"Those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it."--Edmund Burke
Much of the blame for the single-minded ignorance and hatred of divergent political views in this country can be laid at the feet of Rush Limbaugh. He's about as un-American and unpatriotic as you can be in his deliberate intentions to foster hatred and build support for the white supremacist, white Christian nationalist, fascist agenda he has pushed. He expresses hatred for anyone who disagrees with him in a variety of ways including name-calling and mockery. He advocates for a dictatorship of the right that would relegate anyone who isn't a white conservative who thinks like he does to second class citizenship.
The first time I heard his radio program, I was stunned by the bigotry and vitriolic hatred that was spewing out of the car radio speakers. Normally, I never listen to the AM side of the dial, time and technology has passed up most of those radio stations, but I was driving from New Orleans to Nashville and was on I-59 in Eastern Mississippi during a very stormy afternoon with tornadoes and golf-ball sized hail dropping down out of multiple thunderstorms. I found a news radio station that was giving weather updates every 15 minutes, in between segments of Limbaugh's broadcast.
He was in the process of making fun of the way African Americans pronounce certain words, belittling their intelligence because many of them pronounce the word "ask" like "axe". After ten minutes of that, he launched into a monologue about African Americans and welfare, claiming that Clinton's budget proposals would include generous doses of welfare so that he could secure the black vote and hoping that Clinton's liberal immigration policy letting thousands of Mexicans across the border would cause a race war as they tried to grab their share of the free money. I switched back to the FM side of the dial, deciding I'd just keep an eye out on the weather myself and enjoy music instead.
Limbaugh's broadcasts laid a foundation for what Trump would be able to turn into his base and successfully capture the 2016 Republican nomination. By then, Limbaugh and his wannabes in right wing extremist media, along with his Fox News sycophants, all following the pied piper because they could share the same audience to boost their ratings, were able to turn the GOP from its heir apparent Jeb Bush toward Trump. He wasn't on their radar when he ran in 2000 as a "reform party" candidate, but they lined up in 2016 in time to jerk the rug out from under Bush. In typical Limbaugh fashion, he claims not to have jumped on the bandwagon so fast, but ideologically, he was on the Trump train long before the GOP field narrowed in 2016 and you don't have to use the word "endorse" to accomplish that purpose.
Limbaugh has proclaimed loudly and clearly his complete support for the January 6 insurrection since it happened. But then, he's no patriot and is not a supporter of either the American Constitution or the Democratic Republican form of government. The question is, did he say anything prior to the coup that directly advocated it or that would have encouraged people who specifically participated in it? That needs to be investigated.
I am a firm believer in the Constitution and in the guarantee of free speech. But free speech does not guarantee the right to commit sedition, advocate the overthrow of the government or come without any responsibility attached to it when people listen to what you say, form a mob and commit a crime that you encouraged, even if you deny that it was your fault. There's a new sheriff in town who has the ability to appoint a leader over the FCC and I think its time for some new, constitutionally-tempered new rules to make the extremist right wing media accountable for the damage it causes. It's not censorship if the rules apply equally to everyone.
Inciting a seditious insurrection intended at overthrowing a government that derives its power from the people is unconstitutional and illegal. It is not guaranteed free speech."
Limbaugh claims he's dying from cancer and I don't think any of his potential successors have the ability to draw the kind or size of audience he once did. But there are others to whom they will scatter, some of them worse. This is a mess that needs to be cleaned up. Social media permanently disabled the tweeter-in-chief days before he left office. There ought to be a way to hold Breitbart, Newsmax, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson and the rest of the right wing extremist media to a standard that protects the free speech the founders intended and makes the extremist right wing media face the choice between spouting off and paying a high price for it, or being responsible
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