I had the pleasure of visiting my parents recently, being fed really well and enjoying some Glen Beck on Fox News, which I normally never watch because I don’t have a TV. And I have to admit I love the way Beck harps on Obama’s Czars and liberal bloggers whose heads explode when they have to deal with facts. I’m glad he’s fighting against the abuses of government and recognizing that both political parties helped get us into this mess. But—and you knew that was coming!—I can’t help but ask this question, What’s the solution, Mr. Beck? Okay, you’ve told us what we’re against, but what are we for? What unites us, Mr. Beck? Hopefully it’s more than your entertaining antics?
This is something that American conservatives have a really hard time understanding. “We’re united by conservatism!” Okay, and what are you conserving?
The back cover of Glenn Beck’s book, Common Sense: The Case Against an Out-of-Control Government, Inspired by Thomas Paine, says the following:“In any era, great Americans inspire us to reach our full potential. They know with conviction what they believe within themselves.”
Huh? One might as well say that people who inspire us to reach our full potential, inspire us to reach our full potential. What is a great American, Mr. Beck? Someone who knows what they believe? Jedi Knights know what they believe. Muslim extremists know what they believe. So did Stalin. But what is a great American? What is our “common sense” based on? Conservatives don’t really have an answer to this, except to sputter things about traditional values. They might dare to mention God, but they will say nothing of Jesus Christ or the Church, because they don’t want to lose their coalition.
Beck also writes, “Don’t remain neutral. Do not sit idly by. Do not let others speak for you. Silence has gotten us nowhere so it’s once again time for our collective voice to make a simple yet powerful demand… Don’t Tread on Me.”
Mr. Beck, if one is lying on the ground in a footrace, one risks being trod on and no amount of protest will remove this occurrence, especially if those coming from behind have been licking our heels and hoping for this moment for a long time. We live in a society built by those who trusted God, not politics and not conservative cable media. But now that Christians are looking to politics for their salvation, they have lost the ability to lead and will be trampled: “Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men” (Mt. 5:13). To quote Doug Wilson: “And here we are, the trampled Church.” Granted, Mr. Beck, you are trying to get people to quit looking to the government, but looking to ourselves is no better. No amount of “You’re a great American!” high-fiving is going to help us.
The most interesting (and exasperating) part of Beck’s book to me is the introduction where he defines his audience or, in reality, the constituency that he is trying to motivate:
“I think I know who you are. After September 11, 2001, you thought our country had changed for the better. But the months that followed proved otherwise. We began to divide ourselves and the partisan bickering that had been absent from blood donor lines and church services started all over again…”
Translation: When the little twerp neighbor kid threw a rock through the window, suddenly we stopped threatening dad with the pizza cutter and decided to clobber the kid instead, but he got away and we went back to our family feud. We don’t know what we’re fighting over, but whatever it is, we’re definitely not thankful for the pizza.
“You may go to church, but most weekends, you don’t really want to—you’d rather sleep in or play with your kids. Besides, it bothers you that people cut each other off in the parking lot right after the service.”
Okay, Mr. Beck. You got me with this one. Are you saying that Evanjellyfish Christians don’t know what the heck church is for and blame other Christians for their apathy? You’re right and their pastors don’t know what church is for either. May be this is why conservatives don’t know what they’re conserving. Just a thought. He continues,
“You have children and, like all families, you also have your share of problems—but you’re making it. You constantly hope that your kids don’t notice you’re bluffing as a parent most of the time.”
Oh, they notice. And that’s why they put their parents in nursing homes. All the physical comforts parents need without the hard work of actually loving them.
How can you write this stuff, Beck? How can you paint such a pathetic picture of the Americans you are trying to lead and then merely talk to them about politics? It’s like meeting a person dying of thirst on the side of the road and giving him a voters guide. “Look! This candidate supports better roads!” Granted, this is a selection from your introduction. You also identify with your readers economically. But how can you identify with Americans in their sources of deepest guilt, their church and family life, and then pretend that the answers all lie in their political life? It’s bait and switch because you don’t have the answers, do you?
Beck's Common Sense reads like most conservative literature. The bulk of the book is devoted to explaining what is wrong with American politics and government. I think he gets it right and there are some great quotes. Consider the following mini narrative:
“America has been slowly pulled off the course charted for us in Philadelphia more than two centuries ago. Through legitimate ‘emergencies’ involving war, terror, and economic crises, politicians on both sides have gathered illegitimate new powers—playing on our fears and desire for security—at the expense of our freedoms. And now, after supposedly massive change, not only are we still on the wrong track, but it feels as though our new conductor has just increased the speed at which our misdirected train is traveling.”
Finally someone in the media is saying that both political parties are driving us toward the cliff! But it’s not until chapter six, the last chapter, that Beck really suggests a solution. He says, “The way you can show everyone that you are serious is to leave whatever political party you currently belong to. Stop donating to the faceless RNC or DNC and start devoting your time, energy, and, if appropriate, your dollars to the people who stand for your values.” Hurray! Now that sounds like a solution, but what are our values? Did Moses descend from the mountain with the Ten Core Values? One final quote from Beck:
“Those in Washington believe that there are many sheep and no shepherds. So we must let them know in the most unequivocal of terms: WE ARE NOT SHEEP.”
Yes we are sheep, Beck. At least we had better start being sheep if we're not. The alternative is frightening. “He is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.” And today, “if we will hear his voice,” we might get out of this mess. But that would take revival and reformation in actual churches, not just "in our hearts and minds," and learning to submit to God’s Word and the government of God, again, in actual and faithful churches. But I forgot, we don’t like government very much do we. We’re conservatives.
Oh, and in case you're wondering, yes, I did learn all of this from my pastor. Thanks for preaching the truth, Doug! "Conservatives" may be losing the battle, but to those who love him and keep His commandments, to those who give unto God what is God's, our God is faithful to a thousand generations. The planet has a glorious future, but it will not come quickly. It will arrive one family, one church, one Christian school at a time.
