Tuesday, September 23, 2003
Rush to Judgment Day
Here they come again. The Left is rounding the curve, massing for yet another attack on the First Amendment by trying to re-institute the Stalinist Doctrine. Er… The Fairness Doctrine.
It’s been clear for some time now that the Left is in full panic mode. Their bizarre displays during the lead up to Operation Iraqi Freedom was not only amusing (in its own twisted way) it was illustrative of their desperation. Scream, rant and wail as they might, the Bush administration’s policy of directly addressing the national security concerns of average Americans rolled on. This has pushed the Left right over the edge, or, if you like, shoved them forcefully further down the other side of the precipice.
So, like I tell my soccer team when they get into trouble on the field, it’s time for the Left to get back to basics. And this they have done.
Harkening back to the good ol’ days when they practically owned the levers of power in America, they’ve fallen back to those basic principals and goals that got them to that point; namely trying to control access to information, and analysis of that information. But before I get into that, I think it’s useful to understand the vast scale of the beating they’ve taken in the last few years.
Back in the ‘70s and ‘80s the Left was flush with victories: they’d won the Vietnam War, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan was progressing well, and the Islamic Revolution in Iran was a pleasant surprise (hey, at least their loyalties are relatively consistent). They owned the United States Supreme Court, which violated the Constitution at will (death penalty ban anyone?)… or just made it up as they went along (Roe v. Wade, Doe v. Bolton… don’t bitch at me if you’re pro-choice… those decisions reeked no matter how you cut it). The Left had a lock on the US House of Representatives, Hollywood, entertainment and news television, and the newspapers (which about summed up all the available spigots of popular culture). And this control of the major media is the salient point here: What America thought was, to an impressive degree, circumscribed by what ABC, NBC and CBS and other media outlets said what was right and important.
Remember the “Most Trusted Man in America”? Walter Cronkite.
The Left’s stranglehold on power was made possible by that almost total control of information. Sometimes we forget what it was like back then, back when every time you turned on the TV you’d get skillfully directed panoply of leftist propaganda, dripping with condescension and arrogant, pedantic pontificating. And that was just the evening news. If you wanted a newspaper with a national perspective you read the New York Times, the Washington Post or, perhaps, the Los Angeles Times. Investigative journalism? 60 Minutes. Current topics talk show? Donahue. If you were interested in television programming relating to science or the humanities you watched PBS. Only. Restriction of access to information was a cornerstone of the Left’s Fortress of Facile Philosophy, and they defended that fortress with tools such as the Fairness Doctrine. Do you remember that? I do.
The Left certainly hasn’t forgotten. And they also remember when wheels started to come off. With the election of Ronald Reagan, the Nuclear Cowboy ™ in 1980 America had begun to clear its throat. Even if all the news you get is from one side of the political divide, at some point people will tire of an unrelenting banquet of negativism, contempt and self-loathing. Ronald Reagan’s message of pro-Americanism and national pride resonated, despite of (and around, and over, and through) the “mainstream” media’s gulag-grip on the microphone.
And then the nightmare began for the Left. In 1987 the Federal Communications Commission was relieved of its obligation to enforce the Fairness Doctrine. The death grip that the Left had formerly had on AM radio loosened. And before the Left could blink, the galley slaves had taken over that particular ship. Rush Limbaugh and the Excellence In Broadcasting network were born.
When Al Gore invented the Internet he, too, laid the seeds of an unhappy development for the Left. Now any shambling Neanderthal could freely spout politically incorrect information and opinions, and the Left had no way (in the US at least) to protect the masses and prevent the “proletariat” from being confused by rightwing ideas.
Then Satan himself, in the guise of Rupert Murdoch, arrived on the scene. Between Murdoch and EIB alumnus Roger Ailes, the foundations of the Left’s power over public discourse began to crack. Fox began to assert itself in television entertainment. From the profits earned through that effort sprung Fox News.
And the hits kept on coming. In amongst all that was the Republican “takeover” of the US House of Representatives. Then the Senate fell to the Republicans. Sure, William Jefferson Clinton was elected (um.. 60% X 43% = 26%… get the picture?), but once the hangover from that 8-year tour-de-myopia was over, and we started to collectively pay the bartender for it (some more than others) the message was clear. Conservatism was in its ascendancy. And the Left could to nothing about it.
So now the Left is trying to re-impose the Orwellian-named Fairness Doctrine. Experiencing a visceral fear that they’ve never encountered before, the Left has gone back to basics. They hope to soothe themselves with the truncation of open debate and discussion of ideas. And, believe me, they are pissed off. Maybe it’s the fault of the new generation of Leftists, having sat back in the comfort of the regime constructed by their forefathers. Maybe it was the inevitable outcome of the vast increase in available (lower-case) media. Either way, it’s happened, and they are not happy.
I, frankly, don’t know what they hope to accomplish. Maybe it’s a fall-back action on their part, hoping to silence AM radio. But what will that accomplish? Don’t mistake me; it would be a major setback for the Fairness Doctrine to be re-imposed. But as the Von Trapp’s maid once remarked, “Where the Lord closes a door, somewhere He opens a window.” Think of cable and the Internet as two huge, vast, irreducibly enormous windows.
So, my advice is: just hang on. Be patient. The way ahead is clear.
HOWEVER: I’m not trying to taint my post with paranoia, but I’d be remiss if I failed to point out two sources of possible future danger: academia and judicial decisions. The left had taken over academia decades ago, and even though we’re shining the light on them, they’re still in control of that institution. It’s the left’s carefully planted time bomb. They take in young, ill-educated youths, and disgorge ill-educated (but profoundly indoctrinated) activists and, sorry, political nincompoops, whose arrogance is only exceeded by their ignorance. American universities are currently non-stop insta-tool generators for the left’s use. If something is not done to address this we will live (perhaps) to regret it.
Then there’s the third arm of the left’s attack (and I use that word intentionally): judicial activism. At every turn, whenever a left-dominated court has the chance to act, those courts act to diminish democracy in America. They overturn referenda, they alter election results, they change the rules in mid-stream. Any modality they can use to stifle self-rule and the rule of law is open for their special “interpretation.”
The point of all this? The left now understands that democracy is not the way for them. They knew that once before (see also: USSR, PRC, DDR, etc.). Perhaps they had deluded themselves over the last few decades, taking the manufactured consensus over which whey ruled as a genuine desire for their policies. But the burka is off now and they clearly see the sole remaining route to power: any method that does not rely on their policies being accepted by the general population (see also: judicial fiat, election tampering, terrorism [ELF anyone?], lies, deception and Machiavellian machinations).
So, my point is: be prepared for more of the same. Look for proportional balloting, voter registration for border-jumpers and whatever disenfranchisement-de-jour the left selects as their next counterpunch.
Don’t tell me I didn’t warn you.
Here they come again. The Left is rounding the curve, massing for yet another attack on the First Amendment by trying to re-institute the Stalinist Doctrine. Er… The Fairness Doctrine.
It’s been clear for some time now that the Left is in full panic mode. Their bizarre displays during the lead up to Operation Iraqi Freedom was not only amusing (in its own twisted way) it was illustrative of their desperation. Scream, rant and wail as they might, the Bush administration’s policy of directly addressing the national security concerns of average Americans rolled on. This has pushed the Left right over the edge, or, if you like, shoved them forcefully further down the other side of the precipice.
So, like I tell my soccer team when they get into trouble on the field, it’s time for the Left to get back to basics. And this they have done.
Harkening back to the good ol’ days when they practically owned the levers of power in America, they’ve fallen back to those basic principals and goals that got them to that point; namely trying to control access to information, and analysis of that information. But before I get into that, I think it’s useful to understand the vast scale of the beating they’ve taken in the last few years.
Back in the ‘70s and ‘80s the Left was flush with victories: they’d won the Vietnam War, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan was progressing well, and the Islamic Revolution in Iran was a pleasant surprise (hey, at least their loyalties are relatively consistent). They owned the United States Supreme Court, which violated the Constitution at will (death penalty ban anyone?)… or just made it up as they went along (Roe v. Wade, Doe v. Bolton… don’t bitch at me if you’re pro-choice… those decisions reeked no matter how you cut it). The Left had a lock on the US House of Representatives, Hollywood, entertainment and news television, and the newspapers (which about summed up all the available spigots of popular culture). And this control of the major media is the salient point here: What America thought was, to an impressive degree, circumscribed by what ABC, NBC and CBS and other media outlets said what was right and important.
Remember the “Most Trusted Man in America”? Walter Cronkite.
The Left’s stranglehold on power was made possible by that almost total control of information. Sometimes we forget what it was like back then, back when every time you turned on the TV you’d get skillfully directed panoply of leftist propaganda, dripping with condescension and arrogant, pedantic pontificating. And that was just the evening news. If you wanted a newspaper with a national perspective you read the New York Times, the Washington Post or, perhaps, the Los Angeles Times. Investigative journalism? 60 Minutes. Current topics talk show? Donahue. If you were interested in television programming relating to science or the humanities you watched PBS. Only. Restriction of access to information was a cornerstone of the Left’s Fortress of Facile Philosophy, and they defended that fortress with tools such as the Fairness Doctrine. Do you remember that? I do.
The Left certainly hasn’t forgotten. And they also remember when wheels started to come off. With the election of Ronald Reagan, the Nuclear Cowboy ™ in 1980 America had begun to clear its throat. Even if all the news you get is from one side of the political divide, at some point people will tire of an unrelenting banquet of negativism, contempt and self-loathing. Ronald Reagan’s message of pro-Americanism and national pride resonated, despite of (and around, and over, and through) the “mainstream” media’s gulag-grip on the microphone.
And then the nightmare began for the Left. In 1987 the Federal Communications Commission was relieved of its obligation to enforce the Fairness Doctrine. The death grip that the Left had formerly had on AM radio loosened. And before the Left could blink, the galley slaves had taken over that particular ship. Rush Limbaugh and the Excellence In Broadcasting network were born.
When Al Gore invented the Internet he, too, laid the seeds of an unhappy development for the Left. Now any shambling Neanderthal could freely spout politically incorrect information and opinions, and the Left had no way (in the US at least) to protect the masses and prevent the “proletariat” from being confused by rightwing ideas.
Then Satan himself, in the guise of Rupert Murdoch, arrived on the scene. Between Murdoch and EIB alumnus Roger Ailes, the foundations of the Left’s power over public discourse began to crack. Fox began to assert itself in television entertainment. From the profits earned through that effort sprung Fox News.
And the hits kept on coming. In amongst all that was the Republican “takeover” of the US House of Representatives. Then the Senate fell to the Republicans. Sure, William Jefferson Clinton was elected (um.. 60% X 43% = 26%… get the picture?), but once the hangover from that 8-year tour-de-myopia was over, and we started to collectively pay the bartender for it (some more than others) the message was clear. Conservatism was in its ascendancy. And the Left could to nothing about it.
So now the Left is trying to re-impose the Orwellian-named Fairness Doctrine. Experiencing a visceral fear that they’ve never encountered before, the Left has gone back to basics. They hope to soothe themselves with the truncation of open debate and discussion of ideas. And, believe me, they are pissed off. Maybe it’s the fault of the new generation of Leftists, having sat back in the comfort of the regime constructed by their forefathers. Maybe it was the inevitable outcome of the vast increase in available (lower-case) media. Either way, it’s happened, and they are not happy.
I, frankly, don’t know what they hope to accomplish. Maybe it’s a fall-back action on their part, hoping to silence AM radio. But what will that accomplish? Don’t mistake me; it would be a major setback for the Fairness Doctrine to be re-imposed. But as the Von Trapp’s maid once remarked, “Where the Lord closes a door, somewhere He opens a window.” Think of cable and the Internet as two huge, vast, irreducibly enormous windows.
So, my advice is: just hang on. Be patient. The way ahead is clear.
HOWEVER: I’m not trying to taint my post with paranoia, but I’d be remiss if I failed to point out two sources of possible future danger: academia and judicial decisions. The left had taken over academia decades ago, and even though we’re shining the light on them, they’re still in control of that institution. It’s the left’s carefully planted time bomb. They take in young, ill-educated youths, and disgorge ill-educated (but profoundly indoctrinated) activists and, sorry, political nincompoops, whose arrogance is only exceeded by their ignorance. American universities are currently non-stop insta-tool generators for the left’s use. If something is not done to address this we will live (perhaps) to regret it.
Then there’s the third arm of the left’s attack (and I use that word intentionally): judicial activism. At every turn, whenever a left-dominated court has the chance to act, those courts act to diminish democracy in America. They overturn referenda, they alter election results, they change the rules in mid-stream. Any modality they can use to stifle self-rule and the rule of law is open for their special “interpretation.”
The point of all this? The left now understands that democracy is not the way for them. They knew that once before (see also: USSR, PRC, DDR, etc.). Perhaps they had deluded themselves over the last few decades, taking the manufactured consensus over which whey ruled as a genuine desire for their policies. But the burka is off now and they clearly see the sole remaining route to power: any method that does not rely on their policies being accepted by the general population (see also: judicial fiat, election tampering, terrorism [ELF anyone?], lies, deception and Machiavellian machinations).
So, my point is: be prepared for more of the same. Look for proportional balloting, voter registration for border-jumpers and whatever disenfranchisement-de-jour the left selects as their next counterpunch.
Don’t tell me I didn’t warn you.
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