The Great Reset, Reviewed

Attribute to L. Neil Smith’s The Libertarian Enterprise

The Great Reset: Joe Biden and the Rise of 21st Century Fascism,
by Glenn Beck with Justin Haskins
(c) 2022 Mercury Radio Arts, published by Forefront Books and Mercury Inc
ISBN 978-1-63763-059-4 (print). Also available Kindle eBook and Audible audio formats on Amazon.com (click on image of cover). Availability in the Barnes and Noble Nook eBook format is pending. Note that the hardcover edition is presently out of stock with a planned restock date of March 18, 2022.

Glenn Beck is best known as a controversial television and radio commentator and host who proclaims libertarian political leanings, has a strong commitment to the Founders and Framers in his commentary, and frequently warns of a conspiracy of globalist and progressive elites who are working to assume power over the American people—for that matter, over people everywhere. For the latter reason, he frequently is labeled as a conspiracy theorist and is dismissed, but he has a large following of listeners and people who subscribe to his online platform (the Blaze network) and purchase his book.

So his latest book, The Great Reset: Joe Biden and the Rise of 21st Century Fascism, written with Justin Haskins, is taken with a grain of salt in some corners. It also sold out a first printing of 100,000 copies through pre-orders, and a second printing is in process. In seven chapters (with 511 endnotes and references to primary source material), it lays out the story of “The Great Reset,” an attempt to remake American capitalism into a new order that is controlled by globalist, government, and business elites, where the ordinary person lives effectively as a serf with few rights to private property or opportunities for advancement.

The Great Reset is currently promoted by one Klaus Schwab, executive chairman of the World Economic Forum, though its roots go back at least to Franklin Roosevelt’s progressive economic advisor, Stuart Chase. who in his 1942 book The Road We Are Travelling, enunciated 18 characteristics of his proposed future society, including government control of banking, credit, employment, currency (through fiat money), energy, transportation, agriculture, and health care, supported by heavy taxation and the vestiges of private ownership under strict government control—the essence of fascism (though terms like fascism and authoritarianism are carefully avoided by the Reset advocates). Note that the Great Reset, rather than destroying capitalism completely, retains large corporate capitalism (not small shop capitalism) as a willing partner under the concept of “stakeholder” capitalism, where community service (meaning “what the progressive elites want”) replaces corporate responsibility to consumers and shareholders, as well as any tradition concept of corporate responsibility to their employees.

While the “Covid 19 Pandemic” has been used to justify the acceleration of this transformation of the economy, the pervasive “threat” of “climate change” is being used as major justification for transitioning from the traditional energy sector to a sector of government—mandated and supported solar and wind power. The financial fuel of this transformation is so-called “modern monetary theory,” which basically states that the traditional laws of economics can be thrown out the window by government and central bank controls of fiat currencies (and, probably sooner rather than later, cyber currencies). Social control is imposed though the use of “Environmental, Social, and Governance” (ESG) metrics, whereby corporations and eventually individuals are graded on their compliance with progressive dicta—for example, a solar cell company with an abysmal financial record can get government subsidized loans because they are a good business, whereas, say, a local gun shop with excellent sales potential cannot get a conventional business loan because they don’t fall within a protected business category.

The long-term consequences of the response to the Covid-19 pandemic—particularly the economic disruption and long-term embedded unemployment associated with subsidized lockdowns and the near-mortal blow delivered to the small business community—were the accelerant which makes a 2030 strike date for the Great Reset’s objectives plausible, perhaps even likely. According to modern monetary theory, these disruptions need not lead to significant rates of inflation because of government controls the value of money and can control wages and prices if needed. And the youth are controlled by the education establishment, being panicked by the fear of “climate change” ending their lives, leading them to welcome the transformation with open arms in many cases.

The progressives who benefit from this imposed system of government of the elites, by the elites, and for the elites will, just like the old Soviet Nomenklatura, live well. For the ordinary person, Danish Member of Parliament Ida Auken wrote in 2016 (footnote 459 of book) of her vision for 2030, “I don’t own anything. I don’t own a car. I don’t own a house. I don’t own any appliances or any clothes. … Everything … has now become a service… I get annoyed about the fact that I have no real privacy…. I just hope that nobody will use it against me. All in all, it’s a good life…” In other words, a technocratic feudalism, where everyone is literally a serf in the Medieval sense.

The above is obviously just a brief summary of the details and arguments in Beck’s book. His final chapter states that it is not yet too late to reverse the stampeded into self-imposed serfdom, but it will take aggressive action on behalf of the populace to do so. His proposed remedies include:

• Do your own research and homework, and then stick firmly to the truth as you understand it.
• Convey the details of the “Great Reset” in terms that are understandable to the average person. Don’t dwell on “conspiracy theories,” but focus on the individual impacts—lack of property, lack of personal transportation, reliance on electric transportation, etc.
• Take back the US government from the elites and their cronies; in particularly, by repealing the 17th Amendment and making the Senate responsible to the state legislators, and increasing the size of the House to restore a level of direct responsibility by legislators to their constituents. (Beck notes that the original Constitutional guidance for districts would require almost 6,000 representative, but acknowledges that might be too much of a good thing.) And implementing term limits.
• Outlaw all government use of ESG Scores or their equivalent.
• Last, but not least, take back education from the corporate education establishment through the use of school choice with vouchers.

The choice appears clear: government of, by, and for the progressive elites; or, government of, by, and for the people. I know where I stand.