Rush Limbaugh and the Texas Freeze

Rush Limbaugh, before the consequences set in.

Two images should persist in America’s imagination during this, the harshest winter many can remember: Ted Cruz leaving the country, and Rush Limbaugh leaving the Earth. Two prominent Americans refusing to face the consequences of a situation they, as much as anyone, created. Their bizarre, inflexible moral codes have left America unprepared to face unexpected circumstances, and Texas, right now, is paying for it.

It seems flagrant to say Rush left America uglier and more divided. I’d rather emphasize how he turned politics into a moral imperative. No longer was politics about finding the best interpretation of facts, and basing policy on evidence. Rush’s onanistic obsession with cost-cutting and low taxes became a moral absolute, pursued with Inquisition-like zeal. He wasn’t a politician, he was a radio preacher, expounding belief and punishing sinners.

Which leads directly to events in Texas now. An entire state refused to plan for unlikely disasters, including the current extreme freeze. The power grid wasn’t winterized, and there weren’t enough snowplows. People are literally dying because the state made no preparations for a circumstance they considered unlikely. In a state that’s repeatedly cut costs and privatized its grid, spending on unlikely circumstances seemed like an unnecessary luxury.

This is particularly ironic in the state where the Galveston Hurricane killed thousands, simply because nobody planned for it. Because a massive, devastating hurricane had never struck Galveston, city fathers believed none ever could, and refused to build seawalls and other disaster preparations. Galveston has never fully recovered from the hurricane. And Texas, apparently, has never fully learned from it, either.

Rush Limbaugh didn’t cause this, of course. Having never held elective office, he had no decision-making authority in Texas, or anywhere. He did, however, create a moral landscape based on belief that economics is absolute and ineffable. Other right-wing commentators came before and after Limbaugh, certainly. But he created a cultural landscape where we define politics in exclusively moral terms, pugnaciously deny any common good, and kick the weak.

This, which we might call “Limbaughism,” is a reversal of Marxism. Where Marx believed economics drives morality, Limbaugh believed morality drives economics. Chosen economic principles don’t necessarily produce the best outcome, but are morally right, even Godly. We can argue whether those who propounded this view really believed that moral hokum; fact is, that’s the half-religious liturgy Limbaugh sold the nation.

Texas Senator Ted Cruz, caught on camera trying to leave the country

An entire state disconnected itself from the national energy grid, because its leaders, empowered by a slim majority of voters, believed doing so was moral. People are freezing, without water or power, because the moral imperative said cutting costs, no matter the consequences, would pay for itself. The mere fact that it didn’t, and the program’s chief engineer, Enron, went tits-up, didn’t impede the moral argument.

Because that’s how moral absolutes work.

Our entire system is obviously worse for lack of preparation. The Texas deep-freeze is a metaphor for America’s COVID-19 response, which itself is a metaphor for global warming. We could’ve prepared for this disaster, or any other, but we didn’t. Unlikely events don’t seem worth the expense until they strike. Even when they do strike, some people refuse to adapt, rejecting the mask, or taking their previously scheduled holiday in Mexico.

Tim Boyd, the mayor of Colorado City, Texas, was hounded from office this week for suggesting the Texas deep freeze was an opportunity to cull the weak. Those willing to burn their possessions, he implied, deserved to live. This is Limbaughism invested with public power. Elected to serve the public trust, Boyd instead insisted the public trust doesn’t exist, and told Texans they were on their own. His constituents, mercifully, hooted him out of office.

Limbaugh, like Ted Cruz and Tim Boyd, actually recognized a moral need in America. On the Right, White Christianity has failed to adapt to social changes since around 1955, becoming morally slippery and inchoate. The Left, meanwhile, has become increasingly unwilling to call anything wrong, except calling things wrong. Americans flailed for moral guidance. Limbaugh, visibly angered by the same things that angered his listeners, stepped into the void.

The morality he sold, however, was worthless. It left America unprepared for Black Swan events because money became the ultimate moral indicator. Now Limbaugh leaves Earth, just as Cruz tried leaving America, during a moment of payback. As millions of Texans pay for this morality, some with their lives, Limbaugh had better hope that transcendent justice doesn’t exist. Because he needs to face the consequences for the world he leaves behind.