Amid the strains of “God Bless America,” approximately 9,000 people filed to their seats in Chaifetz Arena on Feb. 5, rally towels and mini-American flags in hand, to hear from one Glenn Beck, of Fox News fame. Beck, who also has a syndicated radio show and is the author of several books, went into the event without a set topic.
While attendees waited for 7 p.m. to roll around, a trivia quiz ran on the displays around the Arena: True or false-Glenn Beck is in favor of limited government control. Glenn Beck’s middle name is Frank. (True and false, respectively-it’s Lee, by the way).
Among the speakers opening for Beck that night was Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, who recited parts of the Declaration of Independence, resulting in bursts of applause.
“It’s who we are, the gift that was given to us,” she said. “We can strive for as little or as much as we like. … No one can take that away from us.”
After a short “USA” chant, Bachmann announced the main speaker of the evening, calling Beck “a genuine patriot.” Beck opened with a brief description about where he was and what he was thinking when Sept. 11 happened.
So overcome by the tragedy, Beck said he prayed and asked “Lord, who am I to have a voice at this time? I don’t know anything,” he said. “But I promised myself that I would try to catch up … and try to figure out what the heck was going on. I told my listeners at the time, ‘I’m a guy who, a couple months ago, the whole Middle East could’ve opened up into a giant sinkhole, and I would’ve went, cool, what else is on?'”
Beck said he then told his listeners that he may not know the answers, but that he would try his hardest, although he “was not a journalist, and quite frankly [he wore] that as a badge of honor,” he said, to cheers from the audience. Beck said he didn’t find journalists to have a bit of “intellectual curiosity” in them. Beck then addressed the crowd, saying:
“Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness that each one of us were endowed by our creator. … We are the protectors of these rights… And let me tell you, brothers and sisters, I testify to you today that if we are the generation that loses these rights, there will be eternal consequences.”
These rights, referred to in the Declaration of Independence, were a theme for the night.
Beck also described the development of New York City, and compared it to the development of the United States.
For instance, the race between the Chrysler Building and Empire State Building to be the tallest skyscraper, which Beck said told the story of being an American.
The Crystal Palace in Bryant Park burned down in 1858, but Beck said women picked up pieces of the glass walls as souvenirs to be sold later-“free market is alive and well,” he said.
Staying with the history theme, Beck praised those who had the courage to follow the Oregon Trail, a feat that said something about who they were as people. Beck then asked who we are as a group today.
“Maybe we’re sheep, maybe we need to be told what to think through speeches … led by people who are elite, who went to the right schools, who are …” he said, pausing. “… humble.
“Are we a group of people who need to be told how to give and what to give?” he asked, to a resounding “No!” from the audience. “We are a country of laws, not of men. We understand the free enterprise system. We have the right to succeed and the right to fail. … We must be allowed to give or not give- to give till it hurts, or not give because it hurts.”
Beck asked if the pilgrims had come to the United States to escape oppressive rule, only to be ruled by new rulers.
From there, he segued into his thoughts on progressives, calling them “Marxist” and “socialist,” and accusing them of trying to change and erase history since “they write the textbooks.”
Beck also described the pilgrims as looking for the new Jerusalem in the United States, and advocated for more religious influence, describing a later correspondence between two constitution framers (“We’ve developed a land in which the gospel can truly be lived,” one said, according to Beck) in which they lament the lack of biblical influence, something that he said when it fails in its present form, the people will know what to do and will make it right.
Beck reflected on his own struggles as a recovering alcoholic to make his life right, saying he was a “pretty despicable person for much of [his] life.” It was only after he prayed for humility that his life changed, he said.
Beck’s speech wound down with encouraging words for conservatives.
“When we remember what we are, who we are, why we came here, we won’t say ‘Yes, we can,’ we will say ‘Yes, we will.’
“We will find ourselves: as I found myself 15 years ago, on the floor, a broken man, a broken country with nothing else to give, nowhere else to go, no other choice but live or die. … But today is worth living. … And we will rise up, and we will blossom like a phoenix.”
The event was presented by The Constitutional Coalition.
