Rush: You’re Wrong on This One
by Kimberly Fletcher
I was returning home from taking my son to school Monday when I caught Rush Limbaugh’s show as he gave his opinion on why so many people attended the rally in D.C. last Saturday. Rush said we came not because we are fed up with government but because we are fed up with Democrats and the Democrat president. As one of those protesters and one of the coordinators for the Dayton Tea Party in Ohio, I have to tell you, Rush, you couldn’t be more wrong on this one – and no amount of analysis, reports or numbers from prior elections is going to change that.
I know why I am protesting and I am very clearly aware of what this movement is about, and anyone who has attended any one of the tea parties knows it, too. I attended four of them and spoke at three. The air in those rallies – and the over 30 smaller community meetings known as Liberty Groups that formed from them – is the same everywhere. We are sick of government corruption and its invasion in our lives.
I completely agree with Rush that this is a conservative movement, but he is equating Republican with conservative as if they are synonymous – and they are not. Rush insists the two parties are not the same, and while I agree that the platforms of the parties are dramatically different, the people serving in office are not. The Republican Party looks great on paper, but the people who call themselves Republicans (but for a few exceptions) either have no idea what the Party stands for or they just don’t care.
The tea parties are not protesting a party; they are protesting an oppressive, out-of-control government, and both parties are guilty.
It wasn’t the Democrats who pushed No Child Left Behind or the massive expansions to Medicare. It wasn’t the Democrats who pushed through the $700 billion TARP. It wasn’t a Democrat president who threw the Constitution out the window and expanded the powers of government well beyond the Constitution with the Patriot Act and Homeland Security. It wasn’t a Democrat president that tried to legalize millions of illegal aliens and basically called the American people stupid and uncaring for fighting against it. This fight did not begin with President Obama, his taking office just escalated it.
Take a stand for the principles that have made America so great, a magnetic bumper sticker proclaiming: “Life, Liberty and Property”
The reason Barack Obama was elected was because of the two-party system. The people of America didn’t know where else to go. How can you be heard when you are told you only have two choices and they both stink? In 2006, voters came out in mass numbers and voted Democrat down the ticket to “teach Republicans a lesson.” Not only did that strategy not work, it totally backfired. In 2008, the people bought into the “Change” theme because that is what we all wanted – change in Washington. But the change we got was not what we were promised. We have taken the easy way out for too long. There is no accountability in Washington. There is no transparency. And the only way we are going to get it is to vote both parties out – but not by voting a third party in.
Like Rush Limbaugh, I am adamantly opposed to a third-party option. Voting “third party” simply for the sake of change will only exacerbate the problem. We’ve already tried the changing of the guard, and it doesn’t work. The answer is not to vote third party; the answer is to vote NO party! We need to stop voting by letters the way preschoolers color by numbers. It’s time we take all the letters away and stop taking the easy way out. We need to vote people not parties, and issues not politics. That is what these tea parties and protests are about – taking the government back into our own hands where it was always meant to be. But if we allow Rush Limbaugh to convince us we are protesting a party and this whole thing comes down to Republicans versus Democrats, the movement will come to a screeching halt and we will lose all the ground we have gained.
This movement knows no color, no race, no religion, no gender, no party! And we need to keep it that way. We are not protesting a Democrat president; we are protesting the policies of our current president. It doesn’t matter what party he is. It only matters that he is going against the will of the people. We are not protesting the Democratic Party. We are protesting people who are completely disregarding the Constitution and introducing socialism into our republic.
This isn’t about saving the Republican Party; it is about ending government corruption. And we will no longer allow anyone to divide us by race, gender, religion or party. We are not protesting a party; we are fighting for America. We are Americans, coming together to fight for our freedom and our republic. It is as simple as that.
We don’t want any more politicians in Washington or anywhere else in this country. We want statesmen – men and women who understand the fundamental principles and guiding values this nation was founded on, men and women who have the courage to stand up for those principles no matter what the cost. We want leaders with integrity and moral character who are willing to sacrifice their lives, fortunes and sacred honor for the public good – men and women who are committed to fighting for a cause that is greater than themselves. That is what we want. And that is what we are fighting for.
Shame on us for not being here before. Shame on us for being asleep at the wheel and allowing this to happen. But we are here now. We are awake. We are engaged. And we are not going anywhere! Enough is enough. No matter what party you are, we are not going to take it anymore. And that, Rush, is what this movement is about.
Kimberly Fletcher is the founder and president of Homemakers for America. She is a military wife, mother of eight and a seasoned grass-roots activist. The views in this article are solely of the author and not representative of Homemakers for America Inc.
September 17th, 2009 at 6:47 am
Who can predict Chuck’s response? Here are your choices:
1. Listening to Rush proves you are a Republican.
2. Pictures or video of a wacko who attended one of the rallies.
3. The “where were you when Bush was president” so you must be a racist line.
4. No response.
5. Other – give your own option.
I’m leaning towards 3, but 2 is a strong possibility as well.
September 17th, 2009 at 8:10 am
Looks like you covered all of your bases there Mikey.
September 17th, 2009 at 9:15 am
The country was built on racism, genocide and slavery. Women and children were property. Only land owners could vote. The country is much more civilized now. We don’t want to go back to those warped old values.
September 19th, 2009 at 5:54 am
No, this country was built on indvidual freedom, liberty, and responsibility that unfortunately was denied to slaves. Women and children were not property, slaves were. Not even all blacks were property.
These are things we corrected over time. We even had a little civil war to fix the slavery problem.
Nobody is advocating a return to racism, genocide, and slavery and you are being disingenuous to even suggest it.
September 20th, 2009 at 8:03 pm
Justin forgot the part where half the country could vote an extra 3/5 per slave, originally.
Mike, you forgot the part where many women were treated as children (as subordinates) in this country. Both were treated as property in many affairs. Wedding out one’s daughter was a routine side of a trade deal between two parties. Even many white men were treated in such a manner as property, as well.
That’s the country that the “founding fathers” gave us, but let’s not forget who made it better for all of us. Let’s not forget that those same people gave us the federal income tax, social security, medicare, the federal reserve, “in god we trust” on our money, “under god” in the pledge of allegiance, the war dept. (renamed to the dept. of defense), the federal highway administration, and plenty of other good or bad establishments.
I would argue that even considering the bad contributions, we’ve become a much better and more equitable and “Free” country than what we were in 1789.
September 25th, 2009 at 4:21 pm
Kimberly, I understand your point and count myself in that camp, but you have to look at it from Rush’s viewpoint. He’s staunchly against a third party that could split votes between two good conservative candidates allowing any Democrat, moderate or leftist, to get the win.
GWB and the Republicans were inept and started the bailout rage, but did not nationalize banks or the auto industry, and did not attempt to take over the health care industry.
Rush’s point was that no Republican in any leadership position would even propose such things. This is purely a Democrat-led agenda. Looking at it through those glasses, he’s correct.
September 28th, 2009 at 9:30 pm
I wholeheartedly agree with Kimberly’s comments. I am another who is not protesting Obama or the Democratic party. I am disgusted that our country is in such a sad state in financial matters. And it is getting worse at an accelerated rate. In my opinion, the problem can not only be blamed on the government leaders, but on all of us Americans.
To Roger’s point that Rush is correct that no Republican would propose such things, good for you and him. And our point is that this country is not going to get any more fiscally responsible with leaders from either party using the same policies that have been used for years. There needs to be a change in thinking in America that it is not ok to keep our accelerating our debt. I don’t want to be a part of a generation that just went along like sheep while their elected officials enacted policies that will eventually result in severe economic repercussions for America.
October 1st, 2009 at 7:17 pm
I do honestly believe if McCain had won the election we would be close to being in the same sinking ship. He was OK with cap and trade, wanted healthcare reform, and his best bud is Joe Lieberman. The argument that it’s Republican v.s. Democrat doesn’t wash. A bad leader is a bad leader by any name.
October 15th, 2009 at 10:28 pm
I feel the need to clarify a point of history about the 3/5 person stipulation. The founding fathers wanted to abolish slavery. However, they knew that the newly formed union would not stand if they radically tried to instantly abolish this evil. Therefore, they laid the groundwork to abolish it. They knew that if they did not count the slaves for consideration of representation in the House of Representatives and the Electoral college, they would be conceding the argument that slaves were not human but mere livestock. However, if they counted them fully, the South would enjoy a majority indefinitely and render abolition impossible. Therefore, the 3/5’s compromise was adopted. This way the South enjoyed greater political power but the founders won the idealistic battle that the slaves were men. Unfortunately, this strategy did not work the way they intended and ultimately we had to fight a war to free the enslaved Americans in the South.
-From the Ravings of the Psychomancer
October 21st, 2009 at 10:30 pm
I wanted to take a moment and thank Kimberly for expressing her viewpoint. As a liberal bordering on radical, it’s unusual and extremely refreshing to find a conservative who’s willing to leave out the personal attacks and concern themselves only with the issues. This is not a tactic that I find coming from most conservatives.
If I could offer a side comment, I’d ask the Tea Party members to answer this for themselves. Is Fox News and Rush Limbaugh the only place you get your information? This has been a recurring theme in all of the discussions I’ve had with Tea Party members from other areas (I’m from Texas). I’ve yet to find one that watches anything other than Fox News.
To me, listening to Rush and watching Fox ONLY is simply asking to be a mushroom, and an angry one at that. I can’t think of any other “news” media who’s sole goal seems to be to create anger and distrust about our government. Not that there isn’t a lot to be angry and distrustful about…;-)
You just might try opening your ears, eyes, and mind a little to other viewpoints.
While I agree with Kimberly about politicians in general, there are individuals who stand out from both sides of the isle as excellent examples of what it is we’re ALL looking for….Ron Paul and Bernie Sanders come to mind…and both of these guys are basic libertarians…
My being here demonstrates that it’s possible to participate in a dialogue with the “other side”, if you’ll only allow it to happen.
And, if I hear “government take-over of health care” one more time, I’m going to punch somebody out..
. All I can say is “if only!”…
Do yourselves all a big favor…go watch a Michael Moore movie…especially Sicko..;-)
October 22nd, 2009 at 12:34 am
Cary – look at the posts under A Question of Representation. Its a pretty normal conversation with people from opposing viewpoints.
Maybe there is actually hope we can have some normal discourse. Its got to start somewhere, right?
Anyway, some quick answers to the questions you posed.
1. Where do we get news and commentary? I do not watch fox news, cnn, msnbc or any of the networks. My take on television news as a whole is, regardless of bias (left or right) – it all lacks substance. They try to package it and get it out the door. You see shades of people in interviews but cant ever get to the substance. They stay on their talking points and buzz words. Just silly. Its like junk food.
So, what are sources of news for me – multiple blogs – politico, RCP, Huffington (yes I read the left), etc. Tweets from random articles from everyone. I follow more than I should. I follow a lot of lefty tweets for perspective: Speaker Pelosi, moveon.org, etc. I find it interesting. And yes, I follow plenty on the right too.
Talk radio. Absolutely. But I’m not a huge Rush fan. I do however listen to: Brian Thomas (local host), Michael Medved, Dennis Prager, Hugh Hewitt and Mark Levin if I can stomach his voice.
As for commentary and writing, this list is too long to give but here are a few: Charles Murray, Tom Sowell, Charles Krauthammer, Tom Woods, David Horowitz, Shelby Steele and many, many more.
Jump over to that post I reference above for the debate on healthcare. Better place for it.
As for Michael Moore, I was forced to watch Roger and Me in college and I’ve watched about 3 other films. I can’t handle it anymore. He twists a lot around to make an agenda work, and the format is just boring after a while. I know its just taste, but I actually have tried. He tries way too hard. Just not my style.
Either way – welcome to the blog. Always happy to have people interested in good discourse. Especially those of differing viewpoints. Happy to have you!!
PS – I just moved from Houston to Cincinnati in 2008. Though I am from Ohio, I miss Texas!!