I learned something the other night, on the new Fox Business show The Independents: Mr. John Stossel’s eponymous show is the highest-rated show on that same network.
It’s no shock. It’s my favorite show, there, too. And I know folks who have even upped their cable or satellite packages solely to view Stossel every week.
Call it a comfort, call it a relief, call it whatever, but it’s nice to know that one’s own political and rhetorical tastes are shared by a growing number of others.
One thing to like about Stossel is also a reason to like The Independents. The hostess, saucy Kennedy (of MTV fame), and her cadre of commentators, Matt Welch and Kmele Foster, aim to keep the debate civil. They said as much. And followed through. No yelling; a minimum of over-talk. Apparently the format of the show is to invite two guest commentators every episode (one from “the left” and one from “the right”), and on the debut episode we watched Fox contributors Basil Smikle and Jedediah Bila . . . the latter ostensibly a conservative, but who sounded just as libertarian as the show’s core committee.
Fox’s increasing independent-minded viewership — and, like the show’s creators, I’m using “independent” partly as a code word for “libertarian” — is being rewarded with more fare to their tastes.
Modern society needs an independent streak. We gain; Fox gains.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.