The Way Things Ought to Be by Rush Limbaugh (1992-10-01)

What is the context that Limbaugh means when he refers to feminists as "feminazis". I'm trying to be openminded, but I can't equate being liberal as the same thing as commiting racial geniocide. What is the point you are trying to get at. Are you just using ridculous language to get people angry at you?

honestly i wouldnt even waste my time with limbaugh's book....
he does the old poitical/speakers tricks of calling the opponents liars( therefore assuring you that he is not), giving opinion as fact, siting statistics without saying from where they came, or margins of err, and does not ever present the oppositions views, instead immediately dismissing them and then jumping to his "solution."He even goes so far as to attack the left wing for branding converatives with derogitory terms,yet routinely refers to them as "feminazis" and such
personally id recommend either michael moore(my personal hero) or P.J. O'Rourke( right wing, but dosent go off the deep end)

I am a liberal who actually bothered to listen to this book on tape. It is funny, but only where it is not supposed to be. Only when he thinks he is being altruistic and kind. Actually, I will admit the guy makes a few good points, but then he offends anyone who's views he might actually change immediately following his actual points.
Rush generalizes about liberals like a madman, overemphasizes the existance of "feminazis," (there are probably about 1,000 women like that on earth in total) and uses as one of his main sources for his discussion of the ozone layer a book that consists of statistics after statistics but contains no footnotes nor bibliography. As one magazine that gives information about books to libraries explained, it would take weeks for a researcher to look up all the statistical information in this book.
If you are a liberal and you want something to be angry about it might serve as good material against people who are always saying, "Limbaugh says..." That's why I listened to it. So I could tell my sister for sure what insanity this book really was.

A delusional hypocrite sounds off. Save your money. Go to the press releases sections of the American Enterprise Institute and the Republican National Committee Web sites if you want this guy's philosophy.
The book is useful if you need a primer on the language used by big government neoconservatives.
It saddens me to write this. I considered Limbaugh a teacher and an inspiration until the Republicans assumed power in D.C. and he showed what he really is (a partisan political hack albeit an articulate and entertaining one). Limbaugh does not believe in "freedom" or "limited government" despite his many pretensions to the contrary in this book and elsewhere. He believes in electing Republicans and hoping for the best. It's a simpleton's philosophy, really.
If you want to get a glimpse of the real Rush Limbaugh then tune in to his radio show a few days before a presidential election. What you'll hear is Limbaugh running down the Democratic candidate while pretending that the Republican nominee is sweetness and light.
Limbaugh can't resist the siren song of party politics but, in fairness to him, he's not the only person who suffers from this malady.

Rush Limbaugh addicted to drugs!? I thought he was addicted to FOOD! He sure had me fooled!
Seriously, The Way Things Ought to Be is that hypocrites like Rush get the hell off the airwaves and out of the bookstores so people like me won't have to waste our money.
This book reeks of fat pomposity and reading it again (after the news about his addiction) it really does sound like a goofball ego-maniac who is fueled entirely by drugs.
Don't waste your time on this one. If you already have a copy, you can put it through your shredder and use the waste material for packing items you send through the mail at Christmas time.
Good luck.

Against my personal opinion, I bought this book for my brother back when he was a Freshman in college. I was tired of Christmas shopping and still had him on my list. I broke down, went to the nearest Barnes and Noble, and bought it for him. I stood nervously in line, looking to the left and to the right, making sure no one I knew saw me holding this book and somehow confused me for a bloated fascist. Tragically, my brother had been drawn in by the Young Republicans at U.T. Blood is blood, and you love them always... but secretly I prayed at nights he would outgrow it. My prayers were answered... by the time he graduated he had come to realize what a windbag Rush really was.

Before I go any further, let me state I consider myself to be a fairly open individual. When people ask me about my political leanings, I say, "center". I do not subscribe to extreme views, either left or right, and consider Al Franken, Hollywood Liberals, and Michael Moore to be just as moronic as Rush, Sean, and Michael Reagan. Being open to other's opinion, thus, I borrowed this book one summer when I was desperate for a good read. After finishing it, I can certainly see why some people are selling it for a penny. They are problably other Young Republicans who have come to see through Rush's hateful, uninformed Right rhetoric.

Personally, I sometimes wonder if Rush really believes half the crap he spews, or if he is doing it for the ratings. There is, of course, the possibility that he is high on pain killers when he says these things. In any case, what Rush professes in his show and in his books is hardly the truth. It is also NOT the way things ought to be. They are the mad ramblings of a hateful deluded individual who is lives life wearing conservative blinders on. He views the world in absolutes, and categorizes everything through the artificial dichotomy of "Left"/"Right", Demo/Rep, Liberal/conservative. It is sad, really, because he doesn't capture the spectrum.

I'm just glad my brother finally left this behind...it was like seeing him come out of some werid commune!

A miserable book ! Rush Limbaugh is a media creation, a puppet figure, and a loud mouth that has been well used by the political elites for years to advance their own agenda. However, they should've hired better writers to write Limbaugh's book. It makes you wonder where Rush would be without his cue cards, his writers, and his editors, and even with them this book is a flop.
Limbaugh, the king of morality that preached for years about virtue, conservatism, and the way thing ought to be, somehow was able to find the inner strength and the time to manage as well as to balance his morality with his drug dealings and drug abuse!!!
Rush Limbaugh is a great role model for the intellectually dishonest, and a great symbol for the mendacious media !!

Rush would make a great used car salesman, but don't look to him for be leader of ideas for this country. He's too cynical and
partisan to be ever be taken seriously. Sorry, Rush, you're ideas are not inclusive, they are divisive.
Too bad Paul Wellstone is not still around. It would have been great to see a debate between the two of you.

Whoever wrote the second above comment needs to pull their head out of where ever they have it and come in to the real world. If you had any clue of what's going on you would understand. You're probably a fan of the likes of Courtney Love and all the other Hollywood drug maggot infested plastic banana good time rock and rollers! Get a haircut!

Actually read the book and you might understand it!

These extremist hate-filled liberal "reviewers" here give me a laugh, ha ha, that's me guffawing. These liberal "reviewers" can't help lying, they start out with an immediate lie, "I'm a conservative, but blah blah hate hate hate." Do you simpletons really think you're fooling anyone? I can smell a liberal 10 miles off. The only one's dumb enough to believe your immediate lies are other liberals. But you wouldn't know that because the liberal ilk you hang with all have IQs of 2, so you think everyone's as stupid as you and the rabble you surround yourself with. OK, now that I've put the lying liberal "reviewers" in their place, I proceed with my pearls of wisdom on Rush's wonderful and enlightening book.

It's another Masterpiece friends from the Mastermind and the reflector of all right thinking truly decent Americans. Rush speaks for all good and right thinking people, he reflects our thoughts and what we already know is right and wrong, but Rush goes one better, he is great for rubbing the liberal liars noses in their own excrement. Liberal liars don't stand a chance with their scheming lies and communist attempts to take over the courts because they can't win an election. Liberal liars, bow your head to greatness that is me and all others just like Rush, Rush will be every liberal's new hero, because in your heart, you know he's right. Now, liberals, read Rush's book over and over and admit your real goal, to destroy America and freedom. We won't let it happen. Liberals and elkayda, oh, that's not how you spell it? I DON'T CARE! Liberals and ekayda are one, and they will be defeated. And a good start to their destruction is all people worldwide reading the wonderful wise words of that lovable little fuzzball, Rush. And that's the final word. Thank you and good riddance to liberals.

Rush Limbaugh - the man most responcible for replacing the biased liberal media with the biased conservative media - giving millions of Americans false hope and dangerous half-truths.

I've had enough of this marketing phenomena known as "conservatism." They have created a demographic group for the sole purpose of selling books and merchandise. The anti-Clinton/Moore/Kerry books are the same junk as the anti-Bush/Cheney/Reagan books. No on is interested in opening their mind and learning-they simply want to reinforce their own shallow ideas, entertain themselves and feel comfortable in their own little imaginary world. Forums hosted by so called Conservatives are run in the same close minded ways in which college liberals shout down any guest speaker with whom they disagree. Meanwhile, the two parties (the only choice the American voter is given) are virtually the same when it comes to the most important issues. Both parties are taxing and spending, and supporting the illegal invasion of America by Mexicans. Big business is in bed with big government and they are both getting even richer by selling you books pretending to speak ill of each other.

If you are interested in real debate visit forums such as

stormfront.org

amren.com

If you want the truth - uncensored news, visit:

natallnews.com

nationalvanguard.org

For books with facts, references and a real historical perspective (not just pop-culture conventional wisdom, media sound bites like Limbaugh's god-aweful book) browse the book catalogue at:

natall.com

-FORMER Rush Limbaugh listener

-CURRENT patriotic, open minded American

"The Ways Things Ought to Be". How would he know? He's an idiot.

I don't understand why some people put up with his rudeness to guests and callers. The American ideal and value is to let everyone speak their own opinions and be listened to respectfully, without interruption and/or deliberate misunderstanding.

All this talk about "conservatives" being "good guys" and "liberals" being "bad guys is a case of extreme stereotyping. Stereotypes are always inaccurate and unjust. Both groups, "conservatives" and "liberals" are composed of millions of individual human beings each with their own unique viewpoints & opinions. The American ideal and value is peaceful and willing cooperation and understanding between groups.

Real "liberals" are nothing like the stereotypes that these wannabe "culture warriors" are putting out. So the "cultural warriors" have an "us-vs-them" siege mentality (never a good thing) against an "enemy" that doesn't really exist; they had to invent one. The American ideal and value is to promote cooperation, understanding, and acceptance of persons as they really are as well as living honestly.

It is these American ideals & values that have made the USA the greatest nation on Earth. These ideals & values have made this country a free land, and it remains that to this day. I love the USA and am proud to be an American citizen. I consider myself a middle-of-the-road liberal with my own unique viewpoints and tangents.

I swear there was someone selling this rag up above for one cent. And even that's overpriced! This thing should be in the comicbook section or at least the fiction area of the book store. Imagine, this guy actually tells us in this book that animals have no rights and then explains why it's so. IS THIS FOR REAL!?

Please tell me that people aren't reading this book to get any real ideas about the way things ought to be....PLEASE!!!It's scary enough to realize that this guy has a big radio audience who refer to themselves as "dittoheads" and hang on every bit of drivel that this guy gags out everyday. By the way, can you tell that I'm not a fan? But really, are we going to take advise from a guy who espouses family values after three failed marriages and a drug habit that he hid from his audience for years while berating other people for their bad habits and vices? Seems to me the way things ought to be is that a guy who writes a book about the virtuous life ought to practice what he preaches....are you with me Bill Bennet?

Limbaugh Deal Avoids Drug Prosecution, Defense Says
April 26, 2006 The Nation

"Drug use, some might say, is destroying this country," Limbaugh said in October 1995 on a television show he had at the time. "And so, if people are violating the law by doing drugs, they ought to be accused and they ought to be convicted and they ought to be sent up."

Radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh was booked on drug charges in Florida on Friday, and his lawyer said that Limbaugh had agreed to a deal enabling him to avoid prosecution in the prescription abuse case if he continued treatment for addiction problems and avoided any other run-ins with the law.

Limbaugh, a conservative darling and liberal bete noire, was booked, photographed and fingerprinted in Palm Beach, Fla., then shortly thereafter released on a $3,000 bond, according to a posting on the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office website.

Yep

Around the time this book was published I gave up on Rush. Not because of repetitiveness, which underscore the approach of his jealous peers, but because he is so, depressingly partisan. Not that way with Doctor Savage, or to a lesser degree, the earlier, and more original, Robert Grant.

Rush did not include an Index. I imagine the publisher would have been embarrassed to see "Ronald Reagan" come up about 5 times. Probably not, but why not just write a book about the wonder of the Gipper, than really a loose explanation of his radio show. I listened enough to that show between 1987 and 1992 to knwo there's nothing *new* here. Just alot of anecdote about the Liberals' war on civilization.

He superficially addresses serious subjects like abortion, with calm assurance: he writes that "7%" of abortion cases have to do with a real medical condition or incest, etc. To Rush, that "7%" is significant - as an impetus to eliminate "Roe v. Wade" as a Federal law. Not to *modify* but to...end it. Rush, the college dropout, then offers his advanced knwoledge and wisdo to a discussion of when Life Begins. But isn't it irrelevant if we can point to a number of Americans who have "legitimate" reasons to reject delivery?

Reagan, Reagn, Reagan. Fine. "My hero", he writes. Not much more. Reagan saved our country ("ending the Cold War") and saved our Counry's economy ("Reaganomics!).

Since '92 even the most partsian person can reference careful tomes on the role that Gorbachev had in that wall's tumble; and how Supply Side ultimately failed (David Stockman's THE TRIUMPH OF POLITICS). Regarding saving the World's economy, I don't even want to go there - other than re-read parts of Kleinknecht's THE MAN WHO SOLD THE WORLD).

Maybe Rush himself needed to rethink his won hero worship. Who was it who coined the phrase "The Silent Majority", the demographic which permamnently kept Rush from re-entering the Unemployment Office? It was Richard Milhaus Nixon. And Nixon apparently was not overly impressed with Reagan.

Limbaugh's demagoguery in print. His reputation as a hypocrite and liar has been well established, yet his followers continue to give him credence. This book is packed full of mischaracterizations, lies, and half-truths.

An example; From chapter 5: "I have about had it being told that the plight of the homeless is my fault. I'm sick and tired of turning on my TV and being told that the AIDS crisis is my fault too, because I don't care enough." Clearly, he's trying to make an emotional appeal to the reader, based on the false premise that "someone" is characterizing Rush (and the reader) as uncaring louts. In reality, these are just issues that come up in the news from time to time. Guilt feelings are optional and personal - not stated and explicit.

Here is another quote from chapter 15. Rush has this to say about environmentalists: "Rather than elevate the third world, they want to move us closer to Third World conditions. That's somehow cleaner and purer. They want to roll us back, maybe not to the Stone Age, but at least to the horse and buggy era." Naturally, Rush never explains what it is that environmentalists are doing that is going to send us back to the horse and buggy era. I can't see how requiring stricter auto-emissions standards moves us back to the horse and buggy era. Environmentalists want to maintain strict pollution control standards, and health and safety requirements, as well as higher automobile fuel efficiency standards. These things improve the quality of everyone's lives without any great sacrifices. Why the hatred of environmentalists? What agenda do they have other than trying to make our world better? Perhaps they stand in the way of Limbaugh's corporate bosses?

In short, Limbaugh's "logic" will only pass muster with those who are in lockstep agreement with his narrow viewpoint. No thinking individual will find anything but disgust with this slanted screed.

I couldn't agree more with the assertion that continueing to build the "Wall" between the U.S. and Mexico will be the world's greatest 'stupid thing' ever built. It will not stop one terrorist, not one drug dealer, nor one kidnapper from carrying on as usual (driving their trucks through the check points).. We should spend 10+ billion dollars to build a 2 billion dollar wall so we won't have to pay out 1 billion dollars in sub-minimum wages and some health care to poor people? This "Wall" will be the glareing proof of the failures of capitalism, christianity, and democracy that the two neighboring countries characterize themselves as being.

I've heard that Phoenix is now the "kidnap capital" of the U.S. and that building this Wall will remedy the problem. Yao. So some Mexicans cross the border on foot, hike to Phoenix, corral some American girls, and then herd them back down to and across the border on foot???? As that is the only kind of kidnappers, terrorists, etc. that this wall will stop, building a zoo in Milwaukee will be just as effective and considerably cheaper...

Are there any other possible solutions to these threats? How about,,,, police work?

Should the U.S. send it's army into Mexico to help 'take out' the drug lords? Sure, why not?

How best to stop the foriegn dishwashers, gardners, and other poor people from walking across the border? Why not tell the Mexican government to take care of their own poor? Especially seeing as how we are impoverishing plenty of our own people as it is. Well, that would be a big problem,,, for one country of the rich for the rich to tell another country of the rich for the rich to take care of their poor would imply government programs for the poor which, as any government program is Socialist and would thereby admit to the failures of both countries, that's a non-starter.

So upon reflection, we have painted ourselves into having to build a wall which will then legitimize the next future step of simply hireing poor people (the army) to go ahead and shoot poor people (that get to close to the wall) so that the governments don't have to take away money from the rich..

The 'right' have been telling me that the first thing Obama is going to do is take away our guns and then he will "socialize" our country... Gosh. Gee Willickers. He had the chance to socialize the banks, health care, and the auto industry but he didn't. He doesn't seem interested in fight poverty (always a socialist answer). So I'll have to understand this as the folks on the right being dumb pucks.

This is perfect right-wing propaganda - fatuous and vacuous. It is full of hot air and devoid of fact.

If you enjoy Limbaugh's monolouges, then you might like this book. I think it has only one footnote, concerning Clarence Thomas, and the rest is all opinion. Only Rush Limbaugh can get away with putting out something that this, and still have people buy it.

The way things ought to be....... is we the people, are able to listen to someone on the radio that is NOT all drugged up and incoherent most of the time. I have NOTHING against some of his politics and some of it is right of course, but why would we idealize and listen to a man like a god that has NO RESPECT for any of his audience??
And then to get the same old lame excuse of his back problem and all those lies. I had the same issue and never got to be a hop head and in rehabs all the time while scamming the public about honesty and class and character all those "Let's pretend" things he talked about. Why the public doesn't turn their backs on this fool and get any one of a number of good, honest people in his place is amazing on one hand, and embarrassing on the other to me.

I've lost all faith in the people of this society, where truth no longer has a place of respect and good character is a thing of the past I guess.
The book is simply another one of those, "It's their fault, those lousy democrats again", when in fact this country keeps going down and down because BOTH PARTIES are liars and crooks I'm sorry to say. And I can say this because I'm a decorated soldier that like so many others of us never fought and died for this.
Awful book, full of misleading stories and un-truths. In a country of 350 million you'd think we could find a few honest people wouldn't you?

With his radio show Limbaugh may be forgiven for making mistakes since it is a live show but here he had time to research what he was going to say and still got things wrong or intentionally tried to mislead. As Limbaugh says "Even if polar ice caps melted, there would be no rise in ocean levels. After all, if you have a glass of water with ice cubes in it, as the ice melts, it simply turns to liquid and the water level in the glass remains the same" Of course the problem with this is that the ice on Greenland, the Antarctic etc. are not floating in water but are are land and will then run off into the ocean the raising sea levels. It's these misdirects that make Limbaugh as big a liar as he is.

I could not help but notice that many conservatives who have not read any books written by liberal authors will cruise through the store.com and search for works for them to rate one-star. I could not help but notice that the "evil" liberals have not returned the favor by sinking to that level. Dittoheads, you should be ashamed. I am a Republican who has been disillusioned by the party's takeover by the extremist right-wing. Perhaps I will join the masses of Republican voters who are, in record numbers, flocking to their local governments to change their party. It's because of extremists like Limbaugh that these things happen. No wonder the store.com didn't put up an official review of this book by a reputable source over here. Because no self-respecting book reviewer would like this trashy and misinformed book.