Glenn Beck Program, March 4, 2011

Theme for today

• Learning from Past Revolutions.
• There is an in-studio audience today.  It is made up of people who were born in countries other than the U.S. where there have been revolutions, e.g., Russia, Ukraine, Cuba, etc.

The American Revolution

• At the time of the American revolution, only about 25% of the population was in favor of the revolution, about 25% was in favor of remaining British subjects and the balance, about 50%, were ambivalent.
• The Founders worked together even though they did not totally agree.
• 1754 – Founders started talking about self-governing and breaking away.
• 1770 – The British started shooting.
• 1776 – Declaration of Independence
• 1791 – Bill of Rights
• The point here is that a long time passed between the start of the revolution and the concepts became codified into the primary documents.
• Our revolution was successful; many are not.
• Glenn discussed the French revolution and compared it to the American one.
• The French revolution was popular with some here in America.
• Thomas Paine went to France to help out.  He ended up in the Bastille.
• 40,000 people were executed during the French revolution, some just infants.
• It ended in a dictator.
• The American Revolution started with God and the individual.  The French revolution was atheistic and was oriented to the collective.
• The American founders felt that God was essential in society, not so the Franch.
• There are 192 nations in the world. 
• How many nations started as a revolution and continue with it today?
• The answer is one, the United States.
• France has had fifteen different governments in the 235-year history of the U.S.

Guests

• Robert Gellately,
• Author “Lenin, Stalin and Hitler, the Age of Social Catastrophe”,
• http://www.amazon.com/Lenin-Stalin-Hitler-Catastrophe-Vintage/dp/140003213X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1299300035&sr=8-1
• Glenn recommends this book highly.
• Andrew Roberts, by satellite from London,
• Author of “Napoleon and Wellington”
• http://www.amazon.com/Napoleon-Wellington-Battle-Waterloo---Commanders/dp/B0000CAR5W/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1299300199&sr=1-1
• And “The Storm of War”
• http://www.amazon.com/Storm-War-History-Second-World/dp/0061228591/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1299300262&sr=1-1
• David Horowitz,
• Author, “Unholy Alliance, Radical Islam and the American left”
• http://www.amazon.com/Storm-War-History-Second-World/dp/0061228591/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1299300262&sr=1-1

Andrew Roberts

• The French revolution was an atheistic attack on the established order.
• In four years it turned into a bloodbath with people being guillotined for primarily political purposes.
• By 1799 it was taken over by Napoleon to bring about order and stability.
• He ended up a dictator.

Robert Gellately

• The typical model is that revolutions occur, madness happens and then a strong man promising things the people want takes over.
• Once the people decide there should be a revolution, a whole group of new people enter into the process, even some from out of the country.
• Glenn and Robert discussed the Russian revolution and Lenin, who was not in Russia when the Czar was overthrown.

Glenn then asked the audience about their experiences in their country of origin.  Then, with Robert Gellately, they reviewed some of the early experiences of Russia.

• When Lenin arrived in Russia (courtesy of the Germans), he promised the people a number of things, among them land.
• The land was taken from the existing landowners and distributed to the peasants who worked the land.
• Because of the inexperience of the peasants in actually running a farm operation, inflation and other factors, the peasant-run farms could not meet production quotas.
• The lack of production provided an excuse to “collectivize” the farms by the government.

Andrew Roberts

• Glenn asks Andrew if his, Glenn’s, theory that the radicals, Islamic extremists, unions, communists and socialists are cooperating to bring about revolutions all over the place.
• Andrew agrees.
• He also feels that the Muslim Brotherhood is involved in the Egyptian revolution.
• He also does not think that it takes a large number of revolutionaries to carry out a revolution.
• The Bolsheviks in Russia were few in number.
• In Germany, the Fascists in Germany in 1933 were only about 3.3% of the population.
• He noted that the Fascists and the communists hated each other, but both worked to bring down the Weimar Republic.

David Horowitz

• The socialists and radicals took over the AFL-CIO years ago.
• Public sector unions are being run by 1960s radicals.
• They are the most left wing unions in the country.

One Thing

Glenn asked the guests to name one thing that Americans should do going forward.

• Robert Gellately – Watch out for civil and legal rights.  The first thing dictators get rid of are these.
• Andrew Roberts – Stick to your constitution.
• David Horowitz – Honor the First Amendment.  It is under assault internationally by Islamic extremists and nationally via political correctness.