Friday.....America.....A Nation's Discernment

Somehow a national polling service got a hold of my name and asked if I would like to sign on to receive surveys on a regular basis. They could not have found a more willing person. It's frustrating that the celebrated New York Times polls, that surveys about 895 people in a nation of 310 million and claims to tell within a sampling error of -3 to +3 what America believes, never calls me. A few years ago, a lady came up to me at the local mall with a clipboard in her hand and asked if I would mind answering some questions. We were middle of a national election and I thought that finally my voice would be counted. I spent 25 minutes answering what kind of toppings I like on a baked potato. Anyway, I get these surveys about every week and tonight's was on cable television. They named about 40 different cable channels and I had the distinct pleasure of telling them I have not watched one of them in the last 6 months for I do not receive them on my $12 a month cable package. Thus the topic of today's blog, one that I mentioned a few times before for although it is a relatively unknown concept and highly unlikely, unless God intervenes, that it will come to fruition, I have a passion for it for it and I believe that it has enormous potential in transforming society. A few years back, John McCain sponsored a bill that would give the public the ability to choose what individual cable channels they wanted to subscribe to. Supposedly it would lower their cable bills. It was called a la carte cable television. Obviously there was a lot of opposition to the bill. I see a different benefit than the monetary one that may or may not even be accurate. Today, our cable packages are bundled together and we have no choice within the bundles. I would like a choice. I want to tell this or that network that I do not want their product. I don't want to be a part of encouraging advertisers to pour money into networks because I am part of the total number that receive the channel into their homes. Television has a hold on us and particularly on the youth. Maybe you monitor your child's viewing but the society your child lives in is still highly influenced by the tube that it giggles, yells, cries and sits on the edge of their seats in front of, night after night. Political campaigns know they are dealing with a people that can be lured by sound bites and celebrity, and are quite satisfied with a dumbed down electorate. The networks could care less about how it effects the nation. The 60 or so channels will be there and the lure of the numerous entertainment talents will win the day but there are millions of families, I believe, that if given the opportunity to choose at subscription time, can put a crippling dent into the corporations that, at the present time, have a captive audience. They will get the message for money talks in the boardroom. If we can cast off this albatross, in a short period of time, the nation's discernment will increase. It is typical that those who benefit from the ideological message of the entertainment industry, want to censor conservative talk radio, it wants to force radio stations to present their message. In effect, they are also forcing American families to to take their television product into their homes and brushing us off with If you don't like it, don't watch it. If they give us the choice they lose their hold. Unless I catch you with this blog at a time when you are incensed over some latest news of our nation that shakes you to the core, you probably will ignore my request to consider this. If you are concerned about the world that your children will grow up in, if you are tired of your life revolving around your own neighborhood, knowing full well that your children will have to leave it someday, then you may consider this. Don't be discouraged because you are only one person. The price we have been paying for our indifference is no longer acceptable.