Glen Beck Rally and Outcom
"Opinion"08/29/2010
Paul Munnis
It’s a bit confusing to know just what the deal was with the Glenn Beck Rally at the National Mall of America yesterday. Some reports label it as religious preaching; others portray it as an attempt to co-op Martin Luther King’s speech; while still others call it a political slap in the face to blacks -- an act of overt racism. Still others portray it as a Tea Party moment.
When there is such a wide spread of interpretation then it must be said that the effectiveness of the event was poor and the blame must be laid at the feet of the organizers. Those attending should have come away with a clear message and they didn’t.
If what Beck was doing was to try to get a moral religious revival going in America then that was laudable. If he was trying to do something political then it failed badly.
Whatever he was doing it had the effect of providing a release valve for frustration building in America over challenges that we are facing at this moment in history. They range from a changing economy; to an end to the Iraq War; to the resumption of school attendance in an education system under immense pressure to improve.
Between those key items there are many others that cause American’s to feel that we need even more change than what the Obama Administration is taking on right now. Even Conservatives want change but they want us to change back to the Bush era but that is not the direction that we are going or that we intend to go. There was little to recommend the Bush era as idyllic anyhow.
To a materialistic nation an ailing economy is a serious sin and it must be fixed pronto. But pronto is not an option. It took awhile to create this economic mess and its gong to take awhile to fix it. Fix it we will, but not on a timetable of the making by those in the Tea Party, the GOP, or a street mob. It will take time to absorb excess housing, to rebuild employment, and to deal with the herd of retiring Baby-Boomers. Those are the forces that are influencing our economy along with interlocked issues of European debt and Asian market growth.
In the process of fixing these matters then the social contract between the people being governed and those doing the governing is under stress. Yet the GOP wants no change and so stress continues and cannot be relieved until the 2010 election this November when people will resolve the tensions with their vote. They will then decide whether to elect Republicans and turn the clock back to the Bush years or not. If they choose not to empower the GOP further then we will get on with needed change; else we will experience more legislative grid-lock. The choice lies with voters.
We await the outcome.