Censorship Needs to Go Away, Period!

By: Shawn Johnson

www.libvoice1776.blogspot.com

https://www.facebook.com/liberalvoice1776?ref=hl

The politically correct police are at it again.  I am getting hundreds of e-mails, posts, and offers to sign petitions to remove Rush Limbaugh, the ZZ Top guy from Duck Dynasty, and several other personalities who express racist, homophobic, or sexist opinions.  Anyone who has read my blog understands that I am completely against censorship of any kind.  I say to people, "If you don't like what someone has to say, don't listen."  I would hate to be in a position where my political commentary would get me suspended or fired from my job. Where people make a mistake is to say that the First Amendment guarantees protection from being reprimanded for what one expresses.  It simply protects people from being jailed for speaking their opinion.  Not all speech and demonstration is protected.  Just ask a member of OWS camping out in New York City.  

Now, while I will freely admit that liberals are overly sensitive to what people in the public sphere say, conservatives are even more guilty of it, and they generally try to make laws to prevent their feelings from being hurt.  If your common sense tells you what I am saying is incorrect, please "Google" Joseph McCarthy, and you will read all about the censorship effort of the Religious Right in the United States.  About four years ago, Michelle Bachmann insisted we revitalize McCarthyism in the US Congress.  People who expressed opinions during the Iraq War were promptly removed from their jobs by the corporate execs who benefited from the war.  Military veterans were verbally desecrated for speaking out against involvement in the war.  Not one conservative was outraged that Bill Maher was fired from ABC for saying that suicide bombers are not cowards.  But, conservatives had a shit-fit when Don Imus was fired for calling young women "nappy-headed hoes."  Now, I personally do not believe in censorship in any way, shape, or form.  If you don't like what someone says, don't listen to them.  It is not really that difficult.  The ability to say what you want, is more important than the upbringing of your children.  If you don't want your kids to hear what someone has to say, turn your radio dial to local traffic and weather on the elevens.  However, what liberals may think personally should not have any effect on they do politically. 

One thing liberals continue to advocate is the firing of disc jockeys, news reporters, actors, and politicians for saying things that are hurtful, racist, and homophobic.  Not only is this anti-democratic, it is stupid.  There are two ways to win the hearts and minds of voters.  The first, is to prove that you have solid ideas on how to solve problems and move the country in the right direction.  The second way, is to show that your political adversaries are knuckle-dragging Neanderthals who personally hate the very groups you are trying to get to vote for you. 

When conservative commentators say things they shouldn't, liberals organize to attack them, their show, and they pressure the advertisers to pull their ads.  It works.  Liberals have been able to relegate the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Michael Savage, and others to the dying medium of AM radio.  Hundreds of supporters and advertisers have jumped ship on these fools for fear of retribution from the general public. 

Now, attacking a personality who says ridiculously moronic things seems just and rational, but in reality, it is politically stupid.  

The correct and intelligent course of action is to take what Rush Limbaugh says and use it against Republican candidates.  One of the severe detriments to the Republican Party is that their base is full of rabid supporters of far-right media.  Republican radio and TV programs kill Democratic radio and TV programs in the ratings.  The Republican base is full of people who get their information from those mediums.  Progressives and liberals are more likely to get their information from other sources.  The problem for candidates is that they are hamstrung when it comes to standing against comments made by the likes of Limbaugh and Beck.  They must embrace what they say, or face the wrath of their most ardent supporters.  Therefore, instead of attacking the powerless idiots on radio, liberals need to keep them talking.  Then, they need to attribute what they say to John Boehner and defy Boehner to go against it.  He won't of course, because he is a spineless jellyfish, and that is how you turn radical ramblings of a radio show into the Republican platform.  Ronald Reagan once said that someone who agrees with you eighty percent of the time is a political ally.  This was a politically powerful position to take, but the Republican Party no longer subscribes to that line of thinking.  The Religious Right believes in absolution and ultimata.  In order to win a Republican primary, you need to embrace all of the opinions of the Right Wing.  The minute you deviate, you will be branded as a liberal or a "RINO."  These insane requirements completely derailed Mitt Romney's national campaign for president. "Governor Etch-A-Sketch" spent most of his campaign walking back much of what he stood for or implemented when he was governor of Massachusetts.   

In less than four years, Chris Christie will run for president of the United States.  Democrats seem to like this guy because he has already separated himself from the most insane rhetoric of the Tea Party.  Democrats better not take their eye off the ball.  Governor Christie will be the most conservative President we have ever seen.  The only chance the Democratic Party has to defeat him is to tie him to the Republican base.  He needs to be asked obvious questions like, "Do you believe that a dying man should lose his health insurance coverage?"

If he answers incorrectly, he will be cheered by the audience, and reviled by the national electorate.  If he answers correctly, he will be booed by the audience, and never make it out of the primary.  Either way he gets beat by the Democratic candidate.  The key is to make the media ask him the question.  If the voices of the radical Right are silenced, the question will never be asked.  In the last campaign, Republican candidates had to regurgitate the greatest hits of the lunatic fringe.  It cost them the presidency, seats in the Senate, and seats in the House.  I am convinced that the Republican Party cannot evolve or change as long as the voices they trust with all of their being control the message of the day.  

So, to my liberal friends, sit back, relax, and crack open a cold one.  When the most vile, racist things come from a blithering idiot's mouth, don't contact their show or advertisers.  Contact your local Republican Congressman or woman and ask them why they agree with that host.  Ask them why they hate women, racial minorities, and homosexuals.  If you don't get an answer, contact your local media outlets and let them know.  You win politically by getting even, not getting mad.