Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason than that of blindfolded fear.
– Thomas Jefferson
At the risk of being redundant, I must join Michael in pointing out the sheer hypocrisy of Glenn Beck’s hatchet job of a radio interview this past week with Texas gubernatorial candidate, Debra Medina.
Although he has long styled himself as an inconoclast; repeatedly reciting the above quote from Thomas Jefferson (to the point of including it in his TV show’s opening credits), Beck still seems to believe that, beyond the existence of God, there are some things that must never ever be questioned.
And apparently one of them is the integrity of the federal government’s version of events leading up to the terrorist attacks of 9/11/2001.
Far be it from any citizen to wonder if there might be more to that story than what they have been told. After all, the federal government has never treated its subjects (Whoops, I meant “the people”) with anything but candor and respect.
But, in the end, despite his irrational attempts to paint Medina’s healthy skepticism of government as fringe conspiracy theorizing, it is Beck’s own integrity that has been called into question yet again.
There is nothing un-patriotic or un-American about simply questioning a government that has proven itself to be untrustworthy time and again, but there was something distinctly authoritarian about Beck’s knee-jerk response to Medina and her supporters.
And, for me, his arrogant dismissal of a woman with a lot of great ideas and a demonstrated respect for the Constitution was inexcusable.
In the past I have been willing to forgive Beck’s blind spot for federalism and the state sovereignty movement because I figured that he was leading people to those issues anyway. I was even willing to ignore his inexplicable Lincoln-worship because I know how confusing history must be for a “libertarian” neo-con.
But now that he is actively doing damage to the liberty movement by discrediting a viable candidate (with slobbering obsequiousness to the establishment statists she could very well have beaten) for what was essentially a semantic disagreement, Glenn Beck has officially jumped the shark in my mind.
It’s a shame, considering his powerful platform, and I desperately wanted to see him advance liberty rather than hinder it.
But how far can we trust the principles of a man who sees no problem with hosting a rally to “restore the Constitution” in the temple of one of its worst enemies?
It would seem my hopes for Glenn Beck to finally realize that adherence to the Constitution is the only “truth” that matters were misplaced. Over the homage of reason, blindfolded fear wins again.