Glenn Beck's Common Sense: The Case Against an Out-of-Control Government, Inspired by Thomas Paine

I like to think of myself as an independent thinker. This book does a great job of breaking down some pretty big problems with government and society. If you are a parent or younger than 40, I finished the book with a bit of different perspective. I actually am not a fan of Mr. Beck, never seen his show. However he does seem to make some very valid points, especially about the economic troubles facing our nation. So, it's a fast read and if you are open minded, it's interesting and does make common sense.

Having never read any of Mr. Beck's books before I did not know what I was in for. It was not what I expected it to be. I found the book to be largely nonpartisan, as Mr. Beck thinks the Democrats and the Republicans are obstacles to his Libertarian philosophies.
Beck is not a great writer, he is an average one, and I get the sense he is okay with that. This is not a text written on an inaccessible, philosophic level, and unlike some reviewers, I don't see that as a bad thing. It allows readers of different talents and abilities to participate in the debate he is engendering.
I follow politics closely, and Beck was still able to come up with some details and facts that I knew little or nothing about. The book is also well sourced, which is an asset. You can't say some of his arguments are wrong when he presents the proof.
The inclusion of Thomas Paine's "Common Sense" at the end of this text is this book's real strength. If I had ever read all of it before, I don't remember, and the ideas expressed by that great American over two centuries ago have some profound things to say to us yet. The prescience of "Common Sense" today is truly astounding. There are parts of it that could have been accurately written about this country yesterday. Regardless of your political stripes, you should be able to see the value and wisdom in Mr. Paine's "little pamphlet". If you don't, you are too far gone.

I've read Paine's work. The version of Paine provided by Beck and his friends is not the real thing. Beck's beliefs not only have little to do with Paine; they are in many respects the exact of opposite of Paine's beliefs. Paine was an opponent of revealed religion (Christianity is a revealed religion). He advocated redistribution of wealth, and he regarded private ownership of land as an abomination. He believed that children should receive a government stipend funded by taxes. And he believed that all adult men should receive quite a large stipend funded from taxes--to compensate for the fact that the wealthy owned so much land. I encourage others to read Paine's writings and perhaps to read Eric Foner's Tom Paine and Revolutionary America. He is a great radical, not a petty reactionary.

As a fan on Thomas Paine (especially Common Sense and Age of Reason), I was very much excited to read Beck's book. After the first few chapters, I realized there is almost NO connection at all to Paine's work. It seems that it is more of marketing ploy to attach one's name to Paine and use a famous title of Paine's work that inspired a nation, to generate book sales. That initial frustration got me off to a bad start. That is of course in no way reflects Beck's view or his writing. However, I was "fooled" thinking this was a revisit of that classic work "Common Sense" to modern times. Unfortunately the book, other than title, has little if any connection to Paine's work.

Ironically - for those unfamiliar to Paine's work, but a fan of Becks - I wonder how they would find Paine's "Age of Reason" - it would almost stand to reason that he would lose half (if not more) of his supporters if he visited "Age of Reason" - he might even lose his show on Fox. Note any reference to that work is completely devoid in this book (which is a shame - if it where REALLY a tribute or inspiration of Paine - which I begin to wonder.)

However, are we to judge or compare Paine to Beck? Of course not and this certainly is NOT even close to measuring up to any of Paine's works. But the question is it worth the read?

Beck's writing is very weak and many cases repetitive. Not able to grasp tangible arguments he sometimes ventures down ad hominem methods - which lower the value of his arguments. It is important to note that regardless if I agree or disagree with some of this points, his methods and suspicions are conjecture and rudimentary. The connections to past affiliations can lead to suspicion, but certainly does not make the case. It's is logical in approach, but fails in Reason - and that is probably the greatest flaw in Beck's work (as compared to Paine).

Paine used "reason", not just logic to forward his view and arguments, Beck falls flat in this regard. Beck's approach is simple (and I hate to say, but kindergarten) logic. If X is Y, and Y is Z, then Z must be X. On the surface you can make some very stunning conclusions, but the logic is flawed by reason - (unfortunately).

I say unfortunately because Beck has some important points to make and does bring dialogue to the table as per the state of our federal government. This is an important debate as to where we are going, what our future holds, what is the role of the government. However, his ability to string a fluid thought process together with not just logic, but also reason, in order to give weight to his message fails. It is geared way below the bar and is so embarrassingly written for such an important topic that he does his view a disservice.

Beck's problem is not his message, it's his delivery. It reads poorly and a ranting narrative trying to connect minutia based on logic. It most certainly will charge both the left and right (just like his show), but don't expect intelligent debate.

5 stars for a rehash of Beck's message, introducing people to a great and important work (Common Sense). If you love his delivery and his message - then by all means - purchase this book.

1 star for offering any intelligent debate that goes beyond a basic dot-to-dot connection on some frivolous examples. I really wanted this to be an inspirational book, but it significantly falls flat. Unfortunatly it reads as if the town jester is giving an inspiring message.

-5 (that's negative) stars - for making any connection to one of the most important works in U.S. political history, "Common Sense". I would suggest reading "Common Sense", "Age of Reason", "Federalist Papers", and "Anti-Federalist Papers" - to see not only how logic and reason collectively work together, but to gain insight as to what Beck is TRYING to accomplish in this very rudimentary work. At the very least he brings awarness.

The book should be called "Beck's Sense" (logic without reason)

This great quote by Paine explains why the book fails to deliver its important message:
"The most formidable weapon against errors of every kind is Reason. I have never used any other, and I trust I never shall."

Reviewers Politics: Libertarian/ Laissez Faire

Hard to argue with Glenn's logic. Very easy to read and understand. A few of Glenn's observations:
Tax code has expanded from 13 pages to over 64,000 pages.
Congress continues to pass laws that apply to others but not Congress.
Washington thinks they know what's best for you instead of letting you decide what is best for you.
Congress bounced over 3,000 checks but no criminal prosecutions of members of Congress.
Congress continues to say one thing and do another.

For obvious reasons, this book deserves your attention and I'll be passing along my copy to family soon.

FYI - I read my copy 2x!

Glenn Beck piggybacks on a famous pamphlet ("Common Sense" by Thomas Paine) in order to inspire like minded folks to action. This book is part of his successful 9/12 project and details 9 principles and 12 values and further reading that Beck feels would put America "back on course." (p.110)

Beck's book is intended to be a primer for those new to politics. For those of us who have been paying attention all along, there is little new here but it can be interesting reading just to see what Beck focuses on and how he states his positions.

Many of his points should be alarming to all Americans, including:

a) an out of control national debt (he rips on Bush and Obama with equal venom), a tax code that seems designed to dole out favors to political supporters rather than raise revenue (especially good on pages 39-41);

b) a Congress that exempts itself from its own workplace laws (p. 48);

c) gerrymandered districts that guarantee that there'll be little competition in the general elections (pp. 50-6);

d) the abuse of Eminent Domain (pp. 81-2).

What Beck cannot equal is the carefully-worded, powerful rhetoric of Paine ("These are the times that try men's souls..."). Beck's concerns about the International Rights of the Child treaty and the Americorps program are so weak when compared to the other issues that Beck's texts sort of tapers off to a grumpy monologue rather than rallying the troops with wonderful logic and thundering words like Paine's "Common Sense" did.

If you are interested in skipping Beck's comments completely and just want to know more about the original "Common Sense" I recommend 46 Pages by Scott Liell.

I agree with the basic libertarian message of this book and I do enjoy the current information he provides on how politicians are basically ruining our nation with their pork spending and SELF entitlement programs. But Revolution by Ron Paul achieves the same in a much more sophisticated and aggressive manner.

I do believe that Beck's pacifist spin at the beginning of the book is also a bit too much (he doesn't need to convince everyone about his good intentions, since ANY book can theoretical incite violence and you would have a right to write it anyway in a 'free country').

If we should see it as a manifesto that somehow compares to the original one from Thomas Paine (Beck's laudable intention), it indeed falls a short (which I bet that he honestly can admit).

Nonetheless, I WHOLEHEARTEDLY agree with the intention of the book, and if you are new to political thought and are just finding out that all governments are sleazy (wow if you do!), then this work is for you. If you are, on the other hand, a seasoned student of political theory, and have also a copy of Revolution by Ron Paul (which is also a very basic book but much better), then you can skip Beck and still fight for the same principles (with a bit more information).

In the end, I do hope this book continues on the top, since the basic ideals of Beck are better than the ones any politicians advocates in Washington.

In his new book, "Glenn Beck's Common Sense, The Case Against an Out-of-Control Government, Inspired by Thomas Paine, by Glenn Beck with Joseph Kerry, Mr. Beck chooses as a rallying cry the thoughts of some or our greatest founding fathers and the best political thinkers of all time -- at least with regard to the appropriate governance of a republic. If you are alive in the US today the rallying cry that our Government has failed us is an easy criticism to make. Taking to the streets as interested citizens and banding together for the common good as political advocates for change should resonate with everyone.

Yet Beck doesn't write for everyone though he could have. Take for example his opening line, "I think I know who you are". He goes on to list about 32 characteristics of a person in the general population who is upset and would like to see political change. I counted about 32 characteristics of this person and found I have only eight. That's about 25% percent. So Mr. Beck doesn't know me as well as he thinks he does. That's a problem, but not a big problem, because one my characteristics, one he does not mention, is the ability to hold, as F. Scott Fitzgerald has said, "...two opposing ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function." So I continued to read. Whereas he did not win me at hello, and he lost me occasionally at places where, for instance, he says in the context that our Social Security and Medicare obligations are upside down that, "...you many want to rethink your current family situation and have more kids." A stultifying statement if he seriously believes it. Yet I read on.

His agenda, tired and well trod, includes bashing any claim that climate change is actually occurring , standing up for our right to own handguns, and railing against the cancer, as he call it, of progressivism. Yet somehow, deep within the bowels of the book, not too deep it's only about a hundred pages long, and I can tell you specifically, "Chapter IV, the Perks and Privileges of the Political Class", he hits pay dirt. He's got about 15 pages of money here, no pun intended.

So in a book where he's got me pegged about 25% he's got a chapter with 100% of what I think. In addition he's got it right with regard to our two political parties not giving us sufficient options to truly be governed by ourselves. His call for change here is highly appropriate. But since all of these book reviews are more about politics and less about the particular book, I will close with a counter quote to his call to revolution, even a revolution of ideas, "that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom; and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth" as a chilling reminder of what happens when we cannot reach a solution. The source of this quote is left to the reader.

Glenn is 'Right-On' when it comes to our federally elected lawmakers and many of their appointed cronies. He falls a little short organizing or suggesting appropriate action(s) voters might rally around to clean up, or clean out, everything he finds destructive within our political process. Surely this creative and popular American could do more to suggest equal amounts of solution to each of his criticisms.

Don Quigg - author: Runaway Debt, Flat Taxes & Voter Apathy - A Troubling Mix ISBN: Runaway Debt, Flat Taxes & Voter Apathy

This is a quick review of the politics of today. It reveals the flaws of both Democrat and Republican policies. If you watch Glen Beck you probably already know most of this. I recommend reading John Keane's book "Tom Paine a political life" which is a biography of the original writer of the pamphlet "Common Sense" and tells of his critics and the struggles he endured with the politics of the time -- some similarities to today's struggles.