Ol' Buffalo Blog: On licensing journalists and voters

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

On licensing journalists and voters

A constitutional midget in Michigan has proposed licensing journalists. I share State Senator Bruce Patterson's frustration with the bias and incompetence that pervades the "news" business. But, I see the fault stemming from a public that tolerates (or expects) National Enquirer-style reporting from mainstream news outlets such as CNN and MSNBC. Fox News is a bit better than most news outlets only because it has responded, to some extent, to a segment of the market that expects objective reporting.

A license is nothing more than a evidence that one has government permission to do or possess something. One should never need government approval to do anything that does not harm another person -- especially to exercise a constitutionally-guaranteed right (in this case a right expressed in the First Amendment).

I would, however, make one concession to licensing journalists: Any journalist who favors the licensing of any human right (ie the right to keep and bear arms) should go through extensive study and testing on the original intent of the US Constitution in order to obtain a journalist's license.

The fact that the idea of licensing journalists, or censoring talk radio or the Internet (Fairness Doctrine), or licensing gun owners shows what a horrid job we voters are doing in electing our "leaders." Our nation's founders must be watching from Heaven with horror!

We have made it far to easy to vote. In fact, I believe that about two-thirds of voters (both parties) are idiots. If you haven't sufficiently studied the issues and candidates to make an informed decision as a voter, please don't vote. You have no business canceling the vote of those who take it seriously!