Moral authority — that’s what the rally was really about. That’s what the bagpipes playing “Amazing Grace” at the end of the rally were all about. That’s what all the talk of standing on “hallowed ground” was all about. That’s what the repeated use of words like “honor,” “integrity” and “trust” were all about.
That’s what Beck’s introduction of Alveda King, the niece of Dr. King, was about when he said, “Her family’s past has been washed in blood” with “her father and uncle both killed” for what they believed. And that what all the New-Testament-like rhetoric and celebration of military personnel who have been injured and killed in battles was about.
Be fair to Beck: He did mostly keep the 3-hour and 15-minute event from being overtly political in terms of attacks.
I suppose just the presence of Sarah Palin was an overtly political act. But she talked about military sacrifice mostly as the “mom” of a soldier in “combat.” As she put it, “Say what you will about me, but I raised a combat bet – and you can’t take that away from.”
In a superficial sense, how can you fault a rally that celebrates military sacrifice and religion — though Christianity definitely got top billing and then some? And Beck certainly seems to have gone out of his way to at least give the apprearance of diversity and inclusion with the onstage lineup of speakers and singers — and those who won the Badges of Merit for faith, hope and charity that were awarded.
I will not try to explain the Badges of Merit — something Beck invented. It would take all day, and I am not sure I could sort out the contradictions in Beck’s crazed ontology of the award.
But again, in his telling, it involved a moment of intense confusion when he fell on his knees and asked the “Lord” to explain to his poor, muddled brain what he should do — and an answer was provided. (Beck always stops just short of saying the “Lord” actually spoke to him — at least he did Saturday. Though the implication is definitely there.)
Anyway, the “Lord” told him the answer somehow involved “faith, hope and charity,” but he had to sort out the details himself — and so he came up with Badges of Merit given out for faith, hope and charity.
(Somehow awards that George Washington gave out during the darkest days of the Revolutionary War were also involved in the thinking by Beck that led to these Badges of Merit. But here’s where the mish meets the mash in the stuff Beck was saying onstage Saturday, and I am going to leave it right there, as the cable TV show hosts say.)
Anyway, three people were awarded Badges of Merit Saturday, including St. Loius Cardinals baseball player Albert Pujols. His was for hope, only the introduction by Tony LaRusso, the manager of the Cardinals, didn’t really have much to say about hope — mostly just what good guy Pujols was.
But even if it sounds laughable, the Badges of Merit also had a profound aspect to them. Set among all the Medal of Honor and Bronze Star winners introduced and celebrated onstage, Beck’s new awards took on a prestige. And most important of all, it was Beck and his cohorts who were awarding them — they were the ones with the moral authority to determine who should be awarded this high honor and treated as heroes. More moral authority for Bec. And in the end, that is very political, because where there is moral authority, there is political power.
As I watched this specatcle Saturday, I started thinking how much recent American history has been about the struggle for moral authority since the death of King and Robert Kennedy. Richard Nixon never had it, and Gerald Ford lost it when he pardoned Nixon, and so on and so on to Monica Lewinsky and Bill Clinton and the election that many feel was stolen in the so-called Florida recount.
That’s what what was so powerful about November 2008 in Grant Park when Barack Obama took the stage on election night: Millions of Americans thought they were watching someone who brought moral authority to the White House. I know I did.
Sadly, millions now feel Obama has since lost it with too many morning-after flip-flops on moral issues, entertainment TV show appearances, and days on the golf course as the economy struggles.
We are a saner, more focused and calmer nation when we feel as if we have someone we can look to for moral authority. Glenn Beck understands that, and that is what makes what happened in Washington Saturday worth thinking about long and hard.
(Note on crowd size: While Beck told rallygoers that the crowd was estimated at between 300,000 and 500,000, the National Park Service has stopped providing estimates since the Million Man March. Using even the most conservative forms of estimating crowds based on the amount of space filled by rallygoers, the estimate of more than 100,000 that I used in this post seems conservative. But as soon as a authoritative organization issues an estimate, I will publish it here.)
glenn beck rally
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