Silencing the Opposition
The Obama administration has been itching for a way to control the flow of information for almost a year, and multiple approaches have been tried. But all of these approaches have run into the same snag: the First Amendment.
President Obama began by creating his own Ministry of Truth, headed up by Cass Sunstein, a man who had this to say of the First Amendment,
A system of limitless individual choices, with respect to communications, is not necessarily in the interest of citizenship and self-government. … Democratic efforts to reduce the resulting problems ought not be rejected in freedom’s name.
Sunstein would admittedly like authority to ban what he deems “falsehoods,” all of which suspiciously tend in the conservative direction. Apparently, conservative political opponents are the only ones capable of lying.
Not content with that Orwellian step, Democrats then attempted to resurrect the outdated “fairness doctrine,” which required dual perspectives on every broadcast. This approach would make maintaining the current market balance difficult, as radio stations would have to go against consumers and force liberal viewpoints into the fore. The re-ascendancy of the obsolete policy was temporarily halted when the GOP squawked. But Americans can’t breathe a sigh of relief, because the FCC has gone through several less direct proposals that would have the same effect, like mandating “diversity” in local radio station ownership, which would severely curtail conservative viewpoints on radio and artificially create a market for liberal perspectives. Judging by the failure of Air America, such perspectives are not in demand.
And now… the rest of the story. …..
Harold
