At the urging of the new Obama administration, the U.S. Senate has voted to delay the nation’s transition to digital television for 4 months. The reason?
“The Nielsen Co. estimates that more than 6.5 million U.S. households that rely on analog television sets to pick up over-the-air broadcast signals could see their TV sets go dark next month if the transition is not postponed.”
I’m supposed to care, I suppose, given that the president has made this one of his first acts. But we had several years worth of advance warning to prepare for this moment. There’s no reason to back off now, least of all because a few holdouts refuse to make the first required upgrade to their television sets since, well, forever.
Is this why the Obama administration decided to push for the delay in the face of all reason?
Gene Kimmelman, vice president for federal policy at Consumers Union, argues that millions of Americans — particularly low-income and elderly viewers — will pay the price because “the government has failed to deliver the converter boxes these people deserve just to keep watching free, over-the-air broadcast signals.”
It is an absolutely critical insight that Kimmelman accidentally gives into the liberal mind. The government, being responsible for providing all forms of succor to its helpless citizens, has failed by not giving them what they deserve – deserve! – as their right, just for breathing.
Understand this and you understand everything that is wrong in western democracy.