Imposition of some form of the Fairness Doctrine likely will be one of the Democrats’ agenda items for the first 100 days of the new administration. It’s important that conservatives begin working now to stop it.
Talk radio is the most important medium conservatives have. It’s the only medium conservatives dominate. But liberals aren’t content to have only NBC, CBS, ABC, MSNBC, CNN, AP, Reuters, Newsweek, Time, the NY Times, Washington Post, Hollywood, etc. Stray conservative thoughts might escape into the population, you know.
The behavior of the mainstream media during the preceding campaign emphasizes the significance of the stakes should the Fairness Doctrine become law. The most important person by far in the conservative movement is Rush Limbaugh. Liberals, accordingly, view him as the biggest threat. Along with Mark Levin, Bill Bennett, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, Hugh Hewitt and others, Rush provides invaluable informational and educational counterpoints to the misinformation and disinformation that flows from the rest of media.
Waiting until Inauguration Day to get geared up is too late. By that time the Fairness Doctrine Express will be at full steam– wavering Democrats will be pressed to support the new Democratic president, weak-kneed Republicans will want to display comity, the mainstream media will not be saddened to see talk radio annihilated and much of the public will be too enraptured by Obama’s Camelot inauguration to notice or care.
The model for conservative activism (no oxymoron) on this is the immigration debate of 2007. Conservatives must contact senators now before the congressional holiday recesses. Email, call, write. If you’re in D.C, go to the House and Senate offices. You likely won’t get to talk to a senator or congressman but you can corral members of their staffs. If you’re not in D.C., go to the district offices. Make sure GOP senators hold fast. Let Dem senators know that this is a major issue.
During the immigration debate I walked the congressional office buildings and was amazed at the impact the public had on their representatives. Congress heard, they were cowed and they responded. We need to repeat that effort.