BROKE: Glenn Beck’s “PLAN” To Collapse The System

A year ago this month Glenn Beck announced that he had a “Plan” that he promised to unveil at public event to be held at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC. It is a 100 year plan to restore America to what Beck imagines it was a hundred years ago, before the progressives came along and convinced everyone to eat some forbidden apples. The big event would be the launching pad for his “Plan” and a book by the same name.

In the intervening year Beck fundamentally transformed the purpose of his rally into something that resembled the old Holyroller Roadshows and Salvation Emporiums. He had completely abandoned the book launch and the mysterious “Plan” in favor of an open air revival meeting and the witnessing of a miracle flock of geese.

However, as it turns out the book wasn’t shelved. It was repackaged, retitled, and released a couple of weeks ago.

Glenn Beck - BrokeBROKE: The Plan to Restore Our Trust, Truth and Treasure, is now available with a new emphasis on the country’s fiscal woes. This isn’t exactly a new theme for Beck who has been predicting (craving) an American economic calamity for several years. The irony is that his “Plan” now places the blame for our dilemma on the American people:

“Once you see what we’re really up against, it’s much easier to develop a realistic plan. To fix ourselves financially, Glenn argues, we have to fix ourselves first. That means some serious introspection and, ultimately, a series of actions that will unite all Americans around the concept of shared sacrifice.”

See? We are the problem. And to fix it Beck has suddenly adopted the notion of shared sacrifice, a concept he previously regarded as abhorrent and a product of the socialistic ideology that he believes diminishes individual freedom and responsibility. Furthermore, his own philosophy is one that advocates allowing our economic system to crash and burn. Again, a concept he previously reviled as the Cloward/Piven strategy. He asserts that we are beyond the point of no return and must abandon all measures to stimulate growth and create jobs. Let the bottom fall out, cower in your bunker with your Survival Seeds and gold coins. Cling to your God and guns and, if your faith is strong enough, you will be redeemed by some miracle from above.

I don’t plan on reading Broke any time soon because … well because reading Beck’s books falls somewhere below bobbing for Ebola on my to-do list. And what I’ve read of his in the past has always been just a rehashing of the tired lies and disinformation that he spews on TV and radio.

However I can’t help but comment on the nauseating image he has chosen for the cover. To place himself, a man of prodigious wealth, behind a banner proclaiming destitution, with empty pockets and an expression of distress and defeat, is an insult to the millions of families who are truly suffering and struggling to maintain some semblance of comfort and security. This is a man who extorts sums exceeding $100.00 from his humble disciples for the privilege of hearing him blame them for the mess that greedy conservatives, like those Beck admires, have gotten this country into. This is a man who preaches a brand of economic isolationism that will bring misery to millions, but leave himself unscathed – hardly broke. That cover is as dishonest as everything else that Beck does and says.

The unmitigated gall of this self-centered, Randian, populist impostor, pretending to have something in common with hard-working Americans, is repulsive in the extreme. Consequently, I have come up with a couple of alternative titles and covers for his book:

Either of these is a better representation of the scoundrel Beck is and the immorality for which Beck stands.

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12 thoughts on “BROKE: Glenn Beck’s “PLAN” To Collapse The System

  1. What kind of idiot are you? You have no qualms about ripping up a book that you have never even read? Sorry, neither I nor anyone else can take you seriously given the fact that you are so opinionated, yet self admittedly ignorant of what you are critical of. You sir, fall into the ‘liberal hack’ catagory and in my opinion, are a moron. Thank you for displaying your stupidity online for all to see.

    • You’re welcome. And same to you.

      If you weren’t so consumed by Beck-itis you would have realized that this article is not about the content of Beck’s book, but the presentation of it by Beck himself. It quotes his own marketing language and discusses the visual imagery. None of which you bothered to address or dispute. And you call ME a moron?

      • What you’ve said, Joe, regarding this lame article and Mark,” it’s author, could not be more right-on. It’s an example of the hateful ignorance within the hearts and minds of ‘progressives’ (degressives). Concerning his reply to you, A wise man once said, “Don’t answer a fool” because he is not interested in knowing the truth, only in mocking it, trying to make himself look intelligent or importsnt.

  2. Excuse me Mark, but i dont think you have ANY idea what you are talking about. The reason our economy is in shambles IS because of the people. If not the people, who? The government? What you are forgetting is that we run a free market capitalism system in the USA. This means that Government has NO CONTROL OVER THE ECONOMY. Its the simple system of the Laissez Faire (Excuse my French, i know those are dirty words to liberals)! It has to be the peoples fault. It is so because we have lost all work ethic, and depended on the government (which, i restate, has no constitutional authority to interfere with the economy) for handouts and other entitlement programs (Un. Healthcare etc..). But sir, if we are to restore ourselves, the economy too will follow suit.
    Now, being quite young, i am in no position to call you an idiot

    • I’m not that young but I won’t call you an idiot either. However, I will inform you that you’re mistaken about the government’s role in the economy.

      First of all, the Constitution explicitly grants the government a role in the “general welfare” clause. It further has responsibilities with regard to regulation and interstate commerce. There are many other activities that the government can undertake that have an impact on the economy. It’s just naive to to think that this isn’t so.

      And you should also know that we do not have a free market capitalist system. Our markets are heavily regulated with subsidies, tariffs, anti-trust rules, etc. There has never been a free market in the USA or anywhere else Thank God. It would be disastrous as robber barons would dominate the markets and produce a state of lords and serfs.

      I can tell that you listen to Beck frequently. That explains your misunderstanding of economics. Seriously, Beck is thoroughly unqualified to be anyone’s teacher.

      • You’re wrong. The founding fathers took the Laizes Faire strongly into account when writing the constitution. That being a Government hands off policy in the economy. But that’s a bit far off the point from your initial article. The way Beck has presented the book is nowhere NEAR what you’ve made it out to be. A strongly religious man would not just single out a group and say “Ha, im richer than you”, no sir. Like i said, he is simply saying that AMERICA is broke, with the deficit we’ve pulled from gov’t borrowing. It’s crazy. But lets take a peek into your side of it. Even if Glenn was trying to mock the lower class, it doesnt make you any better to change the title to crook or joke.

        • Well, I responded to you with specific citation to support my arguments, but you simply say that I’m wrong. Obviously you can’t back up your point of view.

          And I never said that Beck was mocking the poor. I am saying that he is insensitive to them.

  3. But i feel i should comment on your last paragraph. Having not read the book, (which i find funny) you probably wouldnt know, but Glenn Beck is not trying to insult the people under the poverty line. He is simply talking about America as a whole. He isnt mocking poverty sticken people. He’s talking to the entire American Population, saying, “Wake up, this is where were going”. And sir, he’s right. Dont judge a book by its cover, sir.

  4. Well no, i can’t site that, because first, I’m 14, and second, no founding father just stated it, but being in the time of the British industrial revolution (when the gov’t started the laizes faire), They too accepted it. Now, Glenn isn’t being insensitive at all. Get out of your politically correct world, not everything is an insult. There are poor people out there, but just because something resembles poverty doesn’t mean it should be excluded from media. Mexican’s get bashed for being a minority culture, but that doesnt mean that we should keep mexicans out of all media. (Because im sure a liberal would turn it into an insult). Again, Glenn is talking to America as a whole, not a faction of the classes. America includes rich people as well, but he’s talking to the country, not the lower class. So no, i can’t exactly site to you where in the constitution it says that America is Capitalist, (BECAUSE IT’S COMMON SENSE, BY THE DEFINITION OF CAPITALISM) but i can tell you that just because his picture may not be politically correct to you, doesn’t mean you should bash his freedom of press (first ammendment i believe. Sitation, priorities, i like it)

    • So no, i can’t exactly site to you where in the constitution it says that America is Capitalist,

      That’s because it isn’t in the Constitution, as the late Justice Holmes pointed out in Lochner v. New York (1905)

  5. Careful Mark. Don’t tease that panther!!

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