I find Beck’s views like a bucket of cold water in the face. He does make one think, if one is listening to him. Maybe to look below the surface of what we see and hear, and think for ourselves of how and where things are going for this country.

The most helpful book I have read about understanding history is Belloc’s How the Reformation Happened. Our country today can be explained very nicely by his theories of history, and they also explain why it may never again be as it was. When the name Marx and Chamberlain cause a 30-something’s eyes to glaze over, you know that your in trouble.

We are living in the Baby Boomers’ experience come to fruition: Make love not war; don’t trust anyone over 30 (70 now); free love without consequences; rebellion against all authority–especially that out-of-date Constitution–except the authority that we hold. We invented the world; there was nothing before us; we even invented music (note what is shown on Great Performances on PBS). Ban tobacco (that was our parent’s drug) but everything else is acceptable. And, as Chris Matthews notably said once, “Nobody was ever supposed to be younger than we are.”

A few BBs actually managed to grow out of that culture, but the ones rabid enough to shape their generation’s culture at their coming of age were the same ones rabid enough to seek and hold the reins of power when the grew older. They will brook no opposition and they don’t give a hoot about the consequences.

Where did you say that? You said it in your tone, in your diction, in the pace and length of your sentences, in your breathlessness. I don’t listen to Beck on the radio, but I watch his program two afternoons a week. However, I don’t think that Colin Powell would have told me about the ACORN twins, or Valerie Jarrett or Van Jones or John Holdren, etc. etc. I already knew about R. Emanuel and J. Podesta, two bad pennies from Clinton days. John McCain was seething listening to “You will know me by the company I keep” but, for some reason kept his mouth shut–too gentlemanly, I guess. How long before the New York Times would get around to explaining the incestuous connections between Bill Ayers and spouse, the Acorn twins, V. Jarrett, SEIU, the Tides Foundation, and the Apollo Group? Yes, Beck’s religious platitudes fall far short of Catholic moral theology, but he’s not a Catholic and all of my non-Catholic friends think on that level and in those terms.

I think that I am capable of asking the right questions of Beck at the right time, just as I did prior to Nov., 2008, (e.g., what kind of change?) and I can probably come up with the same answers. And we don’t need Beck to tell us about the dark corners of Obama’s life. “Chicago politics” tells us all we need to know if we are a certain age and generation (Belloc, again). No one gets that far that fast in Chicago without playing the game by their rules.

I mourn our country and I never thought I would see the day when I, too, might think, “Blessed are the barren and wombs that never bore,” and look with sadness on an infant, wondering what kind of a country he will inherit.

Louise said: “This isn’t the First Things that I used to know and love.

William said: SOMETHING HAS CHANGED AT FT, AND I SUSPECT NOT FOR THE BETTER.

Really? So let me make sure I understand: Glenn Beck is a former “Morning Zoo” DJ turned TV personality who (a) tells everyone who will listen that they should read the book of a cultish wacko nut, (b) gives credence to nutty conspiracy theories before pretending to “debunk” them, (c) rants about communist/fascist/socialist artwork hiding in plain sight in New York City, (d) calls the President of the United States a racist, and (e) promotes apocalyptic scenarios and tells his audience that they should “be very afraid.”
When in the world was this something that First Thing would support? Seriously, I’m curious who you think that has written for First Things that believes this kind of silly stuff?

I’m sick of being told that I’m not intelligent enough to analyze and decide for myself how much credence to put into what I hear–from all sides. This isn’t the First Things that I used to know and love.

I’m aware of the historical debate over whether or not Smith actually made that prophecy–there doesn’t seem to be a way to be sure about this one–but if he did say it, I’ve always understood it to refer, not to a dramatic uprising or seizing of power or some other such apocalyptic conspiracy, but simply to preserving the principles of the Constitution in my family, as the world further abandons them.

Last July, I taught my children about the Bill of Rights, especially the “free exercise” clause of the 1st amendment, and the limits imposed on the federal government / guaranteed to the states by the 9th and 10th amendments. They’d never learned this in school. I see that as a fulfillment of this (putative) prophecy.

I can understand that Carter might be a little uncomfortable with the appeal that Beck has to the American populace. However, if that is indeed where the discomfort lies, then his qualm ought not to stand with Beck so much as with the American people. Lets face it, Glenn Beck is the most popular face in the media today. He is only now becoming a story of controversy because the mainstream media can no longer ignore his popularity. The reality of current American politics in our trend toward democracy (and maybe American politics throughout history) is that it is a popular affair. The GOP, being bereft of any current popular appeal, is instead piggybacking on Beck.

What is ironic is that Carter and Dreher, sense Beck’s popularity as dangerous when Beck, Carter, and Dreher share so much in common that only in these irrational times would Dreher and Carter be able to convince themselves that they were different. I will not attempt to speak for Carter, but at least for Dreher it seems that much of what he advocates is a more religiously principled populace (that takes into consideration many of our duties to our fellow man) and a government that is closer to the people (which would be subject to such duties). Has Carter read anything about the 9/12 project? The 9 principles such as “God is at the center of my life, etc.” or the 12 values such as “Reverence, Charity, Personal Responsibility, etc.”

Carter’s statement that Beck doesn’t believe in anything himself is entirely unfounded, and somewhat unlike Carter’s normal sound analysis. Does Beck pose some seemingly outrageous scenarios that we presently think could never come true? Sure. But if we were to hearken back to just 12 months ago who could have imagined that the Federal government would be giving taxpayer money to banks and car companies and insurance companies, or the discussion would be about the Federal Government determining how to best ration care in the medical field.

Referencing your last post about Beck, I don’t think Carter is out of touch with the American people, but maybe just a bit out of touch with what is actually going on in America. I would actually look forward to a response from Carter about how his goals and Becks differ.

And, who is RodDdreher, anyway? And what evidence does he have that Beck is a “disciple” of W. Cleon Skousen?

Is FIRST THING guilty of the things it accuses Glenn Beck?