All About The Fairness

It's a sad reflection of America today that I have trouble sometimes deciding which political party is the bigger threat to the First Amendment. Naturally, partisans on both sides will point the finger at the other, but over the years, I've noticed that the pattern tends to break down like this:

If you disagree with the Right, you're un-American. You're the scum of the Earth, who appeases terrorists, believes in the hoax of global warming and want to turn the United States of America into a socialist work camp.

If you disagree with the Left, well, it's you're birthright as an American to speak in opposition to anyone- and you're more than free to disagree with the Left, provided, of course, that you agree with everything they say to begin with. Woe betide those that have the temerity to question the sacred orthodoxy of the American left.

Granted, those are massive generalizations- but that's the way (in my experience) it tends to break down on the extreme ends of the spectrum. People in the sensible, sane center tend to be a little less vocal about it- and that's really where the work gets done in my mind. Careful, measured debate about ideas- the forge of true solutions for our nation's problems.

So, it is with great irritation that I see that the pendulum has swung to the Left when it comes to parties gunning to take out the First Amendment. I speak, of course, of Nancy Pelosi's idiotic attempt to re-instate 'The Fairness Doctrine.' For those of you who don't know- the Fairness Doctrine is an FCC regulation that would require broadcasters to provide equal time for opposing points of view on the presentation of any given issue. In other words, Fox News would have to provide equal time to a liberal point of view. Or NPR would have to provide equal time to a conservative point of view. It cuts both ways.

Conservatives hate it because it's clearly aimed at Conservative talk radio, which they dominate. The Left tried to get in on the talk radio thing, but it turned out that Air America was a better movie than a radio station (or whatever it was) and Al Franken has decide to abandon the airwaves to try and run for Senate.

The Left (at least right now) loves it because they hate Fox News and Conservative talk radio and it would pretty much destroy both of these bastions of evil lies and propaganda that the Left despises so much. Their attempts (headed by Nancy Pelosi and company- which might explain why they have lower approval ratings than the President right now) to reintroduce the Fairness Doctrine have the taste of politically motivated censorship- though according to them, it's 'all about the Fairness.'

But now the FCC Commissioner is warning that the return of 'The Fairness Doctrine' could also see equal times rules applied to web content and blogs as well. If this is true, then I think the Fairness Doctrine will die quickly- and if, by some twist of idiocy that seems to symptomatic in Congress it does come back with the web content controls attached, then I think it'll lose the Democrats Congress for one- and for two, it'll be knocked down once and for all by the courts.

In general, this is an incredibly stupid idea on the part of the Democrats. Do something else- fix the education system? End poverty? Anything but this. It's a political risk that could (and probably will) backfire once people realize what it entails and it's an issue that's sure to send Conservatives running to polls in droves. All of which are not good things for Democrats.

Then there's the censorship part. That to me, is where I get off the bus. This is politically motivated censorship and I don't care what anyone says. It's just wrong. It's a ham-fisted, cack-handed attempt to shut down talk radio, all because the Left discovered that like I said, Air America was a better movie than a radio station. I'm not entirely sure it's Constitutional- and the fact that Congress and the FCC 'retired' the Doctrine should say a lot about what a bad idea it is to begin with.

Throw the 'net into that and you're looking at an unenforceable, laughable and unconstitutional law that amounts to real live censorship. We do have Fairness Doctrines in this country- they're called remotes. If you don't like what you see on the TV, exercise the brilliant thing called your thumb and click the damn channel changer. If you don't like what you hear on the radio, move the dial. You see where I'm going with this? Any stupid law that requires me to give equal time to the opposition is an infringement on my right to Free Speech. And I have a major issue with that-

but of course, in the end, censorship has to be fair to everyone, after all.