Rush Limbaugh Quotes
We had 600 ships, a 600 ship Navy under [Ronald] Reagan. We're down to 200 now [in 2016].
Limbaugh, Rush. The Rush Limbaugh Show. Premiere Networks, 2016.
This quotation illustrates several historical differences of the past with today. To be a world superpower, one had to have a dominant navy. Yet that navy was, in Churchill’s concept, a defensive system. It could protect the nation from invasion, and its merchant ships on the seas, but a navy provided no threat to invade towns and villages in Europe or elsewhere. Germany and France in contrast, with their large armies could invade other nations and menace Europe and Asia. It also illustrates why the navy and the army were considered completely separate departments of government in that they had different functions. The early American government had a Navy Department and Secretary but no Secretary of the Army or standing army.
He didn’t succeed until Mahan wrote his marvelous treatise.
This quotation illustrates some of the interesting attitudes of early Americans. First, note the backhanded slap at a standing army. The navy was much preferred by early Americans as history had demonstrated that most republics had been destroyed by their own armies taking over in some “emergency” of time of “crisis.” This also helps explain why the army and navy were different departments of government—a tradition that lasted until after WWII. The two departments had totally different purposes and objectives and presented different potential dangers to the nation.
Rush Hudson Limbaugh III was an American radio personality, conservative political commentator, author, and television show host. He was best known as the host of The Rush Limbaugh Show, which was nationally syndicated on AM and FM radio stations.
