Calling John Galt

John Stossel is leaving ABC News at the end of the month to join Fox News and the Fox Business Network.

28 years is a long time to stay in one place, so it may just be a new opportunity and nothing more sinister than that.

It’s been fascinating to watch his evolution as a journalist. He started as a decidedly anti-business consumer crusader, but had a self-described epiphany that government is a monopoly in and of itself – and it often more dangerous to citizens than the businesses we’re supposed to hate.

In the last few years, Stossel has openly cited F.A. Hayek and others on matters of economics, free markets and liberty.

However, I personally am not happy to hear of his switch. Here’s what I wrote in the comments:

John, I am disturbed.

I’m a big fan of yours, and considered it a high honor when the radio hosts here in town referred to ME as “The John Stossel of Birmingham.”

I remember the old John, and the transformation to the new John – who was simply the same John with the honesty to challenge his assumptions and live with the consequences.

I am not disturbed for you, but rather for ABC. For me, it meant a LOT that they would let you do your own thing, it was a sign of integrity that other networks did not seem to have evidence to back up.

In a month, the closest thing ABC News will have to a calls-it-as-he-sees-it presence is Jake Tapper, who calls things about as even-handedly as any high-profile political journalist in this generation. But there will be no contrarian, no voice of conscience challenging the assumptions of the group-think rampant in so many newsrooms.

You gave ABC credibility they will not be able to showcase in any other manner. And your departure to Fox will only reinforce a set of prejudices and idiotic notions for the very people who need to listen the most.

I wish you the best, and will watch with interest. But I can’t help think of the nay-sayers and gain-sayers who will never be exposed to your talent for humanizing the effects of an inhuman leviathan. The street preacher has left the neighborhood for the safety of an altar where he will be gladly received — but who will save the unwashed and the lost?

Saying that ‘libertarianism is wrong because Free Markets don’t exist’ is like saying ‘fur coats are dumb in cold weather’ because we’ve never seen a Sasquatch.