Liberal Media and Other Fallacies

To listen to some talk today, America’s “rugged individualism” has become those who have no compassion for their fellow man, hypothetically allowing a 30-year-old to die because he didn’t buy health insurance; they cheer at the number of executions in Rick Perry’s Texas; they boo a gay soldier who is serving our country in Iraq.

Is this what we’ve become—bitter, self-centered, and just downright mean? That’s not the America I know and studied in public school—it’s never been “every man for himself” in our America.  

But this dark, twisted vision of America is seeping into our daily lives.

While The Repository has done an admirable job in filling their opinion pages in the Sunday edition with left, right, and middle political opiners, they need to do a better job of offering equal time elsewhere. Dave Ramsey offers crotchety financial advice that makes clear his hard-right political leanings; Jim Hillibish, usually an enjoyable read, took recent occasion to sneer at educators and bemoan our tax rates, which, by the way, are at their lowest since Eisenhower. And Bruce Kauffmann, again, usually a pleasant, informative read, took his space recently to proclaim that FDR’s New Deal policies failed. Really? The millions of senior citizens who now live in dignity instead of poverty because of Social Security may beg to differ, Professor.

Of course, a privately-owned company can hire and give space to anyone they choose. But if their business is to report the news, serve the public good, and maintain credibility, then they do the public a disservice by offering only one-sided political perspective, especially outside of the opinion section tucked in places where it has no business being.  Come on, Rep, if we wanted that kind of stuff we can just turn on Fox News. 

*this piece originally appeared in The Canton Repository