Tuesday, March 02, 2021
Rush Limbaugh
I first heard Mr. Limbaugh in the early 1990's when I was a graduate student in my PhD program at NYU. I was surprised and pleased to hear a powerful voice for reason and liberty, and listened when I had the opportunity. I continued listening when I returned to Montana in the second half of the nineties. I was particularly impressed by his dissection of and campaign against the poisonous HillaryCare "reform" of health care. I think his exposure of its socialist nature was instrumental in defeating it; he galvanized public opinion against this governmental power grab.
I listened to Limbaugh over the years. Sometimes i strongly disagreed with him, but more often than not I agreed. I noticed that he was particularly astute at analyzing politics. He understood motivations, strategies, and ulterior motives of politicians and the public remarkably well, and had a real knack for assessing events. I learned a lot from him. But even more important was his understanding of self-responsibility, self-esteem (<i>real</i> self-esteem, that which is earned), hard work, and the role of liberty in promoting success. He championed these, and they are the American entrepreneurial values that make us and our country successful.
Limbaugh truly deserved the Medal of Freedom. He did a great deal for freedom. And he did it heroically. Real heroism, as Robert Heinlein points out, is stepping up to do the high service at personal risk <i>when you don't have to.</i> Rush Limbaugh was repeatedly and viciously smeared by the left and other opponents. That hurts. Limbaugh ignored the lies, libels, and slanders, and even played them in order to make a mockery of the left. But it certainly wasn't easy for him.
I do recall multiple occasions where he would make a statement and then predict how it would be mis-reported -- i.e. lied about -- by government officials and by what he called the "drive-by media." In every case I ever heard, he was exactly right. He exposed the MSM as the frauds and idiot ideologues they are.
It is wonderful that we had Rush Limbaugh. I'm sorry he's gone; it seems different without him. But he inspired many of us, and we're following in his footsteps, promoting the truths he championed.
Thank you, Mr. Limbaugh, for all you did. As one of my former students put it, you've passed us the torch, and we'll carry it on.
