between 6 am and 10 pm. “At some point we have to stand up for our morals,” Bolz says. The FCC, which regulates what’s allowed on TV and radio, already curbs what’s permissible between those hours, but Bolz doesn’t think they’re enforcing those rules well enough. Edgy (but not obscene) expressions are protected by the First Amendment, so the FCC can’t ban them altogether, but courts have allowed it to regulate what’s on at times when children are most likely to be watching. Shows that are indecent — anything that “depicts or describes, in terms patently offensive as measured by contemporary community standards for the broadcast medium, sexual or excretory organs or activities” — can’t air between 6 am and 10 pm. While there’s no mention of premarital sex in current FCC regulations, the definition of “contemporary community standards” is a highly subjective moving target. Not only do times change, but the people interpreting the rules do too. The current Democratic chairman has pursued fewer indecency complaints than his two Republican predecessors. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has refused to determine whether TV and radio regulations should continue as they are, and if new technologies, like cable TV and the Internet, should be controlled in the same way. Wayne Hoffman, president of the Idaho Freedom Foundation, a nonprofit that advocates for individual rights and limited government, argues against Bolz’s resolution on the basis of that uncertainty. In a piece on the Idaho State Journal’s politics blog, Hoffman argues that when the government “assumes the role of morality police” and bureaucrats determine what’s allowed on TV, enforcement can be unpredictable. “[Idaho lawmakers are] offended by and frightened by the proliferation of what they presume to be undesirable content,” Hoffman writes. “But they should be more offended and frightened by a government that has the power to tell us what’s right and what’s wrong, to punish us when they find the latter and … can’t or won’t explain the difference.” n heidig@inlander.com
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