In a podcast episode, Ben Shapiro said that if you’re a young person in America and you can’t afford to live here, then “maybe you shouldn’t live here.”
He mocked the idea that Americans are entitled to live where they grew up, claiming that the “history of America is literally the opposite of that.”
Okay. So let’s be clear about what he’s saying.
Young Americans being priced out of their hometowns by policy failures, corporate greed, and government decisions they had no say in?
That’s just life. Move somewhere else.
But somehow this logic does not apply when it comes to Israel.
Ben Shapiro believes he and his people have an unquestionable right to live in Israel — a modern state created through the violent displacement of Palestinians, sustained for decades by U.S. money, U.S. weapons, and U.S. military protection.
Israel does not survive on self-sufficiency. It survives on American taxpayers.
So Israel is entitled to land, housing, security, and guaranteed survival (subsidized by Americans) but Americans themselves aren’t entitled to afford life in the country they were born in?
Young Americans are told to “just leave” if they can’t survive, while Israel is treated as permanently entitled to outside funding and protection.
And notice what Ben never addresses.
He never talks about the policies (foreign or domestic) that have made life unaffordable for Americans in the first place. Endless foreign spending. Forever wars. Skyrocketing rent. Stagnating pay. And a government that keeps prioritizing everyone but Americans.
Why would he?
He benefits from these policies. His donors benefit from them.
So no, “maybe you shouldn’t live here” isn’t a serious response. It’s a dodge.
And the hypocrisy is obvious.
If Americans aren’t entitled to live where they grew up, why is Israel entitled to exist only because Americans are forced to pay for it?
What do you think?
Is Ben’s response actually valid?
And does a country have a “right to exist” if it can’t sustain itself without permanent U.S. taxpayer support?
Let’s talk in the comments.
Be sure to watch the video above for more of my thoughts on this topic.
