Obama's Ministry of Propaganda: a Looming Threat to America

At long last, the left’s relentless assault on America’s honored traditions and values is being unashamedly and resolutely resisted by “we the people”.

At this juncture, the prospect for swift passage of the misnamed “Employee Free Choice Act” (aka “card check”) and HR 3200 (aka “Obamacare”) are dim. Even “Cap and Trade” (aka “cap ‘n tax”), the centerpiece of leftwing socialist engineering, is running up against a rising tide of skepticism and suspicion.

But now is not the time for complacency or misplaced celebration. Our being lulled into a false sense of security and accomplishment could very well spell disaster for the Republic. Common sense and responsible governance in D.C. cannot be restored unless grassroots Americans continue to push back as resolutely and tenaciously as that of the well-funded and well-organized socialist revolutionaries on the left.

Going along merely to get along or to simply avoid spurious character assassination is shortsighted and, ultimately, suicidal. Without digging in for the long haul, any political gains will be ephemeral.

Bearing in mind Thomas Jefferson’s assertion that “the firmness with which the people have withstood the…abuses of the press, the discernment they have manifested between truth and falsehood, show that they may safely be trusted to hear everything true and false and to form a correct judgment between them”, it is imperative that we keep our eyes and ears on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) so that “we the people” may continue to exercise our right to freely discriminate between that which is true and false in the press, on the internet and on the airwaves.

To effectively eliminate opposing viewpoints in the public broadcasting realm, for a long time now the left has striven to muzzle conservative talk radio. Internet and satellite radio are also in their crosshairs. Up to now, the left’s usurpations in this regard have been purposely incremental, this to avoid detection and popular resistance. But with the Obama Administration’s cynical appointment of Mark Lloyd as the FCC Chief Diversity Czar, the left’s manifest effort to snuff out opposing viewpoints is on the fast track. In one fell swoop, the White House has taken the first step to brazenly establish America’s first Ministry of Propaganda.

Mark Lloyd, a dyed-in-the-wool Marxist-Socialist, who has openly praised Hugo Chavez’s media takeover in Venezuela, intends to replace the politically sensitive Fairness Doctrine with the principle of “local broadcast diversity of programming, news and commentary” in order to achieve the left’s unyielding goal to shut down opposing conservative and Christian viewpoints. For those who cherish their first amendment rights--freedom of expression in particular--Mark Lloyd’s appointment couldn’t be more ominous or alarming.

"It should be clear by now that my focus here is not freedom of speech or the press," Lloyd said. "This freedom is all too often an exaggeration. At the very least, blind references to freedom of speech or the press serves as a distraction from the critical examination of other communications policies." Sweet guy, huh?

Like its conservative broadcast counterpart, liberal talk radio has relied upon listenership to determine its commercial viability. As a result of objective supply and demand market forces, liberal talk radio has continued to be a ratings and, therefore, commercial disaster. Enter Czar Lloyd to artificially remedy that shortcoming from on high.

A self-avowed black liberationist, Lloyd wants to effectively impose local broadcast content criteria to curtail and, ultimately, to silence conservative viewpoints. In effect, he is leading the left’s charge against our broadcasting freedom in order to achieve a strictly ideological outcome.

Knowing full well that successful liberal talk radio cannot survive on a broader scale without FCC circumvention of the free market, he is pushing the following principles of “localism” to achieve Team Obama’s socialist transformation of America:

1. Restore national caps on the number of commercial radio stations a single
company is allowed to own.
2. Ensure greater local accountability over radio licensing.
3. Require radio companies which fail to meet local public broadcasting
standards to pay compulsory fees to support National Public Radio (NPR).

These principles are in line with Obama’s expressed support for media ownership caps, network neutrality and increased minority ownership of broadcasting and print outlets. These Orwellian principals of speech control are also strongly supported by the usual culprits, among them being Senators John Kerry and Dick Durbin, and Reps John Dingell, Dennis Kucinich and Louise Slaughter.

Essentially, listenership determines ratings and advertising revenues. Czar Lloyd’s intervention in the marketplace will ensure that ratings are rendered irrelevant. By imposing equal time, broadcasters will be forced to air unpopular and commercially unviable liberal talk shows. This will force broadcasters to increase advertising rates for conservative programming to compensate for liberal talk failure, or to pull the plug on both liberal and conservative talk shows altogether, thus accomplishing Obama's mission of squelching opposing ideological viewpoints.

But Czar Lloyd has indicated his interest in going much further than this. He is not only pushing for “diversity in local ownership” of stations, but is actually proposing that private radio broadcasters be required to pay licensing fees equal to their total operating costs in order to benefit—get this--public radio broadcasting, already a bastion of liberalism.

So, folks, we have our work cut out for us in the months and years ahead to prevent our Republic’s being torn apart by these radical leftist conspiracies and machinations.

In closing, Czar Lloyd, who joins other Marxist appointments in the Obama White House, earned his doctorate in jurisprudence, and was once a Senior Fellow at the extremely liberal, George Soros-funded, Center for American Progress (CAP). NewsBusters reports that he is “virulently anti-capitalist, almost myopically racially fixated and exuberantly pro-regulation.” And, like all other Obama Czars, he is, unfortunately, entirely unaccountable to Congress, the people and the Constitution. He is accountable only to our Socialist-in-Chief, President Barry Obama.

If this alarming trend toward tyranny and national socialism continues with White House sanctioning and direction, impeachment—or worse--cannot be far off. And the sooner, the better.

(“The functionaries of every government have propensities to command at will the liberty and property of their constituents. There is no safe deposit for these but with the people themselves, nor can they be safe with them without information. Where the press is free, and every man able to read, all is safe.” Thomas Jefferson, 1816)

(“To preserve the freedom of the human mind…and freedom of the press, every spirit should be rready to devote itself to martyrdom; for as long as we may think as we will and speak as we think, the condition of man will proceed in improvement.” Thomas Jefferson, 1799)

More "Public Option" Lies, Spin and Obfuscation

The Administration and the Democratic leadership have continued to label those of us who oppose HR 3200 as un-American mobsters, political hacks, health insurance company shills and, yes, even liars. Very inspired dialogue, indeed. Psychologists would readily characterize this ad hominem tactic as a simple case of guilt transference. But, hey, when one's got a lousy proposal, how else can one attempt to defend it except by attacking those who disagree with it?

The Prez has said that the 9 - 12 million illegal immigrants in the country would NOT be provided healthcare benefits under his plan. If true, then why was Rep. Dean Heller's amendment recently rejected along party lines in the House Ways and Means Committee? If passed, this amendment would have allowed only citizens and legal immigrants to access federal healthcare benefits by requiring two eligibility systems to verify their eligibility, i.e. the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) and the Income and Eligibility Verification System (IEVS). Again, soundly rejected by Committee Democrats.

The Prez has also assured us that we wouldn't lose our private healthcare insurance with his plan. However, the non-partisan Lewin Group found that an estimated 56% of Americans WOULD, in fact, lose their current private health insurance under the House bill. Let me guess: the Lewin Group is also a bunch of misinformed, lying mobsters as well? (Note: the Democrat plan clearly allows employers to opt for the cheaper "public option", and who could possibly blame them?)

And on the issue of abortion, in all four mark-ups of health legislation (three in the House and one in the Senate), conservatives have offered amendments that would specifically prohibit federal funds from being used to cover abortions. Not one of those amendments passed. Instead, the House Energy & Commerce Committee passed an amendment by Rep. Capps which requires at least one insurance plan to cover abortion in every geographical region and further requires the public plan to cover all abortion services.

These items alone are surely sufficient to justify any thinking person's being circumspect about the Administration's vacuous claims.

But, of course, to the Washington elite many of us are but pesky, unwashed, stupid country boobs. But, come on, guys. You gotta' do better than this! OR, better yet, how about scrapping the whole damned thing and do it right. What a refreshingly novel approach to governance that would be.

Obama Healthcare Remedy Disingenuous

By so obscenely labeling genuinely alarmed grassroots Americans as "astroturf" extremists, health insurance company shills and unpatriotic mobsters, Team Obama and their Congressional minions have seriously undermined their credibility and may well have crippled their future political fortunes as well.

Clearly, the Democrats' incoherent and ideologically driven healthcare reform proposal is but a shameless bid for political power and not at all an honest attempt to address the legitimate healthcare needs of an estimated 10 - 13 million American citizens (not 47 million) who are in need of coverage.

Given that nearly 85% of Americans are satisfied with their healthcare, how can the government honestly believe that it can reduce healthcare costs while ensuring highest standards of quality care by simply throwing the baby out with the bath water? Well, it can't. And both Democrats and Republicans alike are quickly figuring that out.

For a less profligate and more common sense approach to reform, let's start with serious torte reform by capping financial awards for successful suits against the medical profession, the elimination of interstate barriers to competition among private insurers, and a very aggressive, widespread and unencumbered fraud prevention program which would rely upon financially incentivized private sector whistleblowers to conduct those investigations. These actions alone would instantly and very dramatically reduce billions in dollars of costs without adversely affecting the quality of care for all of our young and old alike.

As for those Americans saddled with potentially ruinous/catastrophic healthcare costs or coverage issues relating to pre-existing conditions, the states, with federal financial support, should provide an adequate and well-managed taxpayer-funded safety net. Again, initiatives like this would resolve these difficult problems at a fraction of the cost of an onerous and inefficient single-payer system.

Also, if healthcare coverage for all American citizens and legal residents is, in fact, the goal, and not merely the socialist transformation of these United States, then why not 1) federal tax credits to those who earn enough to take advantage of such credits so they can purchase their own coverage, and 2) the outright federal or state purchasing of insurance coverage for those who clearly cannot afford to do so on their own? The cost for these programs would be miniscule when compared to the unaffordable $1.5+ trillion single-payer plan the Administration continues to shamelessly and irresponsibly hawk.

My fear, of course, is that Washington ideologues aren't interested in common sense American solutions. Their goal is to engineer a socialist transformation of our country. Nothing more. Nothing less.

Washington's insufferable disdain for "we the people" is finally getting Americans off their duffs and into townhalls and on the streets. And none too soon. Let's just hope it's not too late to save the Republic.

("Medicine is the keystone of the arch of socialism." V. Lenin)

("The way to crush the bourgeoisie is to grind them between millstones of taxation and inflation." Vladimir Lenin)