Wringing hands, grinding teeth and snarling profanity all spew forth from the “liberal blogsphere” in the aftermath of the Congressional acceptance of the Bush endorsed FISA update bill! O’ the shame of it all! Our guys acquiesced to the Bush bully yet again without so much as a faint protest, never mind a good fight! Let’s sack em’ all!
Tears and sweat have a number of things in common, the most significant of which is the strong amount of salt contained in both types of fluids. The other commonality is that both fluids originate in the human body. From our youngest days, we soon discover that it takes much less effort to bring forth tears, than it does to bring forth work induced sweat. However, some of us are mature enough to realize that few things are accomplished by tears, no matter how many flow and how emotionally they are exhibited. Persistent sweat from dedicated hard work generally proves to be the most efficient remedy.
The actual problem facing progressive, liberals, and fair minded people in America is at least FOUR GENERATIONS old. This problem is like a touch of arthritis in the back. The older you get, the worse it gets. The problem is the AM RADIO STATIONS that blanket the good ol’ US of A. Most of these small radio stations fought for survival back in the late 1950’s. Their principle opponent was the ol’ black and white television. People were more interested in watching the Lucky Strike Hit Parade being broadcast live on the network, rather than listen to some local disk jockey play the same old records on the radio. Some stations tried using payola from the record companies in a sleazy attempt to survive. However, slowly but surely station after station across the country went eventually bankrupt. Aside from the local audiences, few people took notice of the failure of these important information channels. The few progressive people that took notice weren’t interested in the old AM bands. They were only interested in the FM bands primarily for broadcasting High Fidelity Music. (These stations eventually became components of NPR.) I emphasize this point – no liberal or progressive groups were interested in AM radio during these years.
Rich right wing individuals found these bankrupt radio stations to be cheap enough to buy and operate, so as to be affordable as an personal hobby. These individuals soon discovered that they had platform that presented a large amount of latitude, upon which they could saturate the airwaves with their own personal philosophies and political convictions. At broadcaster conventions, they began to network with other individuals like themselves and soon a plan began to emerge for a vehicle to disseminate right wing propaganda via a new system of networks built out of the wreckage of the old failed AM stations. Time passed, and as these “ultra-right wing” groups purchased more and more of these bankrupt stations, they were noticed but dismissed by the liberals and progressives as “fringe groups” trying to recruit the local hicks.
However, in the late 1980’s, it became evident that these right wing networks had not only secured nationwide coverage but they had also began moving into major markets. The progressives and liberals again dismissed this intrusion into the very heart of liberal country itself as inconsequential, irrelevant, etc. However, these new stations not only stayed in the major media markets, but they flourished. Once again the liberal and progressives shrugged and said, “Everybody is entitled to participate. Isn’t that what democracy is all about?” However, right wing media control, with the support of major business conglomerates, soon were buying controlling interests in major television stations and networks. This time the progressives were too shocked to say much of anything, and silence became the unspoken fervent hope that maybe someday it will all go away.
The result of the right wing information expansion, is that the control of America’s information infrastructure by the Republican/Rightwing/Libertarian coalition is virtually complete. The few remaining news sources that remain unbiased and independent are of no concern to the right wing media group, because they, the right wing media, have control over the information available to virtually all of the American voting public. This group is working specifically under the control of the Republican party and their tactical directors and political message producers. The Republican Information Machine (RIM) is a textbook Goebbels Propaganda Disseminator in that it hammers the message over and over across the nation, until the public finally comes to believe it and accept it as fact. The RIM was essentially turned off immediately prior to the last Congressional election, and as a result the Democrats were able to make some gains on Capital Hill.
However, the Republicans are back at work stoking up their formidable Information Machine for the 2008 Presidential election. (Just picture every AM radio station across America as just one of the thousands of local loudspeakers onboard this huge nation-wide information disseminator.) An example of the latest test run the Republicans are making with the RIM is the recent sound bite that says, “Public Opinion polls show that job approval rating for Congress is lower than the job approval rating for the President.” Those participating in the wide spread broadcast of this sound bite offer no information about the poll and where it came from. Since this bit of misinformation is unchallenged or at best weakly protested by Democratic politicians as they depart for the August vacation, it will eventually be assumed by the general public that this sound bite is a fact. The other reason that the sound bite will continue to be hammered at the American public by the RIM, is that the Republicans expect that no national news coverage will be given to any key Democratic Congressional members during the August recess, thereby allowing no possibility for any formal rebuttal to this widespread lie.
Getting back to the idea of sweat. NO TASK is impossible except thinking makes it so! WE have to work bit by bit to find a way to recapture the media mechanism that feeds America the facts about what is going on at home and in the world. Blogs are not a serious challenge to the continuous output of the RIM across America. Likewise, Air Anerica would not even be a speck on a map showing the thousands of RIM stations across America. Challenging the RIM is a monumental task! The first thing progressives must do is unite across America. We need small action minded groups, who are dedicated to action as a strategy first and not reaction as a secondary reflex. Likeminded progressives must meet as progressives first and maybe as democrats secondly. The progressive adgenda can be effectively planned and formulated independent of party label or affiliation. Tears, not sweat needs to be in short supply if we are ever to take hold of this effort.