Glenn Beck--Next Civil Rights Hero?

Glenn Beck has published a novel called The Overton Window, taking its name from a theory of Joseph Overton, a free-market theorist who claimed that there was a window of acceptable political ideas, which could be expanded to include the most outrageous. The plot for this potboiler is that a giant PR firm, which creates the images for political movements, is asked to advance the "progressive agenda". To do this, a nuclear weapon is supposed to be detonated in the Majority Leader's state and blamed on the right. Then conservatives will be rounded up and placed in FEMA camps. And somehow characters are invented to stop this plot and post-coital conversation consists of discussions about the flat tax.

The title of the post refers to Beck's claim that his August 28th rally here at the Lincoln Memorial will "reclaim the civil rights movement" and "be remembered as the moment America turned the corner." For an important take on Beck's meglomania , you should read Media Matters' June 9 post "Glenn Beck: Self-proclaimed world-historical figure". The rest of this post is paraphrasing the highlights of this insanity.

Beck believes his rally will be an "iconic event". "We are on the side of individual freedom and liberties, and damn it we will reclaim the civil rights moment. We will take that moment because we were the people that did it in the first place." I really need a translator for that quote. He claims the rally will"make you weep all night". Beck's legendary weeping has an honorable tradition in Mormon testamentary speaking. Mature men are expected to weep uncontrollably as a sign of their sincerity. And the rest of us thought he was just fruit loops or had alot of glycerine on hand.

Our political system will be fixed if we stand between Washington and Lincoln. And just as Matrin Luther King faced German shepards, Glenn Beck himself has had to face SEIU and leftist thugs." He compared his plight to being "rounded up" by Che Guevara in Cuba. He calls his followers the "real reformers" and warns them that "a few of us will get a billyclub to the head."To the day he dies or the checks cease, Beck vows to hunt down progressives "like Israeli Nazi hunters". He also likens himself to Tom Paine, Ben Franklin and Paul Revere. Luckily God has given him a plan, which he will unveil in August. Like the Founders , Beck is an instrument of God and claims the Vatican informed him that what he is doing is "wildly important" because we
are "entering a period of great darkness". He says that all Americans should fall on their knees and "thank God every day for the people at Fox" for airing his show.

Beck says that his life is at stake because of the vast conspiracy against him. Members of this conspiracy include: President Obama, the IRS, the SEIU, the AFL-CIO, Media Matters, Sojourners president Jim Wallis, Van Jones, Congressman Anthony Weiner, George Soros and Robert Craemer. He claims that his detractors are "relentless" (with cause) and that he "can't go anywhere without major security". He claims that if you associate with him, Congress will come after you. He said he told everyone about the "horror" over three years ago. (Actually, it's not true. he was a run-of-the-mill libertarian then and had not tasted the apocalyptic fruit.) he asserts he is willing to think the unthinkable and now can see life as it really is. The coming threat is that we will all be part of a global community as envisioned by progressives beginning with Woodrow Wilson.

The show biz aspect of this is interesting. Mike Huckabee had a show of madcap inventors who claimed to have made special things to clean up the Gulf oil spill. The whole tone of that show was that these inventors were like faith healers, something former Baptist preacher Huckabee is familiar with. With Beck, alot of the presentation is derived from Mormon revival meetings and how testaments are given by the males in the family. With pre-Vatican Council Catholics, Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly, Fox now introduces us to the rest of the fundamentalist spectrum with a political message. Dominionist Sarah Palin completes the cast.

Just make sure you're not in Washington during the dates for his appearance.

I am waiting for the day Beck appears like the great Jimmy Swaggert and cries out, "I have sinned."