Beck - The Real America: Messages from the Heart and Heartland

THERE ARE THINGS PEOPLE THINK BUT DONT SAY ABOUT

Political Correctness

Its the classic Great Idea Gone Wrong. All its done is shut us up. It hasnt changed anybodys mind. It hasnt changed our hearts. Its changed our faces. Its taken every opinion we have, its taken every joke we have, and its forced us to conceal it and hide it and bury it. Its made us superficial.

Terror

Terrorism isnt caused by poverty, poverty is caused by terrorism. Terror is a tool used by those seeking power to keep the masses in need of an answer.

Responsibility

Too many people blame everything on everybody else, and because they do, they will expect too little from themselves and too little from their children.

Celebrities

To understand my true feelings for Barbra Streisand, you first have to understand that I hate cats. Not only the Broadway show Cats, but the animals themselves. That said, I would rather live in a world inhabited by nothing but catswith the entire population standing on my kitchen counter forcing me to listen to their screeching version of Memorythan listen to five minutes of anything that spills out of Barbra Streisands mouth.

GLENN BECK SAYS ALL THAT, AND MORE.

Messages
from the Heart
and Heartland

GLENN BECK

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POCKET BOOKS, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc. 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
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Copyright 2003 by Glenn Beck

Afterword copyright 2005 by Glenn Beck

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever.

For information address Pocket Books, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020

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Manufactured in the United States of America

For my Dad, my best friend and trusted teacher

CHAPTER 1
The Real Americans and the Real America

CHAPTER 2
The Great American Lottery and the Decline of Personal Responsibility

CHAPTER 3
Celebrities in America

CHAPTER 4
Everything You Need to Know About Partisan Politics

CHAPTER 5
Hitler and Jesus Had One Thing in Common

CHAPTER 6
The Enemy Within

CHAPTER 7
Jesse Jackson Is Yasser Arafat

CHAPTER 8
Tolerance

CHAPTER 9
Business: The Engine of America

CHAPTER 10
Glenn Beck: Behind the Music

CHAPTER 11
The Flame That Burns in the Real America

The Fusion of Entertainment and Enlightenment

This truly is the land of opportunity, because if I can write a book, have a major company publish it and people like you actually want to buy it, then anyone can.

It took me a long time to get a radio station to pick up my show, because they didnt understand it. It didnt fit neatly into a little box. I dont talk exclusively about politics. I dont speak exclusively about morality. I dont exclusively screw around. Im not Howard Stern, Dr. Laura or Rush Limbaugh (first of all, those people earn a lot more money). I tell new listeners that it will take them at least six or eight weeks before they get over their white-hot hatred of the showand it may take you two hundred pages to get over your hatred of this book. Why?

Because it doesnt belong in the politics, business, comedy, self-help or spirituality sections.

It does belong on your coffee table, nightstand, bookcase or underneath the short leg of the couch. In fact, the capitalist in me wants you to buy enough copies to build a couch.

The concept is the same as on the show: I dont think people are one-dimensional. This book should feel like Thanksgiving dinner at your house. Youll talk about politics, life and love. Youll think, laugh and argue. Youll look back with fondness and look ahead with optimism. We all feel a wide range of emotions, and as a borderline schizophrenic, I assure you my range is wider than it should be.

This book is about real life, real people and the real America.

In my faith we have temples, and they are kept spotless and clean. The only place more sacred than the temple is your own home, and your home is to be kept just as clean and in order. Now, I dont mean, Get out the vacuum, kids! clean. I mean the kind of clean that keeps something sacred.

In the Real America, the most sacred place on earth is your home, and your home is a refuge. Its a shelter. In the Real America your home is the center of your universe and the center of your home is the dinner table, the most important piece of furniture you have. It doesnt have to be fancyit just has to be comfortable, so that everybody likes to be in that room and around that table.

In the Real America we will all be very busyjust as we are nowbut well also be busy doing other peoples work, not just our own. Well be busy helping peopleand that doesnt have to mean strangers. That also means well help our kids, well spend time listening to them, talking to themjust being with them.

In the Real America, we count on the members of our extended family. Our families provide us with an endless supply of hope, love and joy. It doesnt necessarily always happen now, but in the Real America, our greatest support will come from the family and our extended families.

In the Real America, I will be able to change. I will know I can conquer my past and be the person I want to be. We can become better people, and our families will continue to give us support.

In todays America you can do this, but many of us no longer believe its possible. Ten years ago I was a bitter, hopeless alcoholic who hated people. In a few short years filled with difficulty, but mainly joy, I changed. I am happy now, hopeful, sober, and I only dislike people for really valid reasons. This book is not a self-help book, but by the end of it you will, once again, believe that you can change the world, your business, your family and yourself.

I have found there are four steps to change:

1. You must want it.
2. You must believe it.
3. You must live it.
4. You will become it.

If you read on from here you already want it. Over the coming pages we will focus on the second point. Not only will you believe in the Real America, you will believe that we deserve it and that we can achieve it.

The United States is still a capitalist society, but capitalism in the Real America will be an enlightened way to wealth. Sure, some people will always try to make a buck by squeezing the little people, but in the Real America, Ill be able to make more moneyIll be able to make more of a profitby treating employees with dignity and giving them access to non-governmental health care and paying them what they deserve. In the Real America, the employee will be a partner and well all enrich one another.

In the Real America our current plastic politicians will be replaced by the more genuine, lifelike and human robots in Disneys Hall of Presidents. Actually, partisan politics is a tough topic to tackle, but we will, starting with chapter 4Everything You Need to Know About Partisan Politics.