Anna M. Tinsley, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Texas –
ARLINGTON — Glenn Beck wanted to focus on one message Saturday night: It’s time to restore love.
Speaking before tens of thousands of people who packed into Cowboys Stadium, the conservative radio and TV host said it’s time “to love each other.”
“Here we are … to restore our purpose as a nation, to remember who we are as Americans,” Beck said. “America is great because America is good.
“We don’t need anybody to tell us all about charity,” he said. “We will let people know all over the world that we will be their shelter from the storm. … They are not alone.”
Beck talked about faith, love and country during a two-hour event that was billed as the “largest gathering of Patriots” and was filled with prayer, music and speeches. Organizers said more than 40,000 tickets were sold.
“It’s a night to love each other,” Beck said. “It’s a night to celebrate you.”
Beck told the crowd – many wearing red, white and blue – that throughout history, the nation has come to the edge of a cliff.
But he said that time and again, Americans choose good over bad to put the country back on course.
“History is not all about the good stuff. You have to have the bad stuff as well,” he said. “Otherwise, you miss the glorious stuff.”
He cited leaders such as George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, who he said helped steer the country in the right direction.
“America’s never ever been a perfect nation,” Beck said. “We’re not perfect. We’re never finished. It’s always getting better.”
But now, he said, it’s time for Americans to once and for all learn from the past.
“America has got to stop picking at the scabs,” he said. “We have to let [the past] heal.
“We can’t keep fighting the same wars over and over again. It’s time for us to move forward. It’s time for us to stand for what we believe in.”
Throughout the program, Beck showed a number of historically important artifacts, from a helmet Dwight D. Eisenhower wore, to a model of the Liberty Bell. These items, he said, are important because they show that people fought for what they believed in.
“Freedom belongs to all mankind,” he said. “There has to be a country that will stand up for other counties and everybody’s freedom when no one else will. Someone else has to do the job.
“The world expects us again to be the shining city on the hill,” he said. “That is a great blessing but it is a profound responsibility. The world still looks to us; the shining city is still ours to build.”
Differing opinions
Before the event, thousands of people gathered outside the stadium.
At one point, former GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum left the stadium, on his way to a car in the parking lot. More than a dozen people saw him, shook his hand and posed for pictures.
“2016, 2016,” a small group of supporters chanted, referring to that presidential election.
Nearby, a group of about a dozen people showed up with signs that read, “Westboro/Beck. I can’t decide who is worse,” “Open your mind/Open your heart,” and “Wanna make love” – to counterprotest a planned Westboro Baptist Church protest.
Marianne Brown, 19, who just graduated from Arlington High School, said she wanted to make a statement. “I want to be a presence of love, not hate,” she said.
Members of the Westboro church, a controversial group know for protesting at military funerals, put a statement on their website saying they would protest the event because “Beck despises God.”
The statement said they wanted to warn people to leave “lest you should become a partaker of Glenn Beck’s sin.”
“Way of life”
Joe Colombaro, 43, was among those who traveled long distances to Saturday night’s event.
He, his father and son drove 22 hours from Delaware.
Colombaro, a consultant in the auto industry who carries a copy of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution with him, said this was an event he just couldn’t miss.
“We want to be part of something that is history-making in taking back our country,” he said.
He said Beck is delivering a message of unity. “This is a way of life. If you want to live free, you need to fight for it,” he said.
In 2010, Beck hosted a “Restoring Honor” rally in Washington, where he and others in the Tea Party movement called on people to focus on the country’s strengths.
“Today,” he said, “we are going to concentrate on the good things in America, the things that we have accomplished – and the things that we can do tomorrow.”
He also held a “Restoring Courage” event in Jerusalem last year.
This year, his goal was to bring thousands of people to North Texas, his new home base, to work on community service.
He said Saturday’s event was intended to remind people that they best serve God when they serve one another. The community service included sending out trucks of food to 25 cities experiencing tough times.
“It is time to de-emphasize the political solution and first demand real change in ourselves,” Beck said in a statement before the event.
