COUNTERPUNCH LETTERS : Free Speech and the FCC
The prize for the most Orwellian use of a quote this year should go to Jeff Pollack, who employs Thomas Jefferson’s words about self-determination in an article that advocates defiance of the popular will and rule by judicial fiat (“Radio Stations Should Challenge FCC in Court,” Nov. 9). Pollack doesn’t really care how the court would rule. His strategy is to mire the commission in litigation that “will prove expensive and time-consuming,” forcing the commission to cut back on the execution of its duties.
Pollack forgets that the Federal Communications Commission did not materialize out of thin air, nor did its charter drop from the pen of a tyrant. It was created by freely elected representatives of the people. Its policies reflect the popular will. Its enforcement of decency standards is the embodiment of democracy in action.
If Pollack really believes Jefferson’s words, why doesn’t he encourage radio stations to appeal to the people, rather than to the courts, for relief from FCC regulation?
The answer is simple. It is Pollack, not the FCC, who, in Jefferson’s phrase, thinks the people “not enlightened enough to exercise their control with wholesome discretion.”
BRADLEY STEFFENS
Poway
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