A cable TV channel devoted to freedom, that’s what we need. It’s the only indisputable way to get the message of this and other websites to the mesmerized masses who spend eight hours a day in front of the tube. We already have the Golf Channel, Black Entertainment Television, and the Romance Novel Channel (Lifetime) – so why not the Freedom Channel?
Somehow, it must be accomplished. There was a piece this past weekend on the CBS Sunday Morning show about the founder of BET, Bob Johnson, who sold the company to Viacom for $3 billion five years ago. Apparently he started the cable channel with $500,000 of borrowed money. This is a substantial sum, and in today’s money and with today’s presumed higher cost of entry into cable TV, it would doubtless require more dollars, but the Freedom Channel can be – and has to be – created. Someone with the knowledge and connections needs to come forward and begin this effort.
There simply must be an alternative to the History Channel, Fox News and the worthless “Big 3” network news broadcasts. On these channels, there is never a negative word about Lincoln or FDR, or that according to the Constitution, the current President has overstepped his authority. “Scientific” tests always prove that Oswald killed JFK alone. No one ever wonders aloud that maybe the public schools are not such a great thing, or that the Constitution says nothing about government regulation of drugs.
The internet and sites like this one are valuable and important, but they cannot begin to approach the power and significance that the Freedom Channel would have. Ordinary, clueless folks would flip through their channels as they always do, and one day they’d see and hear someone stating that “labor unions keep wages artificially high and cause unemployment.” Some of them would start screaming and cursing, but I’ll bet dollars to doughnuts (both being essentially nothing but empty calories) that most would continue watching. Some viewers might even learn something.
Think of it! Your Morning with Mises… Rothbardian Retrospective… Letters to Lew…. Of course, there would be the semi-alliterative Freedom Nightly News, history specials that would present “alternate” versions of our entry into WWI and the like, and What The Constitution Really Says. Imagine the impact of such a freedom-oriented channel!
I know virtually nothing about the cable television industry, but it’s obvious that the hurdles are many. Cable operators would be scared to death of irritating their government regulators. The backlash toward such a mass infusion of new ideas could be enormous. The simple concept of “more liberty, less government,” broadcast on a regular basis, might make the established order shake with fear, and react harshly and impulsively (especially after the theatrical release of V for Vendetta in a few weeks).
Perhaps satellite radio would be a necessary first step; programming could be provided to that emerging medium free of charge. The libertarian community could start by recording simple readings of some of the articles on this website, and forwarding them to XM or Sirius. This would cost nothing but time, and I’d expect that volunteers for this purpose would be abundant.
So who will make The Freedom Channel happen? Who? You must be out there! You must!
February 28, 2006
Andrew S. Fischer has worked in various fields.
