Need for an Antitrust Action against Comcast, TimeWarner, and Disney

Dear Mr. President:

The deterioration of the American media and its open partisanship should be addressed through an antitrust action.  More than 75 percent of airwave and cable broadcasters are in practice affiliated with the Democratic Party.  This came about because in the 1930s the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration illegally required ideological litmus tests in its granting of airwave monopolies.  

When the country had something of a dominant, bipartisan consensus, perhaps from the candidacy of Wendell L. Wilke through the George W. Bush administration, partisan monopoly of the airwaves was unimportant, although conservatives have never been happy. When the cable monopolies were established by local governments in the 1970s and 1980s, the extension of the New Deal system seemed natural, although by then the media was increasingly at odds with moderate Republicans. Moreover, the major parties had not diverged ideologically to the degree that they have since Goldwater and McGovern--and to a greater degree since Obama. Conservatives have lived with an unresponsive, monopolistic media for the past ninety years.

The recent handling of the impeachment hoax and the legacy media’s deceitful coverage of your presidency has intensified the issue.  At present, the Democratic media monopoly is becoming  an embarrassment, a system at odds with the preferences of the majority of Americans. Given that the media lacks professionalism and intersects with state influence—via the Democratic Party---the current system makes a mockery of Constitutional protection of freedom of the press. The current system is a state-granted monopoly that favors one party and is much like a totalitarian system. This is especially so of the stations owned by Comcast, TimeWarner, and Disney.    

There needs to be an antitrust action and a divestiture of airwave and cable networks from the Democrats so that airwave and cable control are wrested from Comcast and Disney and  fairly distributed among Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians, Greens, and others in rough proportion to their numbers in the population.

Sincerely,

Mitchell Langbert, Ph.D.

Cc: Robert Iger, The Walt Disney Co.

Brian L. Roberts, Chairman, Comcast Corporation
Joseph J. Simons, Chairman, Federal Trade Commission

Americans for Limited Government Calls for End to American Bar Association Accreditation of Law Schools

Americans for Limited Government has emailed a release that calls for the ending of American Bar Association accreditation of law schools.  ALG characterizes ABA accreditation as crony capitalism. They write: 

There is an inherent conflict of interest when lawyers are allowed to regulate the entrance of competitors into their field. Due, in part, to the ABA’s numerous requirements of law schools and its restrictions on the practice of law, millions of Americans are unable to afford legal services and are forced to represent themselves in the bewildering legal system. While it is hard to argue that the world needs more lawyers, the ABA accreditation system, by design, limits the number of opportunities to attend law school with the result being the capping new entrants into their field, a clear conflict of interest.  As such, the Department of Education should end the American Bar Association’s credentials to provide law school accreditation. 

As I have previously blogged, under Betsy DeVos the DOE has done too little to investigate left-wing influence on higher education.  The ALG's point is a little different: licensure is a market impediment, and a professional guild should not be permitted to limit access to a market. It is difficult to argue that the standards that apply to law schools raise the quality of lawyers to some minimum, below which malpractice would be the norm. Rather, the ABA standards are meant to restrict the supply of lawyers. 

The education system is not, on a number of levels, what it claims to be.  Yet, the DOE has done little in the way of investigation and research, much less reform.

Letter in Support of The First Lady

Ms. Melania Trump

The White House

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, DC 20500

Dear Ms. Trump:

I didn’t vote for your husband, but I support him now.  I wanted to voice special support in the face of the disgraceful treatment that the fake media has afforded you with respect to the White House Christmas decorations and Pamela Karlan’s mentioning of Baron. There are even uglier slanders online, which don’t need to be recited.

As a conservative professor, I have been attacked for my views in the past, most recently in the national media for remarks I put on my blog concerning my support for Justice Brett Kavanaugh. 

Putting myself in your place, I appreciate your toughness and resilience.  Upon consideration, you are the best First Lady of my 65-year lifetime.   Like you, Jackie Kennedy spoke five languages and was eminently graceful.  However, she had an easy time because of the media’s pro-Democratic Party bias.  No one has displayed more resilience, better taste, and more grace than you have.

Please keep up the great work. 

Sincerely,

Mitchell Langbert, Ph.D.

College Kids' Hard Turn Left Means Trouble Ahead for America

On Nov. 2, 2019 the New York Post ran an editorial on the lopsided, often delusional,  political beliefs of today's college students, and the editorial discusses my research on faculty political affiliation.  Unfortunately, the Republican Party has sat on its hands for decades as the radicalization of education has unfolded.  I'm not sure that the damage that left-wing control of both K-12 and higher education has done can be undone.