Expression of the Conservative Mind

“Rush Limbaugh is an entertainer. Rush Limbaugh, his whole thing is entertainment. Yes, it's incendiary. Yes, it's ugly." – Republican Party Chairman Michael Steele, interview with D.L.Hughley

“Mocking, bullying, full of contempt, and harsh” – CNN’s Bill Schneider

“Crappy” – Whoopi Goldberg, The View

I watched several news channels yesterday and it seems like the only story in town is Rush Limbaugh’s CPAC speech, so I’ll throw in my two cents. You see the reaction to Rush in general and the speech in particular above. I wonder whether these folks actually watched the speech; their comments have little to do with what Rush actually said. Here’s an excerpt:

“Let me tell you who we conservatives are: We love people. When we look out over the United States of America, when we are anywhere, when we see a group of people, such as this or anywhere, we see Americans. We see human beings. We don't see groups. We don't see victims. We don't see people we want to exploit. What we see -- what we see is potential. We do not look out across the country and see the average American, the person that makes this country work. We do not see that person with contempt. We don't think that person doesn't have what it takes. We believe that person can be the best he or she wants to be if certain things are just removed from their path like onerous taxes, regulations and too much government.

“We want every American to be the best he or she chooses to be. We recognize that we are all individuals. We love and revere our founding documents, the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. We believe that the preamble to the Constitution contains an inarguable truth that we are all endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights, among them life. Liberty, Freedom. And the pursuit of happiness [Rush later owned up to the “obvious rhetorical gaffe” here]…

“We don't want to tell anybody how to live. That's up to you. If you want to make the best of yourself, feel free. If you want to ruin your life, we'll try to stop it, but it's a waste. We look over the country as it is today, we see so much waste, human potential that's been destroyed by 50 years of a welfare state. By a failed war on poverty.

“We love the people of this country. And we want this to be the greatest country it can be.”

There is no ugliness here. There is no contempt and no mocking. There is nothing but admiration for America and Americans. What is crappy about that?

Michael Steele is correct that Rush Limbaugh is an entertainer. But that is not his “whole thing”. We see in the CPAC speech that he can also be profoundly philosophical. In an 1825 letter to Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson wrote that the Declaration of Independence “was intended to be an expression of the American mind.” What Rush delivered on Saturday was an outstanding expression of the Conservative mind.