Taking the Time to Thank Our Patriotic America-First Broadcasters

Buoyed by the liberating belief that "We the People" have finally got it, and are now more vigilant and protective of our liberties and way of life than I could have ever imagined possible just one short year ago, my self-imposed posting hiatus remains relatively intact.

Believing now that the people better understand the "hope and change" menace confronting us all, for the past 30+ days I simply haven't felt the urgency to raise the usual alarms by profiling those menaces on this or on other sites.

Though there are certainly a plethora of unsettling threats out there still generating some level of chomping at the bit on my part, e.g. the unconstitutional government takeover of healthcare, socialist infiltration at the highest levels of our national government, the ruthless progressive assault on our Constitution, economy and liberties, and the erosion of American military and economic power and prestige around the world, for the moment anyway I haven't felt the burning need to expound on those clear and present dangers. In any event, other bloggers more talented than I are doing a very fine job of expounding on those issues.

And while the spontaneous Tea Party Movement may properly be credited for this patriotic grassroots resurgence and awareness in America, in fairness we simply cannot overlook the many diligent conservative broadcasters out there, e.g. Andrew Wilkow, Mark Levin, Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, Mike Church, Quinn & Rose, Spencer Hughes, et. al, without whose scrupulous attention and analysis the American electorate would still be blindly and haplessly plodding on, unaware of the imminent threats to their way of life posed by an alarmingly disconnected and tyrannical government. Sure, these broadcasters are all well recompensed for their efforts, but we still owe them an enormous debt of gratitude for their public service.

That said, I'd be entirely remiss were I to violate my self-imposed, albeit temporary, silence without singling out Glenn Beck for special recognition.

To my humble way of thinking, Beck probably deserves the Medal of Freedom, or at the very least the Peabody or some such award, for the probing educational services he has rendered to the electorate of this great country.

When it comes to Beck, I honestly cannot recall when Americans have been better served by a mere media talking head and entertainer. And despite his flamboyance from time to time, I believe many fair-minded Americans might well agree with this positive assessment of his effectiveness.

Unencumbered by political correctness or myopic party loyalties, for the past several years in particular Beck has filled what would otherwise have been a perilous educational void which, had other principled American broadcasters not taken up the slack, would have surely served to blunt Americans' ability to distinguish fact from fiction and reality from illusion in the realm of government, history and current events.

Not an easy task for the most gifted and inspired pedagogue, Beck, but a self-educated and self-effacing mortal himself, has, to me, brilliantly managed to make social studies, history and current events fun, informative, relevant, and intensely interesting for everyone. But for their narrow progressive nearsightedness, many instructors in public and private schools and universities could well benefit from this maestro's example.

Relying on a thoroughly entertaining and self-deprecating delivery style, in graphic, probing and easy to understand detail Beck has consistently made "fair and balanced" investigative journalism and analysis an art form. It just can't get much better than that.

Relying on meticulous research, eschewing political correctness at every turn, and boldly inviting on-air reproval from both public and government viewers alike during his TV and radio broadcasts, Beck's common sense, penetrating, honest and enlightening analyses have, for me, characterized a man of superlative presentation skills and a broadcaster possessed of a genuine sense of humble and well-intended civic-mindedness. In short, he is a broadcaster who, like only the finest teachers among us, appears to care much more about informing opinions than in merely shaping them. And this is just what any people in any healthy democracy needs. As Thomas Jefferson said in 1789, "Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government; whenever things get so far wrong as to attract their notice, they may be relied upon to set them to rights". And so it seems to be at this critical juncture in our nation's history.

And though I strongly disagree with Beck on one particular issue of enormous national importance, i.e. Obama's eligibility problem which Beck has only casually commented upon but which he has failed, so far, to properly research, for a inveterately busy and distracted citizenry unaccustomed to forming judgements based on anything but simple-minded sound bites, willful media disinformation and self-serving partisan talking points, on the whole I believe Beck's overall performance and his unique service to the people of this country have been nothing short of spectacular. Frankly, I have waited years for a media talking head who is truly committed to objectively educating and informing the American public at large, upon whom the republic's health is so utterly reliant. And in Glenn Beck I think we have found that man.

Finally, undergirding Beck's approach is his unapologetic commitment to reviving--not fundamentally transforming--the United States of America. And it this lofty and thoroughly American goal which remains the driving force behind his broadcasting efforts. Not to disparage other similarly skilled broadcasters, but as an American I couldn't be happier or more relieved to know that I can count on Beck for generally flawless, in-depth and objective research, analysis and education.

I sincerely thank Glenn Beck and his "traditional American" broadcasting compatriots for a job well done!

("An enlightened citizenry is indispensable for the proper functioning of a republic. Self-government is not possible unless the citizens are educated sufficiently to enable them to exercise oversight..." Thomas Jefferson)

("I know of no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves; and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform their discretion by education. This is the true corrective of abuses of constitutional power." Thomas Jefferson, 1820)

("The most effectual means of preventing the perversion of power into tyranny are to illuminate, as far as practicable, the minds of the people at large, and more especially to give them knowledge of those facts which history exhibits, that possessed thereby of the experience of other ages and countries, they may be enabled to know ambition under all its shapes, and prompt to exert their natural powers to defeat its purposes." Thomas Jefferson, 1779)