(VIDEO) Glenn Beck: Hiroshima vs. Detroit: Which City Embraced the American Dream?

Over the weekend, there were rallies held across the nation as part of Van Jones's "American Dream" movement in support of the Wisconsin protesters and all other public employees and middle class workers. In light of these rallies, Glenn Beck discussed the American Dream on his program Monday night by comparing two cities: Hiroshima and Detroit. Hiroshima, which was once ruined, is now prosperous, and Detroit, which was once prosperous, is now ruined.

Below is the video clip and transcript from the program:

GLENN BECK, HOST: There is a propaganda war that is beginning now. And I don't believe it is intended to actually reap anything from the harvest for awhile until gas prices go up or your food prices or more people lose their jobs. It will be important that you know the truth now.

Our old friend, Van Jones, has been talking about the American dream a lot lately, which is interesting coming from an unrepentant communist. He even organized a nationwide rally to promote it over the weekend.

It's an expression we're all pretty comfortable with, right? The American dream. But we should probably define the American dream, because what is happening now is another on progressive hijacking.

The American dream that you dream about is the same opportunity for all. Give me a shot. Martin Luther King, Jr. talked about it. Give me a chance. Progressives have made it about the same outcome for all.

Al Sharpton recently said that's what Martin Luther King's dream was, the same stuff in everybody's house -- houses for all, guaranteed jobs for all, guaranteed food and income for all. Well, that's not the American dream I think most Americans even recognize. That is so far beyond a progressive dream. But how has that progressive dream worked out so far? Fortunately, for America, who has to choose, we have numerous examples of the kind of dream progressive policies lead to.

I want to show you this city. Tell me what city you think this is. You recognize it. I will give you one clue and you won't believe it. It is a city that, rumor had it, would be uninhabitable for centuries to come because of radiation.

This is Hiroshima. August 6, 1945, an atomic bomb completely destroyed 70 percent of the buildings. And by the end of the year, up to 140,000 had died. Look at the city then. Almost half of the city's population, in total, died. Some 200,000 or more would eventually die from the effects.

Now, look at Hiroshima today. It's not the wreckage. What happened? Well, people decided they weren't going to allow their city to be destroyed forever. Yes, the government came in and helped rebuild the city, but what else could have rebuilt from that destruction?

They needed help from the government, but it was the people, embracing the free market system, that revitalized Hiroshima. Now, here's Hiroshima. Let me show you another city. Here is a city that -- when Hiroshima looked like it did in destruction, this city looked like this. It was thriving. It is Detroit, Michigan. But take a look at Detroit today. One city embraced the free market system and the entrepreneurial spirit. The other embraced progressive policies and corrupt government and unions and companies that weren't allowed to fail. And they should have failed because they stunk on ice.

They begged for a bailout and got one, and the union bosses did their share, too, whereas Hiroshima has nearly quadrupled in size since the attack. Not so much with Detroit. Less than 50 percent of Detroit's peak population of 1.8 million in 1950 still live in the city. Thirty-six percent of Detroit's residents live in poverty. Detroit's poverty rate is more than double than that of the entire U.S. as a whole. Eighty-one percent of the Detroit's public school students qualify for free and reduced-price lunches in 2009 -- 81 percent. As far as education, about 42 percent of Detroit's public school students don't even graduate -- half.

Now, the problem for the left is they can't say, "Oh, Detroit inherited this problem from the big, evil George Bush. These are the failed policies of these corporate cronies, the fat-cat rich friends." Really?

Democrats have been in power in Detroit for over 50 years. "No, no, Mr. Beck. It was the big three auto corporations that ruled Detroit. That's what killed Motown."

I want you to know that those companies sucked. But it had nothing to do with Democratic policies or corruption, like that of convicted former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick? And it certainly had nothing to do with the unions there?

Right. The unions were only there for the workers. Well, no, not according to Richard Trumka, the head of the AFL-CIO. He cares about you? Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICHARD TRUMKA, PRESIDENT, AFL-CIO: I got into the labor movement, not because I wanted to negotiate wages. I got into the labor movement because I saw it as a vehicle to do a massive social change to include the lots of people. That's why I got into the labor movement.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: So it is not about your wages. It is about the progressive ideas. He believes in those ideas. Well, you can blame Ford and G.M., their bad corporate policies. And those policies, because of the progressives, weren't allowed to reset. Nobody allowed them to fail.

Bad policies and union deals helped rot this city from the core. This is the path, America, that we are now embracing. We are embracing now a country that loves corruption, special favors, union deals and big unions, and bailing out businesses that should have failed because they were run poorly. This city did what our country is doing now, embracing all the policies that led to this. But it doesn't have to be this way. But you, the citizen, the shareholder in the United States of America, has to make the choice.

Our founders said that you could not live in a country and have freedom if the citizenry was uninformed. A lot of people say that what I tell you is just nothing but lies. I encourage you every night, do your own homework. You must be informed, We have to stop the corruption. We have to convince the American people that what happened in Detroit and cities like it can happen here in America and will. And we have to know and be able to show them the proof of who it was that led those cities there.