Stop accepting liberal premises! This essential Rushism — along with last issue’s “Beware Groupthink” article pointing out that “conventional wisdom is almost always wrong” — remain two of Rush’s most important guidelines when dealing with leftists. Arrogant libs always try to bamboozle with a blizzard of lies, slogans, and name-calling, in an attempt to shut down any dissent. They are allergic to the truth, your greatest weapon. So always remember: never accept the conventional wisdom, and never accept the premise!

A caller asked me why such a small minority of environmentalist wackos can stop us from drilling and building new refineries, but when it comes to issues like tax cuts and border security that are clearly supported by the majority, that’s ignored by Washington. He asked, “What’s the deal?”

It’s a good question, and the answer is: the environmentalist wackos may be a minority, but that’s not the problem. The problem is politicians. Politicians generally poll and focus group to find out what people say they want and give it to them. That’s how they stay elected.

That’s what is so frustrating to people like us. We don’t want people bending and shaping with the wind. We want leadership. We want somebody challenging Democrat liberal premises. It’s the cover commentary of the [April 2008] Limbaugh Letter: “Stop Accepting Liberal Premises!” But that’s what too many do. Look, environmental policies couldn’t advance without Republican votes. Because Republicans are in districts where a lot of voters believe oil is destroying the planet and we’re using too much of it. This is the result of a 25-year campaign, and it has infected the minds of the American people.

Let me give you a little story as an example from The San Francisco Chronicle. They took a poll and reported: “Californians support the idea of charging ‘green’ vehicle fees that would make drivers of gas guzzlers pay higher taxes and offer discounts for those driving less-polluting vehicles, according to a survey by a transportation researcher at San Jose State University.” Those polled also believe in “levying a mileage-based tax that would replace the … per-gallon gasoline tax. The per-mile amount would vary depending on how much a vehicle polluted the air. ‘The public is very supportive of these green taxes and fees,’ said the researcher at San Jose State.”

This is how it has worked. They have created so much guilt that there are people who want “green taxes,” and then you have linguine-spined politicians who simply go along with what polls say. “But, Rush! But, Rush! That’s what democracy is: the will of the peoples.” No, we are a representative republic. We’re not simply majority rule. And we’re not mob rule.

The idea used to be we would elect leaders — for instance, those who conclude that all this is a giant hoax and a scam and would have the guts to stand up and fight it. We have precious few of those people around. They might think it, but they don’t have the courage to say it. So we get stories like this, from The Washington Post: “Inaction on Polar Bears Criticized — Democrats Blame [Republicans] for Delay in Addressing Climate Change.”

Food prices and energy prices are skyrocketing, people are facing all kinds of serious problems, and Democrats spend time beating up Republicans for “failure to meet a legal deadline for determining whether global warming is pushing polar bears toward extinction.”

We’ve got little kids being taught this in school, so they go home and cry, “Mommy, Mommy! The polar bears are dying! I saw a picture! Two polar bears are on a melting piece of ice, and they’re gonna drown, Mommy!” Parents don’t want their kids frightened like that, so they join the cause.

It’s insidious. That’s why this will have to be fought, day in and day out. Here’s the thing. Liberals get hold of an agenda, and they don’t stop. No matter how much of it they push forward, it’s never enough. They want more. They just keep advancing, and here we are now 25, 30 years later, and it has taken hold. Our side typically accepts the premise, or at the very most tries to nibble around the edges once in a while. More people on our side should have stomped on this from the get-go.

What’s been going on for decades is a constant daily bombardment from the government and from the media of pure, unadulterated liberalism. Over 20, 30 years of relentless hammering on television every day, a lot of people will soak some of it up. They start to believe it. And if their friends believe it, nobody wants to argue with their friends.

In addition, people want their lives to have meaning; supporting liberal causes can fool people into believing that gives their lives meaning. Liberals are very canny about this, and they’re patient. They’re content to dominate news cycles and set the agenda as long as it takes. It’s infuriating, but there’s not a political party that’s consistently refuting liberal premises.

We’ve got too many people on our side who are appeasers, who want to be liked by these people. But if nobody’s going to reject the premise on any issue liberals put forth, then all we’ll be doing, in William F. Buckley’s phrase, is “standing athwart history and shouting, ‘Stop!’” Sure, we may put the brakes on it for a while, but we never get control of the agenda ourselves and start advancing it.

Now, right now stopping them is what we have to do. Stopping the premise of manmade global warming, establishing that as a hoax. Stopping socialism. But then what? We declare victory and move on to the next liberal premise and reject it.

Because they don’t give up. For instance, they’ve long been working end runs around illegal immigration, amnesty. We stopped that cold at one time, but then Congress wised up and started making incremental moves, sneaking a little amnesty into all kinds of legislation. They just keep going, folks. It would be wonderful to dominate the agenda and the culture for a change so the American people would be bombarded every day with our beliefs. But right now we just have to stand athwart and shout, ‘Stop!’

Look, I’m optimistic. We are going to eventually prevail — if we don’t give up the fight. And that fight will continue long after we’re gone. Your kids and grandkids will be either beneficiaries or victims of what happens as we contest these issues. It will always be an ongoing battle.

But I would also caution you against something else. Don’t ever accept one of these stupid-ass premises thinking you’ve got an idea to make it better. If the left is out there demanding we do away with ice, don’t say, “Okay, if we eliminate ice let’s replace them with the army.” Don’t ever, ever accept the premise. The only thing they’ll hear is the sound of their own victory.

I don’t care what liberal you’re talking to — never accept the premise of any accusation or question, never accept the premise of one of their radical ideas no matter how clever you think your argument may be. Don’t let it get that far.

I think it’s an essential piece of advice no matter what you’re talking about where leftists are concerned: do not accept the premise. Reject the premise. Nuke the premise.

There’s no reason to be afraid of these people. There’s no reason to cower. Whenever somebody is coming at you with lies and a false premise, you don’t accept the lie, you don’t accept the false premise. You laugh at them, you fight back, and you ram it back down their throats.