It’s not the first time Democrats (or Republicans) have taken a licking. And it’s not the first time technology has been blamed.

Before rushing to fund solutions to the latest technological deficit, it’s worth examining the lessons history teaches.

I’m old enough to remember a true debacle — the 1994 midterm elections. Republicans took control of the House for the first time in 40 years, turning 52 seats from blue to red. The GOP also picked up eight Senate seats, a net of 10 governor’s chairs and a bevy of state legislatures.

Newly ensconced Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) and commentators across the political spectrum credited talk radio with the win. “[W]ithout talk radio shows…I don't think we would have won,” he said.

In 1960, talk radio barely existed. Only two stations in the entire country offered talk formats.

By 1995, 1,130 radio stations devoted their programming to news and/or (mainly conservative) talk.

Fifteen to 20 million Americans a week were tuning into the format’s super-star, Rush Limbaugh, on 659 stations throughout the country.

Having identified the cause of defeat and convinced by Justice Louis Brandies that the remedy for evil speech is “more speech,” Democrats sought out the Limbaugh of the left and set about creating their own talk radio infrastructure.........

© The Hill