Written by Paul Zannucci on 11:33 AM
First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Those who fail to act for the preservation of liberty deserve the tyranny they receive. Free speech, something so integral to freedom and to the idea of America that our Founding Fathers decided to address it in the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, is under assault by the politically expedient Democrats.
Unable to legitimately compete in the talk radio format, Democrats have repeatedly threatened the return of the "Fairness" Doctrine, which would require broadcasters to "give both sides equal treatment". Despite what you keep hearing from liberal media outlets, Democrats have, in fact,
quietly kept the possibility of reinstating this odd "fairness" open, likely waiting for the November elections in hope of an Obama victory. If you think the Democrats aren't really looking at it,
go here for a short selection of quotes from leading liberals. The list includes such notable folks as: Senator Durbin, Senator Feinstein, Senator Kerry, Speaker Pelosi, and Representative Kucinich.
If that's not good enough for you, you should know that 115 members of Congress voted against last year's one-year moratorium against the Fairness Doctrine. That's 115 members who voted against it even though they had absolutely no chance to reinstate the "fairness" under the Bush administration. If that many liberals were willing to try to install widespread censorship when it had no chance of passing, how many will vote for it when a Democrat is in the White House? They must be forced to sign the Broadcaster Freedom Act into permanent law. They must be forced to do it now.
If you are confused as to what makes the "Fairness" Doctrine a bad thing,
go here. Essentially, the "Fairness" Doctrine would require broadcasters to provide equal coverage for both sides of "controversial" topics, as determined by the FCC. Make no mistake, however, the goal is not to provide balance, even though that goal would be misguided enough. The goal is to silence the opposition. In fact, both President Kennedy and President Nixon were famous for using the FCC to silent opposition the last time we had the "Fairness" Doctrine:
May 14, American Spectator:
***Bill Ruder, an assistant secretary of commerce under John F. Kennedy, admitted to CBS News producer Fred Friendly that "our massive strategy was to use the Fairness Doctrine to challenge and harass right-wing broadcasters and hope the challenges would be so costly to them that they would be inhibited and decide it was too expensive to continue."
And Democrats, who love to pander to special interest groups, could find the "Fairness" Doctrine especially useful. Not only could the "fairness" silence conservative talk radio, it also could be used to batter all opposition--for instance, Christian radio--forcing Christian broadcasters to give alternate views and helping to win over more votes from "disaffected groups" to the liberal cause. If you don't believe that one, go to the Islamic site, "
The Wisdom Fund", and see what they have to say about the "Fairness" Doctrine:
"...the virtual exclusion of significant opposing viewpoints are good reasons to reevaluate the broadcasting Fairness Doctrine, and it's potential for obtaining more balanced coverage of Islam and Muslims." This is a site that complained about "America's Unlimited War" on 9/20/2001, claiming that the world didn't really change on 9/11, but on 9/20 when Bush "spoke to the nation and announced the American jihad." We cannot count on John McCain being elected in November, although this does give another compelling reason to vote for him. We must act now before the Democrats have this windfall opportunity presented to them to censor open debate on their liberal ideas.
To sign the petition for the Broadcaster Freedom Act,
go here.
To contact your local representative,
go here.
To see Congressman Mike Pence's website (he is the hero leading the charge against this),
go here.
With the current energy crisis, this issue is getting very little attention. If you have a blog or any web presence, feel free to post this article in its entirety to your site, with or without credit to me or the Conservative Principles website. You may also feel free to email it to your contact list. Just help get the word out any way you can. Thank you for your action on this issue,
Paul Zannucci
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