He claims such "Knowledge" of the present day progressive movement being started under Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson, and denounces those who legislate anti-constitutional laws or the Supreme Court who make judicial ruling which limit our constitutional rights, but praises Lincoln who did more to destroy the constitutional right of the states and was, along with the abolishionist, the godfather of the progressive/moralist/nanny state movements in our government. It was the destruction of the southern states in 1865 and the demonstration of the willingness of the Federal Government to use it military powers against the people which gave the government the "right" to promote social structuring programs under penalty of law.
This is not limited to just Glenn Beck. Rush Limbaugh, Shan Hannity, and others all praise Lincoln in like manner. I am unsure if this is actual ignorance on their part, or grandstanding, because Lincoln is such a mythological figure in our history because 'He freed the slaves'. It makes their observation hypocritical when they do this.
I know that there are many who either like or dislike Beck and Limbaugh and others. But the point is that if we are going to restore the Constitution as the primary document of this nations government we must tell the WHOLE story of its destruction and how we got to were we are today. The American Civil War was the destruction of Constitutional government in the United States. Our system of Government changed between 1860 and 1865 to the authoritarian form we have today.