I do agree with him, however, that the 2 parties are pretty indistinguishable at this point. The corporate interests, bankers, lobbyists have seen to that. And yes, 40 years of bad policies from both parties have led us to the precipice of this abyss from which we currently find ourselves dangling.

But I disagree with you – both parties are not responsible for destroying the Constitution. That dubious honor goes to the Republicans – to the Bushes, Cheneys, Rumsfelds, Addingtons, Gonzalezs, et al.

“So, to protect their vested interests both the far left and far right will take shots at people like Beck who truly are on a peaceful mission to restore a decent (and smaller) government to this country…. People who actually are trying to change the status quo or at least bring attention to it are deconstructed, marginalized and ridiculed to keep the looting going.”

Yes, people who threaten the status quo often get marginalized, ridiculed, etc. No doubt. But you know who else often gets marginalized and ridiculed? The marginally ridiculous. Also, the crazy, unstable, and semi-retarded. Just because Beck’s ridiculed, doesn’t mean it’s unwarranted.

And Beck’s not on a peaceful mission at all; he may have started that way, but lately he’s hitched his wagon to this small but increasingly vocal group on the far right: the Tea Partiers, the Michelle Bachmanns, the Sarah Palins – who fancy themselves modern-day revolutionaries or patriots of some sort. The violent rhetoric from the tea baggers, the pro-lifers, the birthers, the deathers, and the anyone-but-Obama-ers….. these people aren’t trying to “peacefully restore” anything. They bring guns to the President’s speeches, call him Hitler, Mao, a Marxist, a Socialist, a Fascist…they deliberately inflame peoples’ fears and prejudices. It’s rather horrifying to watch. There’s absolutely nothing “peaceful” about Beck and his ilk.

These people will try, I believe, to form a viable 3rd party in the US (albeit a very small party. Most Americans don’t endorse or support these people). For awhile it looked like they might completely hijack what’s left of the GOP and move the party even further to the right. And that may still happen. But many of these fringers seem completely disillusioned, if not outright disgusted, with the GOP today, which is kind of strange. After all, so many of them supported Bush for 8 years, supported the wars, and didn’t say shit while Bush squandered trillions of dollars and drove us further into debt, but I digress. And no matter. Who cares if they’re 8 years too late? At least they’re angry NOW about the deficit and taxes and the Constitution, right? Mere coincidence that their anger peaked the second a Democrat got in the White House. And that he happens to be black probably has nothing to do with the level of vitriol and rancor either).

But I digress.

Now these fringers are mad as hell and they’re not gonna take it anymore. People like Beck and Palin are leading these rag taggin’, tea bagging group of nutjobs even further to the right, right to the edge of the flat earth on which they live.

The upside of that, should it happen, is that the Republicans may actually go back to the center and become more moderate again. So instead of being the ‘Great Tent,’ they’ll just be the ‘Pup Tent,’ but at least they’ll have their sanity again (presumably). That would strengthen both the Republican and Democratic parties, and be good for the country overall (though without major changes, like campaign finance reform, too many systemic problems would remain).

In a perverse kinda way, I guess I’m rooting for this new 3rd party (let’s call them the ‘The Rag Taggin’ Tea Baggin’ Patriots of America’). Even if they succeed, their party would basically be a small group of extremists, even more isolated from most Americans than they already are. How wonderfully ironic it’d be if, in the end, the RTTBPOA, with all their sanctimonious outrage, self-righteous indignation, and mouth-foaming patriotism, ended up uniting the rest of the country rather than dividing us any further.

If Mr. Beck does not mend his ways he will end up in the same place Ross Perot and Ron Paul did. It is the same place Sarah Palin is rushing off to is such a hurry.