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Conservative Paranoia

By L. Russell Allen - Nov 12th, 2008 at 10:42 am

With a Democratic legislature and a Democratic executive that can appoint a liberal judiciary, some conservatives are fearful of the changes that are going to be made in the next few years. And rightfully so. The last two elections (2006 and 2008) have made it quite clear that voters no longer trust a conservative governing philosophy to take care of the nation’s problems. So it’s hard for conservatives to accuse President-elect Obama and Democratic lawmakers of being wrong on big important issues like world peace, health care, and the economy. The people are dissatisfied with the status quo, so those charges won’t stick.

It makes much more sense to attack on an issue that people don’t know a whole lot about. You can make stuff up and someone not paying attention may not be the wiser.

After Senator Obama’s triumphant victory last week, it didn’t take long before some conservatives started accusing Democrats of planning to reinstate the Fairness Doctrine. The Fairness Doctrine, which was American policy between 1949 and 1987, forced radio broadcasters to take balanced views on subjects or risk of losing their license to operate. Since conservatives dominate the radio waves, any threat to reinstate the Fairness Doctrine is seen as a threat to conservative ideas.

Conservatives are accusing the Democratic majorities of plotting to bring back this government regulation of the airwaves. Lost in all of this is that Barack Obama does not support reinstating the Fairness Doctrine. And the Doctrine only gets very limited support in the legislative branch. Sure, there’s occasionally a bill floating around to reinstate the Fairness Doctrine, but it has never been in any danger of passing. When we have a President Obama in 2009, that isn’t in danger of changing.

End of story, right? Of course not. When your ideology is flawed and broken, misdirection is all you have. So if a few liberals support the Fairness Doctrine, why not paint the entire party with a broad stroke?

The funny thing is that conservatives freaking out about this are almost right. The government regulating what viewpoints can be aired over the radio does not fit the progressive or the conservative vision for this country. Free speech works best in a free marketplace of ideas. When that speech is regulated by the government, broadcasters will avoid taking on risky subjects with any perceived bias. That would be a great blow to radio media. And the legislators who support this reinstatement–all Democrats–are doing a great disservice to their party (by fueling conservative paranoia) and doing a great disservice to the First Amendment.

But when a a conservative radio personality writes on uber-conservative publication Human Events that “the Fairness Doctrine is going to make a comeback, and the only thing that might stop it is the American people,” he is doing nothing more but trying to create a frenzy directed against President-elect Obama and the Democratic legislature. The reinstatement of the Fairness Doctrine isn’t inevitable. Hell, it’s beyond a long shot. It’s not a priority. Trying to align Americans against Democrats using a subject that will never get to the president’s desk is a flawed and conspicuously desperate strategy.

Tags: 2008 presidential election, Barack Obama, conservatism, Fairness Doctrine, media