Regular readers know that I find the conservative fixation on a supposed liberal plot to bring back the Fairness Doctrine to be one of the funnier things around. But: have I fallen seriously behind the times when it comes to conservative paranoia? It appears that "universal voter registration" may be the new Fairness Doctrine. TPM has the scoop.
I hope not. The Fairness Doctrine is so obviously inappropriate for twenty-first century media norms and institutions that it isn't necessary to think about whether reviving it would be a good or bad idea. It just isn't plausible. Universal voter registration, however...well, it sounds like a pretty good idea to me. (Yikes! Shades of goo-gooism at Plain Blog!). I'm not sure that I can make laugh at conservatives for believing that liberals have secret outrageous plans that I wish liberals did have. So, I hope universal voter registration is just a blip, and conservatives go back to their more fun obsessions.
Friday, February 5, 2010
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I have a hard time understanding why universal voter registration is even scary. Unless those are the forms the Cuban and Soviet soldiers will comb through when they invade.
ReplyDeleteACORN basically
ReplyDeleteIt's all about the optics. We have compulsory registration in Australia (and voting, for that matter - we're clearly a fair way down the path of radical socialism) but they put a friendly face on our enslavement by deploying a small army of little old ladies (aka 'volunteer fieldwork officers') to check up on you if they suspect you're not properly enrolled. It's difficult to feel hard done by when the face of government oppression looks like your grandmother...
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