The Spirit of American Freedom

In our era, it lives most prominently on talk radio and the web…treat yourself, and tune in

Just finished listening to a few minutes of Mark Steyn, guest-hosting for Rush Limbaugh. He delivered as brief and compelling a smackdown of Obama’s phony shift to phony populism as you’re ever going to be privileged to hear. Check it out yourself on Limbaugh's website, here. Even if you have to become a Rush 24/7 member to do so, it’s worth your time and money, because you can then listen at your convenience. But the point here is not to advertise for Steyn or Limbaugh (or Sean Hannity or Mark Levin), but to pause and reflect again on how grateful we should be to be living in America at a time when the internet (and talk radio) is still largely unregulated.

We first wrote about the truth-spreading and Pravda-defying power of the web and talk radio in the essay “The Case for Optimism”, here. And we commented indirectly on the real power of “Rush 24/7” in the essay “The Real Limbaugh Legacy”, here. As these were written long before the election results in Virginia, New Jersey and Massachusetts, we’d have to say we’re now even more optimistic for America’s future and more certain that the real “Limbaugh Legacy” will be the way in which web-based technology largely neutered the leftist tactic of taking Limbaugh quotes out of context in order to demonize him and the conservatism he represents. (Not that the attacks stopped or will stop, or in some cases superficially appeared to be successful—as in the way Limbaugh’s interest in taking an ownership position in an NFL franchise was derailed. But throughout 2009 and in 2010, Limbaugh’s audience has only grown in size and loyalty, and the principled American conservatism he espouses is ascending across the country. So even if the attacks continue, they are in fact more than neutered. Their only effect is actually the opposite of their intent.)

But back to Mark Steyn and his smackdown of Obama’s phony populism. In brilliantly simple terms, delivered with the always intelligent-sounding British accent, Steyn put the lie to the idea that demonizing banks and bankers could do anything other than harm the middle class (banks are in the business of gathering deposits from all people, and more from the wealthier types, and then lending it to those who need it and can make use of it, which is not the wealthier types but the very people for whom populism is supposed to appeal: the working up-and-comers). In doing so, he showed once again that the radical leftist’s version of populism is just another version of elitism, where the real calculation is that the average American is just too stupid to know how job creation works. Railing against those who fly in private jets and cruise on yachts transparently overlooks what most Americans know—someone has to build those jets and yachts, and those who are doing the building have what are known as: jobs.

Neither Mark Steyn’s monologue, nor Brushfires’ summary of it, represent unique perspectives that were not known until the internet and talk radio came along. America was founded by people who understood these ideas perfectly well, even if they didn’t yet have the vision to apply it to the building of jet aircraft. But what’s new is that this perspective is so readily and cheaply and universally available now; it is ‘out there’ for anyone with an ounce of curiosity or even the slightest interest in informing himself or herself on what’s really going on. Once it’s found, there is a resonating power of truth that connects with people. They are lifted out of the influence of phoniness and, step-by-step, they become less vulnerable to manipulation and deceit—and this is the death-knell to godless radical leftism.

The fact is, the American people are smarter than the elitists. They are not simple animals waiting to rise to base appeals to envy and jealousy and hatred that are the hallmarks of phony populism. They are human beings who’ve known the spirit of American freedom--a heritage of God-given instincts to take responsibility for themselves, improve themselves, and care for others as they make their way through life. They respect others who have been successful—whether in banks, insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies or elsewhere—and recognize that while there can be bad apples anywhere, the bulk of the orchard is good, and the fruit sustains them.

The American people have sensed a poison let loose on this spirit, and they are reacting with a determination to rid themselves of it. They are going to succeed.

Paul Gable

January 26, 2010