“Yet we-the-people allow the government—in the form of the FCC—to tell us which of our countrymen speak over the government-created airwaves “in the public interest.”
Here, I must insist on inserting a technical issue which mandates gooberment allocation of available frequencies.
Were such allocation not enforced, those frequencies would become a mere babble as all who wished broadcast as they wished in that most undesirable of ‘commons’.
Lest you think I am making a reductio ad absurdum argument, consider that the electronic joke called “Chicken Band”, A.K.A. CB Radio, has become in all too many areas.
Fortunately, radio and TV frequencies can now be split into many more bands, thanks to digital equipment.
And, most importantly, the Internet allows freedom of communication to any who wish to avail themselves of this medium.
When Americans learn to use the Internet, there will be “Truth & Accountability”, to use the favorite phrase of one Walter D. Pine. Between cell phone audio, photo, and video communication capabilities, all will have to regulate their own behavior.
Why? ‘Cause they no longer have the expectation of privacy. Not a problem for the “good” - a living H*ll for the “bad guy”.
Fortunately, radio and TV frequencies can now be split into many more bands, thanks to digital equipment
. . . and the issue is the extent to which the FCC wants to empower the public or whether, in fact, it is motivated by a desire to maximize the value of its licenses and thereby maximize the power inherent in its authority to grant or withhold a license. What I have read suggests that the latter bureaucratic imperative has always been the FCC's predominant motivation.