RUSH: Chuck in Santa Barbara, nice to have you on the EIB Network. Hello.
CALLER: Thank you, Rush. I met you when you were here in Santa Barbara on one of your early Rush to Excellence Tours.
RUSH: That would actually be in Montecito, and that would be back in 1989.
CALLER: No, it wasn’t. It was at the Elks Lodge, almost in Goleta.
RUSH: At the Elks Lodge?
RUSH: Yeah, that’s where you put on your performance.
CALLER: At the Elks Lodge?
CALLER: That’s correct. I got a picture of us.
RUSH: The Elks Lodge? Well, if you say so.
CALLER: ‘So.’
RUSH: What year was this?
CALLER: Oh, golly. It was at least, what, 15, 20 years ago.
RUSH: Yeah. It’s closer to 20.
CALLER: You know, at the very beginning, you started going around and making —
RUSH: Are you sure this wasn’t up in Santa Maria?
CALLER: No. Nope. Santa Barbara.
RUSH: Santa Barbara, I can’t even —
CALLER: I’m a (unintelligible) at the Santa Barbara Elks Lodge, so I know that for sure.
RUSH: I know, but they got an Elks Lodge in Santa Barbara?
CALLER: Oh, you betcha.
RUSH: Okay, well, if you say so.
CALLER: So… (chuckles), I wanted to comment. One of the earlier callers was talking about how the Constitution gave us rights, and that’s not exactly accurate. The Constitution basically set out the form of government, but our Founding Fathers were not really secure enough that original God-given rights were protected, and so basically the Bill of Rights goes through and simply affirms not just the Constitution that’s giving us these rights, but that these are acknowledged God-given rights.
RUSH: Precisely.
CALLER: The Second Amendment doesn’t really deal with guns directly. What it does is it affirms the God-given right to defend yourself.
RUSH: Precisely.
CALLER: Self-defense.
RUSH: Or your country.
CALLER: Absolutely. And all these things, I don’t know, I heard the mayor of DC on the television this morning.
RUSH: Oh, that ought to be good. I haven’t heard that guy yet. What did he say?
CALLER: Oh, boy. Well, he’s saying that, you know, this doesn’t affect the idea that they can still have their registration that all guns have got to be registered or they’re not legal; and that they have the right to outlaw (chuckles) either automatic or semiautomatic guns. Anyway, they’re just going on, you know, like crazy. We’ve got a lot more work to do.
RUSH: Oh, I know, I know. See, this is why I said at the beginning of the program, that while the decision is good, frankly I get so upset or somewhat upset that people get so happy about it. I can understand the happiness because we’re under assault, but, for crying out loud, we came close to having the Second Amendment wiped out.
CALLER: Well —
RUSH: Four votes.
CALLER: — and the God-given right to self-defense.
RUSH: Yeah. Well, that’s exactly what the meaning of the Second Amendment is, of course. It was almost wiped out. And now you’ve got this mayor in Washington saying, ‘Okay, well, here’s how I’m going to make sure I can still do what I want to do.’
CALLER: Yeah.
RUSH: We’re all playing defense here too much. The liberals are on offense. They’re constantly assaulting the traditions and institutions, and we’re just defending them, and sometimes we lose, but when we win, we go, ‘Wowie,’ like this today. This shoulda never even gotten to the Supreme Court. This thing was unconstitutional and illegal from the moment it was imposed.
CALLER: Absolutely. I appreciated your comment about that people (chuckles) have misconstrued the actual meaning of what a right is.
RUSH: They confuse it with privilege.
CALLER: Exactly. And also, (chuckles) one of your commercials while I was on hold was talking about the (chuckles) the right to smear your body with mayonnaise. (laughter)
RUSH: Or feces and call it performance art at Carnegie Hall.
CALLER: Yeah, or —
RUSH: I have a right to do it! I have a right to put a crucifix of Jesus Christ in a jar of urine and call it art, I have a right.
CALLER: Yeah.
RUSH: You don’t.
CALLER: That’s not a right.
RUSH: No. Of course not. But look, the definition of right has been bastardized to the point that it really means entitlement now, and a lot of Americans think ‘American’ means entitled, too.