MLK had a dream, Beck is a nightmare

On Saturday, Aug. 28, Fox News commentator, Glenn Beck, hosted a rally on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. This date just so happened to be the 47th anniversary of Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" speech.

Beck and company touted the rally as a heartfelt and sincere effort to get America back to its core values. But it does beg the question, what exactly is it about America that needs to be restored?

Beck, who often takes an overzealous approach when disclosing his right wing beliefs and "patriotic" ideology, is never one to steer clear of controversy. Beck has been very vocal in his opposition to illegal immigration and his belief that the president is racist towards white people. This seems a bit hard to believe, however, given that his white mother and grandmother raised Obama.

In true Glenn Beck fashion, it seems that this "Restoring Honor" rally was nothing more than another platform from which to brainwash Americans into believing their country is in a perilous state of turmoil.

During Beck's address, some of his key points included statements such as, "We are a country that is headed toward socialism, totalitarianism, beyond your wildest imagination," and my personal favorite, "The president is a Marxist... who is setting up a class system."

While Beck made many bold claims throughout his speech, the conservative broadcaster offered little to no evidence to support his accusations.

Attendance estimates were widely varied, ranging from an underwhelming 87,000 to well over 600,000, depending on the source. Fox, Beck's employer, provided the most comprehensive media coverage of the event.

Personally, I found this rally to be extremely offensive. Merely the title, "Restoring Honor to America", is a direct blow to the Obama administration. In such a historic time we should be embracing the direction America is headed in, rather than attempting to undermine it. It seems the only thing that Beck is attempting to restore is white supremacy.

The fact that this rally was held on the anniversary of MLK's most notable speech means absolutely nothing to Beck, because as he himself stated, "I had no idea August 28 was the day of the MLK speech when we booked it... I'm sorry, media, that I forgot the, oh, so important detail of the date."

Really it should come as no surprise that Glenn Beck is oblivious to the one of the most important moments in the history of the civil rights movement.

Gun-slinging hockey mom, 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate and former Alaska governor, Sarah Palin also attended the rally and offered up a few more of her wise words, stating, "We are locked and loaded, ready to take our country back."

But who are we? And take our country back from what exactly?

The fact is that Palin and Beck represent a small minority on the far right and have aligned themselves with conservative fringe groups and like-minded tea-baggers.

Beck, Palin and the Tea Party of which they embrace, represent the archaic ideals of old, white America. They are a throwback to a time when white men ruled the land while women and people of different ethnic backgrounds were kept in the shadows.

Plain and simple, Beck's rally was a malicious attempt to scare America into submission. It was a spectacle of rambling contradictions and ignorance. Entertaining yes, informative no.