God Bless Rush Limbaugh

Several years ago, I attended a meeting of the supposedly “up and coming” members of the local Republican Party. The fact that I – a middle-aged man – was included in this exclusive, by invitation only event, tells you all you need to know about the aging demographics of our local party.

However, I was glad to be invited and looked forward to hearing the group’s plans. To be honest, I had no intention of speaking up or speaking out. I was simply there to listen and learn.

After a brief introduction, the host shared his vision for the local GOP and his strategy for winning future elections. In a nutshell, he suggested that candidates run exclusively on a platform of fiscal conservatism while downplaying their social conservatism. It was his belief that the vast majority of voters are conservative when it comes to economic issues, but moderate or liberal when it comes to social ones. And so, he argued that – in order to win elections – we needed to stress pocketbook issues only.

Once the election was in the bag, he conceded that it was all right to promote a limited social agenda. “Any comments?” he asked.

After about two nanoseconds, my hand shot instinctively into the air. “Um, yes, I have two,” I responded, trying to keep my emotions in check while I organized my thoughts.

“First, it is impossible to simultaneously call yourself a fiscal conservative and a social moderate or liberal,” I began. “Those two positions simply cannot co-exist, because if you are a social liberal, you favor “Big Nanny” government programs that, by definition, preclude you from being a fiscal conservative.”

A few heads around me nodded in agreement, but I was just getting started.

“As for downplaying social issues, I simply can’t do that,” I stated unapologetically. “I won’t die to save my wallet, but I will gladly lay down my life to protect and defend an innocent, unborn baby.”

“After all,” I concluded, “the Republican Party was birthed because of a social issue. We were the party that called for the abolition of slavery and later, for full Civil Rights for African-Americans.”

Having said my piece, I sat back down and started waiting. Waiting, that is, for some other Republican to voice my same passions and my same concerns. Waiting for someone, anyone, to say that once America gets its spiritual house in order, God will bless us economically and in every other way.

That wait just ended yesterday when I heard Rush Limbaugh on the radio.

Comparing the current political turmoil in Washington to a football game, Rush articulated my position almost verbatim. “Conservatives have allowed liberals to define morality for us because we left the [playing] field,” El Rushbo stated matter-of-factly. “We have been afraid to talk about social issues because we’ve been told over and over again that voters don’t want to hear about them.”

Rush went on to say that everywhere he goes, well-meaning Republicans tell him that we need to emphasize economic issues to the virtual exclusion of social ones. “But this is where that kind of reasoning has gotten us,” he said, referencing Wednesday’s signing by Gov. Andrew Cuomo of a new law that makes it legal in New York to abort a baby up to the time it is actually born.

Finally, someone called it like it is. Finally, someone with a platform much larger than mine has spoken into a microphone what I’ve been trying to shout from the rooftops for so long.

God bless you, Rush Limbaugh!