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Congress's Plan to Reinstate Censorship

By Jack Ward

Former Democrat icon Daniel Patrick Moynihan said, "The liberal left can be as rigid and destructive as any force in American life." Moynihan was right and we are about to see that destructive force manifest itself upon the American people.

Under the guise of 'Fairness', our Congress Critters are considering forcing radio and TV stations to 'balance' their hourly lineups across the ideological spectrum. One hour of conservative programming followed by one hour of liberal programming would be an example of 'fairness' and 'balance'. That is as lame as dictating one hour of opera and balancing it with one hour of country and western. The dial and on/off switch would no longer be necessary with the federal government protecting us from speech and thoughts that they think would contaminate our minds.

The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution says in part, "Congress shall make no law. abridging the freedom of speech,." Yet our Congress Critters are considering abridging freedom of speech. Last year Speaker Pelosi (D-Ca) blocked an attempt that would have prevented the government from resurrecting the practice of controlling ideological speech on the broadcast media. Senator Schumer (D-NY) suggested that regulating political content was the same as regulating pornography. I guess that is one way of dismissing contrary thoughts. Senators Dick Durbin (D-Il), John Kerry (D-Ma), Barbara Boxer (D-Ca), Dianne Feinstein (D-Ca), and Representative Louise Slaughter (D-NY) are a few in the Democratic leadership that believes that the federal government should control ideological speech.

But Representative Anna Eshoo (D-Ca) goes even further. She said she planned to introduce legislation to control speech on broadcast stations (AM and FM) in addition to cable TV and satellite radio. Eshoo said, "It should, and will, affect everyone." Once the federal government heads down the path of censoring speech where will it end? FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell said that the speech limits may even extent to the Internet. McDowell also warned when you have the federal government dictating content you have a First Amendment problem. "Then, whoever is in charge of government is going to determine what is fair." Even Jon Sinton the founding president of the liberal Air America Radio network is opposed to Eshoo's government control of the media. He wrote that it is ". anachronistic policy that, with the abundance of choices on radio today, is entirely unnecessary." At least he understands the importance of allowing people the freedom of choice. Be very afraid when the federal government wants to mandate fairness. Censorship is the modus operandi of a totalitarian government.

These Congress Critters have an Orwellian belief that the liberal left is morally superior because it is diverse, tolerant, and free-thinking; when it is exactly the opposite. In liberal left orthodoxy diversity of thought is forbidden, tolerance of other viewpoints is frowned upon, and there is no such thing as free-thinking. A free speech media threatens the vacuous liberal left ideology and destroys the myth of liberal left superiority.

When the federal government quit meddling in broadcast content in 1980's, the number of radio talk shows exploded from less than 100 to over 1500. Today there in no lack of opinions being discussed daily. People from all political ideologies can find a show that interests them. But that is what scares politicos that want to stifle ideological thought that differs from theirs. That is why Senator Schumer equates contrary opinions to pornography.

Notice that all the Congress Critters that want the government to control speech are liberal left Democrats. I have yet to hear any of these Congress Critters demanding that the federal government balance the propaganda mills of K-12 public schools, the halls of academia, and the monopoly of the liberal print media. The Democrats that want to control speech should heed the words of former Democrat icon Daniel Patrick Moynihan.