The following is the opinion of an everyday American who posted it under a nom de plum in a conservative magazine. I feel honoured to copy and paste it here, with thanks.
"Beck gets it…and, that drives his enemies crazy.
What does he get? Beck gets that there is a deeply and urgently felt conviction emerging organically across a broad swath of the American populace that the spectacular economic and political collapses of recent years were made possible -- even inevitable -- by a much longer Great Moral Decline. Americans' commitment to fundamental principles, secured for most by a belief in biblical authority, long served to fuel the engine and fortify the rails of our government and economy. Yet now, it is feared, that commitment is no longer powerful and pervasive enough to propel the American marketplace and constrain the excesses and abuses in private and public sectors. In the words of Dr. Alveda King: "Our material gains seem to be going the way of our moral losses."
Beck's words are inspirational and he is connecting with Americans in the exact same way that Obama did in his campaign. Yes, I know that many find him clownish, but that is partisanship clouding judgement. Only the dishonourable find restoring honour in our individual lives to be a dishonourable quest*. Most Americans believe that there is a harshness in American lives and a culture that celebrates the inanity and gaucheness of the twits on Jersey Shore and the idiocy of Speidi. Our Founders pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honour. Our kids don't even say the Pledge.
Whether one likes it or not, Beck IS connecting with the American public not on a level of hate, but on an intrinsic, noble level. One where honour is honoured.
Beck also gets that millions of Americans feel trapped upon this sinking ship with no confidence whatsoever in the present captain and crew. The Republican party stands to benefit in the 2010 elections less because they have presented a compelling alternative than because, as in 2006, the public wants to express its deep displeasure with the present regime. Specific policies and politicians certainly played their part in bringing us to this pass. Yet if the deeper problems besetting America are moral and inante, putting a new party at the helm may not help matters much. ALL are responsible for the present crisis, and yet NONE are capable of righting the ship. The speakers at the National Mall last Saturday spoke time and again of the need for a nationwide restoration, a return to a Higher Power for those that believe, a rebuilding of the moral and spiritual character of our people.
Beck also gets that during the very worst period in the 20th century – the Great Depression through the end of WWII – saw a people that came refused to wallow in self-pity and chose to embrace hope for a brighter future. It is no coincidence that the highest grossing movies in that period were not grainy, grayish, tales of woe. They were movies that provided an escape, a parable to be applied in daily life, or a tug at the heartstrings in the name of family and friends, home and hearth.
Beck also gets that Americans can stand the truth. Again, we look back to the most trying times in the history of this land – the American Revolution, the Civil War, World War I, the Great Depression and World War II. Americans understood what was at risk. Americans understood the risks because they understood the facts. The best leaders do not strive to sugarcoat bad medicine. While I have huge philosophical differences with FDR, he was a leader. He chatted with Americans as if he was sitting on his neighbour’s porch in a rocking chair. He could say to the public “All we have to fear is fear itself” because they understood the depth of the problems facing the country. When our leaders would rather spin and obfuscate, they are harming much more than their own credibility. Sun Tzu wrote: ". . . If you know the enemy and know yourself, your victory will not stand in doubt, if you know Heaven and know Earth, you may make your victory complete” and "He will win who, prepared himself, waits to take the enemy unprepared” and "If you know the enemy and know yourself you need not fear the results of a hundred battles." Knowledge is power. Truth is strength. Our “betters” do us no favours with their paternalistic posture. In fact, they cause great harm. We cannot face our tasks if we are in the dark as to what they are.
What has the radical and militant left raging with fear is that he is attacking them at the foundations of their power, their claim to race as a permanent trump card, their claim to the Civil Rights movement as a permanent model to constantly be transforming a perpetually unjust society. He is connecting on a level that weds the principles of limited government with the moral causes of supporting the poor, the weak, the vulnerable. The Left has profited from identity politics. All women, it has been said, should support Democrats because they are pro-choice and provide welfare. The problem is that women are not all consumed with abortion or do they wish to be perpetual victims. Women's Rights today mean lower taxes and less regulation, too. Women own businesses. Women own more stock than men. Women are not stupid nor do they need patriarchal politicians "taking care" of them. Other groups are beginning to think the same thing. Yes, Democrats have been the champions of the poor, but after $16 trillion spent in the War on Poverty, the US has the same level of poverty as it did two score and five years ago. The poor do not want to stay poor. They want to escape poverty. This can't happen when the cycle and chains of dependence are nearly impossible to break. Most people want the self-worth that goes along with a job well done. They want a job, not a check.
He is nuking out the foundations of the opposition’s moral preeminence. For that reason alone, he must be destroyed.
Thus Beck and his followers were sincere in their claims that this was not a political movement. It only BECOMES a political movement to the extent that it is slandered and excluded by the Left. There has been nothing more harmful to the Obama administration than the way in which its representatives and defenders have mocked the concerns of a broad cross-section of everyday Americans and labeled them as racism, nativism, homophobia, and Islamophobia. It is not unreasonable to be concerned by runaway government spending, the strains of illegal immigration on our social safety nets, unemployment, the lynch mob mentality of some unions, the radicalism of many in government, the outright contempt for the average American expressed by many who control the government, the financial system, the educational system, the media, the think tanks and the salons where the only “TEA” served comes served in china with scones and clotted cream.
Obama ran on inspiration. He ran on unity. He ran on transcendence. He ran on being post-racial. He ran on post-partisanship. He ran on the future. He ran on the lofty desire to challenge us to leave a better world for our children. He ran on hope. He has not governed as he ran. Apart from the dire economic conditions, Americans, who once had high hopes for Obama, are staggeringly depressed, deflated and disillusioned.
Whether either Obama or Beck realises it, Beck’s movement is Obama’s campaign.
Americans have a need to connect with one another and strive to right this listing ship of state. The man, woman or group that seizes this moment to make an indelible impression upon the hearts and minds of these people crying out for a restoration of honour in American government, business, and individual lives will lead the next American revolution and transformation.
Demonise Beck, the Tea Party, and your fellow Americans at your own risk. Returning to Sun Tzu, "He who exercises no forethought but makes light of his opponents is sure to be captured by them."
* I said that most Americans believe the restoration of honour in our lives and society is a good thing. Unfortunately, not all do. In fact, I was told by a certain William that the Founders eschewed honour because it was associated with the British aristocracy. Sadly, his ignorance is stunning for the very last word in the Declaration of Independence IS honour."
