WHAT WILL RUSH SAY THEN?

You know, I've always liked Rush Limbaugh, I began listening to him
probably more than 15 years ago. I thought at first he was a joke, a
parody of conservatism, whose sole purpose was to inflame and incite
discussion and debate.

To tell you the truth, I really don't know that I was wrong. Sure,
Limbaugh was bombastic, egotistical, and sometimes more than a little
hard to live with. But, he was entertaining, which is why he became a
virtual one-man industry, besieged by imitators but never matched for
pure virtuosity of the medium he has commanded so well for so long.

Not only that, he made a load of money doing it. Obviously, someone,
somewhere, thought he was worth it.

Who'da ever thunk Rush himself, the arch-conservative, the anti-drug
guy, would fall prey to the allure of painkillers, especially to the
tune of (if the National Enquirer is to be believed) over a thousand
little Oxycontins a week.

Of course, he could afford them. Twenty five million bucks a year will
by a lot of feel-good.

Rush is a prime example that the very serious problem of drug
addiction in our country knows no boundaries. It is no respecter of
race, religion, socio-economic standing, or political affiliation. In
short, it is a disease that can strike anyone.

Which makes it all the more disturbing that someone like Rush Limbaugh
is entering rehab.

I mean, this is the guy who, for many years now, has advocated as drug
treatment for those unlucky enough to get caught in that web, jail
terms. Long jail terms. No treatment, no mercy, no consideration of
the disease factor that they face. No, just jail. Let 'em dry out in a
jail cell while they meditate upon the sins they have visited on society.

You see, looking at the whole problem as a crime and punishment issue
is the easy way out, a way that feels good because it shows an
immediate result to what has become an absolute scourge upon society.

And yes, it is a scourge. Drug related crime is at an all-time high,
and fully 60 percent of those incarcerated are there for such
drug-related crimes, up to and including murder.

Those I have no problem with. If a person kills someone, breaks into
their home and steals their silverware, or mugs someone on the street
for their Social Security check, I say lock 'em up. Sure, they have a
disease, but there is also such a thing as free will. People who have
cancer or heart disease don't generally knock over liquor stores for
entertainment or to pay their doctor bills.

But a disturbing number of those people now in prison are there for
the crime of possessing or using drugs. That is a lot like locking
someone up because they have committed the heinous crime of having
Rheumatoid Arthritis, which, as everyone knows, can lead to crippling
pain and really ugly hands.

But drugs are perceived as being a different sort of animal. And maybe
they are, I don't profess to be an expert.

But what I do know is the guy who has spent all these years as a
self-proclaimed authority on the subject has fallen prey to the very
disease in himself that he has always professed to be a moral failing
in everyone afflicted.

Except him.

No, Rush didn't check into the nearest state penitentiary, do not pass
go do not collect $200.

No, the $25 million man checked himself into rehab. When it came to
his own problem, he succumbed to the very human failing that while he
may have known what was good for everyone else, it became a different
story when it became his problem.

We can only hope that it will open his eyes to some very basic truths.
Such as the fact that, for all his money and power, he is really not
that much different from the rest of us.

And if rehab is good enough for him, maybe it should be good enough
for the wino down the street digging through the trash dumpsters.

I'm not prepared to call Rush Limbaugh a hypocrite just yet. It is too
easy to pass value judgments on those you never have to face for a
problem that hasn't touched you (yet).

The real proof of his integrity will come after he gets out of rehab,
after he goes back on the air. Maybe he'll sing a different tune then.
And maybe not.

But we'll be tuning in. And then we'll know. We'll all know!