Process Politics Reverse-Engineered: Be “for” Something, Mr. Limbaugh

Foon Rhee’s column, “Limbaugh Effort Has Muted Effect“, in today’s Boston Globe:

Yesterday’s Democratic primary in Indiana was not only a big test for Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, but also a test for talk-show host Rush Limbaugh, the self-proclaimed commander in chief of “Operation Chaos.”

The primary was open to Republicans and independents, as well as Democrats. Limbaugh urged Republicans to cross over and vote for Clinton to extend the Democratic nomination fight and, he hopes, further damage the eventual nominee.

But according to exit polling in Indiana, Limbaugh’s impact appeared muted.

While Republicans made up 11 percent of the primary voters, Clinton won only 52 percent of those Republicans, and 58 percent said that Obama was more likely to defeat John McCain.

On his program yesterday, Limbaugh said that he had received e-mails from GOP voters that they had not been challenged at the polls as he said some Democratic Party officials had threatened. He read one e-mail from one who voted for Clinton: “It was tough. I showered twice . . . but I did it.”

Mr. Limbaugh might be reminded that America’s constitutionally-guaranteed free political discourse is its most important democratic protection against government which is not representative of its majority will. Mr. Limbaugh’s “Operation Chaos” - analogously - is political price-fixing in the “marketplace of ideas. It is a specifically intended distortion of Indiana Democrats’ majority expression of the kind of America in which they want to live.

Mr. Limbaugh, of course, has a First Amendment freedom to encourage malicious political speech from his listenership. Of course, it is his listenership’s First Amendment freedom to reject Mr. Limbaugh’s speech when its attacks fail to distinguish the Democratic opposition from America’s national political discourse (generally).

“Operation Chaos” betrays Mr. Limbaugh as un-American because, by definition (and, therefore, by Mr. Limbaugh’s admission), the plan is targeted specifically at creating a result which misrepresents the majority will of a vigorous political discourse in the Democratic party. Further, advocacy of political chaos is not a tenet of conservatism, and it is not lapel-flag-pin patriotic American.

“Operation Chaos” is an example of the kind of valueless political speech which Americans happily will tolerate in exchange for the assurance that valuable political speech is generously insulated from restriction.

It is “non-partisanly” and patriotically encouraging that Indianans tuned out.