Fair’s fair, right? Not always – especially in the new
The Democratic platform Obama supports has 30 separate references to fairness in some form or another. Obama wants a “fair economy,” “fair trade,” women to get “fair pay,” to make “sure that workers get their fair share,” and to restore “fairness to our tax code.”
These items have nothing at all to do with being fair. They are Orwellian doublespeak like: “War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.” They are the antithesis of what those terms are supposed to mean.
And
The Democratic platform makes it clear that the left wants government to do everything for us but tuck us in at night. “We Democrats want – and we hereby pledge – a government led by Barack Obama that looks out for families in the new economy with health care, retirement security, and help, especially in bad times. Investment in our country – in energy, education, infrastructure, science.” That’s their model of a “fair economy.” They also plan to take a fair amount of money from hard-working taxpayers.
Look at fair trade. Liberals opposed to Western nations benefiting from globalization endorse the idea of “fair trade” over actual market freedom. The Fair Trade Federation calls the idea “a holistic approach to trade and development that aims to alter the ways in which commerce is conducted, so that trade can empower the poorest of the poor.”
It’s so touchy-feeling you can almost feel it hug you.
But it has nothing to do with business. Running a company means creating the best products for you customers and making the most money for your owners or investors. It does not mean sending love notes to the third world.
Yet the mainstream media love it. For Mother’s Day 2007, CBS did a flattering story on an Ecuadorian florist embracing the “big color” green as part of “fair trade.” In a coffee story, “Today” Food Editor Phil Lempert said “fair trade is very important” because “farmers are actually paid a fair wage.” No one even questioned his use of the loaded term.
Then there are taxes. Obama is already famous for his ridiculous tax answer to ABC’s Gibson Gibson during the primary debates. When told by Gibson that cuts to capital gains taxes produce more revenue than increases, Obama still favored hikes – because they are what he calls “fair.” “I would look at raising the capital gains tax for purposes of fairness,” he explained. He then described the current tax structure as “not fair.”
Liberals don’t grasp that their interpretation of “fair” is un. One of the most obvious examples of this is their attempt to restore the misnamed “Fairness Doctrine,” designed to silence critics in talk radio.
It’s not a Fairness Doctrine. It’s a Censorship Doctrine. Its rules are designed to force conservative talkers into submission by mandating equal time for liberal voices. As if those same voices aren’t already dominant in every other form of media.
Still several prominent Democrats have pushed for this regulation of free speech as a “fair” way to neutralize their opponents. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., was only the most recent to promote this anti-1st Amendment regulation. In a Fox News interview he commented, “I think we should all be fair and balanced, don’t you?” Other top Democrats who fear opposition voices have made a similar push from Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., to Senate Rules Committee Chairman Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.
So far, the new president is not agreeing. Back in June, Broadcasting & Cable magazine reported then-candidate Obama opposed that kind of “fairness.” “‘Sen. Obama does not support reimposing the Fairness Doctrine on broadcasters,’ press secretary Michael Ortiz said in an e-mail to B&C late Wednesday,” it reported.
But that was when he was running for election and before he was openly complaining about Fox News and the Drudge Report or bumping reporters off the plane after their newspapers endorsed his opponent.
A newly empowered and prickly POTUS could decide he likes having the press as lapdogs instead of watchdogs. By going after talk radio, he gets rid of critics and ingratiates himself to media allies who despise talk radio.
Conservatives need to fight this fight today and make sure Obama’s “fairness” doesn’t destroy our already limited voice. It’s time we said fair enough.
