This did not all start with Janet Jackson’s breast.

For years, conservative groups have catalogued incidents and complained about broadcast indecency to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

The FCC has largely denied these claims, and rightly so.

One complaint asserted that Buffy the Vampire Slayer straddling a vanquished opponent, both clothed, was indecent. But in response to Jackson, the FCC, and the Congress that controls it, have gone too far.

Though the so-called "wardrobe malfunction" may have been in perfect working order for Jackson and Timberlake, the fact that it was broadcast was purely accidental. Regardless, a little more than a month later, the House of Representatives voted to increase FCC indecency fines and nearly six months later, the Senate voted 99 to 1 to raise the maximum penalty from $27,500 to $275,000.

This should have been the end of the issue. Fines were increased; broadcasters were given a good reason to be more careful, especially during live shows.

But the conservative voices became louder. Watchdog organizations such as the American Decency Association began to seize the opportunity to remake the media in their image.

Congressman Joe Barton now wants the FCC to regulate content on pay services like satellite radio and cable television, including premium services like HBO.

When asked about the channel-blocking mechanisms already in place for parents to protect their children, Barton said they’re not well-known and not automatic.

Presumably, this means either those methods are not enough to satisfy his political financiers, or parental laziness must be accommodated.

In one complaint letter to the FCC, a woman boasts of her 8-year-old son’s ability to read at a 12th grade level as a direct result of getting rid of her cable and not allowing secular media to pollute her home.

Yet somehow, other parents are not responsible enough to do simple things like switching to music instead of talk radio in the morning. They must be protected by regulators like Barton who would take the toys away from everyone because a few can’t play sensibly.

What sense does it make to regulate mature programming based on one incident that happened during family programming? Some would say it’s another step toward a total media revolution by Christian conservatives that began with an increase in obscenity lawsuits from the Department of Justice in 2003.

Regardless of the agenda, the FCC needs to know that responsible people do exist, and that their world will not fall to pieces at the sight of a nipple.