Don't take this the wrong way, because you seem like a nice guy, and sincere in your beliefs. But I'm not sure how to answer your question, because frankly it is so asinine. Since when do you have the "right" to hear smut on the public airwaves?
On the contrary, we as a society have the responsibility to ensure that the moral standards and values we were founded upon are passed on from generation, in perpetuity. These moral standards made us great, but our (Baby Boomers, GenX, Generation.com) failure to uphold those standards is doing drastic harm to our nation. It cannot be ignored that with the ever increasing smuttiness of the public airwaves, both TV and radio, we have seen increased drug use among young people, increased teen pregnancy, increased teen crime, dropping out, the disintegration of the family, lower test scores among kids, you name it.
Coincidence? Absolutely not, IMHO. In fact, I think its cause and effect. As we drop our standards lower and lower, as evidenced in part by the rot vomited forth by the likes of Bubba and Stern, our society continues to crumble, maybe to the point of no return.
Have I heard any of the rap/hip-hop garbage that kids are listening to today? Unfortunately yes (there are a number of young dumba**es at work that listen to that drivel). Should the FCC clean up "urban" stations as well as Stern? You betcha. Will they do it? Not likely, because the NAACP, Jesse Jackass, Al The Racist Sharpton, the Congressional Black Caucus, the New Black Panther Party, and any other black rabble rouser group out there will squeal like stuck pigs, and deafen the nation with cries of "racism". But does that mean we shouldn't fine the crap out of Bubba? Hell no. Stick his bloated carcass to the wall, and hope maybe one day someone with a spine at the FCC will decide that something has to be done about "urban" programming.
I don't see the connection between the Jefferson quote that the tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of tyrants and patriots, and your assumed right to hear smut on the radio. Please spell this out for me...remember, I'm the product of the Kentucky government schools, and therefore not exactly the sharpest knife in the drawer.
As for the "very small percentage of children hearing something of a sexual nature", I have two thoughts. First, what information do you have to back up your assertion that its only a "very small percentage", and secondly, why would you, I, or anyone else want our kids exposed to any material of a sexual nature over a medium we can easily control? That's like saying, "oh don't worry...it's only a little poison we're feeding them...besides they'll probably build up a tolerance to it, anyway". That's just crazy.
Our generation (I'm assuming you're an Xer, like me...if you're not, I apologize) has been raised to believe that we have a "right" to do anything we want, and if we're told we don't have that "right", we should cry and throw temper tantrums until we get it. You don't have a "right" to hear sexual or toilet programming on the public airwaves...be glad that in this day and age you have the Internet, cable TV and satellite radio as an outlet for your prurient interests. Just because the FCC has let it slip this long without doing anything about it, and you've gotten used to being able to hear smut on the public airwaves, doesn't mean it has somehow become a "right". OTOH, you have a responsibility, along with the rest of us, to ensure those moral values and standards that were passed on to us by previous generations are maintained, whether you like it or not. Its time for GenX and Generation.com to grow up, realize we're adults now, and that we have grown up responsibilities...like managing the republic and making sure it survives for subsequent generations to enjoy and prosper.
Finally, I've often thought that I should come up with a Liberal Ten Commandments list. I never did write down all 10, but Commandment One is "thou shalt not come between me and a good time". Don't fall prey to that mentality, as so many others in our generation have. Take care, dude.
Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!
Since when do you have the "right" to hear smut on the public airwaves?
Well lets look at that silly First Ammendment where the founding fathers told us that "Congress shall make no law...abridging...the freedom of the press..." Now I recognize the difference between "the press" and the "public airwaves" (more on that later), but I firmly believe that the framers would have immediately recognized radio and television as part of "the press" if they had been alive at their development.
I am conservative enough to think that "no law" means exactly that--no law, no exceptions. I assure you that pornography had been invented long before 1787 and the founders gave it due consideration. And don't even think about weaseling out of it by claiming it isn't a law it is just a FCC regulation. The ammendment applies to regulations.
Just exactly where did you find an exception to the First Ammendment allowing censorship to protect the public morality? Don't the islamics have a whole branch of the police devoted to "the promotion of virtue and the prevention of vice"? Why should we have one?
don't see the connection between the Jefferson quote that the tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of tyrants and patriots, and your assumed right to hear smut on the radio. Please spell this out for me...remember, I'm the product of the Kentucky government schools, and therefore not exactly the sharpest knife in the drawer.
You are plenty sharp, we just have different beliefs. The connection is that everything has a price. The price of liberty is the blood of patriots. One of the prices of a free press is that children will occasionally hear or see smut. The founders made this choice for us, and I believe there is more good than harm in it. As soon as we tinker with it we will produce unexpected and frequently negative results.
Now lets talk about the "public airwaves".
Could you please explain to me where in the Constitution the government is given the right to regulate them? I bet even the Kentucky government schools covered the 10th Ammendment. Read this carefully, it is quite short and specifically forbids the federal government from regulating the public airwaves. We can probably squeeze regulation of broadcast power and frequencies into the interstate commerce clauses, but we are never going to fit regulation of content in there.
I'm assuming you're an Xer, like me
I am quite a bit older than the X-ers, probably the first of the boomers.