Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Glenn Beck has never read Thomas Paine. Not in any real way. Yes, he seems to have read Common Sense, Paine's propaganda piece designed to convince the colonies that independence was the only real option. Yes, Paine describes government as "but a necessary evil," even under the best circumstances, but he goes on to point out that in order to overcome our vices, we "find it necessary to surrender up a part of [our] property to furnish means for the protection of the rest." Paine saw the government as the lesser of two evils. The greater is anarchy. Beck's lack of familiarity with Paine is glaringly clear at the conclusion of his portion of the book. (The last third being dedicated to the full text of Paine's original Common Sense.) At the conclusion, Beck outlines his `9.12 Project,' an effort to encourage people to rediscover the abject fear and panic we felt in the days following 9/11. Actually, Beck describes the `Project' as an effort to get us to remember the feelings of community and oneness we shared then... and in so doing dismiss community in favor of an every-man-for-himself mentality. He is apparently unaware of irony. Anyway, back to the point. Principle 2 of the 9.12 Project is "I believe in God and He is the Center of my Life." Pointless capitalization aside, Paine would take issue with that statement, what with being a staunch deist, as anyone who has read The Age of Reason would know. But Beck doesn't really care about that fact. Or any facts. He cares about appealing to his audience, which is made up of people who consider themselves the greatest of patriots and therefore assume that any patriot throughout history would naturally be on their side. Therefore Paine is on their side, his actual beliefs and attitudes be damned. One thing I have to commend Beck for is his self-awareness, at least at times. In the book's introduction, Beck describes his target audience (in a series of passages that evoke Stephen Colbert, but an alternate Stephen, one who means every words of what he says literally): "You don't hate people who are different than you, but you stopped expressing opinions on sensitive issues a long time ago because you don't want to be called a racist, bigot, or homophobe if you stand by your values and principles." And later: "Most Americans remain convinced that the country is on thr wrong track. They know that SOMETHING JUST DOESN'T FEEL RIGHT but they don't know how to describe it or, more importantly, how to stop it. But just because you may not know exactly what your gut is saying, doesn't mean what you're feeling is wrong. It's not. something hasn't been right for a very long time." Aside from it's title, Beck's `work' has virtually no connection to the classic Paine pamphlet. Ostensibly a call to arms (he asks his readers to leave their "comfort zone," which seems, by his description, to be the living room couch), the book quickly descends into an unfocused tirade against Wilsonian progressives, a group that, he feels, sees the country more as a democracy than as a republic. Except Beck's position on this is malleable. When his viewpoint is shared by the majority, he's all for democracy. If the circumstances are otherwise, then we are now and always have been a republic. Most of the book is spent trotting out well-known and universally acknowledged grievances concerning the government. Lobbying, gerrymandering and the complicated tax code each get their turns, but Beck introduces nothing new, especially when it comes to offering solutions. Beck seems to be urging his audience to get up an do... something. Anything. Ultimately that's Beck's problem. His Common Sense is in need of some ideas. Any ideas. Some useful thought really would have been a nice surprise. [...]