BRETT: We have to start on a bit of a somber note as, unfortunately, we’re getting this news that came through the overnight hours at the FedEx facility near the Indianapolis airport. A gunman killed eight people and wounded several others before apparently taking his own life in that late-night attack at the FedEx facility near the airport in Indianapolis.

Now, details are still forthcoming. There was a press briefing earlier today. There’s not much known — or there is much to learn. There is not much known still about a motive or any of that sort of stuff. And, really, it’s a horrible, horrible tragedy on so many levels and in so many ways. And our prayers are with the people of Indianapolis, those great people in the Heartland who work to make a company like FedEx work.

I think it’s one of their biggest hubs, one of their biggest facilities in the entire world. And we will get you updated on that story as the program continues to unfold. As you’ve been watching in the news, Democrats and Republicans — and some Democrats and Democrats! — are splitting on issues like defunding the police and expanding the Supreme Court.

Those are both subjects we’re also gonna dig into on today’s program, along with news from the border and cancel culture and censorship. We actually had a caller yesterday ask about what being woke really means. It was a sincere question! “What does it mean to be woke? I hear this term. Where did it come from? How do we make sense of this?”

Well, later in the show, you’ll hear Barack Obama explain it in his own terms along with a heavy metal musician from the eighties who’s got an interesting take on cancel culture. But before we get into the important issues of the day, you know, it’s so important to understand that Rush had so much faith in this country and the people who make it work.

Ordinary Americans doing extraordinary things. That was his mantra. Following passions, pursuing dreams. In the very same way that Rush pursued his and taking advantage of the opportunities that being an American allows every one of us. That was something that he championed regularly. So before we welcome Kathryn Limbaugh on the other side of the break that’s gonna be coming up here, let’s just listen to Rush, in his own words, describe what America is all about.

RUSH: We have a burgeoning class system where people move into and out of various income groups many times in their lives. And it’s all because people are different. It’s all because they have different ambitions and desires at different times in their lives. Some people don’t discover until they’re 40 what they love. Some people know at age 20 what they love.

But they have a job they can’t leave for a number of reasons so they can’t do what they love, and they have to stay at the job that they hate and eventually maybe they get laid off or fired from that job and by virtue of necessity, since there’s nothing else, they have to go do what they love. And for the first time in their lives they’re happy.

At age 40, may not have anything at the moment, but they love what they’re doing. They’re finally doing what they’re doing, and they’re happy and they’re loving it. And they’re spending all their time at it and it may pay off and it may not. This goes on all the time in this country. The degree of entrepreneurship and creativity, you can’t hold it back.

You can’t quantify it. You can’t categorize it. You can’t tamp it down. And it’s worth our while to try to get to these people and grab them by their shoulders and tell them no, don’t lose faith in your country. It’s the biggest mistake in the world you can make, because while you lose faith in your country a bunch of people that haven’t heard the message are going to be out there running rings around you.

They’ll be inventing things, creating things, they’re going to be working, they’re going to be happy, doing things that you don’t think are possible anymore because you’re investing in a guy and they’re investing in themselves. And that’s the difference. If you want to invest in a guy, invest in you.

Don’t invest in a Barack Obama. Don’t invest in a me. Invest in yourself. That’s what America allows you to do. America allows you to love yourself. America allows you to think you’re the greatest thing on earth. America allows you to have confidence and bravado. America allows you the opportunity to put what you think is best on trial and see if it flies. It’s always been what America is about.

BRETT: You oftentimes will talk to people as you begin to pursue the dream that you have, right — the dream that you have — and you’ll have naysayers all around you. You’ll hear them, “That just can’t be done. You can’t do that. That’s not going to work. You’re crazy! Just keep doing what you’re doing and collect that check and, you know, don’t worry about pursuing that.”

The reason why people tell you it can’t be done is ’cause those people that are around you telling you it can’t be done have never done it. They’ve never done it. The idea of envisioning a creation, envisioning a business, envisioning that pursuit where you are responsible for the growth of a tiny germ of an idea that expands outward, becomes your passion, your driving force.

Think of all the people who likely thought or thought to tell or even told Rush along the way, “Well, you can’t… You know, you gotta… You can’t… This is not gonna… None of this is gonna…” And he defies all the odds to become the greatest broadcaster of all time. You think about that, you think about that passion where you live and breathe it 24/7, 365.

It’s an incredible thing, and America is such a special place, and the businesses in America are such special enterprises. Nobody knows how this journey ends, but we know where we want it to begin, and we know where we want to get to — and this country affords us that opportunity. It still does, and that’s so hugely, hugely important to understand.

So that’s why it’s gonna be so wonderful to visit with Kathryn Limbaugh in this next segment and to talk with her about the Great American Business Award and to follow this journey around these businesses that we’re gonna hear from in this hour — their journeys, their passion, the risks and how they achieved, how they achieved. People always look at success and, you know, they covet the success or they doubt the success or any of that kind of thing.

But what’s fascinating to me is they don’t see the hard work, the late hours, the missed weekends. They don’t see any of that. They just see the results. Well, the results come because of how hard it is that you work, and then you are rewarded. And then you get to get up and do it for the rest of your life if you’re blessed.