What Does Glenn Beck, Doug Hoffman, Obama, And The Conservative Party Have In Common? Volunteerism.

Glenn Beck has mocked Obama's call for increased volunteerism, comparing such requests of the American populace to Chairman Mao's China, and presumably such atrocities as the Great Leap Forward.  Glenn Beck has gone as far as to say that Obama supporting volunteerism is a conspiracy between the administration and Hollywood to control our lives.  Here is what he has said about it on his show:

Celebrities are coming together to make it cool to volunteer. Disney gives you a free day at the park. This is all fine, but doesn't it seem a little bit convenient that all of this comes out now at the same time the Obama administration is calling for it? Obama controls the message through the media he holds in his pocket. Or in his little hand. And soon if you disobey, he'll just go [Beck slaps his hand]. Now the message will be embedded in television shows. Isn't this great? Aren't you proud of what we're doing? Oh, this certainly is change.

Glenn Beck fears that the administration is colluding with Hollywood to push it's agenda of service, but for one benefit?  For the fear that the government will use your volunteering as a method of controlling your life?  Why do I find this interesting?  I have been recently writing about the race in New York's 23rd Congressional District between Democrat Bill Owens, Republican Dede Scozzafava, and Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman.  I have focused on the divisions in the GOP that have spurred Hoffman to run and have not been surprised that his decision to run has essentially given the future victory to the Democrats, although to be fair, he has called for the Republican candidate to withdraw from the race for a true conservative to win, but what does this have to do with volunteering?

According to the tenets of the Conservative Party, the party of Doug Hoffman, it appears that the Conservative Party shares one thing in common with Obama, and that is the desire to build better communities to help strengthen society, and one way of doing so is by volunteering.  Tenet number four states the following:

4.  Citizens have a contract with the past, the present and the future to:
a. Preserve the best of our ancestors and change only that which leads to a
better civil and social existence.
b. Voluntarily assist those less prosperous.
c. Conserve natural resources for our posterity

It sounds pretty clear.  Glenn Beck refers to the Scozzafava as an Obama-lite candidate.  On the Glenn Beck program, Beck made sure to reference ACORN while discussing Scozzafava, evoking their sex trade tax evasion schemes (which were never acted upon and were co-conspired by conservative activists James O'Keefe and Hannah Giles), while simultaneously endorsing Hoffman, claiming he is a true conservative, but what true conservative would allow Obama to take over the United States with volunteering?  Beck does not like when Democrats support volunteerism, but if that candidate is a Conservative Party candidate, then it must be okay, or maybe they are volunteering at a church or faith based organization that shares GOP ideology.  Tenet number eight of the Conservative Party even goes on to state that "conservatives believe that success is to be shared in a voluntary manner with poor and less fortunate."  This is another example of Glenn Beck being a hypocrite.  Obama was not creating a government intrusion forcing volunteerism, but simply promoted it, much like the Conservative Party has.  I had mentioned Beck's hypocrisy before, referencing his own book, Common Sense, quoting from his section titled "Enemies Within: Tread Carefully":

Being honest about your principles means that there can be a real debate on the issues, with the chance of real progress being made.  It's not just the political class who has mastered the art of deception.  There are other potentially deadly masters who will seek to exploit your frustration and sense of desperation.  Many will warn you of government tyranny; they'll talk of secret societies, vast conspiracies, shadow governments, and the need for violent action.  I urge you to stay away from these individuals and those ideas.  There is no "star chamber" that needs to be found and destroyed, and there is no global conspiracy playing out.  The individuals and groups that propagate those lies have their own agendas, but, like all radicals and revolutionaries, they will eventually seek to impose their rules and lifestyle on all of us.

This is Beck's exact modus operandi.  He warns of a secret government plot that only he can see and true conservatives could stop, but it is interesting that when he supports such true conservative, the party platform contains elements of the exact same thing that he preaches against.  Consider that same tenet I posted above; it also states that "citizens have a contract with the past, the present and the future to... conserve natural resources for our posterity," yet he actively attacked Van Jones, who was the Special Advisor for Green Jobs, Enterprise, and Innovation for the White House Council for Environmental Quality, until he resigned after repeated attacks from not only Glenn Beck, but the rest of Fox News and conservative media.  Glenn Beck has repeatedly mocked environmentalism and actively questioned global warming, even mentioning such in his book An Inconvenient Book, with the first chapter titled "Global Warming, Storming, And Conforming", in which he states he wrote to combat your "Gore-worshipping psycho friends," and promoted John Coleman's statements, founder of The Weather Channel, for stating that global warming is the "greatest scam in history."

The other question I have about the Conservative Party is their third tenet, which states that "government’s role is to make life tolerable and to allow citizens to achieve their best".  I have always been curious about vague phrasings such as this one.  Would universal health "make life tolerable" so that citizens could "achieve their best"?  It would not be a redistribution of wealth, and it would not guarantee steady economic betterment, which their third tenet describes as not a right, which I agree, but it seems to me that the Conservative Party seems to stand in the way of establishing a system that ensures the well being of everybody.

Tenet number seven states "the Federal government has reduced the citizens responsibility in life by overextending its participation in education, economics, food and housing."  This is interesting because when President Obama was to deliver his speech to children across the nation about personal responsibility and studying hard, the right threw a tantrum claiming indoctrination.

If you like to discuss modern conservatism, I assume you must also look at the gay issue, as well as abortion.  Dede Scozzafava has been shunned by the fringe groups of the GOP because she not only supports gay and lesbian marriage, but abortion as well, which are left leaning issues that are destructive to family and morality.  In contrast, Hoffman is a good little Christian who despises equal rights for homosexuals, although I would have to agree in pro-life legislation (minus the religious implications) because I assess abortion as not only a violation against the sanctity of life, but as a somewhat social cop out, which discourages personal responsibility.  Regardless of whether or not you agree with abortion matters or homosexual marriage, the fact of the matter is that conservatives don't mind government intrusion, just so long as it supports their religious agenda, which I had written about previously.  Allow the government to provide health care? No.  Allow the government to deny marriage? Yes.

Glenn Beck's support of this candidate is ridiculous, but not as ridiculous as the candidate himself, who is an example of the fringe elements of the GOP.  This election is a perfect demonstration of the divisions present in the Republican Party and will show the staying power of the Tea Party movement is not very strong, but I assume the Republican Party's upper echelon will continue to embrace their part in the continuing attack against the president and his administration.  To quote the Arabian proverb, "the enemy of my enemy is my friend."  The only problem with this is that once your enemy is gone, you are still left with your enemy's enemy, which may or may not continue to be your friend, and by the looks of it, considering New Yorks 23rd, I would warn the GOP to be careful of who they associate with.