THE CHILLING EFFECT

Posted at 2:46 p.m. ET

Boy, they don't wait long, do they?  Although he represents a good chunk of the broadcast industry as a senator from New York, Chuck Schumer is already on the warpath on behalf of the so-called "fairness doctrine," which would regulate the political content of over-the-air broadcasting.  Liberals are also going totalitarian in their support of a union measure that would deny workers the right to a secret ballot in union-organizing elections.  Nice, huh?  We the people. 

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Tuesday defended the so-called Fairness Doctrine in an interview on Fox News, saying, “I think we should all be fair and balanced, don’t you?”

Schumer’s comments echo other Democrats’ views on reviving the Fairness Doctrine, which would require radio stations to balance conservative hosts with liberal ones.

Asked if he is a supporter of telling radio stations what content they should have, Schumer used the fair and balanced line, claiming that critics of the Fairness Doctrine are being inconsistent.

“The very same people who don’t want the Fairness Doctrine want the FCC [Federal Communications Commission] to limit pornography on the air. I am for that… But you can’t say government hands off in one area to a commercial enterprise but you are allowed to intervene in another. That’s not consistent.”

So pornography and political content are to be treated the same?  Hmm.  What about murder and double parking?  They're both violations of the law, correct?  See that guy in the Toyota, double parked?  Life sentence.  Lock him up.

He also defended “card check” legislation, claiming there is a strong need to allow workers a private ballot to register their votes on whether to organize a union.  Schumer said “there has to be some counter” to the leverage businesses have, claiming “employers have every leg up on people who want to organize and that’s why union workers have gone down from about 25 percent to 6 percent [in the private sector].”

Under "card check" there would be no secret ballot.  Great for democracy, isn't it? 

Don't think it stops there.  I wouldn't be shocked if there are assaults on democracy in other areas, like the internet.  There are initiatives under way at the UN to regulate internet content, and some countries already do it.  But we want "civil" speech, don't we?  We don't want "hate" speech, do we?  Get ready for those arguments.

This is coming from the left wing of the Democratic Party, and these are angry folks.

Now please go out and vote.  That's the first step in fighting back.

November 4, 2008.