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Well, frumps, the big day has finally arrived. What “big day” you ask? Well it’s September 12th, of course, the day that Glenn Beck invented, back in March, in a weepy fit of tea-baggy nostalgia for the good old days of terror and chaos immediately after the 9/11 attacks. Although many of us can only remember a day of mass hysteria, shredded memos and ashes still airborne on the smoky wind; of crazed families searching, searching for their relatives who were, very likely, buried under tons of architectural debris that would take months to sift through – somehow Beck remembers that day, eight years ago as some sort of idyllic moment of perfect national unity that we should all aspire to regain.
I suppose it does make a certain amount of sociopathic sense that a person who has made a career of fear-mongering, xenophobia and smear campaigns might choose a day of complete and utter societal breakdown as a high water mark in American history. Beck calls this fever-dream of his the “9/12 Project” complete with 9 Principles and 12 Values laid out by the Prophet Glenn for his Beck-bots to live by on their march to the New American Utopia. Now as you read through this flatulous list, reminiscent of a ninth-grade Civics project please keep the Beckster and his all-too-public existence in mind. Here we go:
The 9 Principles
1. America is good (the Progressive, Liberal, Socialist, multicultural parts not so much; but the Heartland-y, Founding Father-ish, corn-fed, white-bread parts? totally AWESOME!).
2. I believe in God and He is the Center of my Life (Well, DUH! That’s pretty obvious. That explains Beck’s bighearted generosity to all of God’s creatures).
3. I must always try to be a more honest person than I was yesterday. (I am utterly lost for words . . .)
4. The family is sacred. My spouse and I are the ultimate authority, not the government. (Which spouse we talking about, here?)
5. If you break the law you pay the penalty. Justice is blind and no one is above it. (That’s really, really encouraging news for those who were or who still remain wrongfully incarcerated).
6. I have a right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness, but there is no guarantee of equal results. (Especially if you can pressure legislators to do things your way, Glenn)
7. I work hard for what I have and I will share it with who I want to. Government cannot force me to be charitable. (Well, then maybe we should stop sharing our highways and airwaves and public schools with you and your families)
8. It is not un-American for me to disagree with authority or to share my personal opinion. (Just as it is not un-American for me (or Barack Obama, or Van Jones, or sixty-two of your former-advertisers to disagree with you).
9. The government works for me. I do not answer to them, they answer to me. (See, now there’s the problem, Glenn – they don’t answer to YOU!! They answer to the voters who elected them. A lot of folks, a majority – a REAL majority, not the echo-chamber “Silent Majority” -just voted for Barack Obama and an overwhelmingly Democratic Congress and Change. So, why should we the people, who voted for change not get it? because you don’t like it? Your gang lost – get over it. If you want things to be different go find candidates to promote, who actually have a chance of winning an election, and getting you want you want.
The 12 Values
Honesty
Reverence
Hope
Thrift
Humility
Charity
Sincerity
Moderation
Hard Work
Courage
Personal Responsibility
Gratitude
OK, OK – I admit these are untouchable, these are values that Glenn Beck clearly demonstrates with every breath he takes – with an extra dollop of Honesty, Humility, Charity, Courage and Personal Responsibility. In Beck’s baroque cosmology this all hangs together somehow, it’s just not immediately apparent to mere mortals.
“I Can See Nirvana From the Green Room”
You know, I try really hard to follow the Beckian thought process, just to be fair. But, I have to admit I don’t exactly get his recent affinity for 9/11. Sure I’ve seen him get all blubbery about it from time to time but the last definitive statement on 9/11 was from back in Beck’s radio days and it didn’t sound all that nostalgic . . . listen here:
Whatever. I guess a man can change his mind. And then change it again . . .
Birth of an AbomiNation
At any rate, undaunted by the hypocritical and still fuzzy aspects of his seminal reform agenda, Beck hosted a special program in March announcing his grassroots vision for his peeps and called it the “9/12 Project” — an effort to ostensibly recreate the patriotic unity that swept the nation after the September 11 attacks.
Now the word “Project” implies some sort of ongoing activism, maybe some structure and perhaps some sort of overall mission with objectives and that kind of stuff to sort of measure the effectiveness of the movement. I’m having a hard time finding it though on any of the hundreds of 912 Project websites, ning-rings, meetup pages, hubpages, Facebook Groups, Myspace pages, etc., etc.
I know I’m starting to sound a little dense, but dang it!, I’m having a really hard time reconciling how the Town Hall protests and this 912 March on Washington to protest just about everything the Obama administration is doing, gets us to greater unity. Calls and banners for secession . . . unifying?? Threats of a second Civil War? I don’t get it but maybe I’m just not as smart as Beck- I have to admit I never, in a million years, would have gotten the encrypted communist messages on the bas relief at 30 Rock.
What We Have Here is A Failure to Coalesce
I’m beginning to think that Beck is shooting for a federalist model here because there are about a hundred and fifty 912 Project “State Group” pages, for fifty states (if you count Hawaii). But there might be another reason for that fractured look about the Project.
I think it was round about April, Glenn’s legendary attention span took him in other directions. At that point Grassfire, and its evil spawn ResistNet, stepped in and offered their superior grassroots organizational skills, took the ball and ran with it. (See Beck is really more of a visionary than a doer). Beck and FoxNews still got to play the Paul Revere role to keep interest piqued through summer.
Then, in mid-August, when the world recognized how aberrantly effective the Tea Party crowd had grown at attracting the media’s attention, the “big boys” glommed on and the 912 Project became a FreedomWorks (FW) headline event.
Here’s that call to arms:
It’s time to take the tea party movement directly to Washington, D.C. Please join thousands of local organizers and grassroots Americans from across the country as we gather in our nation’s capital to deliver a message to the politicians: Enough!
We’ve had enough of the out of control spending, the bailouts, the growth of big government and the soaring deficits. And we reject the future tax increases to pay for all of this spending and debt down the road. We are gathering on 9-12-2009 to deliver our message in person that we’ve had enough!
The influence of FreedomWorks has had a real character -altering effect on the previously “aw shucks, stay-at-home-Mom” demeanor of the initial Tea Party crowd. FreedomWorks, it turns out operates in a more rarefied political climate than GrassFire, or even ResistNet.
As ThinkProgress described this shift:
“. . . for the 9/12 march, there appears to be a shift towards a more radical coalition. The official sponsorship list reveals a subterranean, extreme element of the American right in attendance. The National Association for Rural Landowners, a bronze sponsor, references the incidents at Waco and Ruby Ridge to call for attacks on “government entities” and liberals. In a YouTube video posted in July, the group makes the case for a secession, followed by a violent civil war. Similarly, another 9/12 cosponsor, FreeRepublic, is a forum for various radical right causes. As ThinkProgress reported, the shooter at the Holocaust museum found a welcome audience for his writings on the website.
Despite the inclusion of such anti-government extremists, Rep. Tom Price (R-GA), Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN), Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-GA), and Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) plan to attend and speak
Here’s a look at the vid mentioned above:
In addition to that, today’s news carried this jaw-dropping announcement:
PRLog (Press Release) – Sep 12, 2009 – — Oklahoma — As Glenn Beck and the 912 movement march on Washington today, the answers that they are looking for have all ready been put into place. Across the country there are candidates standing up calling themselves 912 candidates.
RJ Harris was the first 912 candidate in the nation. He full heartedly agreed to sign the contract and submit to the principles and values articulated by Glenn Beck and the 912 Project. Today as thousands march on D.C., and millions watch around the world. Mr. Harris is preparing for the biggest battle of our generation. The battle to restore our constitution, republic, and 9 principles and 12 values of the 912 project is among us.
Much more of that and I might have to go country-shopping . . . at least Beck has already written a book about the fact that he is “unelectable.”
Technorati Tags: 912 Project, 912 March, Washington, DC, Glenn Beck, FoxNews, FreedomWorks, ResistNet, GrassFire, RJ Harris, 912 Candidate, tea party
