A celebrated voice for regulated American nationalism is now silent. Listening to Rush Limbaugh was a calculated effort intended to facilitate tolerance and to be informed regarding the thought process that animates an influential segment of the population in the United States. It did not require much listening to understand the factors that motivated Limbaugh and organized his speech. Reflecting on his prominent and relentless critique of American culture provides a full understanding of the elevated place he held for his admiring followers.
One characteristic of his presentations is particularly notable: Limbaugh did not mince words or ideas or judgement. He did not shy away from blunt descriptions and specific allegations and focused accusations. He clearly expressed himself and capably elaborated when broadcasting his opinions. It is this factor that seems to be his most endearing attribute. Limbaugh was willing and able to say out loud the kind of things that so many of his devoted listeners were thinking and wanted to say but were too shy or too ashamed or too isolated to actually repeat them in a public forum. Limbaugh was their voice, their champion, the manifestation of their sympathies. Limbaugh said what they wanted to say but did not say because of the threat of embarrassment and the shame in appearing to be dissolute.
The message which Limbaugh consistently published contained unmistakable descriptions of deficiencies in individuals who did not conform to his concept of what it means to be a citizen of the United States. He judged such persons to be inferior, to be the source of problems, to be a threat to the future of the nation. These individuals were out of place, they were not welcome, they were a presence that needed to be subdued so that his (and that of his followers) pursued vision of American nationalism would prevail.
Yet for persons who agree with him but are still aware of some semblance of conscience or who have ever been to church or who have a sense of human spirituality, describing Limbaugh as their hero is an awkward differentiation. And this is where the necessity of praising Limbaugh arises.
For persons who are even nominally aware that they share a planet with many other people--different people--these individuals realize that relationship is necessary. Relationship is an undeniable requirement of being alive in the earth. And judgement about how to nurture relationship becomes a serious issue. Who among us can with any certainty pass judgement on any other one of us? Who among us is superior to any other one of us? Who among us has the right to dictate what another one of us can or cannot do? For persons with this sensitivity how someone relates to another is an important matter, especially when combined with a concept of life after death when we all will be held to account for how we related to others while we were alive in the earth.
For these persons praising and applauding Rush Limbaugh is a means of finding personal comfort, a way to be reassured, a matter of being consoled for feeling the same things that Limbaugh professed. These persons need Limbaugh to be celebrated and honored because they know his destiny will be their destiny.
