Who is the current leader of the Republican Party? No one. But there certainly is someone who wields the most influence over people who agree with the Republican Party platform and that is Rush Limbaugh .
How so? Because Limbaugh manages to do the three things any leader must do to be successful with a large group of people: he communicates direction he earns trust and he evokes desire in people to go in the direction he communicates. Those are the three fundamentals of leadership.
Direction is the essence of leadership. You cant lead anyone anywhere if you dont communicate a clear direction. Who in the Republican Party has been communicating clear directiona direction that is consistent with the Republican ideals of limited government fiscal restraint and the protection of life liberty and self-evident moral values? No one prominent comes to mind. Yet this has been Limbaughs consistent message for over twenty years.
The second fundamental of leadership is trust. Even if you communicate the right direction clearly people will be reluctant to follow if they dont trust you. Limbaugh has a vast audience that trusts him because he consistently asserts and explains conservative principles. Fewer people trust Republicans these days because about all most of them can be trusted to do is to defy those principles.
The platform declares that the party intends to constrain the federal government." Who in the party effectively communicates this and then follows through? With apologies to Senator Coburn no one prominent. While President Bush thankfully accomplished his most important prioritykeeping us safehe and his fellow Republicans spent like Democrats for eight years. If you cant trust Republicans to govern as Republicans the only motivation to vote is negativethey probably wont be quite as bad as Democrats." Is it any wonder why millions of conservatives stayed home in 2008?
The third fundamental of leadership is desire. Followers can know your direction and trust you but little will be accomplished if you cant evoke in them a passionate desire to go in the direction youve set. This is where Limbaugh excels. Many in his loyal audience of 22 million (more since being singled out by the Obama Administration) say that Rush articulates what they think. In addition to his humorous direct and some say incendiary" attacks on liberals Limbaugh often sounds like a motivational speaker declaring that all can succeed in America especially when we get government off our backs. Republicans seem too afraid to upset the media by championing this conservative direction for Americaa winning direction that a majority of Americans actually desire.
According to the oft-repeated bipartisan battleground poll more Americans identify themselves as conservatives (60) than liberals (38). Moreover the massive commercial success of Limbaughs show and conservative talk radio in general is additional evidence that the conservative direction is desirable when articulated properly.
Unfortunately too many Republicans ignore these facts and the lessons of Reagan. They somehow think that Democrat-lite is their ticket to electoral popularity. Its notarticulate conservativism is. As the 2008 election showed us when Republicans offer neither voters will settle for articulate.
Which leads us to where we are today. We have an articulate president whose direction is clearly wrong for the country. Thats not just an opinion. Obamas direction is demonstrably wrong because it ignores the repeated lessons of history and adopts a false view of human nature. Socialism has never worked and will never work because it destroys human incentive and creates dependency.
Limbaugh says that Obama knows this and wants to create a culture of dependency that will keep Democrats perpetually in power. If this is true Obama is taking a leadership page from Joseph Stalin.
While speaking to a group of henchmen one day Stalin began denuding a chicken that struggled to get away. After Stalin finished the painful process he placed the now-vulnerable bird at his feet and walked away while dropping breadcrumbs behind him. To everyones surprise the bird he had just tortured followed the dictator around the room. The moral? Stalin gave it: This is the way to rule the people" he said. Did you see how that chicken followed me for food even though I had caused it such torture? People are like that chicken. If you inflict inordinate pain on them they will follow you for food the rest of their lives.
Indeed if you dont want to be bothered with getting people to actually desire your direction you can rule through pain and fear. Vulnerable chickens will follow. So despite socialist ideas proven to fail too many chickens are fearfully following Obama off an economic cliff into a debt-ridden welfare state. This is folly! The only way recover lost wealth is to create more wealth. And the only proven way to do that is to incentivize the private sector by cutting tax rates. The governmentwhich creates no wealthcertainly cant spend our way out of bankruptcy!
Which leads us to this business about wanting Obama to fail. People ask Do you agree with everything Mr. Limbaugh says." Of course not. I dont agree with everything any mortal says. But I probably agree with 95 percent of what he says. There are some days I dont even agree with 95 percent of what I say! I make mistakes just like anyone. But I dont think Limbaugh made a mistake by saying he wants Obama to fail. I want Obama to fail in many areas too. After all if Obama succeeds:
• We enter a depression because Obama raises taxes on those who provide the jobsthe rich" (note to the President: the poor dont hire anyone!);
• Thousands of more babies (and several mothers) will die from abortion and taxpayers will be paying the bill (the Freedom of Choice Act");
• Hundreds of religious hospitals will close (there are 664 Catholic hospitals in the U.S. alone) and thousands of doctors will resign rather than be forced to provide abortions (so much for choice");
• Workers will have their right to a private union vote revoked (the deceptively-named Employee Free Choice Act");
• A few unelected justices in one state will impose their view of marriage on the nations three hundred million other citizens (Obama wants to gut the Defense of Marriage Act");
• Through the Employment Non-Discrimination Act" churches and private citizens will be forced to hire people who behave in ways that violate their religious and moral principles (so much for tolerance");
• Unprecedented debt and dependency will crush lives and incentive for generations to come.
For the sake of the country and our future lets hope Obama fails in these areas. I pray for the President but I also pray that articulate conservatives in politics will begin to lead like conservatives in talk radio.
Frank Turek is the award-winning author or coauthor of three books including Correct Not Politically Correct: How Same-Sex Marriage Hurts Everyone and I Dont Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist. His TV show airs Sunday Nights at 6 pm ET and Mondays at 8 pm ET on DirecTV Channel 378. To learn more visit www.CrossExamined.org.
Who is the current leader of the Republican Party? No one. But there certainly is someone who wields the most influence over people who agree with the Republican Party platform and that is Rush Limbaugh .
How so? Because Limbaugh manages to do the three things any leader must do to be successful with a large group of people: he communicates direction he earns trust and he evokes desire in people to go in the direction he communicates. Those are the three fundamentals of leadership.
Direction is the essence of leadership. You cant lead anyone anywhere if you dont communicate a clear direction. Who in the Republican Party has been communicating clear directiona direction that is consistent with the Republican ideals of limited government fiscal restraint and the protection of life liberty and self-evident moral values? No one prominent comes to mind. Yet this has been Limbaughs consistent message for over twenty years.
The second fundamental of leadership is trust. Even if you communicate the right direction clearly people will be reluctant to follow if they dont trust you. Limbaugh has a vast audience that trusts him because he consistently asserts and explains conservative principles. Fewer people trust Republicans these days because about all most of them can be trusted to do is to defy those principles.
The platform declares that the party intends to constrain the federal government." Who in the party effectively communicates this and then follows through? With apologies to Senator Coburn no one prominent. While President Bush thankfully accomplished his most important prioritykeeping us safehe and his fellow Republicans spent like Democrats for eight years. If you cant trust Republicans to govern as Republicans the only motivation to vote is negativethey probably wont be quite as bad as Democrats." Is it any wonder why millions of conservatives stayed home in 2008?
The third fundamental of leadership is desire. Followers can know your direction and trust you but little will be accomplished if you cant evoke in them a passionate desire to go in the direction youve set. This is where Limbaugh excels. Many in his loyal audience of 22 million (more since being singled out by the Obama Administration) say that Rush articulates what they think. In addition to his humorous direct and some say incendiary" attacks on liberals Limbaugh often sounds like a motivational speaker declaring that all can succeed in America especially when we get government off our backs. Republicans seem too afraid to upset the media by championing this conservative direction for Americaa winning direction that a majority of Americans actually desire.
According to the oft-repeated bipartisan battleground poll more Americans identify themselves as conservatives (60) than liberals (38). Moreover the massive commercial success of Limbaughs show and conservative talk radio in general is additional evidence that the conservative direction is desirable when articulated properly.
Unfortunately too many Republicans ignore these facts and the lessons of Reagan. They somehow think that Democrat-lite is their ticket to electoral popularity. Its notarticulate conservativism is. As the 2008 election showed us when Republicans offer neither voters will settle for articulate.
Which leads us to where we are today. We have an articulate president whose direction is clearly wrong for the country. Thats not just an opinion. Obamas direction is demonstrably wrong because it ignores the repeated lessons of history and adopts a false view of human nature. Socialism has never worked and will never work because it destroys human incentive and creates dependency.
Limbaugh says that Obama knows this and wants to create a culture of dependency that will keep Democrats perpetually in power. If this is true Obama is taking a leadership page from Joseph Stalin.
While speaking to a group of henchmen one day Stalin began denuding a chicken that struggled to get away. After Stalin finished the painful process he placed the now-vulnerable bird at his feet and walked away while dropping breadcrumbs behind him. To everyones surprise the bird he had just tortured followed the dictator around the room. The moral? Stalin gave it: This is the way to rule the people" he said. Did you see how that chicken followed me for food even though I had caused it such torture? People are like that chicken. If you inflict inordinate pain on them they will follow you for food the rest of their lives.
Indeed if you dont want to be bothered with getting people to actually desire your direction you can rule through pain and fear. Vulnerable chickens will follow. So despite socialist ideas proven to fail too many chickens are fearfully following Obama off an economic cliff into a debt-ridden welfare state. This is folly! The only way recover lost wealth is to create more wealth. And the only proven way to do that is to incentivize the private sector by cutting tax rates. The governmentwhich creates no wealthcertainly cant spend our way out of bankruptcy!
Which leads us to this business about wanting Obama to fail. People ask Do you agree with everything Mr. Limbaugh says." Of course not. I dont agree with everything any mortal says. But I probably agree with 95 percent of what he says. There are some days I dont even agree with 95 percent of what I say! I make mistakes just like anyone. But I dont think Limbaugh made a mistake by saying he wants Obama to fail. I want Obama to fail in many areas too. After all if Obama succeeds:
• We enter a depression because Obama raises taxes on those who provide the jobsthe rich" (note to the President: the poor dont hire anyone!);
• Thousands of more babies (and several mothers) will die from abortion and taxpayers will be paying the bill (the Freedom of Choice Act");
• Hundreds of religious hospitals will close (there are 664 Catholic hospitals in the U.S. alone) and thousands of doctors will resign rather than be forced to provide abortions (so much for choice");
• Workers will have their right to a private union vote revoked (the deceptively-named Employee Free Choice Act");
• A few unelected justices in one state will impose their view of marriage on the nations three hundred million other citizens (Obama wants to gut the Defense of Marriage Act");
• Through the Employment Non-Discrimination Act" churches and private citizens will be forced to hire people who behave in ways that violate their religious and moral principles (so much for tolerance");
• Unprecedented debt and dependency will crush lives and incentive for generations to come.
For the sake of the country and our future lets hope Obama fails in these areas. I pray for the President but I also pray that articulate conservatives in politics will begin to lead like conservatives in talk radio.
Frank Turek is the award-winning author or coauthor of three books including Correct Not Politically Correct: How Same-Sex Marriage Hurts Everyone and I Dont Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist. His TV show airs Sunday Nights at 6 pm ET and Mondays at 8 pm ET on DirecTV Channel 378. To learn more visit www.CrossExamined.org.
