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Political Book Review: Glenn Beck's Common Sense
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Glenn Beck’s Common Sense: The Case Against an Out of Control Government, Inspired by Thomas Paine, despite its lofty title which likens the cause for economic reform to the famous call for independence by Thomas Paine, is just a diatribe about an obvious truth – that the US Government has been spending way to much for a very long time. Common Sense lacks the personality of Bill O'Reilly's political books, the heft of Pat Buchanan's, or the enjoyable hilarity of Ann Coulter's. Rather, it presents itself as one long rant, almost an argument agianst a silent opponent. (I suggest audio-book format, Beck raises his voice often for extra emphasis). Common Sense does contain an interesting 
historical lesson about the American Progressive movement. As Beck assaults Theodore Roosevelt along with Franklin Roosevelt and George W. Bush along with President Obama, one comes to realize he is not just Obama-bashing, but advocating for a major change in American politics. He rejects both conservative and liberal progressivism(as he defines it), even that of Republican icons like Roosevelt. On the other hand, Beck does not present a real idea for how America could actually get back to the early twentieth century from where we are now. Anyone can learn something from reading this book, but not how to actually reverse decades of history. Beck 
likes the old America better. He may have a point when it comes to economic policy, but he does not address the obvious problem. Teddy Roosevelt became President in 1901. The world, and America, are entirely different places now. Whether America’s changes since that time were the result of a betrayal of our founding principles or not, most of them are here to stay. In contrast, conservative commentator Joe Scarborough's new book, The Last Best Hope, provides an actual, and powerful, lesson to conservatives. As Scarborough says, conservatives must first be pragmatists. They must first deal with reality. With facts. (See Political Book Review, The Last Best Hope). By defining "progressivism" as broadly as any policy which privileges the community over the individual, and then demonizing the term, Beck implicitly advocates against all government programs. But no matter how loudly Beck says it, federal funding of college loans, interstate highways, national parks, health care, or stimulus packages is not similar to the internment of Japanese citizens during World War II. That is not reality.
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