Should America Disarm? By Al Sikes

The overlap was notable. The college basketball tournament called March Madness arrived at the peak of some of Donald J Trump’s critics calling his Executive Orders “madness”. One reason for calling the basketball tournament “madness” is one loss and your out—“one and done” as it is said.

In the matter of the President, he is protected from the voters by a four-year term. Not from the critics, but from the voters. He is doing his best to suppress the critics. If our First Amendment to the Constitution, guaranteeing free speech, was not so tenaciously protected by the Courts, Trump critics would be on mute.

In the meantime, and inexplicably, Trump wants to defund the Voice of America (VOA)—our country’s international voice. What is this all about?

In 1992, President George H.W. Bush asked me to lead a delegation to selected countries in the Eastern Bloc, as it was then called. The countries had been liberated from the Soviet Union. I gave speeches and held meetings in Hungary, Romania, and Czechoslovakia. My themes were free speech and privately owned broadcasting stations, which were a key part of America’s strength. In the Communist Bloc, the government-owned and operated the radio and TV stations.

Before leaving Washington, I learned that Vaclav Havel, the Czechoslovak head-of-state, on his first visit to America, went out of his way to visit VOA studios, thanking reporters for those late-night broadcasts he had listened to in secret. They kept him up-to-date on what was happening and gave him hope. Recall Havel’s dissident status had resulted in surveillance and imprisonment. Between 1979 and 1983, he spent four years in prison. As I made my way through the Eastern Bloc, I spoke of Havel’s experience to accentuate American principles.

In the last week, the Trump Administration has sought to zero out the Voice of America. The only reason I could find was an ally of Trump saying he had a “grudge” against the VOA due to how he was covered in his first term.

I am not a student of today’s VOA. I suspect some reform is needed and like most of government my guess is they can do their job with less money. Given the expanded and enriched capacity of todays media a more effective job can be done. What about providing an Artificial Intelligence application?

But to zero out the organization and to give the pink slip to its employees without explanation is what the basketball gods call a flagrant foul.

Reflect: China and Russia have aggressive programs to hack, block and refute. They are armed. Should we disarm? At the most basic level dictators dictate. They don’t ask for feedback and fear of consequences squelches critics.

Maybe the difference this time is pride in America. Former President Ronald Reagan, recalling John Winthrop, saw America as a “shining city on a hill.” President Reagan knew America was far from perfect, but took pride in our successes and liked to talk about them.

President Trump, unless Americans go silent, will at some point need to explain his attitude toward the Voice of America and whether we need an international voice. As many have written, President Trump’s strategy has been to flood the zone hoping that critics can be diverted and divided. The issue of what’s next after quashing the Voice of America is not going away. Nationalism cannot suppress Internationalism.

Al Sikes is the former Chair of the Federal Communications Commission under George H.W. Bush. Al writes on themes from his book, Culture Leads Leaders Follow published by Koehler Books.