John Adams once said “How can I reason with a man who is unread?” I’ve listened to Rush Limbaugh since the mid-‘80s at Ft. Bragg, N.C. I turned the volume way up in my ’68 Camaro during lunch specifically to irritate PC passersby. This was at the time Armed Forces Radio conducted a poll of military personnel overseas to determine who they wanted to listen to on the radio. Rush Limbaugh was the overwhelming choice ….as a write-in! Not only does the Department of Defense hide the true facts about the debilitating feminization of the military but they censure the content of their radio audience as well.
Rush has irritating limitations hidden behind humor. First, always be skeptical of one’s motivations when they depend on advertisement income to shape their opinions. This is especially true when they endorse a business which helps tax cheaters dump their unpaid taxes on the rest of us taxpayers. America’s favorite fuzzball dropped out of college. No amount of financial success or popularity can replace a good education. Not everyone has the ability, desire or opportunity to go to college but it is undeniable that a college education still enhances one’s thinking ability and ergo their vocabulary. In the movie Paper Chase the esteemed law professor addresses his students on the first day of class: “My job is to turn your brains of mush into a rational, reasoning instrument.” Rush’s opinions reflect an elementary reading comprehension level not that of an educated man. One need not attend a formal educational institution to be educated – or to continue one’s education……if one can –and will -READ. Two great men come to mind: Abraham Lincoln who read books by coal oil; and General Nathaniel Greene who was a self-educated strategist – the only general to stay beside General George Washington throughout the eight year Revolution. Our Founding Fathers and Mothers were well read and invested their lives and their fortunes to the political success of America. Rush simply reads certain web headlines to an adoring audience. That’s one thing I’ve come to like about Glenn Beck – he reads, he shares his research with his audience, his commentaries are far more applicable to life, and he invests his own money into fighting the mainstream media. Everyone could read the same websites as Rush if they took the time to do so. You wouldn’t be paid $100 million but you would be a much better educated citizen.
Lastly, Rush is frequently at a loss for the right word but his imited lexicon is most apparent when he decries Obama’s failure to govern. Every time he says that it’s like fingernails on a chalkboard. It is not Obama’s job to govern. Our Founding Fathers were masters of the English language. That is why the highest political office in America was called a presidency. As president of the United States, Obama is to preside over the government. It reminds me of a quote by Martin Luther King: “Great leaders don’t seek consensus, they create consensus.” That’s what great presidents do –create consensus. More than just occupying the highest political position in a republic, the president should preside over congress and the nation like the conductor of an orchestra. The conductor knows the sheet music (constitution) better than the musicians and leads the pieces of the orchestra into producing a quite beautiful harmony when the music is interpreted correctly – the way the composer intended it to be played. America aches for a president who can preside. For that reason Obama’s legacy will be “Barack the Bastard” for his inability to legitimately preside.
Though Rush apparently fills a need of conservative “low-information” voters he is still just a combination of cheerleader and snake oil salesman whose strings are pulled by the man behind the man behind the golden microphone. Americans need to quit listening to cheerleaders for their actionable information, read for themselves………… and get on the playing field.
