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WASHINGTON, D.C., October 11, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) — Conservative commentator Dennis Prager addressed the annual Values Voter Summit Friday, articulating the values at stake in America’s current political battle and urging social conservatives to stay off the sidelines.

Prager, a national radio host and founder of the educational video outfit Prager University (PragerU), argued that the heart of American values can be distilled to what he has long called the “American Trinity,” a set of three principles emblazoned on every U.S. coin: liberty, “In God We Trust,” and e pluribus unum (“out of many, one”). “The left is removing the American Trinity at a terrible price here,” he warned.

Prager argued that the political left “loathes” liberty, rejects the concept of a cultural melting pot in favor of fixating on cultural differences among “hyphenated Americans,” and considers “God” the “dirtiest word in the left-wing vocabulary” — which, he warned, is dangerous because if society operates as if there were no God, then human life is not regarded as sacred, and human rights are not treated as binding.

He attributed leftism’s political success in large part to the fact that liberty “is a value, not an instinct,” and man’s default inclination is to “be taken care of.” He also noted that much of the current generation lacks perspective as to barbarism common around the world and the atrocities committed by totalitarian regimes throughout the 20th century. Therefore, he argued, they assume that “people are basically good,” so moral values needn’t be proactively cultivated.

“Never in American history has the concept of free speech been under attack as it is today,” Prager asserted, referencing his ongoing legal battle with Google-owned YouTube, which has restricted dozens of his PragerU videos with the same content filter generally reserved for violent or sexual content.

“It’s not banned; only libraries, schools, and if you have filters. That’s their defense,” Prager quipped.

Prager referenced a July Senate hearing about the subject of social media censorship, where he testified and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) grilled Karan Bhatia, Google’s vice president of government affairs and public policy, who justified restricting PragerU’s Ten Commandments video on the grounds that it discusses murder. Prager joked about replacing it with a Nine Commandments video.

“What kind of mindset” would restrict minors’ access to the video? Prager asked. “You have to understand they’re not only leftists; they are stupid[.] … [O]n what grounds would you not want a child to hear ‘thou shalt not murder?’”

Calling America’s current political battle the nation’s biggest crisis since the Civil War, Prager concluded his remarks by urging the faithful to get politically involved and invoking Psalm 97:10: “Let those who love the Lord hate evil.”