Glenn Beck “We Need to Mind Our Own Business”
Though every talk radio blowhard is pretending to be for limited government now that a Democrat occupies the White House, I have maintained – not without criticism – that there remains a marked difference between Glenn Beck and most other national conservative hosts. For all his melodrama, Beck does two things which distinguish him from his colleagues:
1. Beck is not simply a blind Republican partisan. Sean Hannity does not believe in limited government– he simply believes big government is best managed by Republicans.
2. Beck is not a constant warmonger. Says Hannity with a straight face “you can’t deny that Bush was conservative on foreign policy.”
As an example of no. 2, can you imagine Hannity, Rush Limbaugh or Mark Levin saying this?
I’m not saying Beck has always been a libertarian, or is even sufficiently so, and during the Bush years he said all sorts of nasty things about Ron Paul, supported the PATRIOT Act and so on. But how many Alternative Righties are former Dittoheads? Plenty. Now imagine it was all caught on tape.
What good, exactly, does it do to constantly bash neocon-leaning conservatives whose minds are beginning to change, when you could instead help shepherd them in the Right direction?
I feel like Richard Spencer’s blog about Beck was disingenuous at best, and the accompanying video was a nice splice of snippets with no context, even cutting Beck’s comments off in mid-sentence. I know Beck supported the Iraq invasion, plenty of us did for emotional reasons, not neo-con reasons. And in support of that, many were also falling on … Read Morethe side of the Patriot Act, seeing it as a necessary evil to prevent another 9/11 scale attack.
Fortunately many over us woke up midway through to realize that we were headed completely in the wrong direction, and that we had been duped. I think Beck falls into that area.
I think that people such as Glenn Beck and Bob Barr should be applauded as they shift to more libertarian opinions, but these people should not be readily trusted with positions of leadership within the libertarian movement. These people need to prove that their opinions will not shift again away from libertarianism.
We need to mind our own business while also after we have departed) training a keen eye on the Middle East in the event the Jacobin Islamists win out in the forthcoming fitna.
As for another criticism of Beck as being among the “popularizers” and not one of the “intellectuals or genuine political leaders”, I agree. Chances are, though, that Beck is not cast in that mold and he knows it. So he will continue to relish his role as an entertainer who is nevertheless informative.
Beck’s about as good your gonna get out of the mainstream media. Jack, if your looking for a faux-paleocon in the mainstream then watch Lou Dobbs.
Jeremiah,
I think Judge Napolitano beats Beck as “about as good your gonna get out of the mainstream media.” Thankfully, Beck is getting more like the Judge every day.
I am, at this point, almost a knee-jerk Glenn Beck hater. His contrived, teary-eyed emoting, his amplification of the most base, simplistic GOP rhetoric – I just find the man repugnant, generally. This though – this is really fantastic. Perhaps it’s just a conservative drop in a disingenuous, show-biz media star bucket, but I’m taken aback, really. To say such a thing on Fox News? I never thought I’d say this, but: Bravo, Glenn Beck.
I wonder how long it will take for the reptilian establishment GOP “news” media to turn on him, label him an “Unpatriotic Conservative” and cancel his show if he continues in this vein. Actually, the extent to which he promotes this view (and all the conclusions it logically leads to) will reveal the man’s worth, and the extent of his conservatism. It will take spine to pursue this, in this country, and on that network.
I hope he proves me wrong.
“As an example of no. 2, can you imagine Hannity, Rush Limbaugh or Mark Levin saying this?”
No, because it’s somewhat childish. Beck is undergoing a political transformation on television. It’s somewhat pathetic for a man of his age. He’s now on board with Ron Paul on almost every issue. Strikes me as kooky.
I’m kind of agreeing with Mr. Toddard. I tried but couldn’t find anything specific to hate in that clip.
Remarkable. Perhaps the man really has read some books!
I was been following this little discussion and realize the anti neocon / anti bush/ anti gop michael savage is allways left out of the convo… he has 12 million listeners and was the very first to see through bush bullshit and call out the republicrats years ago ..
William P .. you sound disapointed people are now drifting towards libertarianism and away from the empty hollow talking points of hannity .. who cares if somebody is 65 years old and realizes hey maybe ive been a knee jerk brainwashed REPUBLICAN. So here the deal this is the first time the libertarian point of view can be presented in the mainstream to compete finally against the religous right and moderate neocon stranglehold of the conservative label, Having guests like Ron Paul, Napolitano, Schiff, etc is good for the country.. Remeber this all has roots in the Ron Paul revolution in the last election .. its about time libertarians had a platform
Well Glenn Beck not only supported the Iraq War …
(1) he insinuated that Ron Paul and his supporters were dangerous and likened them unto terrorists
(2) despite this fearmongering he has shifted suddenly into supporting militaristic rhetoric in opposition (e.g., “We surround them”) and putting Ron Paul on TV as oft as possible.
(3) yet he has also been heard in 2009 linking militamen with AlQaeda as a likely future terrorist alliance
(4) he supported the BANKER BAILOUT as necessary to save the economy
(5) he continues to talk up IRAN as a military threat and possible trigger for those things which the extremist and militia-type movements most fear (authoritarian govt, martial law, etc.)
… it seems Beck channels the typical right-wing media talking points but increasingly with a twist of pulling in the more independent and anti-govt elements and channel them back into GOP politics.
It is not beyond the imagination that the man has an intelligence portfolio.
I’ve listened to the “Glenn Beck is no longer/wasn’t a conservative.” crowd and I’m trying to figure out what’s wrong with American needs to take care of America. I have no problem with fighting wars, especially against terrorism or anyone who decides to become an enemy. Yet, I have no desire to save the rest of the world.
America can still be on top by our innovation. We still lead in that respect, but once we go the way of the European nanny state innovation stops.
Historically, the man is right. There was, and is, this push for a global state- everyone under the same umbrella. I’m not for that at all.
james l:
Brilliant and insightful. You know, you libertarians are monstrously intelligent. Sometimes I wonder how we ever got along without you.
No, the truth of the matter is that war likes you whether you like war or not. Libertarians are allergic to the fact that America, and the West at large, has real enemies who do not play by America’s rules. I happen to think Ron Paul is largely correct on domestic issues, but I would never, could never believe that America is responsible for the immense hatred in the world. This would be the apex of silliness, and is just what Beck now embraces.
And William P, I happen to think people like you, who think that tiny Middle Eastern countries are a threat to American national security, have a psychological complex which requires you to focus on some enemy-foreign power.
America´s real enemies can be found within the Western elites who endorse an atheistic culture and a particularly parasitic, usury-first brand of capitalism. These are the people destroying your way of life and national sovereignty, not any medieval cavemen.