Well, there you go, Glenn Beck is looking for patriots that will help him to "rid [America] of the poison of those who are proven to have broken the law". It's almost as if Glenn Beck is deputising his fan base, and telling them that they will have the law on their side if insurrection "hit's the fan".
On Mr. Beck's assertion that America's federal spending is "out-of-control", and needs to be brought "under control", I don't think that there's one American that does not agree. It is the solution, to bringing that spending under control, that defines the divide between America's two great political parties. The solution will never be reached with a partisan strategy, by either party, on its own. The solution, if it's even possible at this stage, will come through a cooperative, bi-partisan solution, from somewhere in the middle.
One thing is certain, the solution will also not come from a revisionist, modernized re-write of Thomas Paine's Common Sense. The events that led to America's independence from British rule was a "revolution". The Civil War, on the other hand, was an "insurrection". Beck's Common Sense call for America to arm its homes to the teeth, and store food for the coming, government induced apocalypse, is not revolution-like, it is insurrection-like.
Are the Founding Fathers in-sync with Beck? If they were, Beck would not have to quote mine, and truncate their quotes, the way he does in Common Sense. Here's an example from Chapter 2:
If we fail to speak up and speak out against this madness then we should be prepared to accept everything we get. Samuel Adams said that those who prefer "tranquility of servitude" had best be prepared to "Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you." That advice is as relevant today as it was back then. And so were his closing words: "May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen!"
Here's the actual quote, without the truncated shananigans:
If we love wealth better than liberty, the tranquillity of servitude, than the animating contest of freedom--go from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen.
Well, we can certainly see why Mr. Glenn "I love laissez faire capitalism" Beck, took that quote out of context by redacting "If we love wealth better than liberty". If it doesn't fit the template, redact it.
The other problem with quoting Samuel Adams' speech delivered at the State House in Philadelphia, August 1, 1776, is that it pre-dates both the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution. Samuel Adams was very instrumental in the creation of the Articles of Confederation. Within five years, the Congress of the Confederation began to look at fixing the Articles of the Confederation. The Congress convened the Philidelphia Convention, for the purpose of that "fix", and wound up scraping it for the new, improved, United States Constitution.
Samuel Adams was not invited to the Convention, and, while he rightly makes the list of America's "Founding Fathers" - he was there to sign the Declaration of Independence - he can hardly be considered one of the "key" Founding Fathers that "framed" the final structure of our nation. Samuel Adams wanted a weak national government, and strong, sovereign state governments. Madison and Hamilton wanted the opposite, and, as history has proven to us, their crafty, brilliant language in the Constitution, prevailed. The states ratified it, falling for the ingeneous language, hook, line and sinker.
The above quote block followed a long discussion about the problems facing America's social security and medicare programs. Beck's path to rescue those programs:
Social Security and Medicare have been called the "third rail" of American politics - touch it and your shot at reelection is fried. That's too bad, because the truth is that any serious discussion about these programs will have to address three key things, none of which are appealing to anyone: tax hikes, reductions in benefits, and delayed retirement.
Isn't it weird that Beck never chastises, or discusses the guy who came up with the idea for Social Security? Oh wait, that would be the guy that he's pretending was the "conservative" that inspired him to re-write Common Sense. Beck can't mention that Paine is considered, by historians, to be "the real father of Social Security". That would, in essence, be counter to his own mapped out propaganda strategy.
Now, watch as Glenn falsely accuses the current Obama administration for the problems with social secuity and Medicare. Oh, and the crisis in America's financial market too.
BUT THAT'S NOT ALL! Act Now and We'll Also Include a financial meltdown!
Now that everything is beginning to crash down upon us, what do our politicians do? They promise us that the way out of our crisis is to spend trillions of more dollars in borrowed funds. And we believe their lies because it feels good. We look to any good news to convince ourselves that our ship missed the iceberg and is not really sinking.
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