I've been getting slammed by my more libertarian friends since I suggested major media corporations like NBC and CBS should have the good sense and decency to fire Don Imus' old, flabby, white posterior.

"We'll have to appoint you minister of culture for the Clinton presidency," writes Conrad Carter. "Last time I checked, we had freedom of speech, and I presume you have the sense to turn the dial."

Ahhh, but notice I didn't suggest Imus should be arrested. Notice I didn't suggest he should be gagged and bound. Notice I didn't suggest the Federal Communication Commission should dispatch speech police to shut him down.

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Somewhere along the line, Americans have begun confusing freedom with the right – maybe even the duty – to be irresponsible. I will chalk this up for the moment to the government schools.

Here's the thing. Just because something is legal doesn't mean it's right. Just because something is legal doesn't mean it is protected behavior. Just because something is legal doesn't mean an employer should tolerate it.

Why is it that so few Americans can distinguish between the free-speech protections afforded in the First Amendment and the promotion, the broadcasting, the profiting from irresponsible hate speech like what Imus uttered regarding the Rutgers basketball team?

I hear other radio talk-show hosts suggesting we should just let the free market take care of this. That's all well and good. I hope it does. But, my dear conservative friends, understand this: The free market has no morality. Capitalism has no morality. Free enterprise is the best economic system on Earth, but it will only work – like our ingenious political system – within the context of a moral society with standards.

I'm not sure we have that any more – thanks to people like Don Imus and Howard Stern and their corporate bosses who only care about the bottom line.

Our culture is being coarsened beyond recognition on a daily basis by mindless and soulless slugs like Imus and Stern.

Turning the dial is not a solution.

My next door neighbor may be listening. He may take seriously some of the things these morons say and do. He may also be viewing violent child pornography that could lead him to victimize some near him. His kids may listen to Imus and share his disgusting comments with my children. While I may police what goes on in my house, my inability to control the filth and degradation in my neighbor's house puts me and my children at risk.

In fact, it puts all of our children at risk.

If we can't look at what has become of our degraded culture today and recognize this crisis, I fear we never will.

Now, will firing Imus solve the problem?

Of course not. Imus may be the least of our problems when one thinks about what inspired his racist and sexually demeaning diatribe.

But here's the point: If Imus is allowed to continue on the airwaves after spewing this venom, two major media corporations have, in effect, excused it. What I am suggesting is that it is incumbent upon powerful people in corporate boardrooms to exercise responsibility. It is time for them to make decisions based on something more than the bottom line.

While I hear corporate executives congratulate themselves all the time on how they protect the environment, I never see them give a second thought to their conscious efforts to pollute our moral eco-system.

Like carcinogenic chemicals in our drinking water, this toxic moral pollution is eating away at the soul of our society. It is perverting our culture. It is rendering us incapable of discerning right from wrong.

Understand I am not laying this all at the hapless feet of multimillionaire radio personality Don Imus. He is simply one of the countless grotesque and essentially talentless figures who has profited immensely from the notion that "pushing the envelope" makes for good entertainment that will generate big bucks.

It is objectively wrong to demean people because of their race. It is objectively wrong to demean women as sex objects. That's what Imus did. I don't care what race hucksters like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton say about it. I can think for myself. What Imus did was indefensible. And I'm getting sick and tired of hearing people who should know better attempting to defend it under the guise of the Constitution.

The First Amendment doesn't require NBC and CBS to broadcast Imus' rantings. All it protects is his right to say it without prosecution by the government. It's time to pull the plug on Imus. It's time to pull the plug on the urban rappers who inspired his name-calling. It's time for broadcasters and media barons to stop serving as high-priced pimps for this kind of prostitution of the entertainment industry.

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