Glenn is one of only two people in mainstream media land who point out that both parties are working toward the same end, and for that he must be commended. Can he be trusted, though? Is he for real, or is he only painting on yet another layer of deception? Is he a willing participant in the establishment's attempt to co-opt the surge of Constitution and rule of law supporters that have emerged and coalesced around Congressman Ron Paul's run for president in 2008?
After virtually branding Ron Paul supporters "terrorist sympathizers" in 2007, Glenn appeared to "fall in love" with Representative Ron Paul during a TV interview on his show at CNN, treating Americans to the creepy prospect of wanting to "french kiss" Ron Paul because he was so turned on by his libertarian views or at least Glenn made it appear that way.
Now, Glenn has migrated from CNN over to Rupert Murdoch's Fox Network, and he appears to come out ever stronger in favor of views most commonly held by Ron Paul supporters and Constitutionalists around the country. He declares that both sides of the political aisle are marching in an increasingly fascist lock step with each other as they woo the private sector into a "public-private" shotgun marriage. Word up, Glenn Beck!
He (rightly) accuses the world's money powers of orchestrating the slow-burn economic catastrophe we are all living through right now. He (rightly) points to Washington and those who pull the strings there in laying the blame for the ordeal. He (rightly) compares the Obama administration to a fascist dictatorship "with a happy face".
The big question is whether he really means what he says, or whether it's all yet another tightly knit layer of smoke screens in preparation for yet another end-run around the rule of law, pre-planned by those who ultimately cut his paycheck and designed to subject Americans to yet another political whiplash experience when it comes time to support the next CFR-selected presidential candidate of the Republican party?
How can you tell?
That's easy, actually. Don't listen to what he says; it sounds too much like a dream come true, straight out of media land, for the underserved American patriot community. "We finally have a voice on TV!" many are gushing. Whoa, there, horsey! Not so fast, please.
Glenn now works for Fox, and Fox is owned by Newscorp, Murdoch's little media empire. Murdoch himself is not known to be a great friend of freedom. N fact, not long ago, his network entirely and most effectively shunned Congressman Ron Paul by failing to invite him to its pre-primary "round table" discussion in 2007. Now, suddenly, Neil Cavuto and Glenn Beck are both all over Ron Paul. Why?
Rupert smells a market niche. He, along with his CFR brethren from the supposed "left" side of the political spectrum also smells an opportunity to co-opt this entire freedom movement that has come out of the woodworks during on Paul's presidential primary run in support of the same old, lame old Republican neocon guard as the "antidote" to the left-liberal policies of the administration of the current white-house interloper.
How do you know?
There is a telling saying that goes: "Show me your friends and I tell you who you are." Just look at Glenn's recent guests:
Within a week, he had Rudi Giuliani, Rick Perry, and John Bolton over to chat - all stalwarts of the last conservative sell-out team under Bush the second. None of them are worth a second look when it comes to their credibility as true proponents of "small government" (itself a neocon-concocted chimera) and "fiscally conservative" politics, let alone constitutional rule. (If you want another example of neocons trying to "make nice" with the Ron Paul movement, check out Newt Gingrich on this "Tea Party" website.)
Just the other day Glenn interviewed neocon sell-out Rick Perry on the issue of border security and national sovereignty, and Rick, in true politico fashion, manage to mouth off a few platitudes about "yes, in Texas we always stood for tight border security" or whatever.
It's the same Rick Perry talking here who did whatever he could to try and ram the Trans Texas Corridor down Texans' throats, against their collective will and against their property interests. (The corridor is still in the works, by the way except that it is being renamed because the name itself has garnered too much opposition ot the project) It's the same Rick Perry who wanted to use his bully pulpit to legislatively force Texas teenage schoolgirls to take an unproven ovarian cancer prevention drug by government edict. What a freedom-loving guy!
Not to forget: Which outfit did Glenn choose to "investigate" the claim that FEMA is building internment camps across the country designed to hold potential malcontents and opponents of present and future policies of CFR-selected usurpers in chief? Popular Mechanics, the same outfit that claimed to have "debunked" the annoyingly persistent "9-11" crowd that keeps insisting there are too many unanswered questions to lay the issue of who allowed 9-11 to happen to final rest.
Hmm.
Did Glenn Beck choose to do this? Is he being told to do it? Is he a willing collaborator in this effort, or is he just a dupe of a bigger paycheck and some editorial leeway on the types of issues he is allowed to comment on as long as he agrees to whitewash the neocon old guard? What made him come over to Murdoch's outfit? These questions we cannot answer without inside information. Yet, they are questions that absolutely need answering (and convincingly so) if he wants to maintain any kind of credibility with the freedom movement.
In this commentator's eyes, it is all an attempt to combine (a) conservative revulsion with the current goings-on in Washington DC with (b) the power of association in order to create (c) a counter-reaction of dissent that will fester and grow until the next presidential election a counter reaction that is carefully being channeled into the future support for politically "acceptable" candidates, mind you.
By repeatedly seeing the above named characters associated with the TV commentator who most reflects freedom loving Americans' views can do wonders or so the circle around Murdoch appears to hope
Conservatives are by and large freedom loving people, albeit somewhat easily duped into supporting those who merely talk freedom while doing the opposite. From the perspective of those who meet behind closed doors in secret locations under heavy armed guard and protected by "no fly-over" directives to hash out the direction of future globalist policies, hedging your bets is paramount. You don't want to give a nascent freedom movement of properly educated and constitution-oriented people a chance in hell of ever being able to control their own lives. That would doom all your plans.
So you make sure you find and implement various ways of co-opting their energy and channeling it into something that, in the end, serves your covert aims, as always.
What Glenn is doing here looks too much like an effort in that direction for us to be able to trust him and take him seriously. The Bilderberger group is currently learning to talk "Ronpaulese", it seems, and they are testing and refining their skills. There is an old saying that goes, "Show me your friends and I tell you who you are." That's what should be on every patriot's mind when watching Glenn continue his "grand parade of lifeless packaging" neocon friends (to say it with the words of the Rock band Genesis from their "Lamb Lies Down" album.)
Glenn Beck is either misguided, under-educated, bought off, or a willing participant in this endeavor. Watch him on his show, if you must but watch him closely! The price of freedom is eternal vigilance. No "big man" will ever save you. When it comes to earthly pursuits, you have to do it yourself. Glenn himself even has the foresight of saying so. That is one utterance of his that you can believe and live by even if he ultimately has ulterior motives in making it.
Alex Wallenwein
©2009 Alex Wallenwein, all rights reserved. You must have written permission from the author in order to republish this work.
Published: Sunday, April 12, 2009
Last modified: Sunday, April 12, 2009
The views expressed in this article are those of Alex Wallenwein only and do not represent the views of Nolan Chart, LLC or its affiliates. Alex Wallenwein is solely responsible for the contents of this article and is not an employee or otherwise affiliated with Nolan Chart, LLC in his/her role as a columnist.
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Reader Comments:
Posted By: FarminMike
Date: 2009-04-12 04:38:45
As a Genesis fan, a Glenn Beck fan, and a Ron Paul fan, I'm happy to see you bring the three of those together into one article. I sometimes worry about whether or not Glenn is a wolf in sheeps clothing designed to lure us to some sort of 1984 trap endgame. I also wonder how far this movement will be able to go because of the outrageous amount of resistance we encountered last year. to have been that popular and still be polling at 3%. To have come so far so quickly this year and still be so far away (Glenn Beck's group of 400,000+ registerred supporters of his 9/12 project) is still a very small minorty in the grand scheme of politics. I want to see Glenn do a show about Austrian Economic Theory though. That would make me feel more comfortable.
Posted By: Jake, the Champion of the Constitution
Date: 2009-04-12 06:29:50
Alex -
I dont watch Glenn except for a youtube every now and then, so I can't comment intelligently but wanted to thank you for raising a concern here.
I was wondering if you could apply your intelligence and opinion at some point in the future to FOX's Freedom Watch - still just online. I introduced it here.
http://www.nolanchart.com/article6035.html
Posted By: Idaho
Date: 2009-04-12 08:04:51
I have never, and will never trust FOXNews network after the televised circuses of the last few elections. This also goes for any other major news network btw.
I have been wondering how and why the message of liberty and our constitution have been making onto such outlets as Freedom Watch, which although isn't televised yet has picked up a loyal audience. I am not naive enough to think it's a true change of heart & mind on the part of those in charge at FOX.
Your market niche theory was the first thing that came to mind for me- there are far more of us than any mainstream corporate medium would want to admit openly. Seemingly adopting and eventually attempting to manipulate our ideals would be a tempting apple for the likes of Murdoch.
Anyway for now they have loaned us one of their small ships from their media navy, I suggest we make use of it as long as we are allowed to sail under our own flag.
And no matter the motive, let Beck or anyone else mix the truth into their broadcasts. It's dangerous stuff to expose- and for those who hunger for it, after a while the diluted stuff just won't do.
This movement tends to be one of thinkers and vigilant spirits who will sound the alarm without hesitation should our message be tainted or hijacked.
Posted By: Bruce Ericson
Date: 2009-04-12 08:37:40
Thank you all for this thought-provoking discussion. I agree, wholeheartedly, with the sentiments expressed. "Divide and Rule" is an effective tool, and, clearly, it is being, and will continue to be, employed by those in power to splinter the constitutionalist movement that threatens to expose and depose them. We must be firm and resolute, and we must not trade our principles for increased media exposure. Yet, we should take full advantage of this time in the spotlight to speak out strongly, with renewed vigor, on the issues that define our movement. Eventually, the other side will be forced to show their hand, and when they do the dividing lines will be clearly defined for all to see. Patience, perserverance, and wisdom are required on all of our parts.
Posted By: Servando Gonzalez
Date: 2009-04-12 09:26:27
Alex:
You may be right. If it seems too good to be true, most likely it is not true.
Keep up the good job.
Posted By: LibertarianBlue
Date: 2009-04-12 11:07:35
I have also gotten the "too good to be true" vibe from Beck. This sudden love for Libertarian ideals right after Obama was sworn in has been very uneasy for all the reasons you have mentioned. There really isn't too many pundits on TV to trust to defend freedom, only Lou Dobbs comes to mind currently. From what I have watched on his show via YouTube clips, doesn't really give me any reason to fully believe that he has done a full 360 on his views. In addition having that draft dodger Ted Nugnet doesn't help much in my mind anyway.
Posted By: MrPitchFork
Date: 2009-04-12 18:21:44
I just recently caught Fox News in a great big fat lie (and I told them so too) so I can't say that I can believe anything anymore from them. I always liked the Glenn Beck show because he seemed so real, to the point and had common sense talk about our freedoms. Now, I'm not so sure about Glenn after the little incident I had and now this article. My grandfather once said, "Don't believe anything you hear nor half of anything you see". I think experience has always been the best teacher. Until we all have to literally put our hands on this situation that seems to be brewing across the land, it might be prudent to just wait and see what happens. You just never know if you are getting misinformation...
Posted By: Keith Martin
Date: 2009-04-12 22:43:13
People change their views in time, as a youth I detested the corrupt capitalists the Murdock press supported, I went to Russia in the 1960s to see socialism [not] working. Murdock backed Thatcher and her reforms that changed the world, he dumped the British Conservatives when they lost their way. He is a man who shops for the best available. Ron Paul is not someone you instantly follow, it takes a lot of research and thought to come to the conclusion he is right.
Ron Paul's supporters should welcome and encourage any support they get from anywhwere. The movement is making headway. America needs voices like Glen Beck. I am Australian from Adelaide where Murdock started with the Adelaide "NEWS"
America needs a total rethink. Australians are Americas closest ally yet I can visit America for 3 months maximum. To get an American visa I have to travel 500 miles be humiliated as I enter a fortress kept waiting for hours tortured with sickeningly dishonest videos and as likely as not refused a visa by unfriendly American staff.
I can go to China for a year with a simple visa my travel agent can get. I can go to parts of the Soviet Union with no visa and stay there for ever. I can cross most of the borders in Europe without a passport and stay in most countries there indefinately.
America needs to improve its relations with its friends, Germans now have full working rights in Britain yet Canadians still need visas to work in the US.
Posted By: phoenix
Date: 2009-04-12 23:08:01
Are you guys serious with this? Someone on TV starts saying things that make sense and your first reaction is to say that he's part of some elite cabal bent on world domination? There's a word for that: paranoia.
Is it maybe possible that Glenn Beck, rather than being a dupe or willing participant in Rupert Murdoch's secret plan to take over the planet, is just a guy who's right sometimes and wrong others? Could it be that Glenn (and so many others) has been such an anti-Democrat partisan for so long that he tends to turn a blind eye to the GOP's problems?
Seriously people, you're making a parody of yourselves here. Turn off the Alex Jones show, take off the tinfoil hats, and go contemplate Occam's Razor.
Posted By: reasoncity
Date: 2009-04-13 06:51:52
Well put, phoenix. I might print that out and frame it.
All, as much as there is a conspiracy out there, it's mostly unintentional. Glenn Beck is just a guy. He's basically conservative and, to have any political clout, he's a Republican. That's the only opposition out there right now folks. Even Ron Paul is a Republican.
Limited government is almost impossible to restore. It requires the re-education of millions of people who were villianized and called racists and hate mongers for 50 years. They gave up arguing that a miminum wage is NOT OK, and social security, and then they caved on medicare and unemployment insurance and on and on until they themselves don't know where to draw the line. Thus, there IS NO LINE and we have a steady drift toward statist central planning.
Rather than focus on personalities like Glenn Beck, spend your energies DRAWING THE LINE so everyone knows where it is. End the Federal Reserve would be my nomination for the first priority. Then restore the 9th and 10th amendments, and so on. And start organizing for the next election and TARGETING people to get them OUT and others to GET THEM IN.
Ron Paul is great, but sometimes he misses prime opportunities. For example, he was asked recently - with more than a touch of condecension (by a greenhorn reporter probably 30 years old) "So what should we do to re-place of the Federal Reserve?" His response: "Let interest rates set themselves."
The problem is that most people have no idea what this actually means.
What he should have said is "Apparently you don't understand how the Federal Reserve system works or you would be asking why everyone doesn't want them gone". Then he would dipomaticaly chastise her for not understanding (the political equivalent of a bitch slap), and then HAVE A REAL answer:
We shut down the Fed, send in federal marshalls to confiscate their records, and start prosecuting them for fraud, treason, and whatever other laws they've broken as punishment for the wholesale theft and fraud ofthe American People.
We immediately replace Federal Reserve Notes with Treasury Notes, issued by Congress, and backed by the full faith and credit of the United States*. We tie the growth of money to XYZ indicators etc. and so 50 years from now $1.00 you save today will be worth somewhere between 95 cents to $1.05 and we live free of constant wars and debt and become the model of the world once again.Or something like that. But really, let's go on the offensive and start pushing for prosecution of these tyrants. You KNOW they're hiding all kinds of stuff, and some of it is probably blatantly illegal. And if it ain't, well, as John Belushi said in Animal House after smashing that guitar, "Sorry".
Let's put the fear of God in THEM for a change. And then say to the Glenn Becks - "why aren't you pushing for ending the Fed and prosecuting these criminals? Are you a real man or are you a chickenshit?" And then see what he does.
Just speculating he's a shill isn't getting us anywhere.
J. Prescott - www.reasoncity.com
* BTW no gold standard is necessary. We just need to control the growth based on population, etc.. read my blog at reasoncity.com
Posted By: Matt
Date: 2009-04-13 18:00:26
Seriously,
Put on your pants and stop whining about who is PURE in this or that. Its sad.
Beck was sounding the alarm 3 years ago. So he doesn't agree with RP all the time . Whooooopdeeedoooooo. "Its all that evil Faux News."
blah blah blah. SSDD...shut up, stop whining and do something constructive once in while besides fixating on your "proof" of the vast right wing neo-con conspiracy. *sigh*
You, Alex Jones, and Rosie O'Donnell...good company in the fringe circles and 911 "truth squads".
Your ranting is pathetic...it really is.
Posted By: John
Date: 2009-04-14 06:35:44
It's true; you can't re-write history. This guy was playing for the bad guys without remorse until they had won, and has since "completely" reversed himself and now seeks to lead the opposition he had successfully destroyed earlier. Don't take him seriously.
If you want trust, you have to earn it. He has thrown some keywords around and vaguely repeated parts of Ron Paul's message. If Glen Beck wants credibility though, he will have to put in the work:
1. Admit he was completely wrong about Ron Paul
2. Admit there exist irrefutable alternative explanations of 9/11, and explain them.
3. Admit the Iraq/Afghan invasions are completely illegitimate, and call for immediate withdrawal.
4. Admit that America has a gigantic military empire, and call for it to be dismantled
5. Admit that America was betrayed by her leaders and sold to the Federal Reserve, and call for its dissolution
6. Admit that Bush, Cheney, Rice, and Powell knowingly, deliberately, and needlessly committed War Crimes and should be punished accordingly, along with anyone who protects them
7. Admit that the biggest expansions to government - military, health, education, domestic surveillance etc. - took place under Bush and continue under Obama, and demand that they be reversed.
8. Et cetera.
This guy Glen Beck wants to be treated as the real deal? He's not, but if he wants to be taken seriously and given a chance, then he's got to tell the hard truths as well as the easy ones.
Posted By: Jake, the Champion of the Constitution
Date: 2009-04-14 17:06:17
Rick Perry on the 10th Amendment and the "oppression by the federal government". He talked the talk....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LHrIxc-QyE
Posted By: Michael McDonnough
Date: 2009-04-15 20:24:48
Are you sure you are a conservative? Maybe you should take the test again? You sure sound like a Libertian from your view as expressed. We are cxonservative also of course but only fiscal not this religious inspired social conservative tripe the repugs have swallowed to theiir undoing.
Posted By: Evangeline
Date: 2009-04-19 04:41:51
I admit I have been listening to Glenn Beck on the way to work and he really is saying a lot of things I believe in. Is he sincere? Time will tell. Bt one thing is for sure, I am thankful for him to advertise the Thomas Paine, Common Sense video and the Second American Revolution video also by the man dressed as Thomas Paine on You Tube. Those two videos are for real and should be watched by all. It will be interesting to see what happens. If he isn't sincere there is still the possibility that more of the sheeple will wake up and see where we are headed. At that point I pray they turn off FOX and do research on their own. If this is a ploy by R. Murdoch, how sweet would it be if it all backfired on him and people chose the right path towards freedom and personal liberties and the restoration of the constitution?!
Posted By: Alex Wallenwein
Date: 2009-04-19 06:22:40
Exactly my thinking, Evangeline!
Posted By: Justin
Date: 2009-05-01 07:39:43
I appreciate the article. I am a big Glenn Beck fan and I see him as sincire. You raise good qustions, but I have a theory. I believe Beck is sincire, and if he had the chance he would say more than the big wigs let him. I don't think he'd have been able to say what he says at CCNN, and Fox gives him at least a wider scope to speak his mind. I believe he doesn't believe in many of the theories that many of you do, but he has a good starting idea of what is happening. I am in the same boat here. Give him time. I think if he is given the chance, he will come around. If he sees things he doesn't believe in being forced on him at Fox, he will leave. I would not be surprized to see him go independent of major networks some day in the near future. He is a man who asks honest questions, as m I. I take some things as truth o the patriot side, and some I just don't believe, my gut tells me some of this is the real deal, and some is not, but it taken too far. Give Glenn the benefit of the doubt given where he is coming from.
Posted By: Chrissy McCoy
Date: 2009-07-02 15:44:45
I think that everyone is confusing Glenn's obvious disgust with our countries leaders for a change in heart. Or change in political stance I guess I should say. He is definitely throwing out a lot "libertarian" lines but I assure you that he is still as "right" as he has ever been. At this point it seems hard to use the terms liberal and conservative because our politicians cover both gamets however it benefits them. Libertarians are those people who have figured that out. They are liberals and conservatives. Glenn Beck is not saying that he has seen the error in his beliefs but only that he has seen the error in the politicians. My own opinion of what used to be conservative is this....People who believe in right and wrong without the gray area, people who are willing to stand for that belief no matter who gets their feelings hurt, and people who still believe in the foundation of which this country was built upon. I'm pretty sure that Glenn Beck still believes just that way he has just abandonned the term "conservative" which makes him "libertarian" now. Label it how you will but the beliefs are still the same.