While Glenn Beck's platform may be shrinking, his sense of self-importance never will. During his stint at Fox News, Beck had a habit of comparing himself to important historical figures. Discussing his plan to leave the network back in April, Beck invoked Paul Revere as precedent for the move:

BECK: When I took this job -- I didn't take it because it was going to be a career for me. Paul Revere did not get up on the horse and say, ha, I'm going to do this for the rest of my life. He didn't do it. He got off the horse at some point and fought in the Revolution and then he went back to silversmithing. If you have watched this program and you really -- I ask you at times -- hear me, you know what I believe is coming. If you watch tonight's show, I believe you know that I believe we're heading into deep and treacherous waters.

In the intervening months, Beck has been promoting the launch of GBTV, his online TV network, with his usual flair for the dramatic. Beck has explained that GBTV will do to “news and information systems” what “Netflix is doing right now to movies and Blockbuster.” Pitching subscriptions to the network, Beck asked his followers to “help us change the world.”

With the network set to launch in a week, this morning GlennBeck.com posted a “A message from Glenn Beck” on its front page. The message, which recaps Beck's activities this summer, asks his followers to review the “Declaration of Rights & Responsibilities” he unveiled at his Israel Rally and announces that “This is the beginning of a global movement. Don't just witness it, be a part of it.” The headline for the message showcases Beck's usual humility:

Imagining himself at the center of a historically important global movement is nothing new for Beck. Preceding his Restoring Honor rally in Washington, D.C., last summer, Beck suggested the rally might be “remembered as the moment America turned the corner,” and be the type of event that would “grow the next George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.” A promotional video for the rally placed it in the context of the moon landing, Iwo Jima, and the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

Beck promoted his Restoring Courage rally in Jerusalem last month as a “planet course-altering event” that would represent the “pinnacle moment in your life,” where there was “a possibility a pillar of fire appears.” (It didn't.)