The Cultural Collision in Dearborn

My friends,

What happened in Dearborn last week is just the latest reminder of a cultural battle we can’t ignore anymore.

A few months ago, a pastor stood before the Dearborn city council to raise concerns about publicly honoring a man whose own statements supported violence against Israel. The reaction he received — hostility, dismissal, even being told he wasn’t welcome — revealed how far some officials are willing to go to shut down uncomfortable truths.

Fast forward to now, and the consequences of that mindset are spilling into the streets.

Protestors flooded Dearborn. Some tried to burn the Quran. Others tried to stop them. Tension rose. Police scrambled. The city became a flashpoint.

And my friends, this didn’t come out of nowhere.

This is what happens when we refuse to talk honestly about the cultural divide growing in this nation. When we pretend that every ideology is compatible with American liberty. When we insist that raising legitimate questions is somehow hateful.

Shouldn’t it concern us to admit thousands of immigrants into our country who openly reject American ideals?

Of course we defend freedom of religion — that’s foundational. But what do we do when an ideology seeks to become the supreme law of the land through Sharia law? What do we do when the public call to prayer tied to that ideology fills Dearborn’s streets while assimilation is openly rejected?

Are we just supposed to sit silently and watch it happen?

That’s insane.

This isn’t about attacking individuals. It’s about acknowledging the reality that competing value systems cannot occupy the same civic space without conflict. A nation cannot function with two fundamentally opposing visions of law, liberty, and truth.

We are witnessing, in real time, the collision of ideology and reality.

And my friends, if we don’t pay attention — not for politics, but for the sake of our communities, our families, and our freedoms — we will wake up in a country we no longer recognize.

Conservative, not bitter.
Todd

🎧 Listen to today’s Toddcast here.

🏛 Mayor Hammoud tells pastor he’s not welcome
📜 Street signs honor a figure linked to violent rhetoric
🔇 City council silences legitimate concerns
✝️ Pastor Barham advocates for peace and caution
📢 Public broadcast of Islamic call to prayer sparks debate
⚖️ Free speech and religious liberty are at stake

Listen here.

My friends, reports out of Minnesota show prosecutors have uncovered massive fraud involving Somali immigrants abusing taxpayer-funded programs. Billions of dollars meant for food assistance, welfare, and autism support were allegedly abused and misused – with some of those dollars reportedly routed to terrorist organizations like Al Shabab. Just the News reports 77 indictments tied to the Feeding Our Future scandal, plus a medical professional charged with falsely diagnosing Somali children to steal another $14 million.

There’s a lot to unpack here, but two truths stand out. First, big government always creates big fraud — every time. Second, when our immigration system stops enforcing real standards and pursuing assimilation, people will exploit it.

These are the outcomes we get when the Radical Left runs our government.

When I was growing up, we were taught that American immigrants assimilated into our culture. And that just meant they adopted our values, customs, and core American principles. In short, they joined the American story by accepting its premise.

But today? We’re told that expecting assimilation is somehow hateful. We’re told that unless we embrace full-blown multiculturalism — the kind where every belief, every custom, every worldview is treated as morally equivalent — we’re bigots. Racists. Xenophobes. Pick your label.

Common sense says otherwise.

Being American must mean something. It must stand for something more than lines on a map or the latest political trend. A nation without shared values isn’t a nation at all — it’s a chaotic collection of competing tribes waiting for the next spark.

And we don’t have to imagine what that looks like. Europe is living the consequences of treating all cultures as interchangeable while refusing to defend their own. The results? Violence up. Sexual assaults up. Liberty on life support. Entire communities at odds with the very nations they live in.

America cannot embrace that same madness.

Yes, people bring different backgrounds. Yes, we’ll always have a variety of cultural traditions. But we cannot allow those differences to become diametrically opposed belief systems that tear this country apart from the inside. As Lincoln reminded us and as the Scriptures teach, a house divided against itself cannot stand.

If America is going to endure, then being American must continue to actually mean something. And we should never be afraid to say so.