Why Glenn Beck has been able to capitalize on the anger of the public. Why his viewers are so confused. Why Democrats have to apologize for being left of center. Why people are mad about Spanish speaking computers on the bank's phone. Why speaking obvious truths is 'dangerously radical'.

They all have the same answer. It's called ideological hegemony.

What it means is that the dominant ideology in a capitalist society is going to be the ideology of the ruling class.

Individualist, capitalist, meritocratic. That is the dominant ideology in America.

Ideology is the glue that holds countries together. It's very powerful.

Glenn Beck is able to capitalize on the anger of his viewers because he speaks to their pre-conceived notions about capitalism, religion, minorities, etc. while providing them an explanation for why they are suffering in this economy.

It's a false explanation, but they have not heard anything else. They are pretty confused, because America does not really have a real left-wing. At least, not one which is represented in our public discourse. So, they don't hear left-wing explanations for their problems. Conservative explanations win by default.

You could say the Democrats represent left-wing ideology, but let's be serious, they are weak liberals at best. They are leftist in rhetoric only. The policies they put in place are only slightly different from Republican policies.

How could someone believe that poor minorities caused the housing crisis? It's ridiculous. Poor people, and especially poor minorities, are powerless in the USA. Their position has only gotten worse in recent years. They could not have caused it, because they have basically no economic power.

Anyway, how could they believe that? The answer is that they haven't heard another explanation. People hear right-wing opinions constantly, while rarely hearing anything else. That is how myths like "the president is a communist" can be believed by such a large percentage of the population.

This is because, as you pointed out, multinational corporations are naturally conservative. And because they are the dominant power in the USA, their ideology is the one which is the most powerful.

This also explains why people complain about pressing 2 for spanish, instead of their jobs. Americans like to think of themselves as tough, competitive individualists. In their minds, they know that immigrants are not the root of the problem. The real problem, as they see it, is that they just aren't trying hard enough. They have a moral failing. Everybody can get ahead in the USA, if they just try hard enough! They just aren't trying hard enough. (That was sarcasm, if you didn't catch it.)

If you are sociologists, I'm sure that you know that that idea, the American dream, is mostly untrue. Social circumstances determine a lot in life. Not just hard work.

The point is that the ideology of the rich and powerful, social darwinism, meritocracy, whatever you want to call it, that is the most powerful one. So, the people who are complaining about spanish telephone services might be racist. But they might also be trying to conform to the national ideology, which says that people get what they deserve, so you should blame yourself for all problems that affect you, instead of looking for outside causes.

I think you're right to point out the underlying hegemony of Beck's popularity. In fact that's one of his draws really, "It's just so obvious, and common-sensical, how ridiculous the left is" boasts Beck almost every night. "It's just so crazy (usually said in overly-crazed voice) in fact, how out of whack, liberals are with their politically correct and multiculturalist agendas."

All these things seem common-sensical to a certain degree because they resonate with a certain individualistic predisposition in the American character, I feel. This doesn't necessarily mean that these ideas are wrong, but Beck is to a large degree speaking to the many taken-for-granted assumptions that many American hold about how the world works. As you say, we have to just stick our heads down, work hard and take care of our own issues (and let's forget all these "social" issues the left is always going on about).

I think he is speaking to some valid concerns, and in many occasions left ideas should be critiqued, but a lot of what he does is frame the "absurdity" of progressive ideas because they challenge these taken-for-granted assumptions. I think this is counterproductive, because challenging taken-for-granted assumptions is also one of the things that makes a democracy work. It's almost advocating a position of unquestionable loyalty to some antiquated notions of democracy as "a thing" to be worshiped and protected--which ironically contradicts the very idea of an active, ongoing, process that a democracy actually represents.

The left have taken over somehow, according to Beck, and we need to restore the status quo, is an unviable political position because it can be so easily highjacked, in short.

Whether the desire to go back to simpler times, means we have to repeal the Civil Rights Act--something Beck would have clearly called an evil form of legislation back in the day--is unclear in his rhetoric, which is probably the most dangerous thing of all.