It has now been more than 24 hours since Glenn Beck's much anticipated "Restoring Honor" rally at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. Before the event even began, controversy had been brewing over whether the rally would be political in nature. Beck denied any political motivations, but critics doubted the sincerity of his statements. In the end, quite a few political statements were made, but the majority of the rally focused on "returning to God" and the values of "faith, hope, and charity."
Of course, God and values still have something to do with politics. An atheist who believes that God has no place in government would certainly take issue with the idea that the United States was founded as a Christian nation. The idea that the nation has lost its honor, and that this honor can only be restored by returning in our faith to God, is in some ways a political idea by itself. As Glenn Beck himself said last week, in attacking President Obama's theology, religious ideology can certainly affect public policy. Ultimately Beck's rally was about trying to affect politics by changing the values that impact politics.
Take for example the speech of Alveda King, the niece of Martin Luther King Jr. In her speech King talked about the importance of faith in God and reflected the overall theme of the rally in saying the country must return to God. Some might say these ideas are not political. However, Alveda's King's religious theology turned very political later in her speech when she denounced the practice of abortion and condemned homosexual marriage. King's faith clearly, right or wrong, affected her political beliefs.
The values of Beck's rally were "faith, hope, and charity." At first glance most people would agree with these values, including President Obama. However, disagreements arise is when people start talking about what those values really mean as applied to society. Does faith mean that only the Christian faith as the freedom to build a place of worship wherever they wish, or does it also include the right of a group to build a mosque two blocks away from Ground Zero? Does hope mean providing every person hope through a government financed college education, or does hope mean that some individuals college dream dies because of a lack of financing? Does charity involve the government playing a role in helping the poor, or relying on individuals to help the poor through voluntary donations (sparse as they may be).
Excuse my cliche, but the devil is in the details, and Beck probably knew that when he choose to focus on vague values rather than policy. When Beck first announced the rally, he said he would be introducing a 100-year plan to restore America. Attendees may have noticed that no such plan was presented. Beck subsequently scrapped "the plan," and in doing so avoided having to present real solutions to the nation's problems. Most everyone agrees the country could use more faith, hope, and charity, but how does that realistically help pay for our $12 trillion dollar debt. Would faith and charity require us to cut Social Security and Medicare to pay for the debt, or would it require us to pay higher taxes? Most Americans would agree with the values the Beck presented, but few may agree on what those values really mean when applied to public policy.
Comments
Ryan dimwitt leans left, can u tell ?
Does name-calling indicate right leaning? It seems to be a pattern.
Ryan Please read your hystory, example:Noah Webster is called “The School Master to America” and is one of the three most significant American educators. He is personally responsible for Constitutional language in Article 1 Section 8.
The 1832 public school textbook by Noah Webster enlightened American students with the following:
The brief exposition of The Constitution for The United States will unfold to young persons the principles of republican government. And, it is the sincere desire of the writer that our citizens should early understand that the genuine source of the correct republican principles is the Bible, particularly the New Testament or the Christian Religion.
If you were looking for direction for the GOP during the rally, you went to the wrong location. I was there and understood his purpose and his direction. He raised millions for wounded soldiers and is well paid by Fox, successfull, so you loosers that hate him, pound sand...cry with your face to the floor, we support this guy and his direction.
Quote-mining Webster in his dottage doesn't change the fact that he was an ardent supporter of the separation of church and state during the development of the Constitution and the Federalist Age that followed it.
You pick a quote from after his 1808 religious conversion - take other quotes subsequent to that conversion and you'll also find he thought democracy was wrong and that religion should supercede government.
All you prove is that he became a theocratic despot in his old age.
I came there all amped up hoping for something about what direction we should take but all I got was...........some vague lecture. Pardon my french, but the GOP needs to decide what direction to take. As much as I appreciate Beck's enthusiasm, I don't think he provides any substantive ideas to convince the majority of the electorate to reelect Republicans. Romney and others have much clearer ideas and perhaps the empty platitudes of this rally will reinforce the feeling within the GOP that a decisive decision needs to be taken about what our policy platform as a party is.
Boy if you just present a view, you're a dimwitt. I can tell the dimwitt that wrote that leans to the right.
The devil is the details and this guy should be in the unemployment line. He's trying so hard to spin it, it's painful.
wouldn't that be to with one o
You can't get back to your own values base because you have lost your center. Pull your thumb out of your ass and think like a real intellectual that God made you
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I'm a canadian and was in D.C. this week NOT for the rally and I was appalled by the rally since it has nothing to do with the core values of the founding fathers of America. Seeing people walk around the Capital this weekend with "RESTORING HONOR" t-shirts with this quote written on the back "Had Enough of Faith and Hope" really make my blood boil. And it's funny because Glenn Beck talks about restoring the country to God and while i was at the Jefferson Memorial there is a quote about religious freedom and that it religion should not be imposed on anyone. Dear M. cry on fox news all the time, have you not heard about separation of church and state? I'm not even a canadian and i seem to know about this than you. And finally, shame on Beck again for using the image of Abraham Lincoln on his rally t-shirts. Your rally goes against everything the founding fathers wanted for your country.
Go back to canada and enjoy YOUR freedom of religion and speech!
funny how glenn and his beckerheads love to preach The Word while advocating preemptive war.
love thy neighbor
unless he's a muslim.
Beck raised over $5 MILLION dollars in 3 HOURS for SOWF.Even after the event expenses that Witt made an issue out of, Beck did more with this rally than Ryan Witt and the rest of his bitter anti-American leftist comrades will do for mankind in several lifetimes.
Nothing like targeting the right demographic to raise money - lg
Wow, $5 million from what Beck claims were 500,000 people. Average of $10 a head - real big spenders there for the troops.
Take out the corporate and other big donors and it probably was more like $5 a head.
Give us an example of any left-wing cable news host or radio jock that has raised ANYTHING even remotely close for ANY charity before you shoot your mouth off, jack@ss.
Pinko douchebag said:
"Wow, $5 million from what Beck claims were 500,000 people. Average of $10 a head - real big spenders there for the troops.
Take out the corporate and other big donors and it probably was more like $5 a head."
Ok, just off the top of my head....
Disney, owner of ABC, gives well over $1 million each year to the USO.
So does TriWest Healthcare Alliance - a "pinko" organization by your definition, I'm sure.
Then there's Colbert, with his "Support the Troops by supporting their children" campaign.
Of course, trumping all of them was Don Imus who was instrumental in raising more than $60 million for the Center for the Intrepid at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio - the premier rehabilitation center for troops wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan - and helped with the additional $65 million that went for the new National Intrepid Center of Excellence in Bethesda, Md. - designed to help troops with traumatic brain injuries.
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