Posted by
Ed Lilly on Wednesday, September 03, 2008 12:15:26 AM
I have a small proposal. Seems there is a concern that a Democrat-controlled House, Senate and White House will work together to re-enact the Fairness Doctrine, which would mandate equal time for political talk radio stations. It was the elimination of the Fairness Doctrine during Reagan's presidency that led to the rise and success of radio hosts like Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and many others. Democrats have not been happy with the fact that quite a few conservative talk radio shows have been very successful, and influential, while very few liberal talk radio shows can make the same claim. So the Dems are promising to re-enact the Fairness Doctrine in hopes of taking Limbaugh, Hannity and others off the air.
Mike Pence, fighting the good fight and making Hoosiers proud, is trying to get legislation passed that would act as a permanent ban on the Fairness Doctrine. Despite having, I believe, all of the GOP House members on board, as well as apparently quite a few Democrats, Speaker Pelosi is refusing to allow Pence's proposal to come up fo a vote. Hardly a surprise.
So my suggestion to Pence would be as follows: create an amendment to the Fairness Doctrine the Democrats want to re-enact that would broaden the scope. Atttach it to every piece of legislation and/or item that comes up for discussion and/or vote in Congress. Make it apply not only to radio, but to television, newspapers, magazines, and, most importantly, federally elected officials. So any time a member of Congress runs a campaign ad, or sends out mail to constituents, or schedules a townhall meeting with constituents, equal time has to be given to "the other side" of whatever issue(s) are raised. Make the congress critters have to pay not only for their own message(s), but the contra message from opponents if the other side doesn't have enough money. After all, that would be REAL fairness, right?