October 30, 2009 - 11:08 ET

Watch Glenn Beck weekdays at 5p & 2a ET on Fox News Channel

The president who is sitting in the Oval Office right now promised to bring us "hope" and "change." Barack Obama is keeping at least one of those promises: change. But it's not the kind of change millions of you voted for.

This nation is being fundamentally transformed; the president promised us in his own words he would transform it. What we didn't know was how and just how much.

One way this administration and its helpers are doing it is by systematically stripping away our right to free speech. Yes, the president and other progressives profess to be the saviors of our First Amendment rights.

But when you pull back the curtain, you will see that free speech is being eradicated for controlled speech: Control over the media; control over the Internet; control over you.

One of the groups behind all this is Free Press.

I was struck first by their motto: "Free Press. Reform media. Transform democracy."

I didn't realize democracy needed transforming. But anyway, you'll remember that Free Press is the group pushing net neutrality, which would take the Internet out of the hands of private business and put it into the hands of government. That would create a level-playing field, which would destroy the free market that... created the Internet. But hey, you know how those evil corporations are: Always trying to be successful and make money. So evil.

Free Press is also behind SaveTheNews.org, which is "leading the search for new public policies to save journalism and to promote a robust free press in America."

Hmm, policies? Policies like a government bailout for journalism? How exactly does that "promote a robust free press"?

But on to Public Broadcasting. Executive director Josh Silver's position paper "Public Media's Moment" spells out to President Obama how to take advantage: "The growing crisis facing commercial journalism and public media's unique ability to address it... makes such reform all the more urgent... you have a rare opportunity to achieve real change and reinvent public media."

Adding: "Just as the economic crisis has put an end to free market fundamentalism, so too should the failure of commercial media to adequately serve the public interest end the myth that government has no role in fulfilling society's information needs."

You see how the White House's "Fox isn't a real news organization" comments make more sense now, right?

Silver calls on President Obama to create a White House commission on public media to provide policy recommendations. And how do we pay for it? Silver points out that currently only $400 million per year goes to public media. He recommends a media trust fund, starting with $50 billion, more money from Congress or — wait for it — a tax on electronics:

"A tax of 0.5 percent of the purchase price for every home electronic device: multimedia players, cable and satellite set-top boxes, video game systems, televisions, etc. those devices that entertain America would in turn be supporting programming to inform, educate and enlighten. And the fee would be paid by those consumers with the means to spend on new electronics."

Those consumers "with the means"? That means "rich" people. Higher taxes and this will not increase the deficit by one thin dime.

Step one: Shut down the speech they don't like. But, since nature abhors a vacuum, the question is: What do they fill the space with?

— Watch Glenn Beck weekdays at 5p & 2a ET on Fox News Channel



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Kathyet