We all love yelling and screaming at our political system, politicians, the government and all that appears to be failing around us. And yet, the truth is that we are responsible for the failures around us. We get the government we truly deserve.
When we never step up and voice our dissent when the SEC or the FTC chooses ignore anti-trust laws, when we choose to ignore when the FDA decides to approve chemicals for consumption that have warnings written all over them, when we choose not to punish politicians who have successively voted to destroy or water down our rights, we are part of the problem.
When we stop taking an interest in our democracy, in understanding what made this nation work, in understanding the part played by special interests in government, in the mechanisms at work that dismantle regulations put in place to protect people or the environment (usually in the name of some free market ideology), then we should not be surprised at the outcome - which I usually describe as a regression into Third Worldliness (those of us who come from the Third World easily see and understand the patterns from back home).
Reagan and his successors very much decimated much of the protections that Wilson and FDR put in place in and around the build up to and after the Great Depression. (While the links in the previous sentence to Wikipedia do not necessarily replace a reading of history, they do provide an overview of the events of the period). Clinton, in particular, can take the blame for today's mess in the financial markets for having repealed the Glass-Steagall Act that prevented conventional banks (that are involved in the sound, low-risk business of lending money to people) from merging with investment banks (that are involved in the highly risky business of speculation in the markets).
The truth of the matter is that media plays a huge role in shaping our thoughts as well as directing the course and content of discussions around the country. And as long as we have a vibrant and diverse media that discusses a wide array of issues, we can be sure that the national discourse will also follow suit.
However, in this day and age of free markets and corporate takeovers and the race by media companies to fulfill Wall Street's expectations, coupled with the bypassing/dismantling of regulations meant to prevent the creation of monopolies, we have come to a state where a handful (around 6 as of this writing) major corporations that control almost all media consumed by this nation. The link below provides a pretty graphic depiction of what has happened to the media since '83. This is the direct result of the neoliberal (or as we call it here, neo-conservative) policies espoused by Reagan who is, to this day, held in great esteem by conservatives and was, till recently, by many progressives and who was largely influenced by the writings and ideas of Milton Friedman. And the continuation and radical expansion of those ideas and policies by conservative and "liberal" or "left-wing" (the quotes are deliberate because neither of the two politicians I mention is liberal nor left-wing) politicians like Clinton and Obama that followed did nothing to help matters.
At every stage of the dismantling of this country, the citizens had opportunities to actually try and understand what was happening and stop it. But who the hell cared, as long as we got our daily fix of instant gratification in the form of any nonsense that prime-time TV could throw at us?
And now every one is pissed at the state of affairs? Really??!!!
http://
When we never step up and voice our dissent when the SEC or the FTC chooses ignore anti-trust laws, when we choose to ignore when the FDA decides to approve chemicals for consumption that have warnings written all over them, when we choose not to punish politicians who have successively voted to destroy or water down our rights, we are part of the problem.
When we stop taking an interest in our democracy, in understanding what made this nation work, in understanding the part played by special interests in government, in the mechanisms at work that dismantle regulations put in place to protect people or the environment (usually in the name of some free market ideology), then we should not be surprised at the outcome - which I usually describe as a regression into Third Worldliness (those of us who come from the Third World easily see and understand the patterns from back home).
Reagan and his successors very much decimated much of the protections that Wilson and FDR put in place in and around the build up to and after the Great Depression. (While the links in the previous sentence to Wikipedia do not necessarily replace a reading of history, they do provide an overview of the events of the period). Clinton, in particular, can take the blame for today's mess in the financial markets for having repealed the Glass-Steagall Act that prevented conventional banks (that are involved in the sound, low-risk business of lending money to people) from merging with investment banks (that are involved in the highly risky business of speculation in the markets).
The truth of the matter is that media plays a huge role in shaping our thoughts as well as directing the course and content of discussions around the country. And as long as we have a vibrant and diverse media that discusses a wide array of issues, we can be sure that the national discourse will also follow suit.
However, in this day and age of free markets and corporate takeovers and the race by media companies to fulfill Wall Street's expectations, coupled with the bypassing/dismantling of regulations meant to prevent the creation of monopolies, we have come to a state where a handful (around 6 as of this writing) major corporations that control almost all media consumed by this nation. The link below provides a pretty graphic depiction of what has happened to the media since '83. This is the direct result of the neoliberal (or as we call it here, neo-conservative) policies espoused by Reagan who is, to this day, held in great esteem by conservatives and was, till recently, by many progressives and who was largely influenced by the writings and ideas of Milton Friedman. And the continuation and radical expansion of those ideas and policies by conservative and "liberal" or "left-wing" (the quotes are deliberate because neither of the two politicians I mention is liberal nor left-wing) politicians like Clinton and Obama that followed did nothing to help matters.
At every stage of the dismantling of this country, the citizens had opportunities to actually try and understand what was happening and stop it. But who the hell cared, as long as we got our daily fix of instant gratification in the form of any nonsense that prime-time TV could throw at us?
And now every one is pissed at the state of affairs? Really??!!!
http://
