Control freaks' loss of control--talk radio

Walter Williams:

The major news media no longer have the monopoly they once enjoyed. The way millions of Americans get their news and news analysis is through talk radio. The Rush Limbaugh Show stands at the very top of talk radio, carried on more than 650 radio stations and listened to by an estimated 20 million people each week. As an occasional fill-in for Rush, and being a professor, I see the show as being my big classroom, but I learn a lot as well.

Over the span of some 20 years, Rush has been attacked from just about every leftist corner, as would anyone who tirelessly espoused the founding principles of our nation -- private property, rule of law and limited government. What has made Rush so effective with this message has been his ability to put things, and ask questions, in a manner that the average citizen can understand and relate to, and do so with a bit of humor. Humor creates madness among leftists who want their interventionist agenda taken seriously.

Rush's show, as well as many of his competitors' shows, has ended much of the isolation among Americans. For example, if you were against racial quotas, you were made to feel like a racist by the major media. With the growth of talk radio, people found out that they were not alone and that being against racial quotas didn't make one a racist. As such, talk radio has been a painful thorn in the sides of those whose agenda is to control the news and debate as a means to control our lives. This is why the priority agenda for leftists is to attack talk radio, and their biggest target is Rush Limbaugh.

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It is this loss of control in framing the debate over issues that really disturbs the left. Old attacks lose their punch as they are discredited in a free exchange of ideas. That is pretty scary for the left. That is why they shout down speakers on campus and try to shut down people like Limbaugh. They can't handle the truth.