The FCC's study and the First Amendment

I can't believe I have to say this, it should be a no brainer. Freedom of the Press is a right we have seen eroded away for some time.

The FCC has no authority to monitor newscasts, this is an intimidation effort, plain and simple. I don't like Faux news, and I don't like the RW. There is a quote mis attributed to Patrick Henry that says I may not like what you have to say, but I will fight to the death for your right to say it. It would be more closely associated with Voltaire, but that isn't important. What is important is the dedication of Americans to stand up for our rights as a people. The principle behind those words is what really matters.

Less than two weeks ago, we learned that the United States plummeted in the rankings of Press Freedom. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/12/us-press-freedom-index-2014_n_4773101.html



Do you think our reputation as a champion of rights will improve by having FCC Monitors at news stations? How can we promote freedom abroad while creating the framework of intimidation at home?

Our Constitutional Freedoms exist only so long as we the people demand that they be respected. The erosion of the 4th, 5th, and 6th Amendment under the DHS nonsense is disturbing to say the least. The erosions of the 1st Amendment are very troubling, and that is without the mechanism of intimidation at newsrooms. Would you stand by and watch our ranking regarding press freedom fall even more? Because I for one an hugely embarrassed that we are no better than a former Soviet Satellite and a nation with a constitution that appears to be written in pencil and has a coup every few years.

Our status as a great nation does not come from our drones, or our military. It doesn't come from our (lack of) intelligence agencies. It comes from the principles that we as a people are supposed to hold in our hearts. Freedom of Speech, Press, Religion, and Assembly is first among those freedoms that we are supposed to stand for.

I said I can't believe I have to write this. I really can't believe it. Because the people who inspired me during my youth would have been outraged that this is even considered. Censorship is such a horrific idea that we should recoil from it as though merely breathing the air around it would poison us all. We should treat it like the plague, isolate the idea of censorship, and destroy the idea.

When I was a boy, the movie Airplane came out. A classic comedy movie now, it was really funny then. There was a scene, in which all the different news channels around the world did their nightly news. They all started with a three alarm fire and then the report on the airplane. The Soviet report was funny to me at the time, because I already understood we had freedom of the press. The Russian guy says something like. A three alarm fire cleared the way for glorious new tractor factor in Moscow, and in lighter news, a hundred imperialists will die in a plane crash. What made it funny was there was a gun pointed right at his head as he read the news. That brilliant scene outlined the policy of censorship, and the threats to the reporters by the Soviet Government.

From time to time, we post stories about the dark days of the HUAC, and the blacklists in Hollywood. I don't want to see those same stories done in fifty more years about our time. We defeated McCarthyism with truth, and we will defeat the RW the same way. We should avoid any appearance of intimidation or soft censorship. We have fought too hard to get here to throw it away in the hopes of destroying our political enemies.

Freedom for us all rides on the decisions we make. I've already written the White House to tell the administration that I strongly oppose the image of censorship, and I encourage all of you to do the same.