(MintPress) — More than 65,000 people attended a speech by the radio pundit Glenn Beck earlier this week at the Dallas Cowboys stadium in Texas. The event, “Restoring Love,” drew scores of Americans from across the country, many of whom support more conservative movements such as the tea party and the Minutemen Project.
The rallying cry of the event, “smaller government,” long promoted by conservatives, resonated with those in attendance. Beck shied away from his usual firebrand conservatism. However, robust support for a kind of staunch conservatism promoted by right-wing radio hosts could correspond to similar increases in Evangelicalism, the tea party movement and general dissatisfaction with Washington politics.
The appeal of pundits
Beck spoke to the crowd at length about the need to rebuild America by creating sound communities through private charity and fiscal responsibility.
“We must not become America in name only, we must always strive to be a great country. We don’t have to spend our inheritance, we can build on it, invest it, improve it, make it bigger and better. That’s your choice. It’s our choice. Our inheritance is America,” said Beck during his speech.
Beck’s speech focused mostly on community building, religious values and constitutionalism. However, on his popular radio program, Beck, like many of his conservative radio colleagues, frequently criticises Democrats, liberals, Independents and moderate Republicans.
Beck has joined other conservative talk show hosts in labeling Obama “a socialist.” In 2009, Beck also criticizes moderate Republicans like New York State Assemblymember Dede Scozzafava, who is both pro-choice and pro-same sex marriage.
Some critics charge the talk show host with promoting conspiracy theories and unfounded alternative histories. Beck speaks frequently of his opposition to progressivism and by showing his audience the “tree of revolution,” a flow chart connecting President Barack Obama, Che Guevara, Woodrow Wilson, Al Gore and Francis Fox Piven, among others, in a grand conspiracy to “destroy America as it was originally conceived.”
Although Beck’s fraudulent scholarship has been widely denounced by a bevy of historians, Beck continues to draw some 8.5 million listeners on average to his program each week, according to Talkers Magazine, a publication covering issues related to talk radio across America.
Beck’s program is the fourth most widely listened to talk radio program, only outranked by three conservative radio hosts, Michael Savage, Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh, all claiming 9 million-15 million weekly listeners.
Public support for Beck may stem from his staunchly pro-Israel views, a popular position uniting many conservatives.
In August 2011, for example, Beck held a “Restoring Courage” tour, giving speeches in Jerusalem and Cape Town, South Africa. Beck, long a supporter of Israel, has denounced the two-state solution as a move not in Israel’s security interests. Additionally, Beck has said that Jerusalem should remain “undivided,” forever in Israel’s possession, a position that runs counter to the internationally accepted partition plan.
While small protests were organized by the Israeli rights organization “Peace Now,” Beck’s speech was reportedly well received by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and much of the Israeli public.
Beck also won the admiration of many within the Jewish community during his Israel speech saying, “If the world goes down the road of de-humanizing Jews again, then count me a Jew and come for me first.”
Beck’s uncompromising support for Israel is a popular position within both the Republican and Democratic parties. The reasons for this degree of vociferous support, however, may come from the rise in Evangelicalism and religious doctrinal belief in Jewish possession of the Holy Land.
Beck is a member of the Mormon church, however, many of his policies appeal to the rapidly increasing Evangelical, and overall more religious, base of the Republican party. Political analysts say that this staunchly conservative voting bloc has pushed the Republican party rightward in its orientation in recent years and could alienate moderate, center-right members of the Republican party.
Partisan gridlock
Members of the right and the left both recognize that increased partisanship is paralyzing Washington. Congressional approval ratings remained at a poor 17 percent last month, according to Real Clear Politics.
Poor approval ratings coupled with increased political polarization in the American public have created a toxic situation in which compromise and bi-partisanship become less likely.
Indeed, a Pew Research study from 1987-2012 reveals that Americans are increasingly divided along partisan lines. The survey, published in June, reveals that Democrats and Republicans are moving further apart. This partisan polarization is overtaking other divisions, such as race, class and religion, as arguably one of the most salient divisions in American societies today.
These divisions have prompted political movements that sometimes deviate from national party platforms by appealing to more conservative, right-wing elements within the Republican party.
The tea party movement isn’t dead
The tea party movement began at some point in late-2008 in what some say was “the ashes of Ron Paul’s presidential campaign.” Since then, the movement has grown considerably, with around 28 percent of the American public saying they support the movement in a March 2010 Gallup Poll.
Jane Meyer, a reporter for the New Yorker magazine wrote in August 2010 that the tea party has been financed by the billionaire Koch brothers who have given more than $100 million to right-wing causes over the years.
Indeed, the tea party has swelled to include 61 members of Congress, all Republicans. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), who has recently accused the Muslim Brotherhood of infiltrating the U.S. government, chairs the Tea Party Congressional Caucus.
The top contributors to the campaigns have been retirees, health professionals, the real estate industry and the oil and gas industry, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. According to the report, “The average tea party caucus member received more than $25,000 from the oil and gas industry, compared to about $13,000 for the average House member and $21,500 for the average House Republican.”
Beck labels himself a tea party supporter and welcomes candidates who are able to unseat more moderate “establishment candidates” during Republican primaries.
“People are saying the tea party is over, it’s not. It’s no longer a protest group. We didn’t realize how far out of step our government was with the people,” said Beck in a recent broadcast of his radio program.
Many candidates, including Bachmann, Herman Cain (R-Ga.) and Ron Paul (R-Texas), have won office as “tea party candidates.” While there is variation in the ideology of the movement, promotion of smaller government, free markets and limited government regulation form the core beliefs of the group.
The continuing popular appeal of the tea party could signal a fundamental rightward shift or the unlikely split from the Republican party altogether. Writing for Time Magazine, Jay Newton Small contends, “As two roads diverge before the GOP on the debt ceiling, it’s increasingly hard to see a path that leads to party unity. Go right and the GOP risks default and, as McConnell has warned, being blamed by the center for an economic disaster. Take the center path – there is no left turn here – and Republicans risk an angry tea party base and potential primary threats. From the advent of the tea party to purity tests and the 2010 primary challenges, the split has been a long time coming.”