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

Very informative, easy read. Beck provides ample references supporting his somewhat disconcerting claims. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and fully agree with the premise that it is time for a return to common sense. It is time for "we the people" to demand it.

If you are an American who feels in your gut that something is wrong in our country, but you can't quite put your finger on it, and you want to make sense out of your 'gut feelings', then this book is where to start your journey of discovery. It's easy to read, easy to understand, written using layman's terms, and has a listing of sources, should you choose to follow-up on anything contained within it's pages. This book is non-partisan, it was written for all Americans, no matter their political inclination.

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.

Glenn Beck is at the forefront of the Republican purity purge. He's constantly denouncing this or that GOP politician for deviations from his ideological line. Recently, he extended this into the past, attacking Teddy Roosevelt as a RINO because he once made an inoccuous comment about being in favor of wealth as long as it was acquired by means that weren't socially destructive (apparently Beck is in favor of socially destructive behaviour as long as it produces wealth for someone).

And yet, he's done the reverse here: he's tried to claim an icon of the Left as being on HIS side. Tom Paine, whose objection to onerous taxes was a) that the burden fell too heavily on the poor (so he proposed hiking taxes on the rich, including a top land tax of 100%) and b) that it was spent on court placeholders and the war machine instead of being used to help the unfortunate ("defense", meaning offense, is the one area Beck WOULDN'T cut if he were in power). Paine practically _invented_ the redistributive purpose which is precisely what Beck and his ilk hate so much about tax.

The Beckbots lap this stuff up. They've never read any Tom Paine: they've been told about Common Sense by someone who didn't understand it, and they don't know that he wrote anything else. Even the First Part of The Rights of Man would probably be too egalitarian for them; if they ever read Part Two (OMG socialism!), or The Age of Reason (ZOMG atheism!), let alone Agrarian Justice (OMFG communism!), their heads would explode. One might think that, once Mr Beck had told them the name, they'd at least look it up on Wikipedia. Do they have no curiosity at all? Are they actively afraid of learning anything?

The Right can't have Thomas Paine, Mr Beck. You might as well try to claim Karl Marx.

Common Sense is a very timely book which high lights so much of what is wrong with our government. Our founding fathers gave us a perfect blue print for our nation's government, based on freedom, liberty, and a limited Federal government. This book is a modern-day version of Thomas Paine's book, which inspired so many to fight the revolutionary war. Kudos to Glenn Beck on a excellent book, with an easy to read format.