Conspiracy

I read an interesting post on "Main Street Plaza" this morning. It actually pointed to an article on Salon.com about links between Glenn Beck and a gentleman by the name of W. Cleon Skousen, in who Beck appears to have found a role model.

The Main Street Plaza post is here.

The Salon.com article is here.

Now admittedly I believe Salon.com has a definite left slant, so bear that in mind as you read, but even so I think the article raises some important points. One quote I found particularly interesting was this one, surrounding then end of Skousen's reign as Chief of Police in Salt Lake City.

The city's ultraconservative mayor, J. Bracken Lee, fired him in 1960 for excessive zeal in raiding private clubs where the Mormon elite enjoyed their cards. "Skousen conducted his office as Chief of Police in exactly the same manner in which the Communists operate their government," Lee wrote to a friend explaining his firing of Skousen. "The man is a master of half-truths. In at least three instances I have proven him to be a liar. He is a very dangerous man [and] one of the greatest spenders of public funds of anyone who ever served in any capacity in Salt Lake City government."

The final part, referring to Skousen as the "greatest spender of public funds" I thought was particularly interesting. Unfortunately that seems to be the way with men who are outspoken about government spending - when they get in office, they spend money like crack whores. Regan increased government spending by 25% during his term, as did George W. Bush (Ironically touted as being Regan-esqe by Conservatives prior to his election!!), more than any other president in recent history.

As I read through the article, there were actually a couple of things which I found myself agreeing with Skousen. Chief among those is that there are forces in play which the general populace has little to no knowledge about. I'm going to blog more about them in the future, when the time is right. Sadly, as much attention as Beck and Skousen call to these forces, I feel they themselves are part of them as well.

It's a lot like when you catch your kids doing something wrong, and their primary defense is to point out that the sibling was doing it as well.