Originally posted at Blue Moose Democrat.
It was fine for the Republican Congress to raise the debt ceiling five times from 2001 through 2007 and George W. Bush had good reasons for doubling the national debt. Barack Obama’s spending, on the other hand, is beyond the pale. If you disagree with that message, than you are a Godless, unpatriotic American who doesn’t understand what 9/11 was really about.
This was the primary message yesterday of around 50,000 conservative protestors brought to DC by lobbyist Dick Armey’s organization FreedomWorks and talking head Glenn Beck’s 9/12 Project. Many of these protestors were respectable-yet-angry conservatives following in the footsteps of decades of liberal protestors, but many were uninformed, arrogant fringe dwellers, as evidenced not only by Beck’s leadership but also by the presence of signs like "Where’s the birth certificate?" and the crass "Bury Obamacare with Kennedy."
Liberal commentator Sam Seder tweeted yesterday, "Remember all those Teabag protests when under Bush the debt ceiling was raised 5 different times and the national debt doubled?" I don’t like Obama’s out-of-control spending, but much of it (albeit not all) is in response to a global economic crisis that was not his doing. Bush’s spending, on the other hand, was almost entirely by choice, as evidenced by his repeated tax cuts for the wealthy and by the lies that led us into a war of choice in Iraq. (To be fair, some of the protestors criticized both parties, though that doesn't change the fact that they only bother to protest during the rule of one.)
Far more offensive than hypocritical outrage, however, is the way Beck is politicizing and trivializing 9/11. His 9/12 Project is built around 9 "principles" and 12 "values" intended to "bring us all back to the place we were on September 12, 2001. The day after America was attacked we were not obsessed with Red States, Blue States, or political parties. We were united as Americans." So just what are these non-political principles and values?
Most of the principles, such as "I must always try to be a more honest person than I was yesterday," are indeed important common values needed to move this country forward (although it is a smear to suggest that the members of our communities that we have chosen to send to higher office don't believe in them). Others, while things I believe in personally, are hardly national rallying points. For example, "I believe in God and He is the Center of my Life" excludes millions of Americans who were a part of that 9-12-01 unity. As for the values, Beck himself could learn from them, given that his show’s tone clearly lacks "humility," "hope," "reverence," and "moderation."
If this seems only mildly disturbing but mostly innocuous to you, it gets worse. Part of the 9/12 Project’s webpage is the "In or out?" pledge for elected representatives, something I was unfortunate enough to watch Beck debut live on the day it aired. (Yes, sometimes I watch – it’d be foolish to comment on him if I didn’t.) This pledge consists of five very highly political points, such as a freeze in government spending (no cost of living adjustments in Social Security for poor seniors, or emergency disaster funding?), a condemnation of straw-man national apologies (because only the weak admit when they’re wrong; the strong just keep on making the mistakes!), and a call for an increase in coal-powered energy. In other words, Beck is tying support of dirty coal into the unity and patriotism felt after 9/11. He may as well be saying, "If you think global warming is real, you love the evil terrorists and shouldn’t be in this country!" He is playing not just on our nation's greatest fears and proudest moments, but also on our national identity and our deepest spiritual feelings. He is trying to make them Beckian rather than America, and he is trying to remake this nation in his own image rather than in George Washington's or Theodore Roosevelt's. In so doing, he shows us that he is more Father Coughlin than Abraham Lincoln.
For Beck, "e pluribus" is about his own "unum." Yes, there was a true unity after 9/11, but it wasn’t brought about by megalomaniacs like Beck and it won’t be restored by them. As Time’s James Poniewozik writes,
I watched the smoking pit of the ruins from the roof of my apartment building as bits of memo paper and ash drifted on the winds to my neighborhood. I was there on 9/11, and 9/12, and 9/13. You'll excuse me if I don't feel warm nostalgia for the lingering smell of burnt airplane fuel, and metal, and bodies.
Nor, of course, does Beck. What he purportedly wants is to bring back our feeling of "unity." I remember that feeling. After 9/11, I remember hardcore liberal New Yorkers rallying behind Rudy Giuliani, saying nice things about President Bush when he spoke at the WTC ruins. I remember thousands of American flags being flown out of apartment and brownstone windows, not as political statements or in the you-better-prove-your-patriotism spirit of flag pins and Freedom Fries, but simply because we felt we Americans were all in this together.
So since March, what has Glenn Beck been doing to re-establish that sense of nonpartisan national brotherhood? Calling President Obama a racist, declaring that the government was bringing fascism upon us, asking his fans to dig up dirt on political figures he doesn't like, and predicting civil-war-like uprisings. Because that's how you bring people together.
Glenn Beck is a man who does not understand the true spirit of America or the true message of the Christ he loves. To learn what you can do to help stop this arrogant commentator's spread of misinformation before it generates real violence in this country, visit the Color of Change and Glenn McCarthy Beck.
Originally posted at Blue Moose Democrat. The title of this diary is adapted from an Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. quote - wouldn't want to plagiarize!