Liberal views can't hold up in free market

Brian Smith
Right Angle

Liberals have never been very good at figuring out the free market, which is why they're Liberals in the first place. In the free market, if you sell things, you want people to buy them. This is how you make money. If no one will buy what you are selling, you don't make any money.

So the goal is to sell things people want to buy. This concept is simple enough but not simple enough for Liberal entertainers. They seem to think they have some right to spew their Liberal propaganda whether the public is buying it or not.

Controversy has been swirling around a CBS miniseries titled, "The Reagans," which was set to air this month. "The Reagans," which was pitched to CBS as a "love story," devolved into such a politically charged hatchet job on the former president and first lady that CBS decided last week to not air the miniseries. For CBS executives to declare something to be too biased, it must be really bad!

Any hope of objectivity "The Reagans" had was smashed when it was announced that James Brolin, husband of Reagan-hater Barbra Streisand, would be playing President Reagan. For the purposes of comparison, imagine Charlton Heston being drafted to play Bill Clinton in "The Clintons." It?s also been said that actor Ed Asner was in line to play Secretary of State George Shultz, but he was too busy pursuing movies featuring the role of the "misunderstood" Joseph Stalin.

By all accounts, the producers of "The Reagans" seemed more interested in smearing the former first couple than telling any kind of love story. A loving relationship, winning the Cold War and the major economic recovery are all forgotten in favor of scenes featuring child abuse and gay bashing. The movie also implies Ronald Reagan began suffering from Alzheimer's disease while still in office, which is completely false.

Whether it was simply the running down of a beloved former President or it was because Reagan himself could not respond to this slanderous show, the American people decided they were not going to support "The Reagans." Public pressure forced CBS' hand in canceling the miniseries.

So now Liberals are decrying the CBS decision like the network just threw Michelangelo off a cliff. Barbra Streisand, the model of impartiality, moaned on her website the decision was "a sad day for artistic freedom," crediting an organized Republican spin machine for the cancellation of her husband's portrayal of a Republican president. The wailing and gnashing of teeth occurring on the far left only shows they have zero knowledge of economics.

The bottom line is this: if CBS thought they could make money showing "The Reagans," regardless of its content, they would air it in a second. Money, not politics, is the reason for the cancellation. The public groundswell against this miniseries was so great it spooked CBS - and they balked.

Money is what drives all businesses, and the entertainment industry is no exception. The producers of "The Reagans" made a product that would not sell. Just because it was (allegedly) an artistic expression is irrelevant.

Take, for example, the Saddam Hussein-supporting country music act, the Dixie Chicks. When lead singer Natalie Maines trashed President Bush at a concert overseas, the backlash at home was enormous. Fans burned CDs and memorabilia. Radio stations nationwide refused to play Chick songs due to popular demand.

The liberal hysteria that followed was predictable. Democrats shrieked cries of censorship everywhere. Radio stations were actually accused of "McCarthyism" by U.S. senators for not playing Dixie Chicks songs.

But like "The Reagans," the Dixie Chicks were not being censored at all - it was the consumers that didn't like the band?s political stance. And since country music radio stations can't make money playing songs no one will listen to, they stopped playing their music. But to Liberals, anyone who dares not play Dixie Chicks songs is practicing censorship.

The ultimate example of Liberals not understanding the market is their desire to create a liberal talk radio network. Liberals have long bemoaned Conservatives dominate the talk radio airwaves, and they do. But the reason is no one wants to listen to Liberals on the radio. If no one is listening, that means radio stations aren't making money. A liberal radio network could only exist in a world where it didn't matter if anyone listened because funding would always be there. Actually, this sounds a lot like PBS.

Liberals are not being censored for their views; it's just their views tend to fail in the free market. They don't understand the difference between political censorship and being shot down by consumers. The First Amendment guarantees the government won't censor Liberals for their views; it doesn't say anything about the people listening.

Right Angle appears every Monday. Brian is a law student. His views do not necessarily reflect those of the Daily Egyptian.

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