You knew that the day would come and I knew that the day would come, in which the conservative movement in America would lose its greatest voice that it ever had.
Oh, there were important figures before and after and many will continue the fight for the Conservative cause to protect America’s founding principles, over the powerful protests of those who embraced a MarxistPaganAtheistLeftistProgressive worldview, and desperate to fundamentally transform America into another centralized government state run by those, who not only want to be like God but try to take his place. While the fight to conserve America continues, we must now fight on without one of its key leaders. That being radio personality Rush Limbaugh, and yes, all conservatives must owe a debt to the man. Without him, you would not be reading this very piece that I have written.
Until a year ago, we thought that we might have had maybe another ten, maybe 20 more years or so of Rush Limbaugh delivering his daily program of news and commentary just like another personality who I will mention in just a moment, but Rush made his choices and then we learned that he had severe lung cancer. Donald J. Trump who was still President of the United States in 2019, gave Rush the well-deserved Presidential Medal of Freedom. At least Rush could move on the next life with that. We were hopeful that maybe Rush might have been given a longer life, but we knew that the day of reckoning would come. While Rush was very important, let us not forget two other men and a woman who helped lay the ground work for his destiny along with Ronald Reagan’s Presidency.
The first man to mention was that very personality who lived to be 90 years of age and earned his PMoF from George W. Bush (aka Bush 43) was Paul Harvey. Harvey was known for his unique news and commentary programs that began in 1951 with his midday Paul Harvey News and Comment program (“Stand by for NEWS!!!”) which ran a quarter hour (or 15 minutes) daily. His programs would expand with a shorter version of his news/commentary program heard in the early mornings and an afternoon feature called The Rest of the Story. Harvey would be known for his center right lean on the news, while so many others in the profession would swing a bit to the left if not more. Harvey’s newscasts were done on his own terms, and America loved him for it.
The second man to prepare the way for Rush was William F. Buckley Jr. In the early 1950’s many major newspapers did take a conservative/anti-communist stance, but while magazine publications with a conservative bent had Human Events and The Freeman (compared to the might of the likes of Time, U.S. News & World Report, The Atlantic or The Nation which leaned center to far left), Buckley felt the need to start a publication that would take on the politics of the emerging cold war between America and the Soviet Union from a Conservative worldview. Thus, was born National Review, and while certain conservatives question the current editorial stance of the publication, there was no doubt that the National Review was an influential publication in its prime and with Buckley as the head editor. Lest we forget his iconic public affairs discussion/interview program Firing Line which first aired on commercial TV in 1966 via first run syndication before going to all places, the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) in 1971, were it would become a staple on the government subsidized channel for three decades. Of course, Firing Line itself received no money from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) to the best of my knowledge.
The woman among the three would be Phyllis Schlafly. Without Schlafly’s grassroots efforts coupled with the blessing of her husband Fred and formation of her grass roots organization Eagle Forum, the social issues of conservatism would likely be dead in the water before the dawning of the 1980s, and those very issues held the glue for conservatism overall. Yes, I am talking about the so-called Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) which never used the word Woman or Women but rather “Sex.” Sounds like there was an attempt to blur the lines baby. Women’s sports might have died somewhere in the late 1980’s or 1990’s but hey at least women could murder their babies and be sexually empowered right? Thank goodness for Schlafly who not only ‘Stopped ERA’ not once but twice.” Later on, she would do a weekly hour-long radio talk show of her own in the 1990s and 2000s.
With the last sentence on Schlafly and radio, this takes us to Rush Limbaugh. The man was passionate about both radio and politics. At 20 years of age, Rush got his first radio gig at then Top 40 station WIXZ-AM in Pittsburgh (as Jeff Christie) and later went to crosstown station KQV. As Rush was trying to get into bigger markets, his love of politics grew to the point where it trumped his love of Top 40 radio. That love would cost him his job at KQV radio, and then some. By 1984 he was able to secure a gig at the legendary News/Talk outlet KFBK in Sacramento (replacing Morton Downey Jr. who KFBK ran out literally) which has been in the News/Talk format since the 1970’s. That in spite of the Fairness Doctrine being intact until 1987 when Ronald Reagan’s FCC finally abolished it.
Of course, there were established radio talkers that became successful before the Fairness Doctrine was abolished. Most notability was Bob Grant who had gigs in Los Angeles at KNX, KABC, and KLAC before he moved to New York City for an eight-year stint at WMCA, and eventually doing talk on the iconic crosstown 77WABC, becoming that respected station’s personality for many years to come. Others of note include Atlanta’s Neal Boortz who worked at WRNG (now WCNN currently broadcasting a Sports Talk format and currently has no ties to CNN or its current owner AT&T), the first incarnation of WGST-AM (now Salem Media owned News/Talker WGKA) and eventually the big stick in the market WSB-AM. In Denver you had Mike Rosen (think of him as the conservative Dick Cavett), Ken Hamblin, and Peter Boyles who all became household names in the Denver radio market along with flaming liberal Alan Berg who was sadly murdered in 1984. Another successful liberal talker was Michael Robin Jackson (think of him as the liberal William F. Buckley) who worked at KABC and was one of the main personalities on ABC Radio Network’s TalkRadio service in the 1980’s. You had Bruce Williams who was the flagship voice of NBC Radio’s TalkNet service, and would outlive the TalkNet service with his focus on financial issues and paving the way for Dave Ramsey. Last but not least you had Larry King whom we lost just this year. King might have a been progressive himself (more around on the honest liberal spectrum), but he always allowed his guests to be themselves and speak for themselves…regardless of what King personally thought of his guests. They for the most part, were treated with respect.
However, with the Fairness Doctrine abolished, it allowed talk radio to break the chains of talk radio personalities who were stifled…especially by the progressive agenda that dominated most media outlets. Daniel Henninger of the Wall Street Journal said; “Rush Limbaugh was the first man to proclaim himself liberated from the East Germany of liberal media domination." While Rush established himself at KFBK, the abolishment of the Fairness Doctrine made Rush more popular than ever in the Capitol of California. That caught the attention of former ABC Radio President Edward McLaughlin who was starting up his own radio syndication company, and signed Rush to a syndication deal. McLaughlin and Rush setup shop at WABC radio. Rush Limbaugh was cleared on about 56 stations for the first few weeks and that would eventually grow to over 600 stations nationwide. During his early years because his brand of talk radio was considered something new and exciting, many restaurants established an area of their dining rooms in which people could listen to Rush’s program (the “Rush Room”). Eventually other conservative voices would join alongside Rush and do their own kinds of News and Commentary, and with those others, the great dependence of Rush was no longer needed but still he was that very beacon of alternative media. A beacon that challenged the establishment media, a media that felt they have reached enlightenment but was being challenged by the likes of Rush and others that took a few steps back and question that very enlightenment, asking themselves, asking us whether this was really a good thing, or a trap and a con.
Rush using his love of top 40, bringing in the personality style of the format, music bumpers from well-known mass appeal popular music, mixing it with his worldview on America and preserving its founding principles, truly made him a danger to the progressives that dominated the media and other high places in America. They hated him then and they hated him now and many are glad to see him…”kick the bucket.” These are the very same people who would drag a Jack Phillips (not the only one for the record) to make him not only watch a Gay Wedding and not only make him bake their wedding cake, but make him HONOR and AFFIRM their wedding…and then call that human progress. Also, the same people that would convince us that abortion is good for women, and how fossil fuels harms “Mother Earth” or whatever, or how we must put our faith in “Science” even if its flawed just as long as the progressives can depose Nature’s God if not actually murder the True God himself. This is also why I also wrote a piece last year rejoicing in the death of a pro-abortion advocate who God himself allowed to live into her 90’s. There are times when Conservatives need to Fight Fire with Fire. In the end it shows certain people who really is selfish in society. This is the dark side of John Lennon’s vision as described in his signature song, Imagine.
Rush Limbaugh truly got in the way of the progressive left’s long game…that is why the progressive left hates Rush so much. Our hearts, minds and souls were truly the prize of the progressive elite, and it’s no wonder they wanted to remind us of how we “trusted” the stealth progressive leftist Walter Cronkite when he anchored the CBS Evening News for 19 years. Conservative talk radio proved be a threat to the progressive utopia that the left wants to impose on us all. Because Rush Limbaugh got in the way, they had to use the Saul Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals on him…but the more they tried, the more Rush pushed back. Even when Rush owned his shortcomings, they tried to treat him as if was Jimmy Swaggart, Jim Bakker, Robert Tilton, Oral and Richard Roberts etc. The difference between those phony televangelists and Rush was is that Rush was never a man of the cloth, but did support Freedom of Religion and the need for Faith in America. Second, Rush respected and loved his audience and never took advantage of them. Third, Rush just simply was being himself, and being something that he is not. Rush loved radio, but was not really a people person. He could not fake it; he could not live a lie or be a lie. That was not in Rush’s nature. Still his love of America and speaking for America and wanting to conserve America won him a loyal audience.
No one will be able to replace Rush, but he would not want to see what he helped create be burned down in flames either. Regardless if its radio, podcast, conservative news/commentary web sites; none of these things would be possible without the passion and inspiration of Rush Limbaugh. Now that God has called Rush home and got his talent back that he loaned to Rush, we now must continue to do what he did…in our own ways and means. Rush was the voice of Conservativism in the late 20th and early 21st Centuries. He helped us find our own voices…not just Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, Steve Deace, Tucker Carlson, or Ben Shaprio, but for you and me as well. We must not let Rush down.
The left would love nothing, but put us into a memory hole. They will continue to praise Authoritarian leaders of our world past and present and try to nudge America into embracing it here. They will continue to praise the likes of Karl Marx and his worldview promising utopia. They will continue to promote other “fools” past and present who can speak well, sound wise, but lead people away from freedom. They will continue to abolish faith especially the Christian Faith in the public square. They will continue to push sexual perversion, even at the expense of your daughters in school and women who compete in athletic competition. They will continue to push death as a necessity regardless if its abortion for the pre born, euthanasia for the old, or God forbid the killing if anyone they like for any or no reason at all. It’s called sexual empower for women and death with dignity. They will likely keep you in a face mask until end of time, calling it protection from a virus when certain scientific studies say that face masks are not working…other than dehumanizing the population and giving God the middle finger (who they claim does not exist) regarding his creation. They will use the major media, to convince you that Conservatives and people of faith are dumb people, while the Democratic Party and progressivism are as perfect as Jesus Christ was…maybe regarding Christ. They will continue to back the Democrat Party, Progressivism and Centralized Big Government.
It is time for conservatives to move “Forward.” For Rush, For America, For Liberty, and For Freedom.
“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” (2 Timothy 4: 7-8)
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