The fact that Beck held what was really a religious rally is a very, very big deal. So far the right has not come to terms with what has taken place, and when they do realize just what Beck was getting at there are going to be a lot of right wingers wondering what is going to happen next.

The Republican mantra of 'taking the country back' is vague so it can be all things to all people. Beck basically said the country needs to turn back to God. That will only happen one person at a time and it will have to come from within. This is 180 out from the Republican way of doing things over the last 40 years when the message was 'Elect us and we will bring about the change you seek'.

In the old days, when the nation was going through rough times, Preachers called for Revivals and preached that people needed to look into their hearts. Following the teachings of Jesus in order to improve society was the way that accomplished this is a slow and sure way. The Religious Right decided this was never going to work as fast as they wanted and that if only people were elected that would pass laws forcing people to live the way the Religious Right leaders thought they should would the country be saved from its' self.

I have known many hard core Religious Right types that freely admit they don't care what the Republicans do as long as they pass laws that force people to live the way they think they should. If you tell them that Jesus never said that was the way to bring about change it upsets them. If you point out that Chairman Mao said much the same thing as the Religious Right leaders when he said, "Power comes from the barrel of a gun," it sends them into a rage.

But Beck seems to have realized that the attempt to bring about social change by passing laws to control moral behavior has failed. Over the last 30 years abortions are up, divorce is up and drug use is up so what good has all the effort that has gone into getting the 'right' people elected come to? The answer seems to be nothing but failure if you put the numbers to it.

G. W. Bush was elected on the strength of his business background gained from running oil companies. Anyone in the oil business in Texas knows that Bush never made any money in the biz, and his background was totally inadequate for the problems we faced during his Presidency. Bush's response to any problem was to throw more money at it, just like he did in his oil businesses. Again, the Religious Right's hand picked man failed to bring about any change for the better.

Beck also did not allow any political speech at his rally. He told Palin that if she was going to mention politics that she could not speak, so she had to ad-lib the 'I am a mother' routine. The fact that Beck has now proven he can control Palin is, I think, the biggest story of the day.

I knew some folks that attended the rally, and after asking them for their thought they just said they were still trying to understand what it was all about. Beck had told them to expect something different and he delivered on that promise. People who went expecting a good old hate rally were left to scratch their heads and wonder what took place.

Beck also said to leave the signs at home and now we can see why. Hateful slogans and pictures would have not fit in with a message of 'Change has to come from with-in'.

It remains to be seen if Beck will keep up this direction, and it also will be interesting to see if anyone follows him along this resetting of the Religious Right dialog. Those that do will take a hard look at everyone who is running in November and will not just pull the Republican lever without thinking this time. If enough people do this it will cause a major shift in the way Republicans do things in the future.

Stay tuned!