Glenn Beck: 'They Are Building a Thugocracy We've Passed Major 'Signposts' - Government Shutdown

Glenn Beck told his audience on Thursday that the news of the day — and a select group of stories in particular — needs to be examined in the context of "authoritarianism vs. libertarianism."

"This has been the battle since the beginning of time," he said. "Everything you see is just a battle in this larger war."

Beck said he believes his job is to point out the "signposts" of what's happening, and said we passed a "major" one in the last couple of days.

"I've told you before, I think we went from 'nudge' to 'shove' when we saw that dad in Baltimore forcefully dragged out of a school town hall when he just asked a simple question about...Common Core," Beck remarked. "From nudge to shove is hugely important, because that's what happens in every single collectivist society."

Beck said the steps are "nudge, shove, and shoot," and that if there is real trouble — particularly real economic trouble — you can go from shove to shoot "overnight."

The most recent example of "shove," Beck said, is the government strong-arming elderly World War II veterans in attempting to prevent them from visiting their memorial in Washington, D.C. (In case you haven't seen, they moved the barricades with a little help from Republican members of Congress and entered anyway.) "I believe we now have a government that does not care if they look benevolent or not," Beck asserted. "They don't care if their authoritarian actions are on full display for everyone to see — in fact, I think they want it this way." "They are teaching you a lesson," he said, adding that the government preventing veterans from accessing their memorial -- paid for by taxpayers and private citizens -- also reflects a "you didn't build that" mentality.

And it goes beyond that, Beck said, pointing to a handful of other locations that are not paid for by the federal government that the government still tried to shut down as part of the "government shutdown" this week.

"This is beyond not wise. You don't do that unless you're building a thugocracy," Beck said. "You come in with your stormtroopers and you say 'shut it down,' and you have to. They don't care if they bully vets, shut down parks that don't need to be shut down — they are showing you they're in control."

Beck went further: "They didn't care if they left people in Benghazi. They don't care the IRS was targeting individuals based on their political beliefs. This week they became in charge of your health care. They don't care that the IRS is now the one you have to answer to. They didn't care if the NSA monitors every aspect of your life, and stores statistical history on you. Why? Because they're building a thugocracy, and you've just passed an important milestone, and you need to know it."

"The thugs are in control, and they want you to know. That's why they're bullying the 90-year-olds. [It] goes way beyond politics," Beck said.

He noted that within the last few days alone, lawmakers have likened the GOP — and particularly the Tea Party — to kidnappers, suicide bombers, arsonists, extremists, and jihadists. "We're dealing with a whole new breed of people," Beck said. "They are setting up [that] these are the bad guys...Because when things start to fall apart, they're going to need somebody to say, 'get em!'"

Beck claimed progressives believe we are on the verge of fundamental change — that capitalism is in its final throes — and they are trying to make sure they have "somebody to blame" when they make the knockout punch.

"[Collectivism is] always pitched with a happy face and a promise that this time -- this time -- authoritarian rule will be different," Beck said. "But it's never different. It leaves a trail and a wake of bodies in every single instance. The consequence of collectivism has been cemented in history over and over and over again."

"In collectivist China, 70 million perished under Chairman Mao. The Soviet Union killed 50 million people; millions starved to death under Stalin. The communist Khmer Rouge slaughtered 50 million people — that's 25 percent of Cambodia's entire population because the collective was more important."

"Authoritarian collectivist governments always end with millions of people dead. Period. End of story!" Beck said with agitation.

Beck said that when the warning signs start to come, most will "ignore the mass graves" of the past and say it won't happen here. It will be packaged as something "completely different."

"But let me tell you something — when they start pushing the greatest generation, when they start boxing them in and using them, that's a real problem, gang! They have no reason to do that, except to prove a point."

"It always ends the same, and it always starts the same: loss of individual liberty, economic collapse, and the promise of equality," Beck concluded. "Not all men are created equal...equal outcomes."