Abolish FCC
ABC [a Disney company] late-night host Jimmy Kimmel, on what is supposed to be a humorous show, said, “We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it.” This was not true, and he should have known it was not true.
It also wasn’t worthy of vague threats of government sanction. But the laws governing the Federal Communications Commission are broad enough that the agency can police almost any content in broadcast media in the “public interest.” If we believe that is not the sort of thing the government should be doing, then there is no reason for the FCC to exist.
The FCC exerts power over broadcasters by threatening to revoke their licenses. These licenses exist based on the legal fiction that the federal government owns the airwaves because broadcast frequencies are scarce. This scarcity logic does not apply to other scarce resources (i.e., nearly all resources), and there’s no reason for it to apply to broadcast frequencies. And while it was true in 1934 when the FCC was founded that broadcast frequencies were scarce, modern technology such as cable TV, satellite radio, and online streaming now means that broadcasting is effectively unlimited — and the FCC doesn’t regulate those newer technologies, where free speech reigns.
The laws have not caught up with the technology, and terrestrial radio and broadcast TV stations are still considered licensees of public property, overseen by the FCC. Because they are using public property, the government has the power to set rules about how that property is used, which it has done in various ways over the years.
It used to enforce the “Fairness Doctrine,” which was used opportunistically by the Kennedy and Johnson administrations to shut down conservative radio shows that opposed their agendas. The FCC repealed that rule under Ronald Reagan in 1987, which allowed the nationally syndicated Rush Limbaugh Show to launch the next year.
But the FCC can in theory use the same legal justification that undergirded the Fairness Doctrine to police any speech it wants. The Supreme Court ruled in 1969 that free speech by broadcasters can be limited, so long as those limits are in the public interest. What counts as the public interest is to a large extent up to the FCC to determine, subject to judicial review.
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said after Kimmel’s comments, “We can do this the easy way or the hard way.” Broadcasters got the hint and announced they would be dropping Kimmel’s show from their stations. Defenders of the administration have since claimed that the broadcasters did so entirely on their own with no pressure from the government. But if you don’t want to be accused of practicing bullying government, it would help for government officials to not talk like bullies.
The FCC shouldn’t have this power because it shouldn’t exist. The government’s role in broadcast frequencies need not extend further than defining and protecting property rights, which can be done through ordinary courts and law enforcement. If one station owns a frequency, others shouldn’t be able to broadcast on it, for the same reason that the station’s headquarters building shouldn’t be able to be overrun by trespassers. The country doesn’t need a Federal Headquarters Buildings Commission, with political commissioners looking to flex their partisan muscles, to make sure that doesn’t happen.
The FCC is also charged with keeping prices low, which is not something government regulation does. For a while, it was doing the opposite by administering the Affordable Connectivity Program, which channeled $30 per month subsidies to internet service providers. Predictably, government subsidies raised prices. The program ended more than a year ago, and prices have come down as cable and wireless companies battle for customers.
During Covid, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai made excellent decisions to allow telecommunications companies to adapt to the stresses of the pandemic such as a sudden influx of people working from home and the mass adoption of online schooling. U.S. telecommunications infrastructure performed remarkably well during the pandemic. Nearly all of Pai’s decisions involved waiving normal regulations to get the government out of the way. If it made sense to effectively get rid of many of the FCC’s powers when times were tough, why are those powers necessary in ordinary times?
Another part of the FCC’s mission is expanding access to telecommunication technology. Americans are awash in more forms of telecommunication than anyone knows what to do with. Mission accomplished; wind it down.
Empowering so-called independent agencies with nebulous laws that cover vast swaths of American industry is an open invitation for abuse by politicians and bureaucrats. The FCC is no longer needed, if it ever was. Rather than fantasizing about using government power to punish the left, leaving open the invitation to be punished again when Democrats regain power, Republicans should foreclose the possibility of future suppression by shutting down the FCC.
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If you feel powerless to help Gaza, you still has a choice: donate. When so much of what exists is false, authenticity is a powerful weapon we can wield that the state never could. So if you feel lost, hopeless, depressed, angry and afraid, I implore you to return - again and again - to the feeling of love that exists within you that brought you here in the first place. It is only through this that we can remake the world. To redress Gaza's famine, displacement, and destruction, independent and impartial humanitarian organizations - UN agencies, international and national NGOs - must be allowed to deliver relief at scale. To salvage Gaza's people from the devastation inflicted by Israel, it must be unified with the West Bank to form an independent and sovereign Palestinian State, not to be parceled and colonized by the former.
Please keep donate Gaza especially if you, as reader, has [background] International Relation [whatever universities]. IR Graduate means [you must, at least] get some semester [about] studying Middle East [in macro, not specifically Gaza].
We need more people to share fundraisers instead of only talking about Gaza. Some people think that those in Gaza don't need money but that's wrong. Almost everyone lost their source of income while essentials, food & medicine get sold for astronomical prices. So I put my attempt in all social media as I can, in twitter / X, in substack [since October 2023 I put link donation], in bluesky or bsky, in threads, in instagram.
Link to donate World Food Programme - Palestine appeal: click here
[Daniel Brühl]
Most campaign shared or circulated in social media are for REAL people in Gaza. They're legit. There are a lot of small campaigns for struggling families. This is their only lifeline. By donating & sharing, you are literally making history and alleviating part of their pain
Please do not rely on me alone for sharing your campaign. I'm only 1 person and sometimes I'm not online which is unreliable. I never ignore anybody on purpose but I have a very limited capacity & very little energy and time.
[Refaat Alareer IF I MUST DIE] Refaat Alareer was extremely hungry, November 2023, days before killed by Israel airstrike. If November 2023 already [one-by-one Gazan] extremely hungry, imagine August 2025.
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