The Fairness Doctrine

I was reading Glenn Beck today and I found a concept that was deeply concerning to me. The Fairness Doctrine. Just when I thought we couldn't get any more communist. Basically it says that media outlets should be forced to cover opposing view points in equal quantities. This doctrine was in place from 1949-1987 when they finally woke up and realized if violated the First Amendment.

If you go down to the section titled "Support for reinstitution of the Fairness Doctrine" it says that 31% of the people believe that websites and blogs should have to follow these rules. I realize that is not a majority, but it is still scary. Looks like they are trying to destroy the First Amendment now.

I just don't understand people's willingness to give up rights so that the government will take care of them. This is a pretty clear example of "Oh, I don't want to learn the facts myself, so I want every to be required to tell me both sides." How far are we going to go before people realize that freedom is a good thing.

There are things that must be sacrificed for freedom. It is not just lives of our brave soldiers, but there are also things we must sacrifice in our personal lives. We must as a nation be willing to sacrifice our innocence, and take responsibility for our own lives. Just as we must be responsible gun owners because we are given the right (at least for now) to bear arms, we must be responsible critics of the information we are given from the media outlets because we have freedom of speech. If the government is a constant filter protecting us from our own irresponsibility, our growth as a people will be completely stifled like an overprotected child that never learns to care for themselves. Do we really want to live our lives as children of the government?