Posted on 02/21/2010 1:14:06 PM PST by Sergeant Tim
I was invited to be the opening speaker at Saturday's CPAC session. I had accepted but then, to my amazement, I learned that the John Birch Society would be one of many co-sponsors. This takes the big-tent idea many steps too far for me. So, I withdrew. Apparently, others were not so moved. That's fine. But it wasn't for me. Bill Buckley and Barry Goldwater, among others, chased the Birchers from the movement decades ago. And they're not a part of the movement. So, to give them a booth at CPAC was boneheaded.
I want to commend Bill Bennett for his wise piece this morning on the Corner. I agree with him.
I have no idea what philosophy Glenn Beck is promoting. And neither does he. It's incoherent. One day it's populist, the next it's libertarian bordering on anarchy, next it's conservative but not really, etc. And to what end? I believe he has announced that he is no longer going to endorse candidates because our problems are bigger than politics. Well, of course, our problems are not easily dissected into categories, but to reject politics is to reject the manner in which we try to organize ourselves. This is as old as Plato and Aristotle. Why would conservatives choose to surrender the political battlefield to our adversaries -- who are trashing this society -- when we must retake it in order to preserve our society? Philosophy, politics, culture, family, etc., are all of one. Edmund Burke, among others, wrote about it extensively, and far better that I possibly can. But all elements of the civil society require our defense. Besides, why preach such a strategy when conservatism is on the rise and the GOP is acting more responsibly?
Moreover, when he does discuss politics, which, ironically, is often, how can he claim today that there is no difference between the two parties when, but for the Republicans in Congress, government-run health care, cap-and-trade, card check, and a long list of other disastrous policies would already be law? The GOP is becoming more conservative thanks to the grass-roots movement and a political uprising across the country, which has even reached into New Jersey and Massachusetts. Why keep pretending otherwise? My only conclusion is that he is promoting a third party or some third way, which is counter-productive to defeating Obama and the Democrat Congress. These are perilous times and this kind of an approach will keep the statists in power for decades.
And what of his flirtations with Ron Paul's lunacy respecting America's supposed provocations with her enemies, including al-Qaeda? Why should such a fatal defect in thinking be ignored? Do we conservatives agree with this?
Finally, Beck is fond of congratulating himself for being the only or the first host to criticize George Bush's spending. This is demonstrably false. I not only attacked his spending, but the creation of the Homeland Security Department, the prescription drug add-on for Medicare, his "moderate" tax cuts, as well as his nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court, "comprehensive immigration reform," and so forth. And I was not alone -- Rush and Sean did the same, for example. And as someone who fought liberal Republicans in the trenches when campaigning for Reagan in 1976 and 1980, I don't need lectures from Beck, who was nowhere to be found, about big-spending Republicans. But this is not about me, or Beck, or Beck's past drunkenness (which he endlessly wears as some kind of badge of honor). It is about preserving our society for our children and grandchildren. Beck spent precious little time aiming fire at Obama-Pelosi-Reid in his speech, and it is they who are destroying our country.
On as a positive note, I am personally happy to see that Beck has cleaned up his public act -- as best I can tell, no more boiling fake frogs on TV or pretending to pour gasoline on someone -- and the rest of it. But I do think his speech, which contained nuggets of truth heard before and read elsewhere, including on Rush's show and in my book and many other books, may have distracted from some of the more compelling and coherent speeches at the event, including Marco Rubio's superb speech. I fear the media will see to this. I hope not.
I love it. Funny stuff, The_Media.
Here are some links.
The local leadership determines who is worthy. Regular sunday service are held in their chapels, only special ceremonies occur at the temple.
Here are the LDS temple recommend questions (there are also several things you have to do consistently like paying a full 10% tithe and regular attendance, no coffe/tea, no premaritial sex, etc).
The LDS are baptized, endowed (oath and handshakes) and married by proxy for the dead. They believe that the dead are on the other side just waiting to become Mormon. No, I’m not kidding.
Endowments are a special ritual where you get a new name, take oaths and learn the secret handshakes that are needed to get into heaven and progress to become a god yourself.
Here are some links (warning it is wild)
http://utlm.org/onlinebooks/changech22a.htm
http://utlm.org/newsletters/no76.htm
http://utlm.org/topicalindexc.htm#Temple%20Ceremony
Beautifully put!
I don’t blame you trying to shift the topic since
your boy has been exposed
So, I am a ‘troll’ because I agree with Levin and not you and I don’t like Beck?
Wow, just wow.
And I have seen plenty of “Beck can do no wrong” posters on these type of threads. To me, that is worship.
>the anti-Nixon bent of Welch<
What does this mean and who is “Welch”?
I see the thread has brought many out of the woodwork today. Time for my salvo....
Mark did work in the Reagan Administration under the expert training of the great Ed Meese. So that qualifies him to attack perceived anarchy and those who profess it. And I’ve heard Glenn mention it on several occasions.
And anyone that wants to tell me that Michael Savage is a conservative, I have 2 words for them, JERRY BROWN
>the anti-Nixon bent of Welch<
What does this mean and who is “Welch”?
Levin and Bennett learn their social graces and had proper up bring but those like Beck raised in the ruff should be shun because he does not fit the template!
Sounds very unAmerican to me this new breed of folks!
You need to read a few Horatio Alger stories
IMO, Beck is getting too big for his britches. Maybe he needs someone to come down hard on him for a bit.
There are some things Beck says that I agree with, some things I don’t (his 3rd party obsession), but either way his presentation turns me off.
oh yeah, I forgot about that.
EXACTLY!!!
beck needs to man up and say what he believes instead of hiding it
Skousen’s work has been around sinse the 1980’s and I am sure there are over laps!
- - - - - -
Beck loves Skousen (wonder why?)
After a temple is dedicated then non worthy mormons are not allowed in.
A ‘sealing’ is another word for a marriage.
Also children are ‘sealed’ to parents if the parents were not married in the temple prior to the children being born.
Mormons believe that the family unit continues on in the next life.
Haha, well if you count me twice yea, but the Beck pinglist is 4 times the size of the Savage one, probably larger than that since it is rather new and the Savage one is kinda old. So I don’t know what SoCalPol is drinking but the Beck T.V. audience and the Savage radio audience at least here on FR are an entirely different group of folk.
:) thanks.
I would never call Savage a conservative.
I think it’s because Rush stays above it, whatever he may think of Beck. If Beck started blatantly cribbing Rush’s material without attribution, that might be a game-changer. Rush and Mark are good friends, you know.
The whole jest of my post was that Beck did not vote for Hillary as 1 and Beck did vote for McCain only because of Palin!
You try to make something of it because I found the video of Beck discussion from the left site well la dee da that was the only one I came across!
I google and that is what came up for my request so i used but someone like just look for something to grip because I am LDS!
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