The Low Road is Limbaugh’s Road – Leave it to him.

Rush Limbaugh via Wikimedia Commons

• Remember how upset you were when Rush Limbaugh accused Michael J. Fox of “acting” when he displayed normal Parkinson’s disease symptoms?
• Remember how you felt when you heard him refer to the sexual abuse of UNCONVICTED prisoners atAbu Ghraib as “It’s sort of like hazing, a fraternity prank. Sort of like that kind of fun.” one day and then said “I’m talking about people having a good time, these people, you ever heard of emotional release? You ever heard of need to blow some steam off?” the next?
• Remember how in 1995 he said “Too many whites are getting away with drug use…Too many whites are getting away with drug sales…The answer is to go out and find the ones who are getting away with it, convict them and send them up the river, too.” and then in 2005 he kept his job and expected the ACLU to protect his civil rights after admitting “I am addicted to prescription pain medication.”?
• If you have been paying attention long enough you may even recall when he called women who supported the law of that land granting women control of their bodies feminazis.

If you remember how you felt at any of those times, please try to go back in your mind and REALLY remember how it felt.

Remember how frustrated and upset you felt that the laws governing the public airways – through the repeal of a decades old FCC policy from 1949, that required the holders of broadcast licenses both to present controversial issues of public importance and to do so in a manner that was (in the Commission’s view) honest, equitable and balanced – granted Rush Limbaugh unfettered access to millions of Americans without guaranteeing access for an opposing view.

That FCC policy, put in place by the President who led us to victory over Germany and Japan in World War II, served the nation well during the massive post war boom in both population and national wealth. It stood until swept out the door with many other regulations when Ronald Reagan took office.

There is a reason Limbaugh, Hannity, O’Reilly, Savage, Beck, and their compatriots consider Ronald Reagan to be a saint. The same general clearing away of regulatory power – wielded by civil servants on behalf of ordinary Americans – created the talk radio echo chamber over which Rush Limbaugh and his many imitators have reigned all these years. These are men who have become not just rich, but VERY rich, through Reagan’s ‘deregulatory pork’ handed down to the Republican party.

Now remembering all of that, you can still, stick to the high road.  I know you can.   It’s taken us a long time to get to where we are now after the nadir of the USA’s flirtation with corporate fascism in first half of the ‘Noughts’. Lets not slide back and end up down on that low road with the likes of Limbaugh.

Nobody expects you to send flowers or even wish him well and a speedy recovery – if he indeed is ill. But crowing about his misfortune and publicly wishing for his demise on Facebook, Twitter, or on-line is THEIR WAY, not ours.