Stadium of Fire should unite Americans

In a recent Deseret Morning News article about Glenn Beck emceeing the Stadium of Fire, two Freedom Festival organizers made statements that concerned us and probably many other Utahns. One was by Freedom Festival director Paul Warner, who said Beck, a conservative talk-show host, best represents America's traditional values of family, freedom, God and country. He said, "We know Glenn Beck is conservative, but we think those traditions are conservative."

Warner should be reminded that traditional American values are revered and exemplified by others besides conservative talk-show hosts and their audiences. Moderates and liberals also cherish American values like civil liberties, freedom of religion, a strong national defense, etc.

Also, Brad Pelo, senior executive producer of the event, said: "Glenn Beck represents to military families someone who is outspoken on national defense. To the troops, he is seen as someone who is outspoken in supporting them."

In fact, the best representative of a strong national defense is probably not someone who is just "outspoken" on national defense (and who has called for more troops to be sent into the morass that is Iraq). A better representative would be someone who actually has served in the military and understands what fighting in a war is really like or someone who has spent a lifetime in government service enacting public policy upholding the values U.S. troops are fighting for.

The Stadium of Fire organizers may be trying to cater to an audience that they perceive to be so slavishly right-wing that their definition of a representative of patriotism is a right-wing partisan.

We think they're wrong.

Utah County citizens don't want the Stadium of Fire to be associated with a particular partisan viewpoint. They don't want someone using the forum, either explicitly or implicitly, to promote their own take on current political issues.

We suggest using better representatives of American patriotism, and even national defense, than someone who is a talk-show host. Perhaps the Stadium of Fire organizers should focus less on a master of ceremonies and more on the use of a speaker who will take 20 minutes to call us to higher levels of public service. The best choices for those functions are those who actually have devoted their lives to public service, not critics and commentators from the sidelines like Beck or Sean Hannity.