Don’t Blame Limbaugh

According to outgoing Senate majority leader Tom Daschle, Rush Limbaugh and others like him are inspiring Taliban- like fanaticism in their listeners, driving them to make threats of violence against men like Daschle and their families. He mentioned Limbaugh by name.

Daschle, known as a mild-mannered man, didn’t offer evidence for this extraordinary charge. Have he and his loved ones been receiving death threats from self-identified Limbaugh listeners? Or is this a bluff — another Democratic attempt to defame critics, like Bill Clinton’s attempt to blame “talk radio” (transparently meaning Limbaugh) for the Oklahoma City bombing?

One could just as fairly accuse Daschle of trying to incite violence against Limbaugh. In any case, it ought to be news when a U.S. Senator makes such an attack on a journalist. Yet after hearing Daschle on the radio, I couldn’t find an account of it in the next morning’s papers.

I tune in on Limbaugh several times a week, but usually only for a few minutes. One reason I soon turn him off is that he spends so much time sniping at Daschle and the Democrats. Instead of talking about conservative principles, Limbaugh gives the listener overdoses of petty Republican partisanship. The show is much more interesting when Walter Williams pinch-hits for the regular host.

But nothing Limbaugh says about Daschle can possibly be construed as encouraging violence. Tiresome, yes, and no doubt annoying to Daschle, but political hair-pulling is a long way from assassination.

The Taliban analogy, beloved of liberals, is especially silly. Limbaugh is consistently secular. He stays away from religious subjects, and in fact his show might be a lot livelier if he dealt with them. But a frequent listener can’t imagine him inciting his audience to frenzies of faith. He’s absorbed in politics at the same superficial level Daschle is.

In short, Daschle doesn’t know Limbaugh the way even a half-attentive listener would. He’s simply smearing him with a stereotype he knows will fly with liberals, hoping it will intimidate conservatives.

It’s not working. Limbaugh revels in stupid attacks by his enemies. Liberals are embarrassed; their press is ignoring the story. When Vice President Spiro Agnew assailed the liberal media in 1969, it was a huge story, because the press (proving it was as liberal as Agnew said it was) chose to take it as a threat to the First Amendment.

Today, when the most powerful Democrat in Washington makes a grave charge against the most popular conservative commentator in the country, it’s at most a personal flap, not a threat to free speech. As far as the press is concerned, no important principle is at stake.

There is an odd side-effect of all this. It reinforces the false impression that the Democrats and the Republicans, especially Republicans like Limbaugh, are polar opposites. The truth is that both parties agree on fundamentals; they’re only quarreling about details.

The voter is offered a choice between Democratic big government and Republican big government; that’s all. Shall we have more welfare or more warfare? No matter which party wins, we’re going to get plenty of both, but in slightly different configurations. The two parties fight bitterly, but they’re only fighting about power.

That’s why it amazes and appals me that Limbaugh can get so excited about elections. As a conservative, what on earth does he think the Republican Party is conserving?

We are forever being told that the right to vote is among the most precious of our freedoms. Nobody explains why, in that case, the vote is so unavailing. Today government is far more oppressive and taxes are far higher than they were in the days of that tyrant King George III.

What is the cash value of your vote? Here’s a thought-experiment I like to do from time to time. Suppose that if you gave up your allegedly precious right to vote, you could be relieved of the obligation to pay taxes. You could just opt out of the whole system.

It would be an offer you couldn’t refuse. And that’s exactly why the government would never make the offer. It knows as well as you do that your precious vote is worthless. Depriving you of the vote for refusing to pay taxes would be no penalty at all. That’s why taxes have to be backed, ultimately, by ... well, threats of violence.

If our elected officials are getting death threats these days, maybe Rush Limbaugh isn’t the reason.

Joseph Sobran