Sunday, February 13, 2011

Beck's "Broke" Review Parts 2 and 3

Earlier I posted on Part One of this book.

Parts Two and Three are, essentially, remedial prescriptions. Nothing extraordinary: the Feds should do less and spend less. He likes a Balanced Budget Amendment and the Fair Tax idea. D of Defense should be squeezed, Education eliminated....you know the drill.

The only very strong objection I have is to his affirmation that 'America is chosen by God' (or words to that effect), wherein he strongly implies that the US is "God's Country," and correspondingly, all the rest of the world is not.

Frankly, that's nuts. You don't have to be a theology major to understand why that's wrong.

That assertion is close to (but not identical to) the claims of "American exceptionalism" which abound these days in the Right-O-Sphere. The term is vague enough to be likeable, but it doesn't stand up to close examination.

Yah, this country has had great fortune. Is it because God "picked" the USA? No.

It's because this country had (and still has) a lot of natural resources, energetic immigrants (who became citizens), and some luck--like not being invaded or trampled between other powers.

So. I was enthusiastic about Part One of the book; he puts a lot of facts out there which are worth knowing and certainly worth pondering with a mind toward action. The other parts are OK (except as noted above.)

Altogether: buy it in paperback. Read Part One. Make your own recommendations for remedies. Make sure your Congresscritters know what your thoughts are.

Vote.

Buy More Ammo.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Beck is a Mormon. As such, the Catholic Church considers him an apostate.

And yet you idolize him...

Dad29 said...

One of the five all-time-most-stupid comments made.

I don't really like Beck. I reviewed the book.