Blogs For Victory

It is a question being asked – and talked of very intelligently by Peter Wehner:

…he seems to be more of a populist and libertarian than a conservative, more of a Perotista than a Reaganite. His interest in conspiracy theories is disquieting, as is his admiration for Ron Paul and his charges of American “imperialism.” (He is now talking about pulling troops out of Afghanistan, South Korea, Germany, and elsewhere.) Some of Beck’s statements—for example, that President Obama has a “deep-seated hatred for white people”–are quite unfair and not good for the country. His argument that there is very little difference between the two parties is silly, and his contempt for parties in general is anti-Burkean (Burke himself was a great champion of political parties). And then there is his sometimes bizarre behavior, from tearing up to screaming at his callers. Beck seems to be a roiling mix of fear, resentment, and anger—the antithesis of Ronald Reagan.

I understand that a political movement is a mansion with many rooms; the people who occupy them are involved in intellectual and policy work, in politics, and in polemics. Different people take on different roles. And certainly some of the things Beck has done on his program are fine and appropriate. But the role Glenn Beck is playing is harmful in its totality. My hunch is that he is a comet blazing across the media sky right now—and will soon flame out. Whether he does or not, he isn’t the face or disposition that should represent modern-day conservatism. At a time when we should aim for intellectual depth, for tough-minded and reasoned arguments, for good cheer and calm purpose, rather than erratic behavior, he is not the kind of figure conservatives should embrace or cheer on.

Which is an arguable position – but a position I think wrong. Here’s why:

The Republican Party is not a majority party in the United States. Neither is the Democrat Party. Both parties are a minority dependent upon non-party voters to craft a governing majority. There is a theory that the GOP must moderate its tone in order to capture the votes of non-affiliated voters. These are voters who are not keen on politics, don’t pay daily attention to what is happening in politics, and are easily turned off by people coming across as too extreme. There is much to be said for this argument – but not right now.

We are in an era of political ferment; in my view, a nearly revolutionary ferment. Heck, so dissatisfied are people, on the whole, that even a large number of leftists are not liking the way Obama is governing – of course, they see it as him not being leftist enough, but the fact remains that only a very small minority are pleased with things as they are. Outside of the precincts of the left, the anger is palpable (the left calls it “hate”, but that is because the average leftist has been living in a bubble of lies for so long he can’t tell truth when it falls on him) – people are furious. Fed up. Mad as heck and not going to take it anymore.

Beck has either keyed in to it, or it has keyed in to him – regardless, he’s the representative of the fury of the people. This is not to say that Beck commands a political movement – no one commands this movement, which showed up in droves on September 12th in Washington, DC – but that he is speaking to them and for them much better than almost anyone else out there. Even such grand masters of conservative polemics like Rush and Hannity are not quite on the same plane, with the most disgruntled, as Beck is.

To speak of Beck as good or bad for conservatism is to miss entirely what is happening out there – Beck is neither good nor bad: he is what he is, and the people he speaks for and to are what they are…and we conservative Republicans had better figure out a way to court them or we’ll miss the opportunity of a lifetime to really reform our nation. The people, epitomized by Beck, are sick of the whole, rotten mess we call American government…make no mistake about it: they have no love for the GOP or the Democrat party. They share a greater affinity with the GOP than they do with the Democrats, but they aren’t an adjunct of either party, and they are open to the pleas of anyone who actually gets out there and speaks to their concerns and their demands. While a liberal Democrat would have a hard sell with this TEA Party movement, such a person would have far more luck than a conservative GOPer who shied away from the movement out of fear of being “extreme”.

These are revolutionary times – and as G. K. Chesterton once observed, if you wish to be conservative, you have to continually have revolutions. To paraphrase – if you wish to preserve a fence post, you have to keep painting it, or you’ll shortly have a rotted stump. If we wish to conserve the America we love, its going to take a revolution to do it – and you can’t have a revolution without revolutionaries. The people out there in the streets are the revolution – Beck is one of their prime spokesmen…he and they won’t always be 100% right and are bound to make mistakes as they go along. But they are the future – and it is time for we Republicans to grasp that future, and ask for their support, and pledge ourselves to a course of action which will save the America we all love.