The Politics of Plunder: Why Glenn Beck Says to Stop Calling Democrats Communists

In a wide-ranging monologue that veered from sarcastic mockery of Congress to a serious rethinking of political vocabulary, Glenn Beck argued that conservatives are losing the argument because they keep using the wrong word. The word "communist" has been shouted so often, he said, that it no longer lands. Young Americans hear it and roll their eyes the same way they do when someone calls them a racist—it has become meaningless noise. The real task, Beck insisted, is not to find a better insult but to find a better description—a word that points to a mechanism, not a label, and that fair-minded people cannot simply wave away.

The Three Categories of Voters

Beck broke down the people conservatives are trying to reach into three groups. The first is the disillusioned—young people with real grievances. They worked hard, did everything they were told, and still cannot afford a house or start a family. They hear that capitalism is the problem, and nobody is talking to them except the socialists. These people are not communists, Beck said. They do not want gulags or mass death. They just do not understand why the deal changed.