Glenn Beck's Opinion. What do you think about it?
Glenn Beck: America needs a 12-step program
Story Highlights
Glenn Beck, a recovering alcoholic, says the U.S. is slowly killing itself
Americans are to blame for the country being on the wrong track, he says
Beck says U.S. should glorify its generosity as much as its mistakesBy Glenn Beck
CNN
Editor's note: "Glenn Beck" is on Headline News nightly at 7 and 9 ET.
NEW YORK (CNN) -- My name is Glenn Beck, and I am a recovering alcoholic.
It took me a lot of years and a lot of pain to be able to say those words and really believe them. Along the way, I was arrogant, greedy and self-destructive.
But the worst part was that I didn't see any of it.
Even at the lowest, darkest points of my life, I still thought of myself as that successful guy who everyone loved. I was the life of the party, the guy who could do no wrong -- the guy who everyone else only wished they could be. At least that's what I thought.
Now I know better. People weren't looking at me with envy; they were looking at me with disgust as they watched me throw away everything I had worked so hard for.
I think America can relate.
Through hard work and unwavering principles, America took itself from a far-fetched idea to the greatest, most compassionate, most free country the world has ever known. But as our success has grown, so has our arrogance.
We've compromised our values, sold out our principles and used our freedoms to justify giving more power to the government. In the first century of America's life, its government was afraid of its citizens. Now, it's the other way around.
Maybe America should consider starting on the same kind of 12-step program that's helped millions of other addicts who couldn't see that they were slowly killing themselves. Here's my version of it, condensed to six steps since I know that Americans are way too lazy to stick around for all 12.
Step One: Admit we are not powerless.
Take a look at our Constitution. Not just a transcript; find an actual picture of it. The first three words, "We the People," are at least four times larger than the others. Do you think that was an accident? Of course not. Our framers chose those words, and made them that size, because they knew they were the answer to any problem we would ever face.
Step Two: Believe that a power greater than ourselves can restore us to sanity.
I think this one pretty much speaks for itself.
Step Three: Decide to take our power back.
A recent polls says 81 percent of Americans now say that our country is on the wrong track. If you're one of those people, who do you blame? The Bush administration? Congress? The media?
Here's a crazy idea: How about blaming ourselves?
If you don't like the fact that your city has led the country in poverty and homelessness for the last 10 years, then ELECT SOMEONE NEW. Stop voting for the same people from the same party every year.
Our power hasn't gone away (see Step One), it's just been masked by politicians who are tearing us apart for their own gain. We need to reclaim that power, and then we need to use it.
Step Four: Make a complete and fearless moral inventory.
Alcoholics aren't exactly big fans of introspection and self-examination, but this is one of the most important steps to recovery.
What are America's faults? What are our assets? By taking stock of both, we can start to work on maximizing our strengths and eliminating our weaknesses. It sounds simple, but when's the last time you really thought about what America does right? That brings me to Step Five.
Step Five: Admit our wrongs, and our rights.
We're constantly reminded about America's faults and flaws, but what about our achievements?
If you want to teach our kids about Vietnam, that's fine, but you better also teach them about World War II. And if you want to talk about our wars, you better also talk about our welfare. America is one of the most charitable countries in the history of the world, yet our mistakes are always glorified far more than our generosity. That needs to be reversed.
Step Six: Be ready to remove our defects.
Just like an alcoholic, we simply cannot go from sleeping on the street to perfection overnight. This is a big ship, and it takes a long time to turn it around.
But we have to start somewhere, and the best place is with the defects that almost all of us agree on. For example, does anyone really believe that being addicted to Saudi Arabia's oil is a good idea? What about China owning billions of our debt? Speaking of debt, what about the fact that we've saddled our children with $53 trillion in future Social Security and Medicare obligations?
But before we can address any problems, we have to first admit we have them. Many of us are in denial about just how divided we've become. We think that it's just the election or the war that's tearing us apart, but the truth is, it's much larger than that. We're every bit as arrogant, greedy and self-destructive as I was when I hit bottom.
Fortunately, it's not hopeless. It never is. If a program can work on a rodeo clown like me, it can definitely work for a country as great as ours. But until we're able to stand up and say, "Hello, my name is America and I have a problem," we'll never even have a chance.
The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the writer.
America's 12 Step Program (Glenn Beck)
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RedGlitter
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America's 12 Step Program (Glenn Beck)
What about the other 6 steps? Its an interesting thread I think. I've been looking at the economics over the past few days, and its definetly the case that the US is in deep trouble financially, its the legacy of many things. So here would be some things I think you guys could do over there to make things better.
1. Decouple politics from Big Buisness. Seriously, Wall Street runs your country and owns your politicians, and everything is being done in the very short-term and unquestioned interests of Wall Street and its super-rich, super irresponsible companies, which is why the chickens are coming home to roost horribly, the State owes 52 trillion dollars backed up with securities leveraged on house and land prices, (thats insane, it is going to cripple the country), the average citizen is now hugely in debt, has to work harder for less than their parents, has watched their bosses pay rise in the same time by a factor of thousands of percent, probably owns a massively over-priced house they will struggle to pay back over the length of the mortgage, and can expect little help from the government when the hard times come (which will instead use the citizens' tax money to prop up the bankrupt system that has created a new super elite and also hollowed out US productivity and manufacturing, destroyed job security, and put the same citizens in hock to the Chinese and Japanese for generations). Why has this been allowed to happen? Because the people who sell money and make interest on the payments every month wanted it regardless of the consequences, (and which they are now, of course, seeking to avoid for themselves and their families), and its also why the country has unwisely de-industrialized itself, while turning over its manufacturing base to China and Latin America, and destroyed the long term employment propects of many of its citizens while at the same time creating a class of super billionaires, property moguls, and coportate bankers who are answerable to no one and just don't give a sh*t what happens to the US long term. If the ship sinks those people will be first to the lifeboats, you can be assured of that, unfortunatly most ordinary Americans won't have that luxury.
2. Give up on the oil thing, the age of oil is ending, those countries that don't adapt to that reality are doomed to economic insecurity and growing weakness. There are other ways to power the economy, the sooner you start to adapt to the reality the less pain in the future. The trouble in terms of conflict, the environmental consequences, and the cost economically of persisting in the illusion that oil will be cheap and available forever is too high, its time to start moving on.
3. Re-embrace the value of rationality, science and engineering, dont retreat into mysticism and religiosity, that will not save America, no more than hyper Islam has helped the Middle East. Reform education and the value that society places on technical education in particular, the US was the nation that put a human being on the moon, but its somehow turned into a nation of money counters, armchair generals, economists, and corporate accountants who don't understand the long term value of science and engineering and don't really care because they can't think further than 5 or at best 10 years ahead, once you lose the lead in technology and science its hard to get it back. (At least the US is less short sighted than the UK, which has an even worse policy when it comes to investing in the nation's long term technological and scientific base). Stop pouring all your productive capital into proping up a collapsing bull market in land prices, or bailing out failed private investment banks or venture capital firms, and instead re-invest some in the future prosperity and technical ability of the nation.
4. Re-engage into the rest of the world in a constructive manner using diplomacy as well as the reliance on military and economic dominance, not all the world hates America, not by a long way, if America comes half way on issues like the environment, global trade, the Middle East, Africa, etc etc, you will be surprised how much easier diplomacy would be.
5. Remember what it was all about in the first place, America was founded as a place where the ancient European ideals of a classical Republic based on liberty and democracy, and a polis of property-owning free citizens could thrive without the need for authoritarian governments and kings. To me it seems that business people, corporations, and financial houses have somehow turned themselves into a new American aristocracy gathering all wealth, influence and power unto themselves, and fooling the other 98 percent of the people (whose relative position is in sharp decline) that the crumbs falling off the table are worth having, they are not, its your nation, you the people, its your parents and grandparents work and courage that made America rich and strong, not Merril Lynch, Rupert Murdoch, Donald Trump', IBM, Microsoft, Citibank, Time Warner or Goldman Sachs', stop allowing their sole interests to run your government and take your country back for yourselves.
Its not the government you need protecting from, but those who have bought it (and the country) out from under you, and convinced you somehow that it was a good deal.
1. Decouple politics from Big Buisness. Seriously, Wall Street runs your country and owns your politicians, and everything is being done in the very short-term and unquestioned interests of Wall Street and its super-rich, super irresponsible companies, which is why the chickens are coming home to roost horribly, the State owes 52 trillion dollars backed up with securities leveraged on house and land prices, (thats insane, it is going to cripple the country), the average citizen is now hugely in debt, has to work harder for less than their parents, has watched their bosses pay rise in the same time by a factor of thousands of percent, probably owns a massively over-priced house they will struggle to pay back over the length of the mortgage, and can expect little help from the government when the hard times come (which will instead use the citizens' tax money to prop up the bankrupt system that has created a new super elite and also hollowed out US productivity and manufacturing, destroyed job security, and put the same citizens in hock to the Chinese and Japanese for generations). Why has this been allowed to happen? Because the people who sell money and make interest on the payments every month wanted it regardless of the consequences, (and which they are now, of course, seeking to avoid for themselves and their families), and its also why the country has unwisely de-industrialized itself, while turning over its manufacturing base to China and Latin America, and destroyed the long term employment propects of many of its citizens while at the same time creating a class of super billionaires, property moguls, and coportate bankers who are answerable to no one and just don't give a sh*t what happens to the US long term. If the ship sinks those people will be first to the lifeboats, you can be assured of that, unfortunatly most ordinary Americans won't have that luxury.
2. Give up on the oil thing, the age of oil is ending, those countries that don't adapt to that reality are doomed to economic insecurity and growing weakness. There are other ways to power the economy, the sooner you start to adapt to the reality the less pain in the future. The trouble in terms of conflict, the environmental consequences, and the cost economically of persisting in the illusion that oil will be cheap and available forever is too high, its time to start moving on.
3. Re-embrace the value of rationality, science and engineering, dont retreat into mysticism and religiosity, that will not save America, no more than hyper Islam has helped the Middle East. Reform education and the value that society places on technical education in particular, the US was the nation that put a human being on the moon, but its somehow turned into a nation of money counters, armchair generals, economists, and corporate accountants who don't understand the long term value of science and engineering and don't really care because they can't think further than 5 or at best 10 years ahead, once you lose the lead in technology and science its hard to get it back. (At least the US is less short sighted than the UK, which has an even worse policy when it comes to investing in the nation's long term technological and scientific base). Stop pouring all your productive capital into proping up a collapsing bull market in land prices, or bailing out failed private investment banks or venture capital firms, and instead re-invest some in the future prosperity and technical ability of the nation.
4. Re-engage into the rest of the world in a constructive manner using diplomacy as well as the reliance on military and economic dominance, not all the world hates America, not by a long way, if America comes half way on issues like the environment, global trade, the Middle East, Africa, etc etc, you will be surprised how much easier diplomacy would be.
5. Remember what it was all about in the first place, America was founded as a place where the ancient European ideals of a classical Republic based on liberty and democracy, and a polis of property-owning free citizens could thrive without the need for authoritarian governments and kings. To me it seems that business people, corporations, and financial houses have somehow turned themselves into a new American aristocracy gathering all wealth, influence and power unto themselves, and fooling the other 98 percent of the people (whose relative position is in sharp decline) that the crumbs falling off the table are worth having, they are not, its your nation, you the people, its your parents and grandparents work and courage that made America rich and strong, not Merril Lynch, Rupert Murdoch, Donald Trump', IBM, Microsoft, Citibank, Time Warner or Goldman Sachs', stop allowing their sole interests to run your government and take your country back for yourselves.
Its not the government you need protecting from, but those who have bought it (and the country) out from under you, and convinced you somehow that it was a good deal.
"We are never so happy, never so unhappy, as we imagine"
Le Rochefoucauld.
"A smack in the face settles all arguments, then you can move on kid."
My dad 1986.
Le Rochefoucauld.
"A smack in the face settles all arguments, then you can move on kid."
My dad 1986.
America's 12 Step Program (Glenn Beck)
rjwould;833161 wrote: It's funny that foreigners can see our problems more easily than we can. Most of the American public is so caught up in being right and wrong with each other on trivial issues that our real problems are spinning out of control.
But thats how corporate America likes it. They feed a stream of bullsh!t to our people and convince them those things that the media decides is important is important.
American people don't think much anymore. Instead they repeat what they hear. On so many of the conversation on this forum, much of what I hear is verbatim straight from some news show on the television.Then we get caught up in stories of the kind of who did what to whom.
Thank you, Galbally, your post is thoughtful and intelligent. Too bad however it didn't come from any of us Americans.
RJ, without getting back into it all again. This is what I was on about when I said how different people can be in different countries. And my comment about I may as well moved to China
I never expected some things to be so different.
But thats how corporate America likes it. They feed a stream of bullsh!t to our people and convince them those things that the media decides is important is important.
American people don't think much anymore. Instead they repeat what they hear. On so many of the conversation on this forum, much of what I hear is verbatim straight from some news show on the television.Then we get caught up in stories of the kind of who did what to whom.
Thank you, Galbally, your post is thoughtful and intelligent. Too bad however it didn't come from any of us Americans.
RJ, without getting back into it all again. This is what I was on about when I said how different people can be in different countries. And my comment about I may as well moved to China
I never expected some things to be so different.