#1 New York Times bestselling author and popular radio and television host Glenn Beck revisits Thomas Paine’s Common Sense.

2 Responses to “Glenn Beck’s Common Sense: The Case Against an Out-of-Control Government, Inspired by Thomas Paine Unabridged on 3 CDs”

1. Kurt A. Johnson says:

   April 14, 2010 at 12:00 am

   In the fascinating audiobook, author and political thinker Glenn Beck makes a passionate plea for Americans to return to the political thinking that served as the very foundation of the country. He shows how the philosophical framework of the county came under assault from the Progressives during the early years of the twentieth century, and how that attack has gained ground until we find ourselves in the early part of the twenty first century with the very nature of the government being overturned. But, more than just a complaint about how things are – it’s a plea to get involved, to take a stand for democracy and the simple citizen, and to take back the government that by rights belongs to we the people!

   I must admit that I am not familiar with Glenn Beck. I have heard his name bandied about, but I have never watched his show. Well, perhaps I should tune it in! I found this audiobook to be well-thought out and well-reasoned, with his call to becoming more involved in the political process, while avoiding extra-legal action, being passionately pushed. Mr. Beck does his own reading, which is nice, and he does a good job of presenting his case.

   So, if you are interested in the fate of our country, and are looking for a thought-provoking diagnosis of where we are, how we got here, and where we need to go, then this is the audiobook for you. I highly recommend it.

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2. Chris Hambleton says:

   January 15, 2010 at 12:00 am

   In “Common Sense”, Glenn Beck makes the arguments for why and how the US government is out of control and needs to be brought back under its constitutional limits. If you like his radio show, then you’ll probably like this audio-book.

   He makes a good case for a revolution of ideas in Washington, though that likely won’t be enough. He didn’t make nearly the same compelling case as Thomas Paine did, but then again, our ‘king’ isn’t sending troops into our cities and homes either.

   Though we are just as American as the Founders were, we are a different people now, by both choice and by circumstance. In the colonies, a spirit of independence and self-reliance ran deep at that time. You were responsible for clearing your own land, building your own home, growing your own food, and making your own way in the world. There was no government there to offer assistance — if you wanted to do something, you usually had to do it yourself. And when you’re almost entirely self-reliant, you naturally don’t want some far-away, out-of-touch government demanding that you hand over your hard-earned property or money.

   If you’re self-reliant, why SHOULD you have to give the government anything but the bare minimum to maintain a national defense?

   Beck also describes how for the past century, Progressivism has slowly eroded that spirit of independence and self-reliance. We individuals have relinquished more and more of our rights and responsibilities over to the State. Our current government is drenched in progressive, socialist-democratic principles which require an ever-increasing, young, vibrant population to fund the financial ‘pyramid’ base of the progressive tax-and-give system.

   But the reality is that our society is aging and declining, though not nearly as precipitously as Europe’s and Russia’s.

   Today, we want others to take care of us and advocate for us because it’s easier and more expedient than to do it ourselves. It’s easier to have taxes taken out of our paychecks for welfare than to care for the family down the street, and it’s easier to ship our kids off to public/government schools everyday rather than teach them ourselves. When we need heat in the winter, we don’t go and chop down a tree in the forest, we just press a button and then pay the gas-bill.

   But what exactly has Washington done for us that we couldn’t do ourselves? The economy? Education? Welfare? What are these politicians and this bloated bureaucracy doing that the societies of our great-grandparents couldn’t? And are they doing it better or worse? Why do we need some govt agency thousands of miles away taking our money, running it through their wasteful, massive bureaucracy, so our neighbors can collect a meager unemployment or food-stamps? Wouldn’t it make more sense to cut out the govt and its millions of ‘middle-men’?

   Today, it seems like many Americans have a spirit of apathy, comfort and dependence, though not nearly as much as before mid-2008. We likely won’t put out the fire of extreme governance until we absolutely have to — when it becomes intolerable. We won’t act until we’re suffering, and suffering terribly under hyper-inflation and choking over-regulation. We already put up with much more than the Founders ever would have imagined. Who says I can’t cut down a tree on my own land that I planted and that I cared for?

   The Founders were steeped and rooted in Judeo-Christian values from their upbringing and the Great Awakening, and they were already used to being self-reliant. That was simply how they were raised, by necessity. Those Judeo-Christian values esteem personal freedom and self-regulation, so it was almost natural that they would want independence from an encroaching State.

   In our new progressive system, what values are taught other than to ‘love thy State/government’ and ‘love thy planet’? What exactly are the moral values of Progressivism? It can’t be ‘thou shalt not steal’ because that would violate their principles of the redistribution of wealth and their hatred of private property. And they can’t say ‘thou shalt not kill’ because of population controls and abortion rights. And most certainly they can’t say ‘thou shalt honor God’ because that would make Him, not the State, the Supreme Authority/Power in the land. Progressivism preaches and reinforces dependence on the State, and not God — nor your neighbors and community.

   In our time and in our society, who exactly is teaching those Judeo-Christian values that laid the foundation of the country? The schools are not allowed to by the progressives, and the churches are quite empty compared to what they used to be. It seems as though the progressive media and education system denigrates common-sense religious values at every turn, or at least minimizes/ignores them. So where and when can Americans possibly re-learn the values of self-reliance and self-regulation?

   If we are to right the ship of the American Republic and prevent her from floundering on the rocks of Progressivism, then the only sensible place for those values to be propagated is from the home. And that takes patience, time, and the simple will to do so.

   My books: The Time of Jacob’s Trouble, Endeavor in Time

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