This nation lost a hero and the greatest icon in talk radio history. His quick wit and captivating personality made his show magnetic. He spoke for millions and revolutionized talk radio.
Rush Limbaugh was truly one of my childhood heroes, and his legacy will forever hold a special place in my heart and memory. His unique presentation and broadcast abilities will never be replicated, and his natural talent at captivating an audience was exceptional, though such a simple adjective does not fully convey the grandness of his abilities.
It was Rush who first inspired me to venture into talk radio, and his life certainly had a significant impact on mine. While I never had the honor of meeting Mr. Limbaugh (though it was certainly something that I had hoped for), like the millions of people who listened to his show, we felt a closeness with the host unlike any average program. Rush Limbaugh was anything but average. The way that he was able to connect with his listening audience was profound.
Rush’s wife, Kathryn, understood this connection better than anyone. On Wednesday, when she announced her husband’s passing, she referred to Mr. Limbaugh as “our Rush,” rather than ‘my Rush.’ This lack of total possessiveness showed that she understood Rush was quite literally a ‘man of the people,’ his people being his audience composed of Americans who love this country. This phrase showed her acknowledgement that she shared her husband with this nation, and there was a close bond between Rush and his listeners.
The level of grief that I have felt has been tremendous, comparable to losing a close friend. For the past two nights, sleeping has been difficult. Experiencing this type of grief, over someone you did not know personally, is unusual. However, this is the gift of Rush’s talent. His show built a relationship with his audience that felt personal, even if he was not aware of each individual listener’s existence. We loved Rush and he loved us, his audience. For many of us, he became part of our daily routine. We would listen to him during our lunch hour and as we returned to the office. For those of us who grew up listening to Rush in our youth, we would sneak in an earbud (when our teachers weren’t looking) to get the best education we could possibly receive from the Limbaugh Institute for Advanced Conservative Studies.
When I first heard of his passing, I found myself guilty of saying, “There will never be another one like him.” Then, I remembered something that Rush once said:
“You know, we all have rotten things happen to us, and we all have unfortunate things. But I tell you: One thing I’ve learned is that there’s good in everything that happens. It may not present itself for weeks, months, whatever, but there’s good in everything that happens if you look for it, and I firmly believe that. God is a profound factor. Jesus Christ is a profound factor, I have a personal relationship.”
Rush made this comment in response to a listener concerned about the outcome of the prior presidential election. Though some did not notice the origins of this remark, Rush was citing Romans 8:28.
“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”
Rush spent over 33 years of his life investing his time and wisdom into us, his audience. To say that losing Rush is unfortunate is an understatement to the gravity of despair that we all feel. However, we can’t allow our grief to cause us to lose sight of the beauty that he gave us. He taught us how to fight, be quick witted, convey information, provoke the left to expose their insanity, how to persuade, stand our ground regardless of monumental criticism, and how to do all of this while remaining joyful and having fun.
As a teenager, I was very engaged in the conservative movement as a talk radio host. Talker’s Magazine named me as being the ‘Youngest syndicated talk personality’ at the age of 16. Newsmax and Red Alert Politics had selected me as a ’30 under 30′ honoree. I say this not to achieve any type of personal gratification, but rather to show that I was active in the various ‘young Republican’ circles. Time and time again, I would see young ‘republican’ super stars suddenly become moderate or even liberal, solely to attain greater stardom. They hoped to achieve greater notoriety in the political world by compromising their values, pandering to liberalism. This would strike me at my core, because I would watch these kids be propped up by the so-called ‘conservative alternative media,’ and then these same kids would denounce conservatism just months to a couple years later.
It got so bad, many were talking about how the Republican Party must change their core social policies just to stay relevant among young people. It was infuriating to me, Jayson Veley (another early, young conservative podcaster), and many of us who had dedicated our youth to try and save this country from a moral and economic destruction by the implementation of liberal policies. Then, enters Rush Limbaugh.
In a Policy Mic op-ed titled, Pandering to Millennials Will Ruin the GOP, Rush Limbaugh wrote some of the most memorable ‘pearls of wisdom’ that I’ve ever read and have remained with me to this day:
“I understand the desire and need for people of younger generations to be heard and acknowledged. I totally get that. But the truth is that it is up to you to be heard, up to you to get noticed, up to you to stand out. You are not entitled to be respected just because of your age. The only exception is the Seasoned Citizen population, which is the greatest collection of wisdom in the country (I don’t expect you to believe that). You can demand to be respected, recognized, and listened to all day long, but understand that no one has any obligation to listen to you. You are going to have to make them want to… by virtue of your achievements. By demonstrating potential. By being interesting. Yes, even by being provocative. Fearless. Everyone has the right to speak, but we do not have a right to be listened to. No one has a constitutional right to be heard. In other words, don’t sit around and wait and hope or demand that somebody listen to you. Take action. Be heard, but above all, make something happen.”
He continued talking about the need to remain faithful to core principles and never compromising American values.
“You can tailor your message for individual groups, but not your principles.
At the same time, you must be honest with yourselves and understand exactly what it is the Democratic Party seeks to do. If you are serious about all this, you must resolve that the Democratic Party is to be defeated, not compromised with. You rightly note the challenges you face: Rising stifling debt. Rising unemployment. Rising deficits. No economic growth. The state is getting bigger and the private sector, where you work, is getting smaller. Not cool. And many of you probably would say that the Republican Party contributed in part to all of this, and you would be right.
But one simple fact remains, and that is that the ideas and policies that led to this mess are rooted in the left… the Democratic Party.
You, through no fault of your own, are in the midst of an ideological war in America today. It is not just a battle between two parties. Principles, ideas, and philosophy are being fought over. Many people are uncomfortable hearing this and facing it. But you must if you want to grow and live in the America you’ve always believed in. Because it won’t exist as founded for very much longer if these battles are lost. And this is up to you because you are the unfortunate heirs of this disaster. You have lots of allies among us who are your elders, and we are eager and hopeful you will join us. Because these battles are being undertaken for you and your future. And your kids.”
As you can see, there must be another ‘Rush Limbaugh,’ but not limited to one individual person. As conservatives, all of us must continue proclaiming Rush’s message, ensuring that his life’s work was not in vain. To say, ‘There will never be another Rush Limbaugh,’ is delightfully pleasing in the ears of every leftist that despised Rush with a passion because of his love for this country. He truly had talent on loan from God, as he used this talent to fight for righteous causes. This talent belonged to God, and it has returned to God. All of us must be ‘another Rush Limbaugh,’ and pray for God to loan us His talent, so that we may be able to impact this nation just as Rush did.
We must ask God to grant us the talent to impact our states, communities, even our families. We must seek the restoration of morality, faith, and decency. We must strive to enable people to be able to live their best possible lives, by lessening government regulation, eliminating overburdensome taxation, so that parents’ time is invested in their children, rather than consumed by working 3 jobs just to put food on the table.
Just as freedom is a torch that must be passed on from one generation to the next, so is conservatism. Rush carried this torch for over 33 years. Now, it is our turn.
Rush Limbaugh will be tremendously missed, but his legacy must live on. Never forget Rush, especially never forget his message.
