Conservative broadcaster Glenn Beck says that Americans should “open our hearts” to the plight of the thousands of children who have streamed across our southern border. “Through no fault of their own, they are caught in a political crossfire,” he declared.
Beck promised that he will continue to demand that Washington change its policies and stop this illegal invasion. But at the same time, he will also lead charitable efforts to provide aid to the children who have made it to our shores. “While we continue to put pressure on Washington [to] change its course of lawlessness,” he said, “we must also help. It is not either/or, it is both.”
The conservative commentator said that Mercury One, the charitable organization he founded, is taking truckloads of food and water to McAllen, Texas, where many of the illegal aliens have been housed. The charitable mission will provide hot meals for 3,000 people, along with some recreational items. “The churches have asked us if we could bring Teddy Bears and soccer balls, so we’ve loaded up a whole tractor-trailer” with the items, he said.
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Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Representative Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) will help the broadcaster distribute the largesse. They will be joined by a number of pastors and rabbis who have also agreed to support the mission.
Beck said that some on his staff advised him against doing this. Some of his supporters have argued that sending aid to help these illegal aliens will simply encourage more to come. He disagrees.
“Everyone is telling me I’m seeing subscriptions down; I’m seeing Mercury One donations down. I’m getting violent emails from people who say I’ve ‘betrayed the Republic.’ Whatever. I’ve never taken a position more deadly to my career than this — and I have never, ever taken a position that is more right than this.”
FOX TV host Bill O’Reilly interviewed Beck about this effort on “The O’Reilly Factor” last week. O’Reilly said that while what Beck was doing was certainly controversial in some quarters, it was the right thing to do. And that he would be sending a donation to Beck’s charitable organization, Mercury One, to help.
Do you agree with Beck and O’Reilly? However you feel, you can say so below. And if you want to assist Beck in his efforts, you can send a contribution to his charity by going to MercuryOne.org and following the prompts.
Beck said: “If you don’t want to be involved in this [project], you don’t have to be.” There are many other worthwhile activities the group supports. “You can donate and earmark your money to be for preserving American history; we have a museum to build… We’re building hospitals.”
And he added, “But all the things we do, they’re not about politics, because politics is turning ugly. Politics is the vehicle that is driving us to the fundamental transformation of America.”
How right he is.
We Americans are the most charitable people on Earth. We have given more of our time, our goods and our money to help those in need than any other nation that ever existed.
Let’s hope the dirty politics that our government is playing with our money and the lives of these children won’t destroy those charitable impulses. But as Beck is proving, it is already changing things for the worse.
Until next time, keep some powder dry.
Chip Wood was the first news editor of The Review of the News and also wrote for American Opinion, our two predecessor publications. He is now the geopolitical editor of Personal Liberty Digest, where his column appears regularly. This article first appeared in PersonalLiberty.com and has been reprinted with permission.
