There is no denying Glenn Beck’s great popularity with many Americans who see themselves as conservatives. Joe Carter of First Things recently offered a reminder of why this popularity is unfortunate. In an appearance on Bill O’Reilly’s program, Beck denied that legal recognition of gay marriage would harm the United States and stated, “I believe what Thomas Jefferson said. If it neither breaks my leg nor picks my pocket, what difference is it to me?” To Beck, the redefinition of the bedrock institution of human society is apparently of less concern than the fasces found in American architecture from the 1920′s.