that it’s your duty to do that – and you should forgo…getting married and having kids – in order..to basically to service the debt.”
The spheres in which our country is productive largely defines us. An economy mostly focused on weapons production, surveillance technology, and “real estate reselling the same land
over and over and finance lending money at interest” is a bad status quo for a nation. And just because something is cheaper to make overseas doesn’t mean we should.
“The undergirling principle is you have to make beautiful, enduring, well-made things in order to respect yourself and have a nation worth defending,” he said, and starting with our natural resources – our farmland – is key.
4. America Should Be Beautiful
Put simply, being around beautiful things and working to preserve those beautiful things makes you a better person, Tucker argues, and at a certain point in history, old beautiful buildings were replaced with uglier structures as part of “urban renewal.” America should be kept clean, as well.
5. America Should Be Healthy
Americans must be physically and spiritually healthy, says Tucker. We should know what’s in our food, and it shouldn’t contain poison. We also should not be overrelying on pharmaceuticals. Sobriety should be the goal, and it shouldn’t be odd to say that. A life that is joyful to live is healthy.
6. America Should Be Honest
Honesty should work both ways: it should not be legal for the government to lie to you, says Tucker. From sting operations, to “elaborate FBI scheme[s],” to the real status of Iran’s nuclear program, the government should not lie to you.
One major area the government should change is in classification. “Classification is the lie that the majority of the big things the government is doing are too important to tell you about. You’re not allowed to know because if you knew somehow we would all be less safe. Well, that’s a lie,” he argues. “And of course, the main reason that over a billion federal documents are classified, is in order to give the people running the government the ability to do whatever they want, including enrich themselves, steal, defraud your money, and strip you of the right to do anything about it because you don’t know what’s happening.”
7. America Should Be Optimistic
“[O]ptimism is also the product of systems,” Tucker says. “The way things are structured either encourages optimism or it guarantees pessimism.” Nations who think of the children after them in generations beyond and consider the impact of what they do now for those children are better off and “by definition, optimistic.”
“[T]he only thing that roots you to that kind of thinking is having kids,” argues Tucker. “And that’s never really been apparent until a lot of the people in charge stopped having kids or got so old that they’re doesn’t matter what their kids do because their kids are in their 50s. It only became apparent in its absence. A country that doesn’t place children at the center of its concerns ignores the future.”
“And in every possible way, this country, painful as it is to say, doesn’t care about kids,” he says. From crimes against children to the push for an AI-future that will rob our children of jobs, it’s an ugly and immoral mindset. “People in a healthy society have children, not out of a religious obligation or a sentimental attachment to children, but because that is the biological imperative of every person.”
8. America Should Be Wise
Wisdom is not the same as education. Education is a credentialing system, but most education leaves the majority of Americans in a place where they do not understand how essential systems and processes work – like how we get food, water, and electricity.
“Every successive generation has become more and more ignorant. And the internet has accelerated that,” Tucker notes, but no one in Washington seems to truly care about addressing the issue beyond discussing funding packages. Passing on to our children wisdom about things like human nature and history beyond career-driven education points is necessary.
9. America Should Be Decent
Despite America being composed of some of the most decent people, our overall sense of decency has diminished. The name change of the Department of Defense to the Department of War is just one example of our shifting priorities.
Murdering non-combatants is unacceptable, and when it happens, as it did with the girls’ school in Iran, it must be acknowledged and apologized for.
Our financial systems and tax codes must be decent as well. “So if being an ordinary wage earner driving in from the suburbs to make 80 grand a year, if that’s taxed at twice the rate of being a private equity baron, what are we saying?” Tuckers asks. “That it’s twice as virtuous to be a private equity baron and to inherit money or to invest? Well, that’s not only distorted, it’s indecent.”
10. America Should Be United
Our sense of a national identity is seriously at risk. “So in the absence of…an organic obvious identity, one will have to be created in order to keep the country together,” Tucker says.
One way to do that is to stop mass migration. It’s not good for our economy and deprives people here of jobs, especially with the approach of AI. Tax dollars should also be directed towards American citizens; we should not subsidize illegal immigrants being here.
Second, a national language should be established as English. Language unites, while different languages have a tendency to divide. Violence usually follows division.
Tucker ended the monologue with a bit of a teaser. “If you’re going to fix it and rebuild this country and turn it into a place that the grandchildren you hopefully will have can inherit and thrive, you’re going to need to do something about the pressing question of American identity. What does it mean to be an American?” he asks.
“But it’s fixable. You just have to try. And we will be trying. And we’ll tell you as we continue to do that. Thanks for listening.”
Save and Share This Catholic Patriotic Minute!
