Thursday, October 15, 2009

Glen Beck is a Wacko and Rush Limbaugh Got Hosed!

The marketplace of ideas is vital to the republican form of government. Without the free exchange of opinion and ideas, governments become excessive, tyrannical and destructive of man’s prosperity.


The American marketplace of ideas is under attack. Glen Beck doesn’t strike me as much more than an entertainer. His predictions of rampant inflation and economic turmoil sound ridiculous as I drive home everyday after working for a company that grew more than 40% last year. His investigations into ACORN and some of the appointed “czars” hired by the Obama administration aside, he just struck me for the past year as Chicken Little.


The national media and the democrat party have attacked him ruthlessly accusing him of fear mongering, lying, and racism. They’ve vilified him, and attacked him personally in fearful, childish ways that are just plain mean.


The one thing his critics haven’t done is critique his facts. They can’t. The truth is, the facts are on his side. At its current pace (not including the debacle of Senator Baucus’ Health Care Reform bill) the government is spending $53,000 a second this year. How can you argue with his facts when the government is borrowing money from the Chinese so quickly that even the Chinese are getting nervous?


The fact is, however they don’t even try. There’s nobody out there in the mainstream media willing to critique his facts. They’re only willing to smear his reputation.


This kind of behavior is running rampant. The current political strategy of the left and elites is to avoid debate in the marketplace by clearing it. That is; they eliminate alternate ideas by smearing the source so as to avoid closer inspection of their own failings.


Clearly Glen Beck is a target of this strategy. So is Rush Limbaugh.


Here’s the timeline in case you missed it: Rush joins Dave Checketts and others as a minority investor in a group looking to buy the St. Louis Rams. Somebody inside Goldman Sach’s leaks the information to the press despite signed confidentiality agreements. A few days later, an unattributed quote appears on an entry in Wikipedia that claims Rush said slavery was a good thing and while it wouldn’t be wise to bring it back “at least the streets were safe at night.” The quote is suddenly repeated by media outlets including the show Pardon the Interruption (PTI) on ESPN.


Rush immediately denies the quote and demands retractions. Research indicates the quote comes from a book attacking Rush published several years ago and doesn’t include a citation. While PTI and others retract their use of the quote, Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton appear on national media continuing to repeat the quote without challenge by reporters. A day later, Dave Checketts announces Rush has been dropped from the investment team and the NFL commissioner denounces Rush as too divisive to be an owner in the league.


There is no legitimate indication the quotes are genuine and not fabrications. For those who listen to Limbaugh, the quotes are clearly out of character.


Once again, no critique of Rush’s ideas or the arguments he makes on a daily basis, but rather an attempt to eliminate him from the marketplace of ideas.


Conservatives are always open to debate. Why? Because history is on our side. Limited, controlled, government protecting freedom is the only path to prosperity and safety in this world. The marketplace is under attack.


Glen Beck isn’t crazy. His interpretation of current of events is dire but not without a factual basis. He might even be right. If we’re facing sudden and intense inflation next year, you’ll know he was, at a minimum, on the right track.


What will happen to this country when people are scared to speak the truth? Try not to contemplate that question too much. If you give an honest answer, you might end up sounding like Glen Beck.

1 comment:

Stephanie said...

Tony my friend. I live in St. Louis and the whole Limbaugh thing was out of control. I never heard a single news organization here even try to look at it objectively. I wasn't even able to get a clear understanding of the problem. Out of control. The conservative talk radio station was the only entity that ever talked about the facts and they are always getting attacked. Keep up the good work. Steph