Rush Limbaugh was the keynote speaker at gathering for the Conservative Political Action Committee. Here is the transcript of speech. I am curious why they would use an entertainer to expound on the political theories and philosophies of governance that the Republican Party is choosing to follow.

Entertainers tend to be most comfortable within a known audience and don't have to face the mess of disparate voices that democracy often requires from politicians. This is certainly true of American talkback radio in the United States which was one of the first forms of echo-chamber media replete with microphones being turned off, screening and endlessly repetitive demagoguery.

The initial aspects of his speech describing what Conservatives stand for is reasonable, for instance:

Let me tell you who we conservatives are: We love people. [Applause] When we look out over the United States of America, when we are anywhere, when we see a group of people, such as this or anywhere, we see Americans. We see human beings. We don't see groups. We don't see victims. We don't see people we want to exploit. What we see -- what we see is potential. We do not look out across the country and see the average American, the person that makes this country work. We do not see that person with contempt. We don't think that person doesn't have what it takes. We believe that person can be the best he or she wants to be if certain things are just removed from their path like onerous taxes, regulations and too much government.

That is the philosophy that conservatism accepts social inequity in a social, economic and political system and that it does not see a role in special interest groups, or minority groups having help from the government to achieve equality. That is fine as a philosophy, but recent US Republican governance has not followed that and Limbaugh has been a part of the media message which has broken those principles. A good example is that many of the states that are conservative in the United States accept more money from the government in hand-outs than they send to Washington DC.

We recently had the farce of Republican Governors trying to stick to this principle and only taking 3.7 billion of a 3.8 billion hand out from the federal government. In essence these conservative states are minorities in the federation and are receiving subsidies in order to level the economic playing field with increased government expenditure.

We love and revere our founding documents, the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. [Applause] We believe that the preamble to the Constitution contains an inarguable truth that we are all endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights, among them life. [Applause] Liberty, Freedom. [Applause] And the pursuit of happiness. [Applause] Those of you watching at home may wonder why this is being applauded. We conservatives think all three are under assault. [Applause] Thank you. Thank you.

Limbaugh mixes the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence there, and recent governance by the US Republican executive completely broke the universalism of the enlightenment with the establishment of the 'illegal combatant' doctrine and ignoring FISA. Not even citizenship and nationalism was enough to spare an individual from arbitrary action by the executive. Liberty of travel and association took a pummeling from the TSA under a republican government, secret laws were established that the TSA could use against an individual and that were publicly published or known; which is bad governance.

We don't want to tell anybody how to live. That's up to you. If you want to make the best of yourself, feel free. If you want to ruin your life, we'll try to stop it -- and make -- but it's a waste. We look over the country as it is today, we see so much waste, human potential that's been destroyed by 50 years of a welfare state. By a failed war on poverty. [Applause

Unless it is about abortion, state laws covering marijauna, etc. The hypocrisy here is significant. Again, Limbaugh is a radio host and supported many of those policies from the Bush Administration. While the language in this speech is understandable from a political philosophy point of view, it is difficult to take seriously given the last 14 years under republican governance and the nature of entertainment that Limbaugh and others have provided in support of Republican policies.

The second half of the speech just dissolved into Schmittian style conservatism where the opposing group was demonised and dehumanised;

You know, if you really want to unhinge a liberal it's hard to do because they're so unhinged now anyway, even after -- but all you have to do is say you know what the things you people do, the things you people believe in are cruel. That's the last way they look at themselves. They are the best people on the -- they're the good people. You tell them that their ideas and that their policies are cruel and the eggs start scrambling

Again, that is not useful as a form of governing philosophy. The Bush Administration used Schmittian principles heavily; language in the 2002, 2004 and even 2006 elections were about the treasonous Democrats and how they were 'aiding and abetting' the enemy, wanting the US to fail. It was successful initially, not in policy, but electorally, however, the pursuit of that electoral and governance policy has led to the Democrats currently holding the Executive, the Senate and the House. It is not a sustainable policy. Limbaugh continues:

What do we do as conservatives? What do we do? How do we overcome this? Well, the one thing, and there are many, but one thing that we can all do is stop assuming that the way to beat them is with better policy ideas right now.

The Republican Party continues to be broken. The idea that governance is not about policy, but about politics, is not about empiricism but is about perception, has led to one of the worst US Presidents in American history. Having Limbaugh speak at the CPAC convention as a keynote speaker may be good entertainment, and good for raising awareness of the event, even good for Rush Limbaugh's national profile, but it offers nothing settling, comforting, or confidence building that the Republicans have learnt from their errors of the last eight years and why they failed to govern effectively and competently.

Until that is overcome they are unelectable.

More Reading on Rush limbaugh

• Rush Limbaugh
• US Republican Party
• CPAC
• Rush Limbaugh's Speech Transcript from CPAC