Leadership Quote by Fred Upton

There is a politician's sleight of hand in the phrase "Common sense tells us": it frames a contested policy claim as self-evident, turning disagreement into a kind of irrationality. Fred Upton is arguing that the sheer volume of media outlets - the "explosion of media sources" - should settle worries about viewpoint diversity and competition. The key word is "should". It signals a normative leap: because the internet, cable, and proliferating platforms exist, the market will naturally deliver pluralism, so regulation aimed at preventing consolidation is unnecessary or outdated.

The subtext is deregulatory reassurance. By emphasizing quantity, the line quietly sidesteps the harder question: who owns the megaphones, who sets the algorithms, and which voices get amplified. "Marketplace" and "competition" import the language of economics into what is also a civic problem, reframing democratic concerns (representation, accountability, misinformation) as issues the market can correct if left alone. It's a comforting story: more channels equals more choices equals more democracy.

Contextually, this fits the post-1990s shift in communications policy debates, when lawmakers confronted cable growth, talk radio, then digital platforms and used abundance as an argument against ownership caps and public-interest obligations. Upton's intent isn't just descriptive; it's strategic. It treats fragmentation as a proxy for diversity, even though fragmentation can coexist with consolidation upstream, and with audience sorting downstream. The line works because it flatters the listener's intuition while quietly narrowing the terms of debate to what the "marketplace" can measure.