Talk Radio and Frum Jews - Part II

I used to be a talk radio junkie. As a kid, with only an AM radio in our car (ember those days?) I grew up on Bob Grant and Barry Farber (I could not believe it when I found out that Barry Farber was "a proud Conservative Jew" and not Orthodox as I always pictured him.) I listened to Rush Limbaugh during is first year on WABC. I was SURE that his name was made up as who could have such a name! When I was in Yeshiva I became a true ditto head and believed that everything that he said was emes.

I believed in the late 70s and early 80's that America was about to collapse. It was falling apart because of Hispanic immigration. After all, Bob Grant said so, most eloquently, day in and day out. I believed that we where going into a massive recession in 1993 because of the Clinton tax increase, because (Bob Dole and) Rush Limbaugh predicted it. And Rush is right 98% of the time in his own humble admission. I believed that the American soldiers would soon come home in body bags from Bosnia in large numbers. Yes, I believed it all. And how I hated liberals passionately! How could they do this to my beloved country!

But as we know, America did not collapse. Just the opposite. It grew stronger. The country boomed under Bill Clinton, there was no recession as was predicted. And talk radio kept saying that the country was going to hell, but it wasn't.

Then some funny things started to happen, I started seeing Republicans mismanage. I saw them bankrupt both Orange County, CA and Nassau County, NY. Not through ideology, but through good old fashioned corruption and incompetence. And I honestly thought that only democrats could be incompetent and corrupt.

Then I heard Bob Grant tell a black caller who made his liberal case respectfully, "Get off the phone!! Go back to washing the floor!!" and I realized that 'they' where right! Bob Grant actually was a racist bigot.

Then came 9/11 and the Iraq war and Guiliani an Bloomberg and I started to realize that Government has often little to do with ideology but everything to do with competence. A competent liberal will be much better for this country than an incompetent conservative. And better yet, a competent non-ideologue - who understands that in the great debates between conservatives and liberals, BOTH ARE RIGHT!! IT JST DEPENDS ON THE TIME AND PLACE!!

In the South before civil rights, the liberal solution was correct. With our rivers and lakes and air being poisoned by pollution in the 60s the liberal solution was correct. With crime out of control and welfare becoming a way of life in the 70's, and high taxes crippling business, the conservative solution was correct.

I could go on for hours, but I have probably lost everyone by now, but hey, its my soapbox and I find this cathartic.