Sunday, November 22, 2009

Glenn Beck's Plan

Glenn Beck's web site reports on the preview of his 100-year Plan.

When we refuse to allow our children to receive a trophy for participation, we are on the road to restoring the meaning of merit in our Republic. When we insist that no one is too big to fail, we will be able to learn from our mistakes, and when we demand that we are self-reliant, we will ensure that others can rely on us, not the government.

Those are three interesting qualifiers. I suppose the first one is debatable and poorly chosen as an indicator of the loss of "merit in our Republic." Some people say the over-emphasis on competition in schools is damaging to the vast majority who don't end up as "winners." But overall, I don't think this is a major indicator of anything.

The second idea, that "we insist that no one is too big to fail," seems consistent with all the Beck attacks on the President. This could be another veiled threat, rousing people to resist the President to the point of bringing about his downfall.

The third idea about self reliance is again encouraging resistance rather than cooperation. The divisive nature of Glenn Beck's suggestions do real damage in my opinion. His messianic pretentions, all the while calling Obama "The One" and other mocking and derogatory epithets, is a fascinating show of salesmanship, which is exactly what this is all about.


All of the above will culminate in The Plan, a book that will provide specific policies, principles and, most importantly, action steps that each of us can take to play a role in this Refounding.

"Refounding?" Can you get more divisive than that? What's your opinion? If Beck cared about the country, don't you think he'd use his pulpit to preach cooperation and support of the duly-elected President and work from within that framework for change? Or do you think the concept of overthrowing the oppressive government as Thomas Jefferson understood it is relevant today?

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

9 comments:

  1. "If Beck cared about the country, don't you think he'd use his pulpit to preach cooperation and support of the duly-elected President and work from within that framework for change?"

    Is it wise to cooperate with those who wants to destroy you through increased taxation and regulation?

    "The second idea, that "we insist that no one is too big to fail," seems consistent with all the Beck attacks on the President. This could be another veiled threat, rousing people to resist the President to the point of bringing about his downfall."

    I think he's referring to the government's insistence that certain industries are too big to be subject to the rules of capitalism; In other words, when they make horrible decisions that lead to their loss of sustainability, they should not be sustained by the government with bailouts and other bits of corporate welfare.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Mike,

    It is so nice that you are being such a good little socialist. Nice that we can count on you.

    Sincerely,
    Your comrade (un)armed.

    jw

    ReplyDelete
  3. "The second idea, that "we insist that no one is too big to fail," seems consistent with all the Beck attacks on the President. This could be another veiled threat, rousing people to resist the President to the point of bringing about his downfall."

    Oh, good Lord--you sound as ridiculous as the hysterical screaming ninnies claiming that the "Pray for Obama: Psalm 108:9" bumper stickers are an attempt to incite an assassination. As Aztec Red says, "too big to fail" refers to the (somewhat dubious) justification for taxpayer funded bailouts of big banks, because they're big enough (supposedly) that not bailing them out would destroy the economy.

    How calling for self-reliance is "encouraging resistance" is another mystery. Is it a citizen's duty to be helpless?

    I suppose such a belief would explain your desire to leave the people disarmed.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Zorro, I admit my take on this was a bit of a stretch, but those bumper stickers are serious shit. What are you saying they're just a little joke?

    ReplyDelete
  5. is truly amazing that blogs like yours are enabling Beck further by linking to the story and discussing him. It totally undermines the power the Internet and blogs have against the mass media and idiots like Beck. This guy doesn't even have a politial science degree or has lived in another country to become more educated and aware of how other countries and cultures live.
    Weapons of mass distraction at its best.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Oops--I actually meant Psalm 109:8, rather than 108:9.

    "What are you saying they're just a little joke?"

    I'm saying that wishing someone was no longer in office is rather different from trying to incite his assassination. It's not even necessarily a wish for his death, although the ninnies point to the next verse, 109:9 (about his wife becoming a widow, and his children orphans)--it could be just wishing his days in office are few.

    Even if we do accept this as a hope that he dies, it doesn't tell anyone to kill him.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Zorro, "it could be just wishing his days in office are few," but we all know better than that.

    ReplyDelete
  8. "Zorro, 'it could be just wishing his days in office are few,' but we all know better than that."

    Actually, we (meaning, presumably, that I'm being counted among the group) don't "all know better than that"--I think it quite plausible that many who display the bumper stickers care not whether Obama lives or dies--just that he leaves office.

    Granted, he would probably be a bit safer from any potential assassination attempts if he did what his predecessor did--with a Vice President like Cheney, no one would want anything to happen to Obama (not that Biden is any prize, of course).

    Really, though, even if these bumper stickers were "trawling for assassins" (someone likes dramatic rhetoric), do you really think that someone who could be convinced by a bumper sticker to try to kill a president would have enough brains to come close to pulling it off?

    Personally, I don't care whether he lives or dies, but I definitely don't want him shot--that would be exactly what the gun banners need. You sure you're not kinda hoping for that, deep down? I'll wager Josh Sugarmann is:

    " . . . and the fact that until someone famous is shot, or something truly horrible happens, handgun restriction is simply not viewed as a priority."

    That would be worth oceans of blood to dance in.

    ReplyDelete