Glenn Beck Restoring Honor Rally: A Closer Look

by Rob Stanley

Anyone who can fill the National Mall with a crowd the size of Glenn Beck’s 8/28 Restoring Honor Rally in Washington D.C. MUST have a message that’s solidly resounding with Americans. They were from every walk life, from all parts of the country – a giant slice of America that represented men and women of all ages, nationalities, and backgrounds.There were no signs or banners, except for the occasional American flag in compliance with Beck’s request. In the August heat, the theme of the event, “Restoring Honor”, was presented by an unusual group of speakers. Those included Beck himself, Sarah Palin, MLK’s niece Dr. Alveda King, talented singers and choir, and offering the final prayer – Dave Roever an injured Vietnam vet.

In the hours and days following, it has been amusing watching the detractors do their best to make light of the rally and its impact. All of whom I might add, can only dream of attracting a crowd anywhere near that size. The attempt to classify this as a white right-wing angry mob prone to violence is shameful. It was anything but. There’s no doubt, a movement has emerged as a powerful reaction to the damaging liberalism being forced on America, but if you were looking for an in-your-face confrontation, this was not the place. The rally was advertised as a non-political, non-partisan, “getting back to God” event – and it was just that. The speakers and presentations focused on God in America with respect to its founding, taking personal responsibility for your actions and outcomes, and regaining faith in your life.

The event was uplifting and inspirational, but this is the jumping off point for me.

Personal responsibility and strengthening God and honor in your life is of course admirable and necessary. But, to ignore the political war that needs to be won, or to take a soft, non-confrontational, capitulating stance does nothing to restore American values, honor, security, integrity, or the recognition of evil – it just allows them to be destroyed further. Political sides need to be taken. Names need to be named. Specific candidates need to be endorsed.

The enemies of traditional American values, and the champions of the so called “progressive” movement that Beck rails against are all about politics, and will stop a nothing to achieve their anti-American ends. You can’t take the politics out of this fight. In order to achieve what he is advocating on a national level, we MUST politically defeat the party and ideology that is driving the country towards liberalism, dependency, immorality, godlessness, economic weakness, and a diminished sense of American exceptionalism. In 2010, that means Democrats.

Yes, there are weak squishy establishment Republicans willing to compromise conservative principles in order to “get along”, unwilling to take a hard stance on vital issues, or who are just plain closet liberals. They need to be retired and replaced by true conservatives. However, it is the continuous erosion of common sense and a slide toward liberalism that got us here, and in general, liberalism finds its home in the Democrat party.

Radical idealogs like Obama will continually try to deflect this fact. Hardly a day goes by that he doesn’t mention “the 8 years of failed policy that got us here”. As we will be outlining in an upcoming article, this is flat out inaccurate and infuriating to the folks that make up the backbone of this country. Ask any business person responsible for creating jobs what the biggest economic challenge is right now, and he will tell you it is the uncertainty and instability caused by the legislation and policies of the Obama administration.

Elections matter. Politics matter. Glenn Beck said during an interview after the rally (and I’m paraphrasing) that to include politics would make the entire event worthless. On the contrary, to NOT include politics, or at least to not fight for a political end (i.e. winning elections) as the ultimate goal, makes the movement simply a feel good picnic.

We cannot become over confident or cocky at this stage of the game, but chances are, conservatives in the Republican party will make great gains in the mid-term November elections, perhaps even regaining control of the House and/or the Senate. The mood of the country and energy of people who may have never been politically involved is at a level seldom seen in our history. If this happens, established Republicans and newly elected ones had better be prepared to have their feet held to the fire like never before. With an awakened informed public, and personal investment in political victories, Americans will no longer tolerate being rolled.

After these election cycles play out, conservatives – both elected officials, non-elected citizens, and celebrities like Beck – need to use their voices to forcefully illustrate the destructive ideology and reckless political ambition that almost drove the country off the cliff.

Liberal Democrats must not be allowed to control the message and explanation for their failure, as they will certainly blame a stupid public, Fox News, or Bush! Rest assured no matter how severe their defeat, they will be waiting to pounce again on an easily manipulated electorate with the help of their lapdog thrill-up-the-leg media.

I understand Glenn Beck’s Restoring Honor Rally was meant to specifically avoid political confrontation and speech, and focus on spirituality. That’s fine. It was a fabulous event. However, when the rubber hits the road, political victory has to be the primary goal. By electing a conservative government – congress, the presidency, judiciary, etc. – we can begin to reverse the slide toward becoming Europe, restore Americans’ confidence in our economic system, and never again allow false prophets and charlatans to take the wheel.

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Rob Stanley is a guitarist, songwriter, recording artist, and creator of Rockanomics.com – http://www.rockanomics.com , a leading online community for conservative news, new music, political opinion, pop culture interests, and career building resources. For more information on this article, to read others like it, and to experience our dynamic community, visit http://www.rockanomics.com/public/388.cfm