Glenn Beck: The Overton Window

Rumsfeld announces $2.3 trillion unaccounted for on September 10, 2001: “Defense Department Cannot Account For 25% Of Funds- $2.3 Trillion,” CBS News, January 29, 2002, http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/01/29/eveningnews/main325985.shtml

See also: A video of the CBS News segment, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kpWqdPMjmo

A small side note: As you read this scene, if you were wondering what a phone booth was doing out in the desert in the middle of nowhere, this is an interesting location that actually existed until fairly recently. Google “Mojave phone booth” to learn more.

In Chapter 3 we are presented with a government memo outlining the “Growing Threat of Domestic Terrorism.” This memo was, of course, was modeled after the real-life memo issued by the Missouri Information Analysis Center (MIAC) that caused an uproar because of its over-generalizations on who might be a dangerous militia member.

Government Memo: “The Modern Militia Movement,” Missouri Information Analysis Center (MIAC), issued in February 2009: http://www.scribd.com/doc/13290698/The-Modern-Militia-Movement-Missouri-MIAC-Strategic-Report-20Feb09-

Inside our fictional memo is a reference to a government program called “REX-84.” According to published reports at the time, this program involved emergency actions that would be implemented in the event of a national crisis. In 1986, the Associated Press reported on a FEMA directive that described a REX-84 exercise preparing for the detention of more than 400,000 Central American refugees in ten military detention centers located across the country.

A Miami Herald story from 1987 again addressed REX-84, this time reporting that Oliver North had worked closely with FEMA to develop a contingency plan should America face a major crisis, like nuclear war or insurrection. That plan called for actions such as the “suspension of the Constitution, turning control of the United States over to FEMA, appointment of military commanders to run state and local governments and declaration of martial law.”

In a “heavily censored FEMA memorandum” that was obtained by The Herald, the REX-84 exercise was described as calling for the “activation of ‘emergency legislation, assumption of emergency powers… etc.’ “A source familiar with the exercises said North was aware of the simulations and collaborated with FEMA and the Pentagon in producing them. While the simulations were in progress, the Pentagon staged the first of several annual large-scale military exercises in Honduras, deploying thousands of troops near contra supply bases.

“A Pentagon spokeswoman, Capt. Nancy LaLuntas, declined to discuss contingency plans or details of the FEMA-Pentagon exercises, citing ‘security reasons.’ Yet she confirmed that the exercises, code-named Rex 84 Alpha and Night Train 84, took place April 5-13, 1984. FEMA spokesman Bill McAda also confirmed the simulations and, like LaLuntas, declined to give details.”

These days, REX-84 is part of the everyday language of conspiracy theorists, and for good reason: There is not a shred of evidence to suggest that any of these exercises resulted in anything other than embarrassment for the government. On the other hand, given our government’s reaction to catastrophe in the past (i.e., the forced internment of more than 100,000 Japanese Americans in 1942), it doesn’t take a conspiracy theorist to understand that all of us need to be vigilant and ensure that the only document we look toward in the next crisis is the Constitution.

REX-84:

Associated Press, “Administration Denies Existence of Detention Camps for Illegal Aliens,” December 16, 1986, http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ueAlAAAAIBAJ &sjid=UPwFAAAAIBAJ &d q=rex-84 &pg=6740%2C4955414

See also: Alfonso Chardy, “Reagan Advisers Ran ‘Secret’ Government” Miami Herald, July 5, 1987.

See also: Alfonso Chardy, “North Helped Revise Wartime Plans” Miami Herald, July 19, 1987.

To illustrate how public perception and behavior can be shaped over time, we used the story of bottled water, a product which seemed to come upon us out of nowhere to become a huge industry that’s nearly ubiquitous. How did it happen? Read Bottlemania for a great primer.

The marketing of bottled water: For the spirit of this scene, see Elizabeth Royte, Bottlemania: The Marketing of Bottled Water and Why We Bought It (Bloomsbury, 2008), http://books.google.com/books?id=LwUUAQAAIAAJ

More from Chapter 3:

Tsunami warning system inadequate: Laura Smith-Spark, “Indonesia Tsunami System ‘Not Ready,’” BBC News, July 19, 2006, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/5191190.stm

Virtually the entire speech that Arthur Gardner gives in the boardroom is based on fact; of course, in keeping with his character, he presents his own version of those facts. Here are a few specific examples:

Committed $8 trillion to those that engineered the financial crisis: David Goldman, “The $8 Trillion Bailout,” CNNMoney.com, January 6, 2009, http://money.cnn.com/2009/01/06/news/economy/where_stimulus_fits_in/index.htm

Social Security is a Ponzi scheme: Jeff Poor, “Cramer: Social Security a Bigger Ponzi Scheme than Madoff’s,” Business & Media Institute, December 18, 2008, http://www.businessandmedia.org/articles/2008/20081218091211.aspx

A hundred thousand billion dollars: Also known as “$100 trillion,” this is a chilling estimate of our unfunded Social Security and Medicare liabilities. Pamela Villarreal, “Social Security and Medicare Projections: 2009,” National Center for Policy Analysis, June 11, 2009, http://www.ncpa.org/pub/ba662

Nationalizing General Motors: Kimberly S. Johnson, “GM to reorganize in government-led bankruptcy,” AP Foreign, June 1, 2009, http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/8535026

$17 billion in underfunded union pensions: Nick Bunkley, “Automaker Pensions Underfunded by $17 Billion,” New York Times, April 6, 2010, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/07/business/07cars.html

We’re borrowing $5 billion a day from Asia: Statement of C. Fred Bergsten, Director, Institute for International Economics, February 2-4, 2005, http://www.uscc.gov/hearings/2005hearings/transcripts/05_02_3_4.pdf

In Chapter 10 we meet Molly’s mother for the first time as she gives a speech at the bar. Much of what she references is accurate, including:

“The happy union of these states…”: James Madison, edited by Gaillard Hunt, The Writings of James Madison (New York, NY: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1910): 357, http://books.google.com/books?id=V7jGAAAAMAAJ

“The most basic question is not…”: Thomas Sowell, Knowledge and Decisions (New York, NY: Basic Books, 1980): 79, http://books.google.com/books?id=4kqTMrEKWXoC

Carroll Quigley’s book Tragedy & Hope makes a few appearances in this novel, and for good reason: the premise that he outlined, Mutually Assured Destruction, is now a reality. But it’s not just military destruction that we’ve got to worry about, it’s economic destruction as well. Economies have become so intentionally intertwined that a collapse anywhere else in the world has major ramifications for us. Quigley’s book is a must-read if you want to really understand the theories of a man who was inspirational to many leaders, including President Bill Clinton.

Carroll Quigley: Carroll Quigley, Tragedy & Hope: A History of the World in Our Time (G.S.G. & Associates, 1975), http://books.google.com/books?id=KQZxAAAAIAAJ

Herbert Croly: Herbert Croly, The Promise of American Life (New York, NY: The MacMillan Company, 1909), http://books.google.com/books?id=EoxIAAAAYAAJ

Thomas Jefferson: “Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God”: Willard Sterne Randall, Thomas Jefferson: A Life (New York, NY: Harper Collins, 1993): 275, http://books.google.com/books?id=jxh4rGiz7GgC