Those Who Can't...

On one of the weekend talking-head shows Rush Limbaugh was quoted disparaging the idea of Republicans making a "listening tour" of the country. What was necessary, Limbaugh reportedly insisted, was a "teaching tour." Objectively speaking, Limbaugh is correct. If a politician is committed on principle to certain doctrines, his job on the stump is to sell those ideas to the public through reasoned discourse. Merely to absorb passively the demands of the rabble is far too democratic for someone of professed conservative principles. That's too much like the people instructing their representatives, as some thought they could back in the early days of the republic. I may sound mocking but I only mean it to a limited extent. It is a politician's prerogative to attempt to sway citizens to his point of view. He is entitled to believe that the majority may be mistaken in their desires. The Constitution encourages all of us to consider this possibility. All I suggest here is that Rush Limbaugh set the example for those Republicans he presumes to advise. He may think he does this already on weekdays, but when your audience defines themselves as "dittoheads" one suspects that dictation rather than teaching is taking place. At best it is preaching to the converted. If Limbaugh wants to face people and tell them that they're wrong on the issues of the day, he ought to get out of the studio and onto blue soil. Let him come into a blue state, a bluer city, the bluest slum, and teach the people the gospel of Reagan according to Rush. This really isn't so outlandish a proposal that I need be modest about it, is it? I'm sure the great man trusts his own pedagogy more than that of others. If the need for teaching is so urgent, so is his responsibility at this hour of crisis. Will he respond to his own call? Time will tell....