What Does the Glenn Beck Rally Tell Us?

Estimates range between 100,000 and 500,000 people in attendance for the "Restoring Honor" rally promoted by radio and TV host Glenn Beck.  While Beck proclaimed the rally to be non-political in nature, it clearly demonstrates the unrest that exists across America.

Thousands of people carried American flags and "Don't Tread on Me Flags" commonly seen at Tea Party rallies to signify the connection of the ideas of the Tea Party Patriots to those of the American Revolution.

Beck's rally undoubtedly demonstrates the power of a significant voting block looking for less government which expanded incredibly under both Obama and Bush.  The US is now running deficits in the trillions of dollars with no apparent desire by Congress or the White House to significantly reduce government spending.

From the breadth of voter disenchantment, a credible case can be made that President Obama has governed against the will of the people.  This Democrat controlled congress (since 2006) has been an accomplice to Obama's massive expansion of government and anti-business initiatives which have exacerbated unemployment and economic uncertainty at home while projecting weakness and appeasement abroad.

The AP reports: "The Beck rally further demonstrated the tea party activists' growing political clout. If the GOP is able to contain and cooperate with the tea party, and recharge its evangelical wing with Beck-style talk of faith, it spells the kind of change Ratliff and others like him are searching for."

The other issue in American politics is the disastrous leadership, or lack thereof, in the Republican Party.  I have no idea what Mitch McConnell or John Boehner stand for or wish to accomplish should they take control of the Senate or the House.  They have provided no rallying cry, no central issue, and no plan of what they hope to accomplish if they are entrusted with privilege of power over the House and/or Senate.

New Gingrich, in 1994, provided such a platform that voters could decide upon: the Contract With America.  No such plan exists now.  There is a tremendous lack of leadership within the GOP and if they do not get their act together, the Tea Party will replace the GOP as the party of conservatism.

The GOP needs a new Reagan, and more Gingrich's, Cantor's, Mitch Daniel's, and others who are not blue-blood Republicans, but conservatives with a commitment to America's founding principles, the Constitution, and the ideas of Madison, Adams, Jefferson, Lincoln, Friedman and Hayek.

Beck's rally should be a wake up call for Democrats and Republicans as to what the American people are looking for from Washington.  It may boil down simply to there being less influence and power from Washington that is felt across the nation.