Extremely Centrist

I am so disgusted by the two party system in our country that I am declaring myself an extreme centrist. I refuse to say "independent" since, let's face it, independents tend to be a bit nutty. As you may have noticed, my last few posts have been links to sites that, either explain or are committed to the "Fairness Doctrine" or "Equal Time Doctrine" that the media had to comply with until 1987, when it was abolished during Reagan's second term. I am convinced that the extreme swings in ideals to the left and right we see in the media today are the direct result of that single event. If I were to blame any group driving a wedge into the core of our nation, I blame journalists in general, but specifically those associated with the so called "Liberal Media."
Here is why.

There is a journalists code of ethics which begins with the phrase: "Journalists should be honest, fair and courageous in gathering, reporting and interpreting information." It was during these times of "Fairness" that liberals in the media unfortunately collectively chose to largely ignore this one simple directive. Thus prompting the cries of "Liberal Media" by folks right of center everywhere. Once the fairness doctrine was abolished, something interesting happened; several "news" organizations and "reporters" realized that the small left leaning bias that they kept in check due to the Fairness Doctrine no longer being required, and they swinged to the left harder than Karl Marx riding a counter-clockwise spinning carrousel.
Enter Rush Limbaugh, the voice of "reason" among a sea of "pinko-left-leaning nearly communist" news, and what I like to call the "Conservative" or "right wing" awakening started. That is how we end up with the Faux News channel and the rest is, well, fake history.

The United States of America is an inherently centrist nation, with room for all views and all kinds of people. Our founding fathers made sure of that by composing the most succesful document in the history of civilization: The US Constitution.
We need to look long and hard at our country and find ways to try and move to the Center. It is the extremists that often bring important issues to light, but it is the Centrists that make it happen in a fair manner that is consistant with our beloved Constitution. If we continue on this parallel path, then a truly divided nation will more easily occur. We need to populate the void between the extremes. I truly believe that Air America Radio is not the answer to Fox News. The answer lies in a fanatical adherence to a Centrist philosophy that will weigh and balance those extremes for our sake. There are figures in both groups who are fair and balanced. I think that Tucker Carlson, from CNN, who is a right leaning personality tries to be fair, and Al Franken from Air America Radio is also more centrist than he seems. we need more people like them since they can be a gateway to reason.

In the spirit of personal responsibility, I say we should all spend equal time getting our news from both leftist and right wing news sources. Check and double check what they say, and hold them accountable for their biased and often dishonest reports.

Somewhere in between, we will find the truth.