The first time I ever heard Rush Limbaugh on the radio, I was driving down a narrow, winding road in the Missouri Ozarks and his two hour rant was being carried on a local AM radio station in some small town. I thought he was awful, and I listened, more in fascination that he was even able to be on the radio. I kept listening, because as he put forth his very opinionated diatribe, he was also telling listeners how to get their way with government.
Pointing to weaknesses in the system, such as lifetime appointments for judges, low turnouts especially in local elections and the jurisdiction that various levels of government have, Limbaugh was a strong advocate for Republican gerrymandering, claiming that the power of state government to draw district lines extended right into Washington, DC. Noting that Republicans win elections because of low turnout, he was one of the major architects of the takeover of state legislatures during the early 2000's, while Democrats won major elections and then didn't show up to vote in the mid-terms to protect their gains. He was particularly prideful in taking credit for this GOP strategy slowing down the Obama Administration, which he openly called socialist.
So this is where we are. And my question is, "What are we going to do about it?" That's a question for all Democrats, particularly our party leadership.
Incredibly and unbelievably, a demagogue who almost ruined the government with his incompetence, lack of integrity and disregard for the rule of law is back on the campaign trail, and in this constitutional democracy, based on the rule of law and on integrity and trust, it appears that the crimes he committed, including an open attempt to defy the constitution and disrupt the peaceful transfer of power with an insurrection designed to overthrow the government, are not an obstacle to his desire for a second term.
Not only that, but if we listen to the media, they are telling us that the polling data they are collecting indicates that he may actually have a chance to get elected, in spite of the fact that he faces 92 felony indictments for trying to overthrow the government. In what other country in the world would such an enemy of the nation be walking around free, and actually considered as a viable candidate for public office after all that?
Failing to Plan is Planning to Fail
Didn't Democrats have anyone able to catch on to the strategy and plans of the GOP, and try to do something to counter that? They have the numbers, if they can get the turnout. Democrats elected a Senator in Alabama, Doug Jones, by planning and carrying out a "get out the vote" strategy in a special election in 2018. Democratic voter turnout in Alabama has not reached that level since. Why not? Because there hasn't been planning conducted and carried out on the same level as that since then, that's why.
Republicans have succeeded in having a disproportionate influence over government at every level because their plan included getting voters to turn out for every election that matters. Limbaugh advocated for gaining control of political positions that, in turn, had appointive powers to fill other government offices, especially judges, to extend control well beyond any term limits faced by elected officials. And that's exactly what we are facing now.
2024 is Coming Quickly so What's the Plan, Democrats?
There's too much handwringing, whining and worrying going on here. Trump hogs the media, and he's in front of the cameras or mentioned by commentators and reporters far more than the coverage the President gets. So why not plan to change that? Huh? It's hard to calculate the value of the free advertising that Trump gets, just because he's done something destructive or stupid or crazy, or because the media is fascinated with a demagogue.
Here's a fact. No third party candidate is going to win the 2024 election. I don't care how exactly someone like Jill Stein or Robert F. Kennedy Jr. or Cornell West lines up with your thinking, they do not have a snowball's chance on a hot stove of being elected to the Presidency. But we know from past history, and from our quirky electoral college travesty, that a third party candidate can derail the election of the candidate favored by the majority.
I wrote a post several months ago entitled "No more Jill Steins" and I mean what I said. There should be a plan here, that works toward getting all three of these individuals to step aside. If they have the smarts to run for office, then they have the smarts to know that they can't win, and that if Trump does win, they and their supporters will be among the first who will be under attack, because he has already labelled them as "vermin." So we need a plan that gets these people off the ballot and on Biden's side.
The Democratic party has won a string of elections, almost unprecedented success, since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade with the Dobbs decision. That has led to election victories in places not imagined just six years ago. It put Democrats back in full control of the state legislature in Virginia, it won two big elections in Ohio and it helped return a Democrat to the governor's mansion in Kentucky. It gave the party momentum. What's the plan to keep this going?
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, and the Texas Supreme Court gave the Democrats some valuable campaign ammunition this week, when they prevented Kate Cox from receiving a life-saving medical procedure in Texas, forcing her to go out of state to get treatment for a condition that could have been fatal had she not sought care. That needs to be a centerpiece of the 2024 campaign, pointing out how inhumane and cruel Republicans are when it comes to imposing their beliefs on everyone else.
Potential Dictatorship Must be Stopped
Limbaugh's theme was "no compromise." If it wasn't within the ideological and political boundaries of his own thinking, or what he defined as "conservative" thinking, then there was to be no compromise. He would prefer to bring government to a complete standstill and do nothing to allowing "libs" any participation. And that's more or less the way conservatives have operated since at least the Reagan administration. That's the extent of the influence he had over the party. Limbaugh is partly responsible for creating Trump.
Well, Limbaugh is dead. And it's time to put a stop to his destructive political philosophy by ending any hope Donald Trump has for being re-elected. He's destroyed himself, and left plenty of words out there that can be used to turn this back on him. Democrats need to come out with a no-compromise, straightforward way of doing things and stop being surprised when they win elections. A Democrat has received the majority of votes in every presidential election this century except 2004. It's time we start making that count for us by actually putting people in the office and then abandoning this antiquated, pseudo-democratic way of electing officials and running the country.
It doesn't appear that the structure put in place by the constitution is strong enough to prevent the rise of a demagogue in America. So it is going to be up to we, the people, to send a message that affirms the principles and rights in the constitution, upholds it as the law of the land and sends potential demagogues packing. We must vote in numbers we have not yet achieved. Trump must be beaten into the ground, to send the message that this country will continue to be free and will not tolerate would-be dictators. We need to make sure Joe Biden is inaugurated on January 20, 2025 and Donald Trump is in federal prison long before then.
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