Dear Republican Senators...

I have voted for Republican Senate candidates for four decades, and I can assure you that I am among millions of Americans who would vote tomorrow to remove each and every one of you if we could. The major reason is your public comments toward Rush Limbaugh, which inevitably and always belie a 100% ignorance of what Limbaugh actually said, and a 100% adoption of how the Beltway media spins what Limbaugh said.

Let’s be sure you really understand the stakes. This is in fact not about personalities and celebrity fan clubs. Those of us who were around in the time of Ronald Reagan and have actually listened to Rush Limbaugh can tell you that Limbaugh is “Reagan II”—that is to say, Limbaugh articulates day-in and day-out the conservative philosophy of Ronald Reagan that twice propelled the Republican Party to landslide electoral victories. Just to remind everyone what a landslide electoral victory means, in 1984 Reagan won 49 states.

Reagan’s conservative philosophy, when confidently articulated, would win today as much as it won in 1984. One proof is in Limbaugh’s audience, which is larger than the combined viewership of the mainstream television networks, and has been sustained and enlarged since Reagan’s time.

The problem is that in your oh-so-busy DC schedules, you don’t have time to notice the blueprint for the gold mine that is right in your midst. Instead you defer to Beltway media spin and hearsay, and accept the premise of every Limbaugh-related question: that Limbaugh is hateful, vitriolic, full of anger and outrage, etc., etc. After accepting this premise, you mouth in response some talking points you’ve been given by some equally uninformed so-called Republican about how Limbaugh is merely ‘an entertainer’ and given to generally excusable extremism because that’s what the uninformed somebody thinks is necessary to build a talk radio audience.

Those of you who have had a successful life in the private sector, or who have known someone who has had a successful life in the private sector, should know that no one besides Limbaugh has amassed the audience that he has for as long as he has--and no one could do these things if he were in fact the 'nasty' person he is portrayed by the media to be.

As one who has listened to Limbaugh, I can assure you that while he is entertaining, he has not built his audience on the strength of style but of substance first, and style second. He is not hateful; he is not vitriolic; he is not full of anger and outrage. His is the voice of the American heart and soul, filled with common sense, a love for America and the quintessential ideal of individual freedom and responsibility under God, and a disdain for lies and liars. Just like most of us. And if you in fact followed his lead instead of constantly backpedaling at the mention of his name (as instructed by the White House), you’d find yourselves taking back control of the Senate and the House and Presidency and the agenda (and every American would be better off for it).

The Sotomayor kerfuffle is just the latest case in point. Sotomayor’s oft-cited quote (cited by Brushfires here) is racist. She’s saying a Latina woman is a better judge than a white man. Is she a better judge than a black man? A black woman? What about a Hispanic man? An Asian man or woman? A Native American Indian? Trial lawyers in the American legal system would disqualify any juror mouthing the words that Sotomayor did because we would conclude the juror would not be able to render justice impartially. But the same attitude does not disqualify someone from serving on the highest court in the land?

These are the points Limbaugh and others have been making, and they are not hateful or angry or vitriolic. They go right to the core of qualifications to be a judge. “Yes,” you say, “but it’s just not nice to throw around the term racist”. No, it’s not nice to be a racist and practice racism as a judge—and when somebody spouts a racist attitude, somebody else calling them on it is doing a service to our judicial system, not a disservice.

Combine the racist rhetoric with an admitted intention to make policy from the bench—which violates the oath to uphold the Constitution—and you have solid, unmistakable grounds to vote “no” on Sotomayor’s confirmation and have a strong majority of the American people with you, even if Democrats vote party-line to confirm her. This is the position Limbaugh has staked out, and he’s right. But you are forever getting ensnared by the Beltway media into distancing yourselves from Limbaugh instead of embracing and learning from him.

So here’s a suggestion: surely among the hundreds and probably thousands who serve as your staffers you can find and appoint one person who is tasked with listening to Rush Limbaugh every day. The staffer doesn’t have to listen live; he or she just has to listen to the 2+ hours of actual broadcast time available through his website. And then the group of you need to take a vow that you will not open your mouth to NPR or any other member of the Beltway media to react to their hearsay as to what Rush said unless and until you consult with the Limbaugh Staffer. You may not learn as much as you would if you listened yourself, but at least you’ll stop making comments than offend, anger and distance Americans from you.

One last but very important point Limbaugh alludes to but doesn’t always make as specific as he could: you religiously accept the Beltway media’s view that Hispanics and other groups are monolithic voting blocks. Well, in the case of blacks, they have been a voting block; and if you don’t stop accepting the Beltway media’s view, you will make Hispanics into a voting block. You fail to see and stress the insult implied by the notion that someone of Hispanic or black or any other origin feels it is right that he or she win in court even if the facts and law say he or she should not win. Honest, decent men and women of every skin color know that is not a system of justice, and they don’t want any part of it.

You will not break the black voting block or any other voting block by accepting the group identity concept and trying to put together a better ‘pander package’. You will break voting blocks when you get back to the American ideal of individual freedom and responsibility under God, and build policy and argument around the right idea that we are all individuals and desire government that accepts that truth. The founders gave us those ideals and set up a government to respect them. So should you.

To explore more of what this means, try “We Do Not Want This” and “Time for Rebellion by the Real Minority: the Individual”.

Fair warning once more: your constant condescension toward Limbaugh is driving people away from you at an accelerating rate you do not comprehend. You’ll find out next election cycle if you don’t wake up soon.

Paul Gable

Posted May 29, 2009