Beck On Family’s Home Burning Down As Firefighters Watched: ‘We Are Going To Have To Have These Things’
"As ThinkProgress reported...South Fulton Fire Department firefighters from Obion, Tennessee, stood by and watched as the Cranick family’s home burned down — which also led to the death of the family’s three dogs and a cat — because their fire-fighting services were available by subscription only, and the family had not paid the $75 fee. Immediately, right-wing writers at the conservative movement’s bulkhead magazine, The National Review, defended the county and argued that firefighting should not be a public service available to all, regardless of ability to pay."
Now, yet another major conservative has joined the defense. On his radio show this afternoon, leading right-wing talker Glenn Beck and his producer Pat Gray openly mocked the Cranick family. After playing a news clip explaining the situation, Gray adopted a southern drawl and began to mock Gene Cranick’s explanation of how the county’s firefighters refused to help his family.
It appears that Beck believes that events like what transpired in Obion County should teach Americans lessons about personal responsibility. But where does Beck draw the line when it comes to opposing public services for those who have not paid fees? Would he oppose subscription-based police officers refusing to help a rape victim? How about subscription-based military personnel refusing to repel a terrorist attack on a community that hasn’t paid up? One has to wonder just how far Beck is willing to go."
Yes, people like Beck, a recovering dirtbag, would have us all live in a Hobbsian world where our lives would indeed be solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short. And everything reduced to one's ability to pay.
Three dogs and a cat died horrible deaths in that conflagration, and rodeo clown, Beck, applauds that sort of inhumane behavior by the county--Serves 'em right. If you don't pay, you lose--EVERYTHING.
That's the distopian world the Becks, the Limbaughs, the Palins, the Hannities, the Gingriches, the Millers, the Angles, the O'Donnells and the nasty, brutish people among the Tea Baggers envision for America.
Screw the tired, the poor, the huddled masses. Make 'em pay, or let 'em die.
Go ahead. Vote for these people in November and live with the consequences.
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