Too Many Voters Confused About Free Speech

What does free speech mean to you? Does it mean that you have the right to express your political views without fear of government sanction, or does it mean that once you express your views you have to give a platform to the opposition to express their views so things will be "balanced"? Too many voters think the latter:

Just under half of Americans believe the government should mandate that all radio and television stations offer equal amounts of "conservative" and "liberal" political commentary, according to a new Rasmussen poll.

Rasmussen noted Republicans have expressed alarm in recent months over congressional Democratic efforts to restore the so-called Fairness Doctrine. The law was abolished in 1987, during the Reagan administration, opening the door to development of a flourishing talk-radio market led by Rush Limbaugh.

But the poll found 47 percent believe the government should require stations to "balance" the political viewpoint expressed over the airwaves.

Rasmussen found, however, 71 percent say it is already possible for just about any political view to be heard in today's media. Some 20 percent did not agree.

The poll also touched on regulation of the Internet, revealing 31 percent believe websites should be forced to balance their commentary.

This week, Rasmussen noted, Robert McDowell, a Bush appointee to the Federal Communications Commission, suggested restoration of the Fairness Doctrine could lead to government regulation of content on the Internet.

Ramussen's new survey found Democrats are more supportive of government involvement in the airwaves than Republicans and unaffiliated voters. The poll showed 54 percent of Democrats in favor and just 26 percent opposed. Republicans and unaffiliated voters are fairly evenly divided.

Republican Rep. Mike Pence of Indiana has introduced the Broadcaster Freedom Act, arguing the lifting of the Fairness Doctrine has "opened the public airwaves to free and vigorous discussion of controversial issues by individuals of all political stripes."

"Bringing back the Fairness Doctrine would amount to government control over political views expressed on the public airwaves," Pence said. "It is a dangerous proposal to suggest the government should be in the business of rationing free speech," he said.

A new Fairness Doctrine would effectively destroy talk radio. Radio station owners aren't going to program shows to "balance" Rush, Sean and other popular conservatives because nobody will listen to the liberal hosts. That's been proven every time liberals try and start their own talk radio network. Station owners would be forced to drop their wildly popular conservative programs because they couldn't afford to carry the libs.

As far as blogs go, anyone wishing to express their opinion which differs from mine can do so through the comment section. As long as the comments are appropriate to the issue at hand (and free of profanity or personal attacks on yours truly), I have no problem posting them. However, as I said in the comment policy for this blog, there is no First Amendment here, and should the government ever mandate that blogs give equal time to other opinions, millions of blogs will simply shut down...including this one.