RUSH: I want to continue this discussion about oil and alternative fuel sources and so forth and the whole notion of a free market, and entrepreneurism, and zero-sum games. Way too many of you, because of the effort to demonize oil — not just because of the mistaken notion that our purchases of oil are funding terrorism. That’s ridiculous. Terrorists are not using oil revenues to be funded. Even that aside, oil has been successfully demonized in this country to the point that otherwise intelligent, educated people think we can just get rid of it tomorrow. They’re operating under the assumption that there is an alternative energy already out there, ‘We just refuse to use it,’ because Big Oil and Big Lobbyists and Big Republicans are keeping us from this alternative energy. Let me tell you. Look at me, folks. Look at me. The only alternative energy that we have right now or for the next 20 or 30 years, is the energy we refuse to drill for in ANWR: oil. The only alternative energy we have for the next 20 or 30 years is oil in the Gulf of Mexico that we refuse to drill for but the ChiComs and the Cubans are drilling for it in the Gulf, and the Mexicans are. We did lay claim to a huge field up in the Arctic Circle recently.
But the liberal Democrats will not let our country pursue this alternative energy. They will not let us drill for it; they will not let us refine it. They will not allow it to happen. Above and beyond that, this zero-sum game aspect, the idea that we can just get rid of oil tomorrow or next year or five years from now, and replace it with something that’s just as productive, efficient, and economical is absurd. It is just intellectually absurd. So is the notion that oil is evil. So is the notion that it has been so demonized. Oil is not evil. Oil is our friend. It is one of our best friends. It is one of our most valuable friends. But above and beyond that, can I ask you a question or two? As Americans, what, today, are you proud of in your country? Are you proud of our insurance industry? I bet not. It’s been demonized. People hate insurance agents, hate insurance companies, and think they’re a bunch of crooks.
How about our financial institutions — Wall Street, your bank, your savings and loan, your credit union — are you proud of that? No. It has been demonized, too. They’re just a bumbling of crooks. They don’t care about you. How about our automobile industry? Are you proud of the automobile industry? No, you’re not proud of it. They’re getting skunked by the Japanese. Besides, they make products that use oil! And they make products that are destroying the world! ‘Hell no, we hate the auto industry.’ Are you proud of your pharmaceutical industry? Hell no! You’re not proud of the people that rape you at the drugstores with these exorbitant drug prices when you think you can get ’em cheaper from Canada. You know they’re running ads on TV for all these different drugs. They’re just trying to get you to go to the doctor and get some. They don’t care about curing you. They don’t care about making you better. They just want to soak you. Let’s see, are you proud of the US Military?
No, you’re not proud of the US military. The military kills babies and innocent civilians! The US military tortures people at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay. (I know because John McCain tells us so, along with the liberal Democrats.) Uh, let’s see. Are you proud of anything? Are you proud of the home building industry? No. You hate the home industry, because they build cheap stuff and they overcharge you for it, and it doesn’t work, and you can’t end up paying for it. No! You’re not proud of it. Are you proud of the airline industry? Hell no! You’re not proud of the airline industry. Hell, you hate flying. No peanuts anymore. You’re sardined in the seats and the planes are always late, they’re never on time, you can’t get where you’re going comfortably when you want to get there. Let’s see. Do you like government? ‘Oh, yes! Oh, yes! Government cares for me. Government loves me. Government wants me to have health care, that they don’t have to pay for, and government wants me to be safe from storms, and government wants me to not have to pay taxes.
‘Government only wants the rich to pay taxes. Oh, we love government. We are really proud of our government in America.’ Let’s see. Are you proud of the retailing industry? ‘No! We hate Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart why, they’re mean to unions. We love unions. We are really proud of our unions in America. But we hate Wal-Mart, and we hate Kmart, and we hate the malls.’ Let’s see… Are you proud of our schools? ‘Well, we’re proud of the public education system.’ Are you proud your kids aren’t learning anything? ‘Well, we’re trying, but we need more money for our public schools. If we just had more money, then we could be proud of our public school system.’ Let’s see. Are you proud of the shipping industry, FedEx, UPS, oceangoing vessels? ‘No! They pollute. They don’t get my packages here on time, and they’re just out to shaft me. They’re just a bunch of crooks just like the people on Wall Street, just like the people at the banks. But we love our government.’
Now, this is an illustration. I just asked you: What in this country are you proud of, versus 30, 40 years ago what we were proud of? We were proud of all of this. We were puffed up with pride about all of this! We were proud of our achievements. We were proud of our accomplishments. We were appreciative of our freedom. But now look at what they’ve made us hate. Look at what they’ve made us detest. Look at the absolute BS that they have more and more educated people believing — that, oil is just a conspiracy, that there is a replacement. ‘There’s alternative fuels out there, but they don’t want to release ’em because Big Oil and big Republicans and Halliburton, Cheney, Bush. They’re all in a conspiracy to keep it from threatening their own investments in oil.’ Is it not shocking, ladies and gentlemen, to realize just how few educated Americans understand how the world works? More than that, isn’t it scary to understand how few educated Americans understand how their own country works?
Forget the world. But we love our government, and we love our politicians, and we love a small portion of the media: the Drive-Bys. In fact, do we like our churches? ‘Nope. Those damn priests. Look what they’re doing with those little boys! We hate the pope! The pope, why, the pope is restrictive. The pope is unbending. He’s not tolerant.’ Yet, we are supposed to ‘understand’ the Reverend Jeremiah Wright and people like him. ‘Oh, we are proud of the porn industry. We wait for the porn industry to decide whether the Blu-ray or HD DVD format war is going to be won. We love the porn industry, and we really, really, really want to do what we can to protect everybody’s freedom to engage in these kind of private things in their homes. We love the porn industry. We love government. We like many of our politicians because they care about us, Mr. Limbaugh, unlike you! They care about us. They want us to have health care, Mr. Limbaugh.’ What are you proud of about your country anymore? I really think you ought to take some time to think about it.
Because I maintain to you, if you have any agreement with things that I have exaggerated here — if you do hate the automobile industry, if you hate Wall Street, if you hate the banks, if you hate the financial industry, if you hate the airline industry, if you hate the pharmaceutical industry, if you hate retail — if you have resentments for all these industries, and think that your only protection is government — then you really, really need to grab yourself by the wrist as hard as you can and ask yourself, ‘What the hell happened to you and who made you feel this way?’ The one area of the media that people respect and like in conjunction with American liberals and socialists has made you feel this way. You hate oil? Is it rational? What the hell, folks? ‘That’s right, Mr. Limbaugh! It’s five dollars in California, four dollars elsewhere, three dollars other places. It’s not right. Somebody’s gouging us.’ Wait a minute! I thought you guys were all hoping for high prices down the road so it would lead to conservation? You can’t make liberals happy no matter what they get. Even if it’s what they want, it’s never enough. There’s a political party, and its allies who feed off of your paranoia, feed off of your hatred for all things great in America.
They feed off of your rage that they have made you believe, things like: ‘You are getting shafted by everybody else, and only government can protect you and make these wrongs right.’ You need to get hold of yourselves, take a look around your great country, and ask yourself why you’re no longer proud of it when you used to be. ‘Cause there’s no reason for anybody not to be proud of this country. You all live here. You all are seeking your best performance, opportunity, because you know your country provides it. Yet some of you — not you people. I know you people are not of this mindset. But so many Americans seem to be, and so they’re trying to do something positive while feeling absolutely enraged all the time. Hatred for America is real. You’ve seen it. You’ve heard it. You’ve read it. It’s out there, and it’s in larger numbers than you know. And the people who hate this country are the genuine mind-numbed robots. They have been talked into it with years and years and years of propaganda. Just ask yourself, when you have a free moment — maybe bring it up at dinner if you have a family still eats together now and then. Ask them, ‘What are you proud of in America?’ Don’t lead ’em anywhere. Just say, ‘What are proud of, when you think about America. What are you proud of?’ and then deal with what you get. It will be interesting.