USG TO REGULATE POLITICAL BLOGS?

This is where my conservative side comes out. I don't like big government when it tells us how to live our lives. I think regulating communication, in particular, is tantamount to treason. After all, one of the pillars that America was founded on was the freedom of speech. Regulating what we say on blogs or anywhere else seems an infringement of that freedom of speech.

Now, I'm all for regulating campaign fund raising. I think it's absurd that some rich guy equates giving money to a campaign as a form of speech.

With that in mind, check out this clip from an article from News.Yahoo.com and ChicagoTribune.com:

Web loggers, who pride themselves on freewheeling political activism, might face new federal rules on candidate endorsements, online fundraising and political ads, though bloggers who don't take money from political groups would not be affected.

Draft rules from the Federal Election Commission, which enforces campaign finance laws, would require that paid political advertisements on the Internet declare who funded the ad, as television spots do.

I don't know about you, but it seems like they've got that backwards. A blogger should not be compelled to admit taking money from anyone if he or she doesn't want to. If anything each campaign should be forced to explain where every thin dime of their funds go after they receive it. Regulate the spending of campaigns not those whom they spend their money on. Besides that, bloggers are not under any requirement to tell the truth, to check their facts or to get anything right at all. That's the great thing about blogs--it's up to you to choose which one is right for you. Unlike TheMedia which is all about giving you what they think you want--which is a tiny number of news channels that all report the same crap.

The only thing I think bloggers should be held accountable for is when they lie about someone. Libel/slander laws should still count, but nothing else. I'm not saying this because I hope that some Democrat will pay me in 2006 to talk up their compaign (no Democrat would be dumb enough to hire me, a devout independent to talk them up!)--I'm saying this because we need to remember who's job it is to tell the truth.

Most bloggers blog for themselves. They blog because they want to and don't make very much money (if any) at it. It's the job of TheMedia to get it right. It's the job of the media to check their facts, to disclose conflicts of interest, and to admit when they're on the take from someone whom they've reported positively about. Legislating blogs is just distracting from the fact that it's the blogs that are doing a better job of covering world events than the people whose job it really is.

So, the USGov is going to go after bloggers. This will not solve the real problem of TheMedia doing a shit job. This will only make bloggers more responsible and TheMedia less.