Five Questions For Glenn Beck
FOUR: How’s your leg mending and did you get your wallet back?
When it comes to the Rainbow Crusaders and the scourge of abortion, Glenn is remarkably detached. Somehow this is a Libertarian value, I suppose, and that’s his prerogative but it does drive me a bit batty when he implies that our founders in general felt the same way, and that Jefferson in particular would be, I don’t know, to the Left of Penn Jillette on the issue.
When it comes to same-sex marriage Glenn consistently downplays sexual anarchy as a threat and quotes Jefferson as saying if “It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg” then it is, apparently, not a serious issue. The problem with that is that Beck cannot possibly believe that.
Glenn is too smart to believe that! Not to mention his close relationship to David Barton who could easily “straighten” him out on the issue. For that matter, Rabbi Lapin’s lesson on Baal should have had Glenn “butt-shifting” over his self-justification of apathy in the face of the greatest religious freedom issue of our day. You see, Glenn has to completely “butch” history and reality to arrive there.
The quote by Jefferson was about atheists and pantheists, not about sexual perversion. The full quote is, “The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods, or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.”
Surely a historian of Glenn’s caliber knows that the guy who wrote a bill calling for the emasculation of homosexuals would probably side with those who believe that the issue is one that may break a few legs and pick a few pockets. That’s right; Jefferson, like Washington, was convinced that homosexuality was a serious affront with serious consequences that shouldn’t be ignored.
I wonder if Catholic Charities would agree with Glenn, that the gay mafia hasn’t “broken their leg?” I wonder if the photographers, the bakers the bed and breakfast owners who are being sued for not dancing to the tune of the alphabet mafia would think that their pocket has been picked?
A movement that exists by monitoring businesses and individuals for their beliefs and then threatens their livelihood certainly fits the Jefferson quote. A movement that has forced Michael Savage and Dr. Laura off the air for merely holding an opposite view is certainly a threat to free speech and the free exercise of religion. Can’t Glenn tell the difference between his gay friends and the “monster in our midst” that is the Gay-K-K?
While atheism and pantheism will never cause the doors of my church to be padlocked, the hate speech legislation sponsored and spurred on by the sin syndicate most certainly will. By that time, do you think Glenn will take notice? Maybe if he inclines his ear more to Pat and Stu or Rabbi Lapin and David Barton than he does to the Liberal-tarians. Time will tell.
FIVE: Are you hiring?
This may sound self-serving but my radio show would rock your network, pal! The Parson and The Cleaner at www.uncommonshow.com! When do we start, boss?
Image: Originally posted to Flickr as Glenn Beck; author: Luke X. Martin; Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license