Posted by
David Zublick on Sunday, September 27, 2009 10:54:52 AM
In recent weeks, a serious threat has emerged to the liberties of every American with regard to free speech in this country.
This threat has come in many forms and from many fronts.
Cass
Sunstein, Barack Obama's newly confirmed regulatory czar, believes that
the government should be able to force broadcasters to air "diversity"
ads, which would be a backdoor attempt at reconstituting the Fairness
Doctrine.
In his 1993 book "The Partial Constitution", Sunstein
wrote "If it were necessary to bring about diversity and attention to
public matters, a private right of access to the media might even be
constitutionally compelled. The notion that access will be a product of
the marketplace might well be constitutionally troublesome."
Sunstein
would like to see the creation of a "First Amendment New Deal", or a
new "Fairness Doctrine" that would include the establishment of a panel
of "nonpartisan experts" to ensure "diversity of view" on the airwaves.
Obviously,
this would result in time constraints to the private broadcasting
companies, which would be forced to give up valuable revenue-generating
advertising slots to air these diversity ads. This could also result in
programming changes on conservative stations, which might be forced to
drop certain hosts or programs to prevent having to equalize all points
of view.
At the same time, there is a new bill being drafted behind closed doors in the Senate, S.773 (
excerpt)
which would give the White House the authority to seize control of
private-sector networks during a so-called cybersecurity emergency. In
effect, the Internet would be shut down at a moment's notice due to
some perceived (or conceived) threat. After all, wasn't it Rahm Emanuel
who said
"You never let a serious crisis go to
waste. And what I mean by that it's an opportunity to do things you
think you could not do before."
If the threat to
broadcasters and the Internet aren't bad enough, Obama is now thinking
about bailing out the failing newspapers in this country. There are
several bills in congress that would boost the newspaper sector,
including a senate bill that would allow newspaper companies to
reformulate themselves as nonprofits with a variety of tax breaks.
These newspapers would then be print versions of PBS and NPR, which
would, in effect make them mouthpieces for the government. The White
House could control the advertising and all editorial content appearing
in these papers.
Obama already has the mainstream media in his
back pocket. All of the major networks and most of the print media are
in the tank for this guy. But it still sticks in his craw that there
are those outlets that offer opposition to his policies. Several
attempts have been made to demonize those who share disparate views.
Charges of racism have been leveled against those who oppose health
care, cap and trade, the stimulus and our increasing budget deficit.
The
charges of racism won't be enough, however, to keep Obama's critics
quiet. So other steps must be taken to stave off the growing cacophony
of voices that stand to hold this regime's forces at bay. Pushing for
another Fairness Doctrine for broadcasters, taking control of the print
media through a financial bailout of the newspapers, and the authority
to shut down the Internet at a moment's notice, might just give our
government a way to silence all of Obama's opposition.
Scary thought.
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