Why Rush Is the Gold Standard
I’ve been listening to Rush Limbaugh since early 1989 but I’ve never heard him more eloquent than during Saturday’s stemwinder closing out CPAC. Among other things, Rush used his “first address to the nation” to tell the Agenda Media exactly what he believes about President Obama:
“This notion that I want the president to fail, folks, this shows you a sign of the problem we’ve got,” he said. “What is so strange about being honest and saying, I want Barack Obama to fail if his mission is to restructure and reform this country so that capitalism and individual liberty are not its foundation? Why would I want that to succeed?” he said, bringing the crowd once again to its feet.
“Did the Democrats want the war in Iraq to fail? Well, they certainly did. And they not only wanted the war in Iraq to fail, they proclaimed it a failure.”
Rush maintains exactly the right attitude and perspective with regard to President Obama. Rush recognized President Obama’s oratory skills long ago. It’s just that he’s committed to disagreeing with President Obama’s plan to criticize capitalism and achievement every chance he gets.
With the exception of presidents, Rush has a sufficiently big enough bully pulpit that he influences the masses, which he did with this flourish:
For those of you just tuning in on the Fox News Channel or C-SPAN, I’m Rush Limbaugh and I want everyone in this room and every one of you around the country to succeed. I want anyone who believes in life, liberty, pursuit of happiness to succeed. And I want any force, any person, any element of an overarching Big Government that would stop your success, I want that organization, that element or that person to fail. I want you to succeed.
Democratic splinter groups try their best at intimidating Republicans into abandoning Rush. Meanwhile, Rush’s approach hasn’t changed. Rush’s approach is to explain that true conservatives are utterly committed to everyone’s ability to pursue the American dream. At conservatism’s heart is the commitment to eliminating roadblocks that prevent people from achieving great things.
That doesn’t mean that conservatives will do everything possible to ensure a guaranteed equality of outcome. It means that they’ll try to remove roadblocks so that the individual has a clear path to achievement. (When true conservatives talk reform, it isn’t an effort to add layers of government. It’s to remove layers of government.)
The other thing I’ve known about Rush is that he’s great at outlining the key principles that are the underpinnings of Reaganite/Goldwater conservatism. While some think of conservatism as a stationary set of policies, true conservatives know that it’s a philosophy that’s applied to the day’s most difficult, most pressing issues. It’s the framework from which policymaking decisions get made.
When King and I have talked political philosophy, I’ve often said that Reagan’s guiding philosophy was that legislation had to be reworked if it didn’t make people more free, more prosperous or more secure.
Here’s why Rush is the gold standard:
The American people may not all vote the way we wish them to, but more Americans than you now live their lives as conservatives in one degree or another. And they are waiting for leadership. We need conservative leadership. We can take this country back. All we need is to nominate the right candidate. It’s no more complicated than that.
George Will has long said that people run their lives based on conservative principles even if they vote Democrat. Rush is right in saying that conservative leadership will pry these voters out of the Democrats’ camp and into the GOP’s camp.
Another invaluable service Rush provides is his vigilance against conservative elitism:
Conservatism, for us to make the decision that we’ve got to figure out policies, to get the Walmart voter…psst, we’ve got most of them already, is the bottom line. Conservatism is a universal set of core principles. You don’t check principles at the door. This is a battle that we’re going to have. And there are egos involved here, too. When the situation like ours exists, there are people who want to lead it. They want to redefine it. Their egos are such that they want to be the next X, whoever it is. So there will be different factions lining up to try to define what conservatism is. And beware of those different factions who seek as part of their attempt to redefine conservatism, as making sure the liberals like us, making sure that the media likes us. They never will, as long as we remain conservatives. They can’t possibly like us; they’re our enemy. In a political arena of ideas, they’re our enemy. They think we need to be defeated. Why do you think…you all in this room know this. For those of you watching at home, my first address to the nation…I’m sure you paid close enough attention, that you knew at one time Senator McCain was the favorite Republican of all the cable news networks and the Sunday shows. And they would just…I mean their tongues would be on the floor. The media people (panting) when they knew McCain was coming. And they would treat McCain as the greatest guy in the world. Did you wonder why? You were told he was moderate. He was not strict. He was not an authoritarian, he was able to walk to the other side of the aisle, able to get along with the enemy. And everybody wants love and bipartisanship.
We must be vigilant in guarding against elitism and ego. We must adopt the attitude contained in this Reaganism: It’s amazing how much we can accomplish when we don’t care who gets credit for doing whatever. Conservatives should put a sign on the door to our movement that says “Your ideas are welcome but your ego isn’t.”
As long as Rush is around, he will guard against elitism and snobbish behavior. It’s our affirmative responsibility to cheerfully provide support in that fight.
Rush’s eloquent explanation of what conservatism is dispels the myths and the mischaracterizations given it by the media and elitists in the GOP. That’s why he’s the gold standard of the conservative movement.
Technorati Tags: Rush, Conservatism, CPAC, Confidence, Reagan, Goldwater, Walmart Voter, John McCain, Moderate, President Obama, Liberalism
Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog