Politicians using laws to bully those who don't agree with them:
This is all thinly-disguised posturing for what's really bothering the senators: They don't like that people are allowed to criticize them on public airwaves.
Instapundit thinks that's right. I do too.
Campaign finance reform ammounts to the same thing:
This is why they continue to pass ever more stringent "campaign finance reform" laws, which at heart are really just laws that prevent people and organizations from criticizing politicians. Supporters of campaign finance reform talk about the corrupting influence of money in politics, but the truth of the matter is that it takes money to criticize a member of Congress in a forum where anyone's going to hear it. Take away the ability of citizens to pool their money to buy television and radio time, and you effectively take away their ability to criticize politicians, at least in a manner that anyone will notice.
And it doesn't stop there:
Last year, Sen. John McCain even introduced a bill that would allow the federal government to regulate blogs. We can't have any medium that Congress doesn't have the power to regulate and control, now can we?
Read the whole thing!
This isn't a partisan issue -- both Republicans and Democrats are guilty of trying to infringe on the liberties of Americans in order to keep their power and thier jobs. Politicians continue to try to use laws, gerrymandering, and anything else they can come up with to restrict competition and silence criticism. In economics we call this a monopoly. Why do most Americans get outraged by monopolies in business but turn a blind-eye to them in the world of politics or education?
It's no wonder Congress' approval rating is at an all-time-low.
1 comment:
I agree wholeheartedly. This Fairness Doctrine is really an attack on free speech and is an affront to the concept of American democracy.
I've said it before, but it bears repeating: this is one more reason to do everything possible to keep Hillary Clinton out of the White House. Don't think for one instant that she would not try to get this thing enacted. Remember, the president appoints the FCC commissioners, and may be able to at least attempt this by executive fiat.
As for McCain, his campaign is dead; he is irrelevant at this point.
As to why Americans don't become more outraged at politicians: I think they do, but they don't know how to constructively take action, outside of elections. Ask the avg American about how they feel about their politicians, and they will report disatisfaction; but ask them what they can do about it, and they will probably shrug and say not much. Of course, the media is usually complicit in all of this.
I do agree that there needs to be some major reforms, but it will take some inspiring leaders to focus people's efforts to produce real change. The last such effort I can remember was the 1994 Contract with America, and even then, many of its leaders became corrupted by the same system they criticized. Nevertheless, it did produce some real results.
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