No, seriouslybecause that's what he's due.
We owe this talk-show-host-turned-political-leadergratitude for using his televised keynote address to the Conservative PoliticalAction Conference to so frankly outline what the conservative movement hasbecomeand why it repulses so many Americans.
Coming days after an anti-tax terroristkamikaze-attacked a government facility in Texas, and following Republicanslike Sen. Scott Brown and Rep. Steve King expressing sympathy for thatterrorist's grievances, Beck's homily stands as the moment's most forthrightmanifesto on the right's authoritarian objectives.
Beck began his speech posing as a libertarianagainst "big government." Notice that most Republican icons are nowsaying this, though not all resemble Becknot all of them previously pushed thebig-government Patriot Act or the even-bigger-government bank bailout.
From there, Beck worked up a drenching sweat,criticizing Theodore Roosevelt's notion that we should make sure theaccumulation of wealth is "honorably obtained" and "representsbenefit to the community."
His porcine complexion verging on crimson, Beckcalled that concept of "community" a "cancer" that "isnot our founders' idea of America"somehow forgetting the notions ofcommunity and solidarity inherent in the founders' "Join or Die"motto.
But ignorance, no matter how embarrassing, doesn'tget in Beck's way. To wild applause, he labeled this alleged tumor of"community" the supposedly evil "progressivism"and he tolddisciples to "eradicate it" from the nation.
The lesson was eminently clear, coming in no lessthan the keynote address to one of America's most important politicalconventions. Beck taught us that a once-principled conservative movement ofreasoned activists has turned into a mobone that does not engage in civilizedbattles of ideas. Instead, these torch-carriers, gun-brandishers and teapartiers follow an anti-government terrorist attack by cheering a demagogue'sdemand for the physical annihilation of those with whom he disagreesnamelyanyone, but particularly progressives, who value "community."
No doubt, some conservatives will parse, insistingBeck was only endorsing the "eradication" of progressivism but not ofprogressives. These same willful ignoramuses will also likely say that theNazis' beef was with Judaism but not Jews, and that white supremacists dislikeAfrican-American culture but have no problem with black people.
Other conservatives will surely depict Beck's"eradication" line as just the jest of a self-described "rodeoclown”merely the "fusion of entertainment and enlightenment," as hisradio motto intones. But if Beck is half as smart as he incessantly tellslisteners he is, then he knows it's no joke.
In a melting-pot nation of slave descendants andimmigrant refugees haunted by ancestral memories of despotic violence, Beck isdeliberately employing coded and menacing language, warning his opponents notto believe Sinclair Lewis' refrain that such horror "can't happenhere." Beck wants adversaries to know that it can and it willto them, andat his movement's hands.
Really, the threat isn't even veiled. To understandit, just ponder comparisons. For instance, ask yourself: What is the differencebetween Beck's decree and that of Rwanda's genocidal leaders in the1990s? The former broadcasted a call to "eradicate" the"cancer"-like progressives; the latter a call to "exterminatethe cockroaches." Likewise, what separates Beck's screed from a bin Ladenfatwa? They may employ different ideologies and languages, but both endorse thewholesale elimination of large groups of Americans.
And so we finally see tyranny's hideous image withinour midst: It’s not a tightly cropped mustache in a beige uniform; it’s aclean-shaven baby face in a suita rodeo clown with a chalkboard whounfortunately speaks for modern-day conservatism.
We should thank him, at least, for admitting whathis movement truly wants.
David Sirota is the author of the best-selling books"Hostile Takeover" and "The Uprising." He hosts the morningshow on AM760 in Coloradoand blogs at OpenLeft.com. E-mail him at ds@davidsirota.comor follow him on Twitter @davidsirota.
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