God Bless Kirsten Powers
Kirsten Powers does a weekly segment on the O’Reilly Factor with superblogger Michelle Malkin. Because of those segments, I’ve come to appreciate Ms. Powers’ forsaking the typical Democratic talking points. Simply put, she’s a liberal with a coherent beliefs. That intelligence shines through in this NY Post column on the Fairness Doctrine.
LAST week, the immigration bill died a grisly death at the hands of the talk-radio listeners who have frustrated and confounded me on this issue as I have regularly guest hosted Fox News’ morning radio show.
Nearly as frustrating, however, has been the imperial reaction of elected officials to their citizen uprising. Apparently, democracy is a drag, but it’s nothing a little authoritarian censorship can’t fix.
Enter the Fairness Doctrine, which has captured the fancy of top Democrats, including Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who announced that she is “looking into” reviving it to target talk radio.
The doctrine, abandoned by the Federal Communications Commission in 1987, used to compel broadcast licensees, that is, radio and TV stations, to give equal time to both sides of controversial issues. The FCC dropped it after concluding it actually discouraged informed discussion.
This genie’s out of the proverbial bottle. Last Friday, we had a Welcome Home Heroes event for our local GOP legislators. One of the big topics of conversation at my end of the table was the impact ‘high tech’ grassroots activists played in collapsing the immigration bill. My friend Ed Garrett immediately agreed when I said that activism had stepped into a new realm.
With each senator and representative having their own websites, office phone numbers and contact forms, we can apply pressure instantly. With each bill being online, activists and bloggers can actually read the legislation. In turn, a blogger like Captain Ed can read through the preapproved amendments to the bill and Hugh Hewitt can read the first bill, aka the ‘Grand Bargain’, then propose changes to make the bill more effective.
The end result is that activists can then write more intelligent emails or make more specific points on why a bill should be defeated.
The immigration bill and the activists’ reaction to it are the reason why politicians are thinking about the Fairness Doctrine. They’ve expressed genuine outrage at our telling them what to do. These politicians don’t get it that we’re tired of being sold a bill of goods, only to have bureaucrats like Michael Chertoff essentially tell the citizens he serves to buzz off.
But I digress.
Conservatives long ago adapted to life in a world where watching the network news or picking up one of the major news dailies is a virtual guarantee of having their views mocked, demeaned or misrepresented. If you’re a social conservative, multiply the odds by 100.
In short, we’re used to having to fight for everything in terms of public policy. We’re used to having to point out flaws in liberals’ thinking. We’re used to having to know the details about the bills we’re opposing. Liberals can float through college without ever having their beliefs challenged. Social conservatives are criticized throughout their college years on a daily basis. Let me illustrate that via an old story.
A young child spotted a butterfly struggling to break free of its cocoon. Moved with compassion, the child broke the cocoon open. The child was heartbroken when the butterfly didn’t fly. The child didn’t know that the butterfly’s struggle to break free of the cocoon was what built up its flying muscles.
The moral of the story is simple: Not having to fight for something means that you don’t have the opportunity to build up your muscles. Without muscles, the battle is lost.
Finally, there’s this parting shot:
If liberals want to provide balance in talk radio, they need to stop maligning it - and figure out how to compete on it.
Exactly right, Kirsten. Exactly right.
Technorati Tags: Kirsten Powers, Michelle Malkin, Fairness Doctrine, Immigration, Talk Radio, Dianne Feinstein, Michael Chertoff, Dick Durbin
Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog
July 3rd, 2007 at 6:14 am
Just an observation from an old-timer:
If they (the left, especially the moonbat wing) had anything worth listening to on a constant basis, there would be listeners and hence, there would be advertisers.
Kinda makes one wonder why there aren’t ’nuff advertisers, doesn’t it? Welcome to capitalism, kiddies.
July 3rd, 2007 at 8:18 am
Or put another way,
“There is no answer to a poor argument;
nor is there a need for one.”
Mark Twain