RUSH: Okay. Back we are. Open Line Friday, and we go to Idaho Falls, Idaho. This is Robin. And thank you so much for waiting. Great to have you on the EIB Network. Hi.
CALLER: Hi. I’m super excited to talk to you. As long as I can remember, my mom started listening to you as far back as I can remember, so I’m a Rush Baby.
RUSH: Well, thank you very much. That’s great. How old are you now, do you mind my asking?
CALLER: I’m 26.
RUSH: Twenty-six. So since you’ve been a baby, pretty much. Out of the womb you’ve been listening to this program. That’s about right.
CALLER: Yeah.
RUSH: Since you achieved fetal personhood, as they say now.
CALLER: Yes, I did.
RUSH: Well, congratulations. Thank you so much for calling. How can we be of service today here at the EIB Network?
CALLER: Well, growing up I knew I had some leadership skills, or, you know, the talent there, and I finally developed the confidence to develop my skills. And I’ve been thinking, instead of complaining about all the stupid politicians that are doing everything wrong, why don’t I go and do something to change that, and, you know, be one myself but do it right? And I want to know how to do that. What do I need to study, what do I need to do to prepare, you know, volunteering, or what should I start with?
RUSH: Okay. All right. Those are good questions.
CALLER: Hm-hm.
RUSH: Let me first applaud you for being honest with yourself and your assessment of your talent. That is key. Most people would be afraid to say so because it sounds braggadocios. But if you know your talent and if you’re proud of it and you want to exploit it and cultivate it, that is excellent. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with believing in yourself, and it sounds like you do. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with having confidence in yourself, and don’t ever let anybody talk you out of that. One of the things that I have found over the course in my career, there are people — you may not know this, Robin — there are people that don’t like me.
CALLER: Oh, yeah. I can’t understand why they don’t.
RUSH: Well, one of the reasons why is I’m so sure of myself. Most people are not, and it makes people nervous when someone is so sure, because most people are ambivalent, they’re afraid to have an opinion, it might offend somebody. But if you are confident in who you are and what your talents are, do not let anybody intimidate you. Don’t let anybody tell you that that’s bad manners. Don’t let anybody tell you that it’s effrontery or any of that. You just stay that way and stay dedicated to your desires, number one. That will guide you, your passion. What do you really want to do? Now, you want to go into politics.
CALLER: Yeah, I’ve been thinking about it lately, and it just seems like that might be something that I should do.
RUSH: Okay. Here’s what I would do. If I were gonna go into politics, the first thing I would realize about it is that it does have its own specific ingredients and requirements for success. It’s like any other endeavor or any other business, and this radio show is not politics per se. We talk about it, but I don’t have the same problems, challenges, or responsibility. I have to get an audience. They have to get votes. But the differences vary greatly from that point on. What you should do is what anybody who wants to do anything should first do. You should seek out people who also love it and who have been successful in it and pick their brains. Learn everything —
CALLER: Okay.
RUSH: — you can, not from people who’ve failed at it, ’cause they’re a dime a dozen. The people that fail at anything will tell everybody else, “Nah, you don’t want to do that. It’ll ruin you. It’ll destroy you. It’ll chew you up and spit you out.” Don’t talk to the people that are negative about it. Talk to people who love it and who have succeeded in it and pick their brain.
The next thing to do, at the same time, you become as intimately aware of the Constitution of the United States as you can, because that is your Bible in politics. It should be. If you’re serious about making a difference, you’re serious about fixing this, the Constitution must become your Bible. Take these free courses that Hillsdale College offers online. Their actual professors do 10 week online courses, same thing that are taught in the classrooms at Hillsdale, on various aspects of the Constitution.
CALLER: Okay.
RUSH: And then listen to this program.
CALLER: Oh, I do.
RUSH: Well, then keep doing that. There’s no course credit, of course, for it, but you will hear on this program honest assessments of people in politics. Nothing dishonest here for any purpose is uttered on this program. Everything is, in terms of the analysis of what happens politically, is serious. You’re free to disagree with me, of course, but you can be confident that what you’re hearing here is a never-ending quest for the truth about what is happening and to be able to explain it to people.
And then, after you do all this, after you hear from people who’ve succeeded in it — and my guess is you’re gonna hear some things that you haven’t even thought of. For example, well, you’re gonna have to have a network of fundraisers, and you’re gonna have to have a network of donors, and you’re gonna have to have people on the ground that will make phone calls for you, this is if you want to be elected. If you want to be a staffer in some politician’s office, that’s a different thing.
But as you run around and talk to people in politics, and that could be electoral, it could be staff, it could be consultants, any number. It could be even media. There are media experts in politics that do commentary. You talk to them, and if you find out that it’s still what you want to do, well, then you figure out what it is, what is really your purpose in going into politics. And then focus on that. Because it’ll become clear after you’ve done these other things.
CALLER: Okay. Now, is it a good path to start out as a staffer for somebody to kind of, you know, as kind of like an apprenticeship?
RUSH: Oh, you mean like getting an internship somewhere?
CALLER: Yes. Start out assisting a successful politician so I can watch them, observe them —
RUSH: Of course.
CALLER: — and then become, you know.
RUSH: Absolutely. That would be part of learning it and talking to somebody who is —
CALLER: Okay.
RUSH: — successful in it or who has succeeded. And, by the way, you’re gonna talk to people who’ve lost elections. I don’t mean that is a person to avoid. In politics people win and lose elections all the time and come back and try again. What I mean is, if you really want to do it, avoid people who are gonna try to talk you out of it, because failures are a dime a dozen. You’re not gonna learn anything from a failure.
CALLER: No.
RUSH: You want to learn from people who succeed in it, whatever you want to do. But, you know, the more exposure you get to the real world of it, particularly the part of it that we never see, there’s a whole lot in every business we don’t see. We don’t see what actors and actresses go through. We don’t know what politicians actually — some of us do, but most people don’t. You will if you engage in this. You may be turned off. You may be further inspired. But the more you dig into the things that I’ve suggested, the more your passion will be revealed as legitimate or not. Your desires, Robin, will dictate where you go.
CALLER: Okay.
RUSH: If you really want it, if you really want it, if your passion remains top drawer, that will dictate, that will lead you in the right direction.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Well, I could have said that, but I figured why throw cold blankets on it. But, okay, okay. Robin, in your quest here to learn the business of politics, you may have to become accustomed now and then to the smell of alcohol during the day, and certainly at night. It’s something that you might want to just learn to ignore. But outside of that, everything I said I stand by. (interruption) What? (interruption) Come on. Do not do that. You know full well that — you’ve seen it.