Posted by
King Vinyl on Tuesday, December 02, 2008 11:52:03 PM
Potty training isn't easy, esspecially when the other parent is working against you. The same is true right now when it comes to the world of politics. Democrats either march off the cliff to the idea of "change" or they see a communal approach to government as the best policy. On the right Conservatives call for the freedom of less government, while the Neo-cons insist on bridging the popularity gap by reaching across the isle to the left.
What has happened is that the Democrats have united around one common theme, "the enemy of my enemy is my friend". This fragile unity has been mistaken for a solid marriage by person of all political pursuasions. What can trully galvanize this bond is constant resistance from the GOP.
On the right dought has been chiseled in granite for the Neo-cons who believe and to some degree rightfully so that religious GOP members have asserted their faith beyond common sense reality. The so called "Conservatives" see and to some degree also rightfully so that the Neo-cons have sabotaged the brand by playing nice with the left. Both are right religious doctrine has nothing to do with government and comprimising core values with a dishonest left are both to blame for the parties demise.
On the topic of the "fairness doctrine" which Democrats hope to use to silence talk radio. The common talk radio defense is first ammendment, but that only goes out to their audience. When the topic hits the mainstream media the Democrats are going to frame it as a smear machine. They are going to paint a picture of hatred and propose a more civil tone by way of their mandated input. They could well win by using the first ammendment arguement against us.
I would like to propose a strategy, first embrace the idea in the talk radio and Conservative blogsphere of the "fairness doctrine". The idea that a market should control the flow of information in an age of instant messaging is ludicris. To singularly apply this legislation to AM radio some would hope to do is not possible unless we continue to fight this on their turf. Back when the original legislation was passed in the late 40's radio was the only real source for news, oppinions, and analysis. The purpose was to make sure that the limited resources of information were not tainted. But in an era of change and in the spirit of fairness and most especially equal right I think the GOP should embrace fairness in all forms of media. At the very least the two rules about "personal attack" and "political editorial" that fell off in 2000.
It has always been technology that is to blame ever since newspaper/magazine sales fell and the networks started loosing their market shares. In reality they fell at the same time and at the rate AM talkradio grew in popularity. Even FM radio markets began to shrink while the good old AM dial rose from the dead. So what was it if not the content of the programming?
The instinct is to fight back especially when one has such a foot hold as AM radio. But realize that if we could accomplish true fairness across all forms of media then giving up absolute control of AM is nothing while gaining print, TV broadcast and FM control of our own will be a boon to the GOP cause.
We can force the Liberals to engage us on our turf. What is that you might ask? Reagan used it, Rush uses it most of the time and so do many othes when they are most effective it's called facts. Liberals can't stand honest debate and their ideas crumble when challenged in that forum.
Can you immagine if the Daily Kos had to offer a conservative point of view based on the facts when they were attacking the Palin family? Or what if when Dan Rather was smearing President Bush's service record we could have had the guys from Free Republic go point by point through a 60 minutes style detailed analysis of the level of forgery involved in this criminal act. What would the difference be in the direction of a nation that has checks and balances on the information it's citizens are provided? Would it change the accuracy, the reaction or would this level of change even be possible?