Glenn Beck’s 9 Principles
Fox News commentator Glenn Beck recently posted a list of his 9 principles of life on his website. Like most people, he seems to operate under a set of moral principles that are fraught with logical contradiction. Examine:
1. America is good.
First, there is the obvious problem of the fact that the term “America” is poorly defined (is this the physical geography, the history, the current population, etc) as is the particular property it is being evaluated on and the metrics used to determine what ‘good’ is, all of which make the statement meaningless.
Second, this should be a judgment, not a principle. If ‘America is good’ is a principle, then America cannot be bad. If America cannot be bad, there is no reason to ever critically evaluate the policies or actions - after all, they are good by principle. Depending on your interpretation of the first point, this may mean that things like slavery were good, though at the same time abolishing slavery was good - these are the sort of contradictions you get when you try to simplify something that is incredibly complicated down to a monolithic entity.
2. I believe in God and He is the Center of my Life.
3. I must always try to be a more honest person than I was yesterday.
This is something of odd choice, since the subtext seems to be that he has a significant amount of dishonesty in his life now; if he is already an honest person, then there is no point in striving for cumulative improvements in honesty.
4. The family is sacred. My spouse and I are the ultimate authority, not the government.
This contradicts his 2nd principle, though maybe he meant that he and his spouse are the ultimate earthly authority even though he used the term ’sacred.’ This raises the question of whether the Becks are also the ultimate authority over other families. After all, it seems as if there can only be a singular ultimate authority or else no authority. If each family was an ultimate authority, then what would be the authority in a dispute between two families?
5. If you break the law you pay the penalty. Justice is blind and no one is above it.
This clearly contradicts 4. Law is made and enforced by government, yet Beck states both that no one is above the law but also that he and his spouse are an authority above the government.
6. I have a right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness, but there is no guarantee of equal results.
This statement is still as fraught with contradiction as it always was, so I won’t delve into it.
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.
It is very difficult to define anything government mandated as being ‘charitable’, since in order to ‘work hard’ Beck undoubtedly profits from government actions such as the building of roads, the maintenance of workplace safety standards, and the defense against crime and violence. While Beck is probably arguing that things like unemployment insurance are ‘charitable’ and shouldn’t be funded by his taxes, someone who didn’t own a car might argue that federal tax money going towards interstate highways is ‘charity’ to drivers. The fact is that no one can ‘force you to be charitable’, because charity, by its very definition, is not compulsory. If it is compulsory, it is not charity, simply use of taxes in a way that does not seem to directly benefit you.
8. It is not un-American for me to disagree with authority or to share my personal opinion.
I agree, although since America is ‘good’ by principle 1, then you are disagreeing with something that is already good. Of course if this action is not un-American, then it is by definition good, since America = good. So we can conclude that it is good to disagree with good things.
9. The government works for me. I do not answer to them, they answer to me.
Another obvious contradiction of principle 5.
Fox News commentator eh? Elusive target you’ve got there. Next do Bill O’Reily.