The NexWord

I was wrong about Glenn Beck

By York Van Nixon III

Glenn Beck’s “Restoring Honor” reminds me of my childhood. Unlike most children, being that I was the grandson of a Methodist minister, church on Sunday was an all day affair. Even today, if I close my eyes, I can see myself as the restless moppet struggling to stay still during the second service that day. Every time I fidgeted, my grandmother, who usually made sure I sat beside her, only needed to look in my direction with a raised eyebrow to bring another fifteen minutes of calm in me. Besides keeping a bridle on the youngest in the family pew, she also had the job of alerting my grandfather when it was time to end his sermon. As I watched Glenn Beck deliver one incantation after another, I said to myself, “If only my grandmother were here to bring this to an end.” Well, my grandmother died more than fifty years ago. And, apparently no one in Glenn Beck’s family has auditioned to be the boredom watcher. So after fidgeting for the umpteenth time, and with no one to pinch my ear, I yawned and changed the channel to something more exciting – Tiger Woods missing another easy putt.

Therefore, today I am admitting my misconceptions about Glenn Beck. Instead of him being a self-absorbed TV/radio personality, he is more akin to a self-exalting wannabe revival evangelistic. His dogma filled “Restoring Honor” had little in common with Dr. King’s protest march to get jobs for the disenfranchised of America.

Missing were the vitriolic aspersions against President Obama and “his oppressive big government.” In their place, with the help of frequent invocations of the Apostles, and recitations of variegated scripture, Mr. Beck made yesterday morning a "good ole tent revival". After a few references to Dr. King and our military, Mr. Beck went for the money. He asked everyone in the multitude with a cell phone to donate $10.00 via text. Twenty minutes later, he was pressuring the crowd to start tithing (donating 10% of their income to the church). Considering the proximity of the Reflecting Pool, one has to wonder why he didn’t avail himself the opportunity for a mass baptism. Could it be the notion of thousands of Tea Party participants in warm water congers a vision of something more than a political brew?

Well, as I admitted above, I was wrong about Mr. Beck. Rumors about him trying to hijack “I have a dream” were highly exaggerated. Doing something like that may have been in his mind, but the wherewithal to pull it off was not there. The purpose of the March of Washington forty-seven years ago was about coming to the “… nation's capital to cash a check.” The three-hundred thousand people who came to Washington, D.C. that day were looking for an equal opportunity to realize the American Dream. “Restoring Honor” was about restoring religion with Mr. Glenn Beck as your pastor.

The rally yesterday did have one thing in common with the one in 1963. Both had more than 200,000 people. But let us not forget that America’s population was half the size then it is today.

For many who participated in the “Reclaim the Dream” march lead by Rev. Al Sharpton, the check from Uncle Sam keeps being returned marked “insufficient funds” to provide promises contained in our Constitution.

I marched to the Lincoln Memorial forty-seven years ago. What I saw there yesterday had little to do with the words contained in Dr. King’s speech. Those doubting need only click on the following link to read the resounding oratory in “I have a Dream.”

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