500 words on Glenn Beck

Glenn Beck is an idiot!

Glenn Beck is not an idiot because he’s conservative. There are a lot of very intelligent conservatives in the media, and plenty more in government, academia, and business. Glenn Beck is an idiot because he says he’s a libertarian despite his positions on abortion, gay rights and marriage equality, and the role of the family which belie libertarianism. It’s cool to be a libertarian; Glenn Beck is not cool. Your grandpa is a conservative, and so is Glenn Beck.

Glenn Beck is not an idiot because he’s struggled with addiction. It is interesting the number of law-and-order conservatives who have a hankering for booze and pills. Addiction is a disease and I believe that a person should not be judged or mistreated because of it. However, a person who has overcome addiction and moved on to recovery should be able to recognize how difficult it can be for others. Glenn Beck is an idiot because he’s a law-and-order hypocrite who has no sympathy for others who have been beaten down. He follows a well-tread path laid out by many conservative activists before him.

Glenn Beck is not an idiot because he doesn’t have a college education. I think the biggest mistake the American education system has made over the last thirty years is to push everyone to college and cheapen the hard work of non-college educated men and women. You don’t need to have a college degree to be smart or have an opinion. Glenn Beck is an idiot because he buys into and promotes the idea that Hollywood celebrities and other liberals have no right to espouse their beliefs because their acting credentials and other primary careers hardly speak to their political qualifications. Famous liberals like John Stewart, Sheryl Crow, Denzell Washington, and Natalie Portman all did more than on class at Yale’s alternative-students program: they graduated. Idiots like Beck love to bemoan liberal celebrities, convinced that they have no right to mouth their opinions when they are singers or actors or artists. Well, what makes the Glenn Beck-Rush Limbaugh-Sean Hannity types any more qualified? None of held elected office, worked in government, or graduated from college.

Glenn Beck is not an idiot because he’s patriotic. In the wake of September 11th, a lot of Americans shifted priorities and learned to be patriotic. We took our American flags out of the garage and proudly displayed them outside our homes. Liberals and conservatives can all be patriots. Glenn Beck is an idiot because he co-opted the “September 12th” message, from when Americans were more united than ever before, to create an “us-vesus-them” state where liberals hate America and don’t deserve the freedom and protection of the US Constitution. Glenn Beck is particularly craven because he’s made millions of dollars with this effort, dividing our country and serving only his interests.

Glenn Beck is really an idiot because he is so politically deaf that his brand of conservatism will only hurt America and the Republican Party.