Breaking Down Beck: 9/12 Principles, Part 1

In his great mission statement to save the United States, Glenn Beck says:

This is a non-political movement. The 9-12 Project is designed to bring us all back to the place we were on September 12, 2001. The day after America was attacked we were not obsessed with Red States, Blue States or political parties. We were united as Americans, standing together to protect the greatest nation ever created.

Beck goes on to say:

At the origin of America, our Founding Fathers built this country on 28 powerful principles. These principles were culled from all over the world and from centuries of great thinkers. We have distilled the original 28 down to the 9 basic principles.

Do these principles live up to this hype? They may look alright on a shirt, but to be honest, this pancake doesn’t have enough syrup.

Can’t help but be reminded of the bible here, doesn’t it say “God said let there be America, and it was good”? Never mind then. What Glenn is really trying to say is that his country is great. So great in fact that rules that apply to all others don’t have to apply to it, and anyone who places their country on equal footing with another, like apologizing or acting humble is actually un-American. This theme can be taken even further by attacking people who somehow ‘complain’ too much, prompting the response akin to “If you don’t like America go to Europe!” (or another place in the world… except Israel, because that’s God’s country too).

2. I believe in God and He is the Center of my Life.

Ok, God is the center, so he should either be principle 4.5 (the middle) or principle number 1. Anyway, weren’t these principles supposed to be about making us be the people we were after 9/11, all together, united, and what not? What in the world does Christian monotheism have to do with that? Simply put: nothing. A person’s belief in God, Allah, or Zeus has nothing to do with whether they are a good American. If someone felt more religious after 9/11, then they are pretty fickle, that or their faith is solely based on the fear of death, which is equally fickle. Maybe in the end we will find out that these principles really have nothing to do with 9/11.

3. I must always try to be a more honest person than I was yesterday.

Again, weren’t these about the principles we got from the experience of the September 11th attacks? “Crap both towers went down… I’m going to stop lying to people.”

This principle just seems to be Glenn’s way of saying “hey, I’m honest,” or even better, “I know what I’m telling you now contradicts what I have said in the past, but I am just more honest today then I used to be.”

4. The family is sacred. My spouse and I are the ultimate authority, not the government.

Authority? Over what exactly?  Not over me or over single people. The only thing you could be talking about would be your kids. Well, to an extent you are the authority in the lives of your children. You can teach them any ill-conceived political or religious views, you can refuse to help them with their homework, and you can even not tell them you love them because they don’t agree with your 9 principles. However, your authority ends at certain points, you can’t abuse your kids for instance. You can’t use the public schools to teach your religion to your kids either. The state can regulate home schooling to a certain extent as well, because despite your authority, the whole nation has a vested interest in your kids knowing how to read and write. Other than that, it’s not really clear what you have a problem with when it comes to authority.

When it comes to sacredness, whatever your opinion may be, legally your family should be equal to the family of a single parent and their child, to a gay couple, to an extended family living under one roof. Yes, the family is sacred, so sacred that no one religion or faith owns the right to define the family for the rest of the nation.

5. If you break the law you pay the penalty. Justice is blind and no one is above it.

Part of me wants to try and compare the difference between a legal system and a so called justice system, as well as between the ideas of revenge and true justice.

It is a wonder why he uses the pronoun ‘you’ and not ‘a person’ or ‘we’. Shouldn’t it read something like “If someone breaks the law they should pay the penalty” ? Maybe it’s reading in to it too much, but if you are going to hone your views into 9 thoughts, you should be accurate in your language.

Either these principles are deep and meaningful and thus deserve close consideration, or they are simple bumper sticker phrases: statements that can be taken at face value, something you would say to a five year old. Otherwise, upon closer review, they can be taken as an overgeneralizations of the causation of crimes and a belief in retribution of rehabilitation.