This used to be a free country! Fairness doctrine? Anything but!

To be an informed citizen these days you must be vigilant about all the crazy legislation and regulations coming from our well intentioned public officials. It's like the days of the Minutemen all over again. Grass roots beat back the illegal immigration legislation, at least for now. So take the new "Fairness Doctrine".

It is anything but "fair". They give it that name to silence any argument because, afterall, who doesn't want to be "fair"? This in itself is propaganda. What the Fairness Doctrine would mean is that talk shows like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity would either have to alter their format to accommodate opposing views or radio stations would be forced to air programs with opposing views; in essence, equal time.

So why does government get to make this decision? Shouldn't the private sector and free market make that decision like it does now? After all, if Air America was so great, why did it go bankrupt after only a little over a year in business? Because it was BAD! With this new doctrine, we or the station owners would be forced to pay (either directly or indirectly) for shows that draw no audience. How can this be good for business?

Rush Limbaugh's show is entertaining, educational and thought provoking. Though I often agree with his views, when I do disagree, I at least understand his position because it is explained so eloquently, unlike the radicals on Air America.

Take Al Franken. All he did was insult President Bush and spew hatred about our country. Other hosts were of the same opinion and said pretty much the same thing, something that Americans seemingly do not want to spend their time listening to. And why would we? We have the greatest country in the history of the world and have achieved world dominance in a relatively short period of time, mostly because of the freedoms we enjoy.

Now the government wants to take another freedom away from us by deciding what we should be listening to on the radio. As if network news, both television and radio and newspapers weren't enough. And if you think the media isn't biased, then your head is stuck in the sand.

So I propose that if the liberals impose a new fairness doctrine, we lobby our representatives to add the provision that we get to have balance in our newscasts too. How much news would we get if with every point, they had to present a counter-point? A lot less, would we not? Hey, maybe this Fairness Doctrine thing wouldn't be such a bad idea!!! I, for one, am sick of the Bad News Bearers!

Mick O.