The Right To Free Speech- Is It Really For Everyone?

When ever you see a heated debate in Congress over a major bill there is usually something else going on somewhere else in the government or even in Congress that is being done while everyone is focused on the 'big something'. It is pretty sad that the government seems to want to play slight of hand tricks with their own people.

The First Amendment right to Free Speech and Private Enterprise are being attacked again.

So while we are all debating about health care bills- there was a new Czar appointed! This time it is the new Radio Czar, Mark Lloyd who is being called the Diversity Czar. There has not been a Diversity position at the FCC yet the White House said that they are appointing Mark Lloyd to this position. This new position that was never there before and the grand new name is: 'Chief Diversity Officer'. Why should this matter to any of us?

Because this is an attack on Free Speech. While it would never be tolerated here to have the Chavez style attack on Free Speech, more straightforward ways of attacking Free Speech are implemented. Hugo Chavez closed 34 Venezuelan radio stations for being conservative and against his policies, etc. He just did it. Well, here in America the new way to shut off freedoms is through fines and taxes, tweaking the rules that hug the gray line.

The administration knew that their Fairness Doctrine would never get passed without an uproar from the people so they have decided to get the same result through heavy fines and license fees to just put the opposing voices, those who they do not agree with; out of business. Stealing from the successful radio talk shows to give to the unsuccessful talk radio shows. Hmmm, I wonder whatever happened to let the listening audience decide on who is successful and who is not.

As the newspapers and TV News moved more to the left, the conservatives gained a voice through talk radio as well as an audience that was tired of hearing things one sided from news anchors. This does not sit well with those that seek to eliminate free speech for those who don't agree with them. Mark Lloyd says that "there is a huge imbalance in talk radio. 91% of talk radio is conservative and only 9% is progressive." He says that there is a need for diversity of ownership. So again, take from one person to give to another instead of having them rest on their own laurels. If people were not listening to conservative talk radio, there would be no audience, the radio show would go belly-up! Simple market applications; supply and demand. Maybe people who are very far left don't listen to talk radio. Did they ever think of that? And the ones that are on the air, are not fairing very well so maybe they don't have a big audience! Or better yet, why don't they raise their own private money? Now that would be a new idea!

When you analyze the stats- out of the 3 major news stations, 0% are conservative and all three are progressive. Cable news: 75% are 'progressive' and 25% ( Fox News) is conservative. I don't hear the Diversity Officer saying that we need to balance the scales on TV and Cable!

How is this going to be accomplished? The private radio broadcasters are required to pay 100% of their operating costs as a license fee which will be used to benefit public radio broadcasting. Tell me, how long can your business survive if you have to pay 100% of your operating costs for a license fee? If you don't pay it, there will be a huge fine levied on your company.
You would have to close your doors. They want public broadcasting to be fully funded by private broadcasters.

This appears to me to be no different than what Chavez is doing in Venezuela except the strong arm force for him is physical and here the force is through the pocketbook of free enterprise private companies.

The Right To Free Speech- Is It Really For Everyone? by Coach Katerina Gasset is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License

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