When I graduated college and went to work for IBM in 1978, I was a Democrat. What else would I be? I wasn't filthy rich or a NE Ivy League snob! The Democrats were the party of "working Americans"!
It was Jimmuh Carter that got me finally looking around to find some thought beyond his "Malise Speech" ... "the world is out of oil, put on a sweater, shut off your Christmas lights, drive 55, and accept that America's best days are behind her". He was closer to right than I imagined then -- yes, Reagan brought us back in the '80s, and Trump has re-lit the engines for a bit now, but one can't help but escape the sense that the oppression of BOism is going to return in the not too distant future.
Starting in the late '80s, Rush Limbaugh showed up on radio, a direct response to Reagan's repeal of the "Fairness Doctrine" -- the idea that Deep State Democrats ought to decide what was "proper speech"!
One thing that needs to be remembered in this happy occasion, though, is that Rush Limbaugh was only made possible by the Reagan Administration’s repeal of the so-called “fairness doctrine,” which required “equal time” for “opposing viewpoints,” which meant in practice that conservatives existed on short rations in electronic media. There was some sentiment on the left to bring back the “fairness doctrine” under Bill Clinton, and everyone understood it was really a proposal for a “Hush Rush” regulation, and it died quickly. But rest assured that if the left gets back in power again, they will propose a new “fairness doctrine” whose intent will be to shut down Rush and Fox News.
The USSR eventually ended because the could no longer suppress free speech and maintain a remotely viable economy. No question, the folks on the left will continue to try to silence Talk Radio, Fox News, conservative voices on campus, on social media, and anywhere they can. The left can only keep being the left with more and more powerful centralized government with greater control over your whole life. They will seek to destroy and even criminalize those that don't kneel before their ideology -- Brett Kavenaugh has just a recent example.
Actual diverse thought and true freedom of speech -- of ideas that are in disagreement with "The Party" (TP-D) will ALWAYS be costly -- in reputation, treasure and sometimes your life!
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