The people that put together this Constitution understood that it was only a matter of time before power-thirsty and power-hungry despots would try to take this country over and turn it into the average, ordinary tyranny that every other country in the world has been or will be. That is human nature. The Founding Fathers were students of history. They knew that what they wanted to do with the United States had never been done. It had never been done, a country organized around the sovereignty of the people, with the government in a secondary role. It had never been done (emphasis added).

Most people have grown up in tyranny: “Real liberty, self-determination, liberty, and freedom have been rare.” Rush frequently provided critical definitions as parentheticals. They were second nature to his understanding of basic but vital concepts about America’s founding and flowed out of his mouth that way. The definition of liberty was no exception. Rush consistently defined it as “self-determination,” the power and freedom to choose one’s destiny.

Rush defined human nature using the same parenthetical method: “The Founders took what they understood about human nature, the acquisition and desire for power, and they put limits on it” (emphasis added). You have to understand human nature as applied to government the way Rush did before you can understand the purpose and genius of the Constitution.

People get involved in government for one of two reasons: first, to serve the people as the Founders did; second, to subjugate the people as leftists do today in America and around the world. The former embraced the power of government to safeguard and protect people’s fundamental, God-given rights as human beings; the latter embrace government as their only means to enslave people and arrogate power to themselves.

How does all this relate to Obama? Rush explained:

The Founding Fathers understood that most men elected to be president would try to coalesce and steal, acquire as much power as they could, because the Founders understood human nature. They put limits on what the executive could do. They put limits on what Congress could do. The Founders believed that members of Congress would not want the president stealing all their power and would fight to the death to keep their power and try to get some of his. It was set up as a constant war for power.

What happened when the Democrat Party gained control of congress in 2008? The Democrats in both houses surrendered their power to Obama, driven as they were by extreme leftist ideology: “They totally squandered what the Founders assumed would never happen, and that is Congress giving up its own power.” And here is the reason: “The Democrats want a ruler, not a president. They want him to be of their party. They wanted the executive to have magic wand powers, so they willingly gave up [the power the Constitution gives them].”

The Constitution did not fail America as written. The separation of powers didn’t fail until bad people got control of the government, people hungry for power. They brought their evil ideology with them, so defined because it celebrates human nature or, as applied to government, the devil-inspired quest for control over the people at the expense of liberty, freedom, and justice for all.

Conclusion: Toward the end of the segment, Rush summarized what happened during the Obama years: “It’s not that the Constitution is flawed. It’s not that there’s a better way. It’s that the competing branches stopped competing and pretty much let Obama have the run of the place.” Therefore, as Rush explained, it’s not about replacing the Constitution with another form of government; it’s about replacing the people in government who despise the Constitution as an obstacle to their acquisition of power. This step applies to Republicans as much as it does to Democrats. Too many Republicans, content with congressional positions of power and special privilege, make no substantial effort to safeguard the Constitution and its separation of powers.

Rush called out both parties on illegal immigration:

Now, you call it whatever you want, but I look at [illegal immigration] as a bunch of refugees flooding the country, and the Democrat Party and the Republican Party are not interested in stopping it, because they have uses for these people. The Democrats see them as voters. The Republicans see them as cheap labor, or at least their business donors do.

It is discouraging to think that the members of both major political parties care more about themselves and their futures in Washington than they do about their neighbors and the future of America. It is scary when our leaders ignore the rule of law for personal gain.

Rush gave us a definition of immigration that should guide our thinking; it is one we should never forget:

We don’t have an immigration system that permits [what’s happening on our southern border]. This is happening in violation of immigration laws, which is the whole point. To call these people “illegal immigrants” is to give them a status that I don’t think is valid. Even though they may say, “No, we’re coming here; we want to become citizens.” Well, yeah, of course, that’s what you’re gonna say. You want asylum. But that’s not what this is. “Immigration” is when what happens is legal. There are people who fill out forms. They apply. They go through the process. They wait, they get visas, they follow the law. That's immigration. This isn’t.

So, if what’s happening on our southern border is not immigration, illegal or otherwise, what is it? Rush answered emphatically:

Folks, I'm gonna open up here for a minute. I don't even think we're talking about immigration here. This isn't immigration, what's happening in this country. It's not even illegal immigration. We're being invaded!

Conclusion: Invasion requires a response. But elites in congress (both parties) ignore their duty. It’s sickening to recognize that most of them don’t care about America’s future. How different they are from the Founding Fathers who mutually pledged their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor to each other. These were not words glibly placed on parchment at the end of the Declaration of Independence. These good men kept their promise to themselves and America.* Nevertheless, we, the people, are responsible for selecting the men and women who represent us in Washington, are we not? In short, the buck stops with us.

*See the segment entitled “My Father's Speech: The Americans Who Risked Everything” (November 21, 2018).

Rush laughed over that one. The caller then explained how frustrated she was with her generation, including their “hippie-dippie liberal thoughts and ideas.” She also couldn’t understand how people vote Democrat. She gave some examples, including Hillary’s promise to take money from CEOs and provide it to their employees, adding, “My dad is the CEO of a real estate company, and he would die. It took him 40 years to get where he is now.”

Rush focused his comments on her generation and the why behind their thinking. He and others were always searching for the answer because they would “love to straighten them out.” Rush added this important note:

We’d all like to be able to teach them how they’re wrong and help them out. And part of that is understanding what is it that seduces them in the first place. I think I have a pretty good idea how it all happens.

Rush went on to explain why young people today think the way they do, which I quote next, but his answer isn’t the lesson from this segment that I want to share. I’ll get to that after.

It's all . . . Liberalism’s an emotion-based thing. It’s based on caring; it’s based on thinking you care more than anybody else; it’s based on compassion. It isn’t based on results. It’s not based on solutions; it isn’t based on fixing anything. It’s based on caring about everything. You combine that with the fact that girls you’re talking about, the women you’re talking have grown up hearing that the Republican Party are racists and they’re sexists. They’re bigots, and they conduct a War on Women, and they believe all of this because they happen to believe the people that have made them think what they think now.

The caller was dating a black person at the time but was still called a racist by her liberal friends. After giving his own examples, proving why he’s not racist but still called one, Rush concluded with this, which includes the lesson in italics:

So there’s no act of goodwill, no act of kindness that you could engage in that’s gonna persuade these people. Now, here’s the thing, Madeleine. This is going to be very hard. Now, actually, it probably won’t be because you pulled it off this far. Whatever you do, I’m begging you: Do not live your life focused either partially or wholly on changing these people’s attitudes about you. They are the ones with the problem, not you.

The second part of the lesson came at the end of the segment when Rush said this:

Remember: The Republican Party’s in a mess because it’s trying to change what the left thinks of them. Do not do that. You do not have to do anything to justify what you think. That’s on them. Put that onus right back on them. When they say, “How in the world could you . . . ?” your rejoinder is, “I think you need to answer that question about yourself.” You need to hit them right between the eyes with common sense and logic, even though it won’t permeate. You know, environmentalism/climate change? A great topic. “Do you really . . . ?” Ask them: “Do you really believe that? Do you really believe that driving SUVs can destroy this magnificent creation of God?” Ask them that. Just see what they say. Have fun with it. But don’t acquiesce to them.

Conclusion: I’ve tagged this segment with several keywords, including racism and advice, and a tag I use for significant segments I don’t want to forget. This one, probably long forgotten by many, is vital today for its two main lessons: (1) Don’t try and change people’s attitudes about you, and (2) answer the left with common-sense questions. I walked away with, be true to what you believe; don’t worry about what other people think. They are, as Rush said, the ones with the problem. And, like conservatism, common sense, good questions, and logic work every time they are tried, except with radical leftists who don’t pursue the truth about anything.

Number one (2015). Rush: “When you start thinking about yourself, you fall into the trap of thinking everybody else is thinking about you. And then the day’s going to come when you’re going to learn nobody’s thinking about you and they don’t care. And then you’re going to be really depressed and then really feel sorry for yourself! So don’t start that cycle by feeling sorry for yourself, period.”

Number one (2013). Rush: “Don’t get bogged down in the unfairness of life. Let me tell you something. If these things are not in order, that is a great one to be at number one. It dovetails with not giving people the power to offend you. I think mentally tough people realize that they’re not like most people and get all worried about being offended, or ‘Gosh, this isn’t fair.’ It’s beneath people that don’t have time for something like that. The reality of life is that most people are not considerate. Most people are doing nothing but thinking about themselves all the time. So that’s really, I think, a key element of toughness.”

Number two (2015). Rush: “Some people have such low self-esteem they don’t even consider their own power. They don’t think about it. Other people have been convinced power’s bad. All of these are tricks to get you to give away your self-esteem, to get you to give away your ability to stand up for yourself.”

Number two (2013). Rush:“Mentally tough people do not give away their power. And that is part and parcel of not being offended all the time. You know, if I could wave a magic wand and change people, it would be don’t worry about what people think of you, particularly people that don’t know you. People that don’t know you, it doesn’t matter what they think. You and what you think of yourself is what matters, and if somebody thinks things about you that aren’t true, forget it. Nothing you can do about it, and it’s a total waste of time to try to change that.”

Number four (2015). Rush: “Now, you hear this all the time. It’s become almost a cliche that people say because it sounds good, sounds mature. But to actually recognize it and to actually understand it and realize that there are things you can’t control, that it’s a total waste of time being affected by those things. It is a very, very important thing to be able to understand what you can’t change, what you can’t control and deal with the things that you can.”

Number four (2013): Rush: “Mentally strong people do not waste energy on things they cannot control. They don’t experience road rage. You don’t know what’s going on in that car that may be driving erratically and running red lights.”

Number five (2015). Rush: “I think this one is the thing that has more people in personal prison than anything else: Worrying about what other people think of you. If you’re worried about what they think, then what they think of you is more important than what you think of you and who you really are. And then you start tailoring yourself to try to be what everybody this person expects you to be, and before you know it, you don’t know who you are. I mean, if you’re going to waste time worrying about what other people think of you, you’re automatically saying you’re inferior to them. That’s a hell of a place to be. I think this one is number one.”

Number five (2013). Rush: “Mentally tough people do not worry about pleasing others. There it is again. That’s a variation of not worrying about what other people think of you. The thing is, you can’t please other people. Well, it’s everybody else’s responsibility to be happy. Somebody’s happiness is not your job. Somebody being content and happy is not your responsibility. And if you let somebody throw that off on you, you’re gonna be miserable. If you’re in a relationship, romantic relationship, marriage, anywhere at work or whatever, and if you let somebody make you responsible for their happiness, your goose is cooked. First, you’re dealing with somebody that can’t be happy anyway. And second, you can’t do it. Happiness is an internal thing. Contentment is an internal thing, and it results from the pursuit of it. It doesn’t just happen.”

Number thirteen (bonus). I’ll quote what Rush said about number thirteen in 2013: “I heartily, as a really mentally tough guy, endorse this. (interruption) What is so funny [Rush, speaking to Mr. Snerdley]? Are you disputing my assertion that I’m a mentally tough guy? Okay. Okay. I endorse all of these. There’s no question.”

Conclusion: The thirteen things mentally strong people don’t do are about “controlling your thoughts, behaviors, and emotions.” Ultimately, it comes down to being content with who you are and your direction in life. It comes down to personal happiness. Do you let other people control you? Or, do you follow the voice within, doing your best every day? Rush would have you consider these thirteen points and make adjustments if necessary to achieve the highest good in life, happiness.

Rush also called out “true racism” as a second lead-in to his main point about the Aunt Jemima brand change. Referring to comments by Shelby Steele (black author and columnist), Rush asked why leftists don’t hold up successful black Americans like Steele, Clarence Thomas (Supreme Court Justice), and Thomas Sowell (economist) as role models for younger black people to follow. Instead, “They are ridiculed! They are ruined! They’re called sellouts.” Rush agreed with Steele that “it’s such a disservice to young people who don’t think they have a chance of success.”

The fact that radical leftists and organizations like Black Lives Matter don’t use older successful blacks to encourage the younger ones reveals the left’s true agenda. They have no desire to lift and inspire them; they want to oppress and hold them back. “This,” according to Rush, “is true racism. Racism at its worst.” As always for leftists, it’s about power, position, and gain.

Now, the story of Aunt Jemima as told by Rush with a quote from his source:

The original Aunt Jemima was Nancy Green. She’s a former slave. It’s 130 years ago now. That’s how old the brand is. Former slave. She was a cook. She was an activist. She was a renowned storyteller on stage with an audience. ‘She was the first of several African-American models hired to promote a corporate trademark. Her amicable personality and talent as a cook for the Walker family, whose child grew up to become a Chicago Circuit judge’ and doctor. She had a visible role in raising the children of Charles Walker, and having that relationship helped establish the brand of Aunt Jemima because the Walkers loved her, and when she was hired, they helped spread the word about her getting this job.

Quaker Oats offered Nancy Green “a lifetime contract to become Aunt Jemima and to promote the pancake mix.” She was well-paid for thousands of personal appearances, which gave her financial freedom and led to other successes. She was an activist against poverty in favor of equal rights for all young people in Chicago. She also helped organize the Olivet Baptist Church and was one of the first African-American missionary workers. The list goes on.

Rush quoted a professor who claimed that Aunt Jemima triggered “terror and abuse.” Then he said, “I’ll bet this woman does not mention or maybe even know who Nancy Green was and her contributions to real change and reform and upward mobility and the things that she did for real people.” And that’s the point. Rush made the same point above to explain why leftists ridicule successful African-Americans instead of holding them up as role models. Leftists don’t tolerate any black success outside of affirmative action because it doesn’t fit their narrative about white supremacy.

Conclusion: Leftists don’t care about people. They don’t care about young black Americans and their potential to advance and become whoever they want to be. Leftists care only about themselves and will use whatever means necessary, including people, to get what they want. They don’t care how many lives they hamper or destroy in their quest for power.

Next, Rush made this very important point about the Constitution and slavery:

In fact, most of the heretofore white Founding Fathers were repulsed by it and knew it couldn’t survive, knew the country wouldn’t survive with the aspect of slavery. The point is that the “originalist” document was not rigid at all. It was not incapable of change. Slavery is no reason to hate the Constitution. It’s no reason to hate originalism. Lori Lightfoot is now the mayor of Chicago.

Today we know that slavery was not a United States invention or even a western invention. At the time of the founding, slavery existed everywhere in the world, in literally every country. We also know that slave traders shipped more Africans to the Middle East and South America than to the United States. It is a historical fact! What makes our country unique is that after southern Democrats embraced slavery, the American people under President Lincoln, and at great sacrifice, ended it only seventy-seven years after the states ratified the Constitution, a comparatively short period compared to other nations. Slavery was not America’s sin. It was the world’s sin and had been since the beginning of recorded history.

Rush finished with this:

The US Constitution is one of the most timeless, brilliant documents ever conceived by humanity. The inability to see that because of personal grievance is a shame. I wish it weren’t the case. I wish people like Lori Lightfoot had the ability to see it a different way, rather than carry around two hundred years of grudges that are not productive. Anyway, in this case it was simply used to oppose Amy Coney Barrett, so that’s probably the extent of it.

Conclusion: Today Leftists use slavery as a tool to bludgeon the US Constitution and the Founders. Power is the objective, but the Constitution stands in their way. Lori Lightfoot and other leftists won’t acknowledge that the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution are why a gay, black woman can also be mayor of Chicago. They use the Constitution and the ever-present claim of “racism” to foster a plan that promotes themselves and their quest to obtain control over the rest of us.

Leftists always oppose nominees to the court who base legal opinions on the US Constitution and not on personal views of current social norms and the left’s political agenda. Senators like Chuck Schumer and Joe Biden in the case of Justice Clarence Thomas, will stop at nothing to prevent a nominee they oppose from getting on the Supreme Court. Democrat senators smear, lie, and destroy with complete abandon. No level of wickedness is too low, no matter how many people they hurt in the process. We saw it with all three of President Trump’s nominations, especially with Brent Kavanaugh.

During Barrett’s senate confirmation hearing, Dick Durbin (D), senator from Illinois, quoted “that constitutional expert, Chicago mayor Lori Lightweight” (Rush’s nickname for Lori Lightfoot). Durbin had this to say:

Let me read to you what the mayor of Chicago, Lori Lightfoot—who’s a friend—said a couple of days ago in a news conference. They asked her if she was an originalist. Here’s what she said: “You ask a gay black woman if she’s an originalist? No, ma’am, I am not. That Constitution didn’t consider me a person in any way, shape, or form because I’m a woman, because I’m black, and because I’m gay. I’m not an originalist.”

Rush explained that an originalist is a person who examines the US Constitution and asks, “What does it mean?” (i.e., what was the original intent of the men who wrote the Constitution). Durbin took issue with appointing an originalist Justice to the court, so he quoted Lori Lightfoot to support his opposition. Rush wondered how “a woman who thinks the Constitution didn’t even consider her a person end up being the major of Chicago?” He asked, knowing the Constitution is the supreme law of the land—knowing it protects individual liberty. It was his way of reminding us how essential it is for Americans to understand the documents that gave birth to the United States. Rush pointed out what leftists knowingly ignore about the Constitution:

The very document that she thinks left her out of everything was the document that contained within its writings the ability to change it, to amend it, to evolve. And by the consent of the governed, by the consent of the people. She is now considered a full-fledged person because the Constitution was malleable. It was adaptable. I think it is a testament to the brilliance of the Constitution. If the Constitution was really etched in stone like these people want you to believe—that the Constitution is so bad that we gotta get rid of it—then what’s happened to Lori Lightfoot should never have happened.

And it never would have happened, and she would not be free today if southern Democrats had succeeded in their rebellion to preserve their “peculiar institution” (the phrase they used for slavery). Because of the Constitution, Lori Lightfoot is free to do the dumb things she does. People like her, protected by the document she dishonors, ignore history to push an agenda that leaves them with the power to control people’s lives—the people they are supposed to serve. The evidence is her edicts as mayor, but that’s a story for another day.

I pick up the discussion next week because Rush had a lot more to say about the Constitution and the Founder’s original intent.

This segment is choice in several ways, but one that stands out is how Rush talked about his family. Three words come to mind: love, admiration, and gratitude. I wrote about Rush’s family in Tribute chapter 5, “Rush Is Grateful,” but missed what I quote below about his grandfather, who, along with Rush’s father and mother, had a significant impact on the outcome of his life. It wasn’t something Rush was ashamed to admit or talk about on the program. He often did. Rush also frequently spoke about his brother David, in whom he had immense pride. Here’s Rush talking about his grandfather:

Our grandfather—Pop—Rush H. Limbaugh Sr., everybody wanted to be like him. You know, every family has a mythological character. Every business has a mythological figure about whom the most incredibly positive things are said. Of course, that legend grows and it’s expanded in time, but all the things that were said about my grandfather were true. He never smoked, never drank. He was the epitome of dignity and sophistication and so forth. And he was a role model. Everybody wanted to be like him. (Emphasis added.)

The following quote is Rush’s dedication to his 1991 book, The Way Things Ought to Be: “Thank you, Pop, for your guidance, your sterling example, and most of all your love. You are the Limbaugh America should know.” Along with so many other examples, this one reflects the side of Rush I remember the most. The one that was grateful for so many things, but especially his family. It also reflects Rush’s genuine humility.

Here’s another quote from Rush about his family:

I’m stunned. I’m not speechless [that got a laugh], but close to it. I’m literally quite unable to comprehend what’s happening to me today. This is something that I never, ever considered would happen to me. As I’m listening to this list of qualifications or resume recitation, I’m reminded of why I’m here. You know, we’re all the products of our families. Families define us, determine so much about us, and there are so many in my family that far more deserve to be standing up here today than I do. They have been supportive throughout every aspect of my life when it veered away from what the family direction, which was law.

Conclusion: When Rush said, “My family is singularly responsible for me being here today, being so honored, as I am today,” he meant it. You could feel how much if you heard him say it, but it also comes across in the transcript. He believed that other family members were more deserving than he was and hoped that people would someday know it as he did. “You can’t replace your family,” Rush said. “You can’t change them, and my family is the best family.” So spoke Rush Limbaugh, revealing the secret behind his great success. For him, it was all about the family he loved. He talked about his wife, Kathryn, in the same way. I admired this about Rush, which is why I listened to him. He loved life, God, and his family. And he loved his audience. For him, gratitude indeed was a feeling of the heart and soul.

At times, during the transition, Rush used variations side-by-side, as in this sentence five years into Obama’s administration: “The Democrat Party, liberalism has been a dominant aspect of American life, and in the past five years we have had radical liberalism running this country, radical leftism.” He used leftism and liberalism interchangeably because of history and because he knew we knew what he meant. Also, notice that he equated the Democrat Party with “liberalism” or leftism because, as you know, radical leftists have taken over the party.

The pitfalls of leftist ideology are hidden, hardly noticeable traps set for the unwary (people not paying attention). Ultimately, they cause misery. Here are a few examples from Rush:

• “In order to make the poor feel less poor, we've got to pay higher taxes. It’s just stupid!”
• “What liberalism really excels at is getting in the way of common sense.”
• “Political correctness, liberalism is a direct assault on success. It’s an assault on achievement. It’s an assault on self-reliance.” Notice the equation between political correctness and leftism. Radical PC is a leftist tool to undermine America’s culture, which is always the case with leftists.

Rush summarized his points this way:

Liberalism causes a mess. It makes a mess out of economics. It makes a mess out of personal responsibility. It just screws everything up. And here we have dyed-in-the-wool liberals who have been properly trained in compassion and good intentions and equality and fairness and political correctness, and they're idiots!

Rush called the people he was talking about idiots because they hid the truth. They were afraid the truth might stigmatize or offend someone. Rush wasn’t being mean. It was never his intention to be mean. He was pointing out that “truth is the biggest casualty of liberalism. The truth in anything.” He went on to explain why he was being harsh, in which he makes a vital point if you want to understand Rush Limbaugh. He reminded us:

I’m not ripping these people to be funny. I’m ripping them because it’s instructional. We don’t want people like this in serious positions of leadership. We don’t want judges like this. We don’t want presidents like this. We don’t want military commanders like this where the enemy isn’t the enemy, where we’re the enemy. This is destructive stuff, folks.

Conclusion: Rush spoke plainly. He said what was on his mind. He loved America and hated her enemies. This segment gives more examples of leftist pitfalls, but the most important takeaway is the idea that truth is the biggest casualty of leftist ideology. It’s destructive. The left and their tactics intentionally lead America toward bondage and all the misery that comes with it.

I have the printed version of the book and the audio. As a result of reviewing this segment, which I haven’t done for a while, I began rereading Levin’s book. It is, as Rush said, a page-turner! It is a book that demands your emotional and intellectual attention. It’s also a book that needs to be shared.

Rush never understood people who hate America, “the single greatest outpost and location for prosperity and security the world has ever seen.” He asked Levin, “Can you help me to understand why there are people who hate this country and want to tear it down?”

Levin answered that it’s not an academic debate, and it’s not because people who hate America are “slightly” liberal: “These people do not share our view of liberty and individuality. They reject the Declaration of Independence, which talks about unalienable rights.”

When Rush asked who these people are, Levin answered: “These people are what I call the statists. They are not liberals because liberal in the classical sense is the opposite of authoritarian, and I refuse to allow them to steal the language and use the language to attack us.”

Woodrow Wilson, for example, was a statist. He thought a few intellectuals could run your life better than you can. By definition, a statist wants to concentrate expansive economic and political power in the state or government at the cost of individual liberty. Levin was precise about who these people are. Leftist is a term that includes statists but also refers more generally to other characteristics of the group, including the tactics they use to destroy individual liberty (hatred, violence, canards, etc.). Leftists are evil. Statists, who may be evil, embrace the hateful ideology of the left to destroy individual liberty.

Rush asked Levin, “So is it safe to say that those who oppose the Constitution are afraid of it, they don’t like the concept of morality, they don’t like the concept of a natural order of things, natural law, this kind of thing?” The Declaration defines natural law, so Rush referred to both documents in his question: The Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution.

Levin responded with this excellent point: “The only thing that makes life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness unalienable is the belief in a Creator, not the belief in man or some government. Man and government can’t, in the end, confer these rights or legitimately deny them.” Central to the argument for and against America is a belief in God and the origin of rights. Do they come from God, or does the government bestow them? If rights and liberties are not unalienable, the government can deny them anytime it wants. If our rights come from God, they are forever.

Conclusion: The Founders built America on a foundation of freedom called “unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” These rights come from God; they define individual liberty. They are the reason you can choose where and how to live your life, how to pursue happiness, and how to be the best you can be. If not for the Declaration of Independence that planted these God-given rights in the hearts and minds of men and the Constitution that guarantees and protects them, America would have become like other nations in history. Tyranny is always the result when statists get control of the government (e.g., Cuba’s Castro, Venezuela’s Chavez, and America’s Obama if not for the Constitution). Power corrupts—absolute power corrupts absolutely. Absolute power is what radical leftists seek.

On July 3, 2022, the DailyWire reported on a recent Florida news post with an article entitled: “The City Of Orlando Scrambles To Recover After Asking ‘Why On Earth’ Anyone Would Celebrate The USA.” There’s no doubt how Rush would have responded. Here is a sample from this segment:

Stop and think for a moment of everything in your life that really matters that you take for granted. And let me just list some. Plentiful food, electricity, the flick of a switch for most anything you want, flush toilets, the finest cars, the finest trucks, the finest airplanes, toasters, dishwashers, washing machines, dryers, cell phones, smartphones, computers, large-screen TVs, air-conditioning, heating, quality homes and apartments, cutting-edge medicines, cutting-edge medical devices. The list goes on and on and on and on in every one of those categories. We either invented it or perfected it beyond anybody’s wildest imagination.

Rush asked how it happened, “realizing our DNA is no different than anybody else’s.” In other words, Americans are not better than other people. We are not more intelligent or more talented. It wasn’t because of our government. Freedom and only it allowed Americans to reach their full potential as human beings and thus bless themselves and the world in countless ways.

Here’s how Rush said it:

You see, these things, and more that you can mention in your own life, these things all happened because we were the freest people on earth. These things all happened because of a degree and amount of liberty that people around the world have never known before the United States came into existence. There have been socialist, communist, tyrannical governments since the beginning of time. And I am confident in saying that no government anywhere, any time, including ours, is responsible for any of these things on this list that I just mentioned. People with the freedom and the liberty to use their God-given talents and ambitions and ingenuity and creativity made all this happen.

Conslusion: Rush’s inspiring answer makes it clear that if the government had done any of the abovementioned things, it would have happened long before the founding of America. But the government didn’t do these things. It was people endowed with liberty and freedom, “a greater amount for humanity than has ever existed—it’s what made all these advances take place.” So spoke Rush Limbaugh. The same freedom that allowed for so many technological advances in America made it possible for human beings to reach their highest potential as children of God.

The objective of the left is to silence the right. Leftists can’t do it with their ideas. They can’t convincingly support what they believe with anything near the truth. So they attack facts with lies to ensure their survival. And, as we’ve seen recently, the more they fail with words, the more violent they become.

Rush continued with his explanation:

I think what’s happened here is that they have been forced into admitting who they always have been. Now there’s no pretense at objectivity; there’s no pretense of holding truth to power; there’s no pretense of any accountability because now it’s more important to defeat us than it is to hold Obama or any other Democrat accountable. If we didn’t exist right now they would be behaving far differently toward Obama.

Reagan won over the country with conservatism. Why can’t the left win over the country with leftism? Because, as Rush pointed out, “Liberalism is a lie. They got away with the lie for all of these years. Now they’re being called on all of these things that are not true and they’ve got their backs up. That’s it.”

Rush also pointed this out: “It’s not the same Democrat Party today. Genuine radicals are now leading it. The motive will always be to destroy us before holding Obama or any other Democrat accountable.”

Conclusion: For leftists in the Drive-By Media, it’s not about ratings because they don’t care about ratings. It’s not about the truth because leftists have none. The only thing leftists care about is power. Because they can’t convince or persuade you with their ideas, they must silence you and anyone else who exposes them for who they are. They tried to silence Rush and failed. They must not win with us, those who followed Rush and still believe the principles he taught about preserving America as founded.

Rush defined his purpose for the program:

The point of everything on this program is to get you, the listener, to see things as I do. Make no bones about it. I love America. I love everybody in America. I want the best for everybody in this country. I want the best for this country. I want this country to be the greatest place on earth because that’s how the people living in this country get to become the best they can be.

Rush’s love for you and this great country drove him to work until the very end of his life when he should have been taking care of himself. He skipped cancer treatments because he knew how many people depended on him, especially during the closing days of the 2020 presidential race. He was there for you and me and America. All this brings me to something Rush said toward the end of the segment, “The Media Melted Down When I Deleted My Twitter Account” (January 11, 2021):

Folks, I gave this last year everything I’ve got. I don’t want to get too much more into it, but believe me: I gave this last year everything I had. I didn’t take one minute of personal time away from this program. When I was gone, it was medical. You know, doing the Twitter thing was part of the all-out effort to give everything that I and we had to the election effort last year, 2020. We gave it a shot. We gave it a shot. We did what we could, as did a whole lot of other people.

Conclusion: Rush gave it his all. He sacrificed everything right to the very end. He died one month later, on February 17, 2021, at peace with God, his family, and the country. I’ve wondered how Kathryn must have felt watching Rush, knowing he was in the closing days of his life, still giving it his all for what he believed. There can be no doubt that she loves what Rush loved and did her part to support his effort, not thinking of herself or what she must have been suffering. For Rush and Kathryn, it was about loving the things that matter most. When I think of them, but especially Rush, I think of the scripture that says, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (KJV John 15:13). This scripture describes Rush Limbaugh, and we loved him for it.

If Twitter didn’t create the problem, it certainly has contributed to it. It’s one thing to act circumspectly in public. It’s another to type away on your computer in the privacy of your home, not thinking about what you are doing. Too often, it’s an emotional response to something with no one to check your behavior. It’s just words on a computer screen. You don’t see or feel the pain caused by mean or ill-chosen comments. Checking yourself at such times takes self-discipline and an elevated character, which brings me to the next point. Rush never believed that the cesspool element of Twitter represented America.

Just before the 2020 presidential election, Rush “took one for the team” by getting on Twitter to support President Trump’s bid for reelection. The segment to read is entitled “Twitter User Thanks @RealRLimbaugh for Plunging into the Cesspool” (October 13, 2020). The key takeaways regarding Twitter and the upcoming election came toward the end of the segment when Rush said:

I think Twitter is a cesspool. And I think the Democrats make the biggest mistake in the world thinking that Twitter is America. It isn’t. A majority of the thoughts and opinions that are expressed on Twitter, the media is making the same. The media looks at Twitter as a stand-in for majority public opinion. And it isn’t. And I finally said, “You know what? We’ve got three weeks. We’ve got three weeks until this election. We may as well double down and enter this beast and do what we can to reach as many of the people in it for our purposes” (emphasis added).

And so he did. America is not Twitter, and Twitter is not America. And like most things in life, a tool some people use to do good, other people use to do harm. At this crucial crossroads (i.e., the 2020 presidential election), Rush chose to do good by jumping on Twitter for a higher purpose.

After the election, Rush canceled his Twitter account when the social media giant banned President Trump. Rush called Kathryn and said, “This is unacceptable. We need to cancel the account. We need to do whatever we have to do to get out of it. Just go in there and shut it down.” She said, ‘It’s a great idea.’ So we did, and then the next thing I know, it’s being reported that Twitter canceled me.“

All of the preceding is history now. There’s a more important reason I decided to focus on the first and third segments mentioned above, which I’ll talk about next week. I’m waiting because the points I want to highlight require special attention, including something Rush said in the closing days of his life.

Significantly, Rush distinguishes between non-activists, people who want to live their lives quietly, without fanfare, and transgender political activists who are not about what is best for society and people generally (including the youth whose lives they ruin). We should treat the former with respect and protect their dignity. We should strive to uphold their rights, as we do for all people. The left is another matter because it’s their purpose is to “undermine, corrupt, and overthrow elements of our culture and our society.” How do they do it? Rush answers: “By trying to normalize behavior that, for eons, has been considered to be anything but.”

The reaction of mainstream Republican moderates is to let it go. For them, like abortion, the radical transgender movement represents another social issue we can’t win on. How wrong they are. Our biggest enemy isn’t the left but ourselves if we give up on the social issues. Rush said something like it many times over the years. For example, he talked about how we gave up on abortion and ended up with infanticide. If not for the left “trying to corrupt the American culture and society..., cultural and social issues would not be issues.”

Rush ended this segment with another stunning observation about the left and what their activism is leading to in the great “bathroom debate” (see his brother’s article). The left seeks the erosion of private property under this thesis: “If you leave it up to private property’s owners, everybody that we love is gonna be discriminated against. We can’t have that, so the federal government’s gonna have to come in and take over everything in order to guarantee civil rights.”

Conclusion: Yes, in the end, it’s about power and who controls it. With the false claim of “fairness for all,” the radical left uses social issues to gain power over your life. To get what they seek, leftists undermine and must eventually destroy the unique American culture. They must, as Rush said, “normalize behavior that, for eons, has been considered to be anything but.”

Worth watching from PragerU (5-Minute Videos): Gender Identity: Why All The Confusion?; The End of Women’s Sports; Preferred Pronouns or Prison; Why Girls Become Boys.

A couple of points stand out to me. First, you cannot please everyone, so don’t worry when you don’t. You need to be you, and if being you offends, so be it. I’m not talking here about being deliberately offensive or rude. Neither was Rush.

Second, using too many words to soften a point because you’re afraid of offending someone may render useless what you are trying to convey. You will have lost the power to persuade.

Third, something Rush taught often: The real motive behind the “I’m offended” crowd is to attack free speech. These folks hope to silence what they don’t want to hear because it contradicts their beliefs (i.e., they are not interested in the truth; hearing it angers them). “It is,” according to Rush, “the root cause of political correctness.”

Conclusion: It should not be your intent to offend, but if you do by speaking the truth, it’s the offended person’s problem, not yours. All this calls to mind something the prophet Isaiah said about people who “watch for iniquity” and “make a man an offender for a word”: In the end, he says, they are “cut off” (see KJV Isaiah 29:20-21). Time is on the side of truth. Truth is on the side of people willing to defend it.

Socialists assume the following:

• Individuals are not capable of being fair to each other.
• Individuals are not willing to share equally.
• Individuals are not capable of making the right decisions to live their lives according to the desires of the state.

In reality, socialism is:

• A hideous and demeaning form of government.
• One of the greatest inventions of violations of human nature that humanity has ever conceived.
• It denies individuality.
• It denies the very real fact that we’re all different, that we all have different ambitions, different intelligence abilities, different degrees of ambition. It seeks to punish achievement.
• It never seeks to equalize by elevating those at the bottom.

Rush explained socialism’s method: “Socialism always attempts to equalize by penalizing the achievers and lowering them so that nobody is better than anybody else. It’s not presented that way. That’s what you end up with” (emphasis added).

Government is the tool of socialists for achieving their purpose, which is power and gain but only for a few. To get your vote, aspiring socialists promise the following about government:

• It’s gonna take care of you.
• It can make sure that there’s no income inequality.
• It can make sure that there’s no poverty.
• It can make sure there’s no racism.
• It can make sure that there’s no bigotry.
• It can make sure there’s no homophobia.
• It can make sure that there is no prejudice of any kind.

“Socialim,” according to Rush, “is hideous because it promises all of these utopian things that it has never delivered anywhere in the world at any time in American or world history, and it keeps people poor. It keeps people in need. It denies them the opportunity to become self-reliant.”

In this segment, Rush also talks about the goal of socialists/leftists regarding illegal immigration, billed as “the epitome of compassion.” The opposite is true. Promoting illegal immigration is anything but compassionate (see this and other Rush segments on illegal immigration).

Conclusion: Socialism is a devil-inspired evil that has no place in any society, much less a free one like we have in America. People who embrace socialism buy into a lie. Its leaders do not care about you. They desire only one thing: power and gain for themselves. Everything they claim about what they will do for you is a lie. Socialism cannot and never has delivered on its promises. You are essential only until the people who rule have enough power to control your life completely (i.e., they no longer need your vote). That's when you find yourself living in complete and utter misery.

Rush: “I’m going back now to the JFK era of Democrats, maybe even the LBJ era of Democrats—it used to be we all wanted similar things. We just had different philosophies, political philosophies about how to achieve it.” For example, both parties wanted prosperity for people and a strong military and defense. Both parties believed in American decency, American goodness, and American exceptionalism. The left thinks the opposite. The left believes “that America’s the world’s problem, that America is not the solution.” Because there’s no common ground, the left must be defeated and stopped.

Rush also explained the real purpose of the left, which is “to get rid of the single largest superpower in the world.” And this is “because the American left today is the home of the worldwide communist movement, and we are forever the enemy of communists.” It is not the left’s objective to correct and perfect America: “Their objective,” says Rush, “is to tear it down. And I’m not exaggerating” (emphasis added).

Conclusion: We are nearly two years into Joe Biden’s presidency. We have experienced what Rush predicted in May 2022: “Joe Biden represents the people who want to tear down America and destroy it and rebuild it into something it was never intended to be. That’s what the stakes are. That’s what the stakes are in this election.” Again Rush ended with, “I’m not exaggerating.” We know it today because we see it played out on our borders, in the energy sector, and worldwide as Communism advances primarily unchallenged by a weak Joe Biden presidency.

If that’s the argument, what’s the solution? For Rush, it was to share America’s founding values as often as possible, year after year, like Hillsdale College does through their free online courses. The truth eventually wins, but we have to present and explain it.

On the other hand, Obama thought that the “United States is responsible for most of the problems in the world,” and that history called him to punish her, to make things right. Obama assumes that the rest of the world believes as he does. “All he’s doing,” said Rush, “is trying to relate to what he thinks the majority of opinion is wherever he’s speaking.” Obama was “trying to buy goodwill for himself with all of these people by saying he understands that the United States is guilty and agrees with them.”

Conclusion: Obama did not represent the interests of the United States. For personal benefit, he went abroad to tell the world that he agreed with them, which was an assumption on his part. Leftists exist in every country who stand with the former president. Still, they do not represent the good people who understand America’s positive influence on the world and what it has meant for the survival of freedom.

The other major takeaway from this segment, at least for me, was this Rush conclusion: “I really believe this from the bottom of my heart. I think it does matter how you grow up. I think it does matter who your mentors are. I think it does matter who your political influences are, and there is no question that Obama’s a product of his.” Is it essential to learn American history, good and bad, and teach our youth the truth about America and what she means to freedom? Only if we want liberty and freedom to survive, not only in America but around the world.

Conservatism is about authentic, time-tested values and what matters most to patriotic, god-fearing, family-oriented Americans of every race and creed. It’s not about politics per se or the divisiveness among the folks in Washington. It’s about what “normal” people stand for and believe about life and how to live it.

Normal Americans (the author’s definition): Normals are “the Americans who built this country, and defended it. When you eat, it’s because a normal grew the food and another normal trucked it to you. When you aren’t murdered in the street or don’t speak German, it’s because a normal with a gun made those things not happen. We normals don’t want to rule over others. We don’t obsess about how you live your life.”

Rush explains that the conservative movement has been butchered and redefined by people who want to lead it and decide who isn’t conservative. But true conservatism is for everyone. It is not exclusionary. So why do today’s so-called conservative leaders hate and exclude Donald Trump (for example)? They justify their hatred by claiming he’s not conservative. The truth is Trump is popular with the people. He resonates with “normal” people. “There is,” according to Rush, “widespread fear, disgust, and anger over Trump because Trump became as popular as conservatives want to be.”

What do the self-appointed leaders of conservatism do? “They publish magazines; they run blogs; they run websites.” And “many of them live off donors.” What has happened to the conservative movement in America as a result? Rush answers: “The conservative movement, for lack of a better term, has become an intellectual enterprise, an intellectual exercise that does not engage in any warrior-like activity to change anything, does not ever see the battlefield, just comments on it, approvingly or disapprovingly of other conservatives and is largely unhelpful. Mr. Schlichter feels betrayed by them, and that’s the point of his piece. He explains why these people now vote Trump and not for conservative GOP.”

Conclusion: The conservative movement is being replaced by “Militant Normals,” people who love America and their traditional way of life and despair of losing both. Good people everywhere are standing up and speaking out. And aren’t we glad!

The segment is excellent because Rush went beyond what the caller may have anticipated or even thought about before making the call. Rush’s response to the caller included the following points:

1. “In the real world of politics, ... when establishment Republicans see conservatism, they see Barry Goldwater. They see a landslide defeat. They see a Republican Party in the wilderness for 40 years. They don’t see the beginning of a movement. They don’t see something that led to Ronald Reagan. They don’t see Reagan. They see Goldwater.” Rush gave this answer often to explain establishment types, how they think and why they vote the way they do. But there is more to it than fear, as Rush explained next.
2. Rush identified “the mindset of Republican consultants, and many in the so-called conservative media, who advise establishment Republicans,” who give this advice: “You know, the American people have made up their minds and they actually want a big, energetic government and president. Executive, they call him. They want this. We have got to adjust to the reality that the American people want a large, efficient, energetic government working for them. We have to convince them that we can do it better and smarter.”

One of the reasons Republicans lost the 2012 presidential election is because our candidate followed the advice of his consultants after winning a stunning second presidential debate.

3. Establishment Republicans “are not really conservative,” a subject Rush expounded on in great detail in other segments.
4. What came next was an eye-opener: “And there’s another big one, too. They don’t believe in smaller government. Government is the answer to everything. Government is where they make their money. Government is where they have their contracts. Government is where they go to do lobbying work after they finish their work in office and really score, and without big government for lobbyists to massages and manipulate and earn big money, there could be no big financial opportunity!”

Classic liberals, ones who stand up for liberty and freedom (think Alan Dershowitz and Bill Maher), want bigger government because they believe more government is better for the country. Establishment Republicans believe in bigger government for selfish reasons. As Rush went on to say: “Follow the money, and you’ll have the answers to many questions.”

5. Finally, establishment Republicans aren’t conservative on social issues. Why? Rush answers: “Because it embarrasses them. They think pro-life is a killing issue, for example. Social issues and everything. The things that they’ve won on are the things that they’re afraid of!” In other words, it’s more important to win the next election than do what’s right, which gets back to Rush’s point about following the money. Too many establishment types are more interested in power, prestige, and gain than doing what’s right for America and her people.

Conclusion: There you have it. Establishment Republicans didn’t “squander” an opportunity. They didn’t see an opportunity because they don’t believe in conservatism, at least not in Rush conservatism. They believe only in themselves and their peers.

Second, learning isn’t enough unless you understand what learning means. Just like “faith without works is dead” (see James 2:26), so learning without its corollary component is akin to knowledge without gain, or worse, familiarity with a subject with a misguided purpose as the gain. Thus, according to Rush, learning is “just recognizing what is.” He said it all the time, the truth “is what is.” If you cannot recognize the reality of something yet try and share what you think you know, you have become “as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal” (see 1 Corinthians. 13:1). It may sound good to some but isn’t helpful and may be harmful.

The preceding comments lead to the main point of the segment. To establishment Republicans, “politics has become demographics, not ideas.” For example, they support amnesty because they want the Hispanic vote. Rush responds: “I’ve always thought politics is ideas. And maybe not politics, but advancing, appealing to an ever-expanding majority of people is rooted in ideas, to me, not demographics.”

Here's the problem: "When you go the demographic route, you are, by definition, giving up on persuading anybody. If you think you need Hispanics, for example, you'll go out and try to be what you think they want you to be. Even if that means you have to support something you really don’t believe in, like amnesty, you go out and say you do (emphasis added)." Rush continued:

But I've always believed that people are human beings, and we have some things in common, and finding them and appealing to them as human beings rather than as victims or members of a group is, in the long run, gonna be far more meaningful and productive than taking your policy manual and slicing it up into a bunch of different things that may not have anything in common.

Conclusion: If you cannot be true to yourself, it’s hard to form a true and lasting bond with anyone else. There are specific values all reasonable people believe in. Appealing to those values, even if you have different opinions on other issues, leads to a coalition of strength, a bond with people that cannot be broken and will serve the greater good of all.