My only major irk is with government bureaucrats."
Bro, you know I stand front and center with you on bureaucratic busy-bodyism, but if there IS a case to made for government regulation, one is regarding the public air waves and "decency."
My kid and I may turn off the set or channel, but what of the other group of indifferent parents who don't know or care about 13 year old mush-brained Johnny watching 'Bonzo (the chimp) Boffs Bimbo' on the WB? Is the Euro-Copenhagen model the direction we want to head?
Is there a societal intrinsic value and benefit to adhering to decency standards, OR is there not? That IMO, that is the question.
Listen to yourself. You contradict yourself. You don't want government bureaucracy in principle. But you care about "the children." So you impose laws upon others to protect them. That is the definition of the nanny state. It's either-or. Either you uphold freedom of speech in all realms, or you don't. Once you let the government define unfree speech, then eventually tyranny will triumph.