Damaging the Republic ...

That's fair enough Jambo.

Let me just note though, there's a reason I felt prepared to knock my brains out going after the Fairness Doctrine. I felt so passionately about this issue because I feel that more then any other medium (followed by Fox & the Internet respectively), AM Talk serves as a check & balance on government, and power brokers in general. In fact, as of 2011 I believe those three (talk, Fox, the web) represent the closest thing to the Founders intention of a free press serving as watch dog on behalf of the citizenry. And I think, given the numbers, a majority (or at least plurality) of American news consumers agree with me. So for me it's not a stretch to say that introducing the Doctrine into radio and cable news, or Net Neutrality on the web, does fundamental damage to our Republic. . . Which of course is nearly always the result when government regulation goes too far, intervenes too much.

On that note, and to address Jambo's attempt at moving the conversation along ... as has been stated, I am not an Anarchist (for goodness sake). My and Jambo's independent investigation (exclusively done via the web) determined the Bund position on the toxicity of OTC's (over the counter derivatives). In addition, I conceded to Titus' argument that speculative oil trading was toxic to the economy as a whole. In fact, regulating it can occur simultaneous to deregulating energy recovery/production itself. To put it in football terms (tis' the season after all), regulating such things as OTC's & spec oil trading wouldn't be regulation of the Super Bowl, but rather the sports book, if that makes sense. Only difference is that this sports book has the ability to change the outcome of the game.

The Dept of Education, another monstrosity I feel does fundamental damage to the Republic. Jefferson wrote of an informed citizenry being the best defense against tyranny (I paraphrase); and the teacher's union being able to lobby that single entity and negatively impact education across the nation in one felled swoop is destructive in ways I can't begin to calculate. The idea that US History in public schools across this nation isn't taught until middle school; that students learn about "green day" prior to the Bill of Rights; and even in the subjects they do teach, science & math, we lag into the teens in terms of international rankings, all adds up to having skulls full of mush going into middle school and beyond, whom are then ripe for the ideological picking by left leaning professors (whom in every poll vote "D" to the 90th percentile). The expert on China, in Beck's program the other day, said that per capita/in adjusted population levels the Chinese produce 20xs more engineers each year then we do. Again, that's not a result of their being 7xs more Chinese then Americans. In that vein, I've heard fantastic reviews of the education system documentary "Waiting for Superman." As fathers of young children all, perhaps this would be worth the investment. Maybe I'll get my dvd guy at work on it. I'll let you know.

At any rate, the Ed department, department of energy, Obamacare, the Fairness Doctrine, Net Neutrality, these are 5 examples (off the top of my head) in which I think all evidence points to their over regulation damaging the average citizen's access, prospects on success, and day to day lives, rather then "protecting" any of the three.

Who's got more obvious choices for the chopping block?

(Man alive! When Titus was yelling at me through the phone I could almost smell the Gulf of the back dock. I almost checked my watch to see if I was late back to box. . . HEHEHE)