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Dec. 26, 2007 - Rush Limbaugh Program
35:14
December 26, 2007, Wednesday, Hour #1
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Welcome to today's edition of the Rush 24-7 podcast.
I'm talking to my wife last night, and I said, did you ever in your wildest dreams think that I'd be filling in for Rush again?
She looked at me for a second and said, You've never been in my wildest dreams.
And I thought, now that's kind of harsh for a Christmas season sort of, boy, is it beautiful up here in Minnesota?
We are coming to you from Minnesota today via Los Angeles, where Wayne, Tom, and Jason and the gang are holding down the fort as Rush and the gang take a little break during the Christmas holidays.
I wonder what Rush is doing over the Christmas holidays.
I mean, given what happened the last couple of shows and even after his last show, I think we can pretty much rule out a campaign stop with Mike Huckabee.
I don't know.
I'm just going out on a limb here, friends, but I think that's pretty much out of the question.
As I say, it was absolutely gorgeous in the Twin Cities the last couple of days.
I mean, big, huge snowflakes coming down last night, 29 degrees, no wind chill, absolutely idyllic, bucolic, if you will.
I mean, no global warming in sight.
Even better than that, no Al Gore in sight.
It was a splendid Christmas up here in the Upper Plains.
I hope yours was a good one, too.
And now it's time to get back to the stores.
Christmas is over, so now what do you do?
Well, we've got to shop again.
It used to be after Christmas, it was the return day.
People would go to the stores and return some gifts they didn't like.
Now it's shopping, extravaganza day.
It's really quite remarkable.
Speaking of that, one thing before we get into some heavier issues that's always amazed me, Jason Lewis, little old Jason Lewis from KTOK in the Twin Cities, filling in for the big guy.
What's always amazed me is the idea these stores take back all the returns.
Now, call me a sap for free markets.
Call me a sap for American business.
But think about it.
I mean, under contractual law, if you will, they don't have to take back things.
I mean, depending on the writing, depending on the contract, and usually they can make it explicit that, look, this sale is final.
And yet, a day after you get the gift, six months in some cases, the stores take back the gifts that you don't want.
It's never astounded me.
I know it's not a big thing, or I should say it's always astounded me.
I know it's not a big thing, but if you think about it, they do it, obviously, to benefit the consumer, to benefit themselves.
But that's the virtue of marketplace economics.
That's how it comes to benefit everybody.
A lot of people complain, they ripped me off or they did this.
I'm always amazed at how generous, even liberal in the generic sense of the word, that American business is when it comes to taking back some of these gifts.
But I digress.
Speaking of Huckabee, let me get my two cents in on this because I know that Rush and the former governor of Arkansas went at it a little bit.
It wasn't too bad, but just, I mean, Rush was defending himself from what an aide said about El Rushboat.
And I have to be honest with you, and I don't want to pick any fights today.
The Iowa caucus is just a few days away.
We'll talk a little bit about that, where the candidates are.
McCain surging in New Hampshire.
There's talk of Thompson gaining some steam in Iowa, but clearly Huckabee has been the big guy down there.
Romney hanging on.
It's a very, very fluid race, as everybody knows.
And I think, quite frankly, it's indicative of a very demoralized conservative base in America that says, you know, we're not going to be fooled again.
We hear you guys.
We've heard these last few presidential candidates really in a whole host of arenas, not just presidential candidates, but Republican governors who are going portside very, very quickly.
And they're just saying, look, we don't know whom we can trust anymore.
And therefore, they haven't attached permanently.
You don't have that sort of zeal you had with the Gipper in the Republican field right now.
And who knows what's going to happen come January 3rd?
And then you've got New Hampshire and Michigan and February 5th and South Carolina and all the rest.
And I do believe that the Republicans have kind of dug themselves in a hole on this by, well, governing as liberals when they have the majority in Congress and in other particular aspects around the country.
Especially a number of Republican governors are engaged in this sort of, oh, I don't know, rhino, Republican in name only sort of thing.
But before I get into, well, let's just get into the Huckabee thing.
And guys out in L.A., I'm getting a little feedback in my earphones here.
The point here on Mike Huckabee is if you look at his record, conservatives have problems with it.
If you look at his record in office, when taxes went up 47%, when the Cato Institute, which when it comes to domestic policies, it doesn't get much better than that.
The Cato Institute, in fact, gave him, I believe, a D or very low grade.
The Club for Growth pilloried Huckabee, so he returned the fire by calling them the Club for Greed.
Now, the Club for Growth, my old friend Stephen Moore used to run that, is dedicated to free markets, to low taxes, to returning to the taxpayer and the worker the assets that are theirs.
Kind of sounds like render unto Caesar what is his and unto God what is his.
We are all, under God's plan, destined to be free, and that means keeping the fruits of our labor.
But the Club for Growth gave Huckabee a very bad rating.
The Eagle Forum, Phyllis Schlafly, you don't get much more conservative than that.
She was not a big fan of Mr. Huckabee in Arkansas.
Spending went up 65%.
There's talk about all these clemencies, over a thousand of them.
He opposed school vouchers.
We all know about the immigration situation where he thought that there ought to be some form of a scholarship for illegal immigrants.
He's the only guy during the campaign not to support the president on his veto of the S-CHIP bill.
That was Hillary care on the installment plan, where on top of Medicaid for the indigent, the Democrats, and thankfully the president held firm on this, as did the House Republicans, to be fair.
The Democrats wanted to add onto Medicaid a Hillary care version of socialized medicine that would have covered people earning, at first anyway, up to $80,000.
That was later scaled back.
Up to $80,000, you could be an adult, and yes, you could be an illegal immigrant.
In fact, some states are using that to expand coverage for illegals and adults.
That hardly sounds like the state children's health insurance program.
And Huckabee couldn't bring himself in a debate to say Bush was right to veto that.
He wants a federal ban for smoking.
Folks, I'm sorry.
I hate to be a shill for the big tobacco companies.
But let me tell you something about the war on tobacco.
Never, ever, never ever think you can take away the rights of one entity without jeopardizing your own.
And some have has warned you about this.
Certainly El Rushbo did.
First you go after tobacco, then it's going to be alcohol, then it's going to be a new prohibition, then it's going to be trans fat, then what's it going to be?
Well, then it's going to be a federal ban on smoking on private property.
And that's the bright line here, friends.
It's private property.
And Minnesota just passed a ban on smoking on private property.
If under our deliberative democracy, we want to ban smoking, for instance, in the public sphere at the airport, frankly, I think it's a little bit silly, but I'll abide by the majoritarian viewpoint here.
And that's fine.
But where you cross the line, across the Rubicon, when you go into a private bar, when you go into a private restaurant, and all of a sudden the government says, gee, we're prohibitionists, and we're going to do for tobacco what we did for alcohol, create black markets, create criminals out of law-abiding citizens.
It's bad enough at the state level, and Huckabee's talking about a federal ban on this.
Now, those are the issues that have conservatives concerned over Governor Mike Huckabee.
It has nothing to do with his religion, and yet some in the evangelical liberal movement, and let me tell you something, there is a group of, obviously we've known of the religious left for quite some time, and I'm talking about the uber liberal religious left, whether they're protesting American military action someplace or demanding redistribution of wealth in America.
I'm not talking about those.
What's starting to happen, and I'll be honest with you, it's starting to concern me a little bit, is in what used to be considered the evangelical right, if you will, but it's not the right anymore, the evangelical conservative base.
There's a movement afoot, and probably one of its greatest proponents right now is Michael Gerson.
He's the former speechwriter for President Bush, who's written a book all about the virtue of big government conservatism.
He's an evangelical Christian, and he says compassion is the defining attribute of political heroism.
Wrong, Michael.
This whole nonsense about compassionate conservatism, conservatism was compassionate all along.
We didn't need a modifier.
And if you start to focus on compassion when government's real role is justice, government's role is justice and freedom that allows us to be compassionate if we choose and allows us to choose to whom to be compassionate with or to.
But the idea that big government compassion is all of a sudden a hallmark of the evangelical Christian movement has got some people concerned about this.
And what's happening is you've got a number of people, and I think Mike Huckabee has kind of tapped into this, who think being pro-life, being traditional marriage, is all you need to be.
Now, look, the Republican Party has already adopted the positions that are important to evangelicals, and I support them.
Pro-life, you know, traditional marriage, that sort of thing.
But we're moving into some unchartered waters here when we say it's not good enough that you adopt the positions that we like.
You must nominate one of us.
And if you are one of us, as Huckabee seems to be campaigning on, then any other transgression like the ones I just mentioned of his tenure in Arkansas, why they must be forgiven.
And if you attack him on those, why you must be anti-evangelical.
And so we've got this chasm here now.
Look, look, when it comes to governance, the Constitution is more important than metaphysics.
You cannot have God's plan, if you will, without having freedom first.
You have no virtue if you have no choice.
So when it comes to running for the commander-in-chief, as opposed to, say, the pastor-in-chief, the primary, the primary goal is freedom.
The primary goal is liberty and choice.
Then, then we can start talking about compassion.
We can start talking about what it means to be a Christian, all of those things.
That, I think, in a nutshell, my friends, is why some conservatives, and I have to be honest, I'm one of them, and I'm not going to speak for Rush.
I would never do that, but some of them are concerned about Governor Huckabee at this particular stage.
I am Jason Lewis.
Great to be behind the Golden EIB Mike.
Once again, in the Attila the Hun chair, the Minnesota version at the Limbaugh Institute for Advanced Conservative Studies.
Let's open it up on this day after Christmas.
The number, 1-800-282-2882.
That's 1-800-282-2882.
And El Rushbo at EIBnet.com.
Back after this.
Great to be back high atop the EIB Tower in Midtown Manhattan, except I am in the Twin Cities today.
This is absolutely gorgeous.
I'm looking out the window.
Snow everywhere, moderate temperatures, but no global warming.
I'm just keep - I don't know where you live, folks, but the upper Midwest in the whole month of December, very, very below normal temperatures.
Quick, someone tell Al Gore.
Talking a little bit about the politics that are coming up in Iowa, New Hampshire, across the country, the presidential sweepstakes on the GOP side, it is very fluid.
And the Huckabee campaign firing back at critics like me.
And they had a little go-round with the big guy, Rush, last week, following up on that a little bit.
By the way, the new email address for El Rushbo is just that, LRushbo at EIBNet.com.
To the phones we go on the Excellence in Broadcasting Network.
First up today, let's go to Jim from, where is that?
Jim, you are up on the Excellence in Broadcasting Network, but I can't figure out where you're from.
Go ahead, sir.
Well, Jason, I'm from Maine, the home of the Rhinos, and I do start out by apologizing to the country for my two senators.
Olympia Snow is a rhino?
Oh, my God.
Beyond that, she's past rhino, Jason.
Susan Collins is a rhino.
Why, you know, there's gambling going on in Casablanca.
Yeah.
Jason, can I say something about Mike Huckabee?
Yes, you can.
Okay, because I think this is a watershed moment for us Republicans, much like 1976 and 1980.
And how we respond to Mike Huckabee will say a lot about the future of our party.
I don't have a dog in the hunt anymore now that Tom Tancredo is out.
Let me say that.
And I am an evangelical Christian.
But one thing that I do know is God has not asked me to turn my brain off and become a gullible moron when it comes to evaluating Mike Huckabee.
There's two facts about him that people need to know that you haven't mentioned.
One is he's been endorsed in New Hampshire by the National Education Association chapter in that state.
He opposed vouchers when he was in Arkansas.
Yeah, now his grassroots support primarily is this homeschool Christian folks who I know pretty well.
And if they only knew that in New Hampshire he's been endorsed by that uber liberal NEA group, they might rethink themselves.
The other thing is that he's been called a disaster on immigration by Numbers USA.
That's the leading immigration group in the country.
Those two things bar me from supporting a guy that otherwise I might be interested in.
What also appalls me is how he attacks those who dare to question him, whether it's you or Rush or the Club for Growth or any other candidate.
He just attacks them, and I find that appalling.
Yeah, you've got Peter Gadiel, I should say, president of the 9-11 Families for a Secure America, says Huckabee is the guy who scares the heck out of me.
Now, this group has been fighting for the Real ID Act, which, by the way, came around because of the carnage on the highways due to, quite frankly, a number of illegals driving without knowing, you know, you can't read English, kind of hard to see the signs, not very good drivers and that sort of thing.
I want to get into that a little later because the driver's license issue is out there as well.
Look, I don't want to turn this into a total bashing of Mike Huckabee, but the fact of the matter is, it's hard to get around or get away from the notion, Jim, that he's running on identity politics.
In fact, Peggy Noonan had a great column on this the other day.
Identity politics is one of the things conservatives used to abhor.
The notion that, well, you should vote for me because I'm Hispanic.
You should vote for me because I'm a woman.
You should vote for me because I'm black.
You should vote for me, for that matter, because I'm white.
That does not engender, if you will, the assimilation and the melting pot we need in America, this idea of categorical representation, that you've got to vote for me based on one particular attribute.
Well, in many ways, what some in the campaign, I'm not suggesting Mr. Huckabee has just come out and said this, but there's no question he's trying to round up the social conservatives in Iowa, and that has, in fact, vaulted him to the top in many areas.
But the bottom line is it's coming close to identity politics.
It's not good enough that the Republican Party has adopted the positions of evangelicals.
And I think they should, because I happen to be pro-life and pro-traditional marriage and all of that.
But you now have to nominate one of them, an evangelical.
That's identity politics.
And that's offensive to people.
And more importantly than that, that you have to not only be one of them, but if you are one of them, any of the transgressions that you just mentioned, Jim, must be forgiven.
And you are right about this.
This is a time for choosing.
Remember the Gippers' famous speech in 1964?
This is a time for choosing for the Republican Party.
The reason the Republican Party lost in 06, and you know it, and I know it, and as Bob Dole used to say, the American people know it, is because they were governing like liberal Democrats.
Spending went up 50% since 2000.
The president wasn't vetoing anything until recently.
Earmarks, as far as the bridge could see and the bridge to nowhere.
So naturally, the Republicans are saying, we're not going to be fooled again.
We need a Reagan revolution, and we're going to hold these people's feet to the fire.
And all of a sudden, the defense to that is, hey, you can't do that to me.
And if you do, somehow you're anti-evangelical.
Look, there are a lot of wonderful evangelicals out there that share the view you do.
But there's also a growing chorus out there that says, no, you shall not criticize us.
In fact, it was Huckabee himself, I think, the other day who said something along those lines, and it was pretty revealing, I thought.
He said, quote, oh my gosh, now they're serious talking about the evangelicals.
Oh, my gosh, now they're serious.
They don't want to just show up and vote.
They actually want to be a part of the discussion and really talk about issues that include hunger and poverty in things.
That was Huckabee's response being kind of a satire of what the establishment was saying.
Why, these evangelicals want to be at the table now.
We can't allow that.
They have been at the table.
The party's adopted their view.
What the party hasn't adopted is this notion that there ought to be identity politics and all of the other, you know, I tell you what.
I tell you what.
Let me just succinctly put it this way.
Being a pro-life liberal is not enough.
It's not enough for conservatism, for a movement, for a party.
And if you want to invoke the Almighty, the Almighty not only obviously wants to protect life, he also wants to protect liberty.
Because, you know, the goal of the pro-life movement wasn't to preserve life and then sentence people to a lifetime of enslavement from the tax man.
So all I'm saying is, and what you're saying, Jim, is that there's more to all of this than being right on the social issues.
What conservatives are looking for today is someone who obviously is right on the social issues, but also believes in liberty on economics.
Welcome once again.
Good to have you on the program.
Excellence in Broadcasting Network up and running for the day after Christmas.
Hope your Christmas went very, very well.
The holiday season working well for all of you.
I sincerely, sincerely wish.
Talking about the political campaign, obviously.
I want to get into some immigration issues a little later in the program.
Also, the mortgage crisis.
Or is it a crisis?
If we just, you know, sometimes doing nothing is the best recipe, especially when it comes to government intervention.
We've got this crazy notion that no matter what misfortune befalls us, government ought to fix it.
Government ought to be there to fix our life's problems.
And of course, number one, it doesn't work.
Number two, that's not the role of governments in a free society.
Anyway, the phone lines, or I should say the phone number is always 1-800-282-2882.
That's 1-800-282-2882.
El Rushbo at EIBnet.com.
I am Jason Lewis, and this is Ash from South Carolina.
You're on the Excellence in Broadcasting Network.
Ash, we'll get to you right after this.
There you go.
We got you up and running.
Go ahead, sir.
Hello.
Hi.
Yes, go ahead.
My name is Ash, and I'm an independent from South Carolina.
It's kind of the first time I look at the Republican Party in details.
But it kind of surprises me that all the questions they're being asked or put up to answer are extremely trivial.
I don't think many of the questions are really in part of what this country reason out.
Even when it comes to the war on terror, it also seems as though they're just answering closer questions than really talking about how to solve the problems.
Such as what do you consider paramount as opposed to trivial?
Okay, for example, when there's a detailed discussion about how the candidate practices religion or what he believes to be the right way of God, and like you just said earlier in the program, that's completely not presidential.
And it goes even more than that.
It just seems as though they're all saying the same things, which is usual.
For example, how would they really fight the war on terror?
How would they really form alliances gathering?
Hold on.
I want to get to that, but let me defend the GOP to some degree, and even Huckabee to some degree.
I try to be objective here, and that is for literally decades, most of my adult life, the only group in America you could legally discriminate against, culturally discriminate against, were born-again Christians, were Christians.
They were the whipping boy for everybody.
And they became, because of that, part of the GOP, because the GOP had the audacity to defend their religious liberties, their practice, and not consider them off base.
So, you know, some people say, okay, they're pandering to them, but that's no different than what the Democrats do to pander to the ACLU or the religious left.
Now, can it go overboard on either side?
Sure, it can.
And is that the only issue?
Is that the only litmus test?
No, of course not.
And that's the center of the debate right now.
But look, we do have Article 4, Section 3 that says there shall be no religious tests when you run for public office in America.
And so you're right.
While we embrace these issues that might have commonality with certain interest groups, with certain factions, if you will, that is not the identity of the Republican Party.
And that's what I think some people are uneasy with in the Huckabee debate right now.
And I think you're probably one of them.
Yes, yes, yes, I am.
I mean, I'm not a Republican voter, but when it comes to the Republican side, there's many candidates that I would vote for.
Yet I feel it as though I'm not hearing their exact message because it's been classified as religious, you know, like you said, the religious litmus stuff.
I think John McCain's a great candidate, but I think he's being extremely discounted or not even looked at because of, you know, well, not in New Hampshire.
Not in New Hampshire right now.
Most of the polls show McCain's surging in New Hampshire to the point where Romney's starting to level some serious attacks against him.
I think he's the most one that's not in qualifications, but like honor likewise.
I mean, he's the most one that's really bled for this country.
You know what I'm saying?
Boy, you have just brought up an absolutely fascinating analogy where you and I are going to disagree, my friend.
And that is, and there's no question that how can you not honor a John McCain, B-O-W- and what he went through.
But let me give you sort of an analogy on the left that hopefully will make sense to all of you when we're talking about the criticism of Huckabee relying too much on religion in the campaign.
And that is those liberals running in congressional seats all over America, the liberals fielding a military veteran, but nevertheless extremely liberal, to run in a conservative district.
And they're doing the same thing that the critics of Huckabee say he's doing.
They're using their military service in that particular situation as a shield, if you will, against their liberal.
Well, you can't call me a liberal.
I was in the military.
Well, you know what?
George McGovern was in the military.
I believe he was an honored World War II bomber.
I wouldn't have voted for him any more than the man in the moon.
So just because one facet of your life, whether it's the military service or your religious background, what conservatives or movement sorts of individuals feel, that's not enough.
Well, we're talking about an overarching philosophy of government here.
And that, I mean, I'm tying that into the McCain thing because obviously his service was honorable.
But when you start sounding like a Democrat on economic policy and calling Bush tax cuts tax cuts for the rich, and by the way, let me remind you, if you believe we ought to cut taxes for people that pay for taxes, if you believe we need to cut tax reduction for the people that are paying the burden, you are in favor of tax cuts for the rich.
Because the top 1% now pay 40%.
The top 5% now pay 60%.
The top 50% pay 97% of the income, federal income tax burden.
I don't know how you cut taxes for people who pay taxes and not be in favor of tax cuts for the quote-unquote rich.
Well, McCain was against that.
Now he says he's in favor of it.
We all know about McCain Feingold, which has given us the 527s and George Soros and the like.
And we all know about his immigration plan.
So just because, and this is analogous to the Huckabee situation, just because somebody has served honorably and God bless them, you know, during this season especially, that does not inoculate people from veering portside on every other issue.
I never thought of that as character politics.
You're right to classify it as such, but it kind of just seems as though, you know, if there's anybody on the Republican side that served the country, not only military, but I'm talking about, it seems as though McCain's entire career, I mean, the man looks like he's old, and he's still out there.
You see what I'm saying?
Way more than, I'd say, McCain's service in the long run.
I'm trying to say, I mean, like Huckabee or Romney.
Well, you're right to characterize it and put it as character politics because, you know, it could be looked at as, oh, he's a veteran.
Oh, he's a priest.
Right, exactly.
Exactly.
And that's what I think people have some trouble with, and certainly I do.
Here's the only thing, and I can't remember if it was Patrick Henry, someone said, you know, the only lamp that shall illuminate the future is history.
I'm paraphrasing, of course, but you've got to look at the history of individuals and countries to determine the future.
And start looking at the way these people voted.
Start looking at not what they say today, but the way they governed, whether it's in the Senate, in the House, as a governor.
And I think that's going to give you a better indication of the way they're going to govern in the future.
Ash, thanks for checking in.
I do appreciate it.
Let's go to Beth from my home state of Minnesota.
You're next up on the Rush Limbaugh program with Jason Lewis.
Hi, Beth.
Good morning, Jason.
Just wanted you to know that when you mentioned earlier what was Rush doing today, I saw him clearly in my mind's eye this morning for a couple minutes.
He had his feet up smoking a stogie listening to the weather report out of Southern California.
He's probably on the second hole putting for car.
That's my guess.
Possibly, possibly.
Anyway, on another note, I don't know.
It's not just the drive-by media, I'm afraid.
It seems to be everybody pretending Fred Thompson ain't out there, and he's my man, has been since last July.
He's the one that stood up and did not raise his hand on global warming.
It was a wonderful retort he had to that ridiculous question in the debate in Iowa where, you know, raise your hand.
You believe global warming is real.
Well, I'm not into hand raising today, Thompson said.
And then he said, do I get a minute to answer?
And she says, no, just raise your hands.
Well, then I'm not going to raise my hand if I can't explain my position.
If you take a look at somebody's record, Thompson scores very, very well.
I saw him way off a long time ago, and every nickel is going to him as far as I'm concerned.
And my dearest Reagan, oh, love of my life and hero of my lifetime, I knew he was a Christian because he loved this country, and he loved what birthed this nation.
And he didn't have to, I knew just by.
You didn't have to wear it on your sleeve.
Yes, that's right.
Well, Beth, thanks for calling.
I appreciate it, and it's great to have you on the Russian Limbaugh program.
Yeah, that's right.
And again, understand, people, you can't exercise virtue without freedom.
We all believe in faith, hope, and charity.
None of those is possible without freedom.
That has got to come first when you're talking about governance and politics, not anything else.
Anyway, Beth, great call.
I'm glad you did.
Let's go to Joe from Pennsylvania.
You're next up on the Russian Limbaugh program.
Hi.
How you doing, Jason?
Could not be better, sir.
That's good.
I'm glad to hear it.
Although I didn't get everything I wanted for Christmas, I have to admit.
The Democrats are still in control in Congress.
So, you know, one president didn't come.
I wish somebody would show up.
I got a couple of notes from Fred Thompson away back, and I sent him some money, and then I got another note from him again, and I sent him some money again.
And it's like what that last lady said.
You don't have to wear it on your sleeve.
You can tell when somebody's noble, if they have character.
Fred Thompson shows me that.
And he does it in a quiet way.
I hear his polls are going up in Iowa.
In Iowa, there has been an uptick in Iowa by a number of reports.
The thing I like about Thompson is, and I saw him speak in July in Philadelphia at the American Legislative Exchange Council convention, and that he truly is a federalist.
And that's one of my big issues.
The idea that we have divided government, the best way to limit government is to limit its jurisdiction.
And you have all of these states as these laboratories of democracy.
And Romney invoked this the other day as well.
But these laboratories of democracy, as Justice Brandeis once said, that will allow you the ability, if all else fails, to vote with your feet.
And that's even true on the life issue.
The proper conservative position, with all humility, on the life issue is Roe v. Wade is horrible constitutional law.
It should be overturned, and the issue is sent back to the states because the federal government doesn't have police powers on this issue.
Period.
Yes.
And then, of course, the politicians in the individual states would have to vote on them.
That's right.
That they don't want.
And again, you've got, I mean, I hate to go back to Huckabee, but he says, no, no, no, that's not going to do.
We need one size fits all for all 50 states.
He said the other day, why Thompson's weak on abortion because, goodness gracious, he's for overturning Roe v. Wade and turning it back to the states.
Yeah, that was the design of the Republic.
Most laws, for instance, against murder are state laws, against rape, arson, robbery.
They're state laws.
Between two citizens of the same state, guess what?
There are no enumerated powers in the Constitution for the federal government to act.
I am not willing to overturn what the framers built in the name of gathering constituencies.
And that's, you're right.
That's one of the things I like about Thompson.
The other thing about Thompson, and I got a break, but I appreciate the call, is I think he went into this thinking, look, we're grown-up boys and girls here.
I'm not going to go out there to say, look at my performance in the debate.
I'm not going to be this Erasmataz, pizzazz sort of candidate.
I'm going to engage in this deliberation that the president will have to engage in in the Oval Office.
And to some degree, some say that's hurt him a little bit, that he hasn't been more flashy.
But that's up for you to decide.
I'm Jason Lewis on the Excellence in Broadcasting Network.
We are back after this short pause.
listening to the eib network i am jason lewis minnesota's real anchor man having more fun than a human being should be allowed as i sit in for the big guy once again rush taking the week off mark belling in the next couple of days I'm back on New Year's Eve, and then the great one returns on January 2nd to lead us into the Hawkeye cauckey.
John from South Carolina, thanks for waiting.
You're next up on the Excellence in Broadcasting Network.
Hi.
Hey, Jason, I support Governor Huckabee in the January 9th primary because he supports the fair tax, which will eliminate all of our income taxes, taxes on business and investment, and make America the best place in the world to do business.
Ron Paul supports eliminating the income tax without feeling the need to have to replace it.
Without any research that shows that his plan will work, our plan is $20 million in research showing it will work and grow the economy.
Really?
Well, first of all, look, I happen to think that that is a paramount issue as always in the Republican primary, the issue of taxes, because if they can take your labor, the First Amendment doesn't mean anything.
The Fourth Amendment doesn't mean anything.
So I agree with you, and this tax code is an outrage.
It's hard to keep continually trying to tell people that taxing the wealthy is unjust if they're paying disproportionately more as opposed to proportionately more.
So I agree with reforming the tax code.
I mean, you can do it with a simplified flat tax or you can do it with a sales tax.
But I also agree in objectivity and honesty.
And let me tell you where the problem is for the fair tax.
One, and this is a question of not integrity, I guess, but just salesmanship.
It is not a 23% national sales tax.
Yes, it is.
And I don't know why.
I don't know why you keep suggesting it.
If I spent a dollar on an item, what is going to be just the federal sales tax on that item?
Well, let me explain this.
No, no, no, just to say that.
Right now, if you owe $100,000 in federal taxes, you can't get it.
No, Hey, hey, hey.
That's 30%.
John, John, I don't want a speech from the Fair Tax Group.
What I want is an answer to my question.
If I spent a dollar with a new fair tax plan enacted, what is the sales tax on that?
23%.
It is not 23%.
It is 30 cents, isn't it?
If you figure it like we're doing.
It's 30 cents, isn't it?
It's 30 cents, isn't it?
The only way you get 23 percent is by then dividing, then dividing the 30 cents by $1.30.
And what those individuals out there who are in the wholesale or the retail business know, that's the difference between the gross margin and a markup.
Those are two different items.
And frankly, I think it's disingenuous to be running around telling people it's 23% when the actual tax will be 30 cents for every dollar purchased.
Well, Jason, that's just not true because our research shows it.
And right now, the average cost of the goods you buy is 22% more expensive because the tax costs are passed on to the consumer.
I agree with you.
If you cut those out and you add the fair tax, the cost of goods are about the same, but you get to keep your whole paycheck.
And you get the money prebate.
So you cut no government because you're going to raise another $2.7 trillion from that just the way the income tax does.
I'd love to cut government.
Well, are you going to eliminate the 16th Amendment first before you enact it?
Because if you don't, you're going to end up with a sales tax, a national sales tax, and an income tax.
You could have that today, Jason, but we want to hold our politicians accountable to make it a lot of money.
I am not going to support.
I would support, I do believe taxing consumption is much, much more beneficial to the economy than taxing work savings and investment.
I agree 100% with you.
But I'm not going to do that until we repeal the 16th Amendment, which is going to take a long time.
And here's why.
Every place they've imposed a VAT or a sales tax, they've always had the income tax side by side or it's come back.
And if you don't repeal the 16th Amendment first, you run that risk, don't you?
Well, Jason, when people get used to keeping their entire paycheck, nobody will let the politicians go back to an income tax.
How old are you, by the way?
I'm 47.
So you're going to retire in, what, 20, 15 years?
We'll say 15, 16 years?
Whenever I'm ready.
You will have paid all of those income taxes.
Now you retire and you're going to get hit with a 30% retail national sales tax?
I'll get to keep all of my retirement savings, plus I'll get a monthly prebate check, just like you would.
Thanks for the call.
I do have some concerns, but I'm sympathetic to the overall movement.
I got to go.
Appreciate the call.
All more of this coming right up on the Excellence in Broadcasting Network.
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