Back to the Culture War

Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman is at it again. Stung by accusations of hypocrisy in the 2000 presidential race when he jettisoned his rhetoric about the degeneracy of American culture and led Hollywood fund-raisers, the Connecticut Democrat has moved to restore his culture warrior image.

It began in April, when together with Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) he sponsored the proposed Media Marketing Accountability Act, which went nowhere. Now that the Democrats have regained control of the Senate, Lieberman, along with three other members of Congress, has sent President Bush a letter asking that he support the proposed act, which targets movie, music and video game companies that market adult material to children.

As understandable as such concerns may be, Lieberman’s initiative is itself on the exploitative side. The aim is as much to boost Lieberman’s presidential prospects and force Bush’s hand on the values issue as it is to clean up the entertainment industry.

In his new post as chairman of the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, Lieberman has scheduled hearings to support his bill. The measure would allow the Federal Trade Commission, which issued a report last year on how sleaze is explicitly marketed to children, to go the next step and levy fines up to $11,000 a day on companies that persist in marketing such material to children. Sen. Ernest F. Hollings (D-S.C.) plans hearings that would grill executives from the four major television networks about violence. Hollings says he wants the Federal Communications Commission to examine the efficacy of the V-chip--a technology that allows parents to block shows with sexual or violent content from their televisions--and to create several hours a day of family-friendly “safe harbor” television viewing should the chip be found wanting.

No responsible person favors directing filth and gore at children. But the measures being proposed could boomerang: Jack Valenti is threatening to call for an end to the film ratings system out of concern that it will be wielded against the motion picture industry. The Recording Industry Assn. of America backed out of guidelines a year ago in fear of sanctions. Anyway, Hollywood legislation has little chance of standing up to a court challenge. More important than new laws is keeping the government agencies on the case; negative reports in themselves are an embarrassment to the entertainment industry. Finally, the role of parents should not be scanted: Only in the next-to-last paragraph does the congressional letter to Bush make a vague reference to “involved parenting.”

Bush is right to emphasize parents’ obligation to hit the off button. Despite his reluctance to sound off, ala Bill Clinton, on every issue of the day, he ought to join Democrats in demanding that the industry adhere to the standards it promulgated. Bush’s overall reluctance to moralize on social issues has been a welcome surprise. Who would have thought that the Democrats would be the ones calling for a culture war?