The U.S. today is ruled by a clique consisting of the media cartel, campaign donors, lobbyists, think tanks, the DNC and the top echelons of the appointed government. The media have de facto most of the power. The American media cartel is a massive lying machine the like of which the world has never seen before.
People will ultimately do what the TV tells them to do, and think what the TV tells them to think. It takes only a handful of evil billionaires to purchase all the newspapers to launch the entire country on a path of destruction. This is the case in America today. And that is not all. The Congress has been bribed by special interests. They finance their election campaigns. AIPAC and the military industrial complex come to mind. The Congressional seats could as well be traded on the commodity market. Major structural reforms are required: * ANTITRUST LEGISLATION FOR THE MEDIA. Standard Oil was broken up into 34 different entities. We should break up the six headed media hydra into at least 30 different companies. No individual, family, clan, organization or identifiable group should be allowed to control more than 20% of the media market. This will not help if they all get the news from the three multi-national news agencies (AP, Reuters, AFP.) None of them should be permitted to control more than 20% of the U.S. market, i.e. the media should be required to diversify their intake. * THE RIGHT TO A REPLY. When the media slander you, you should have the right to publish your version in the very same newspaper. The right to defend themselves against false accusations extends to foreign governments. It would put a check on yellow journalism. Audiatur et altera pars! * REINSTATING THE FAIRNESS DOCTRINE. It was an FCC policy between 1949 and 1987. It required broadcasters to present issues of public importance such that contrasting viewpoints be presented. The courts found it constitutional, but then the FCC dropped it. It should be legislated as a law. * OUTLAWING INTERNET CENSORSHIP. No entity that holds itself out as a public communication platform should be permitted to evaluate or censor content any more than T-mobile should censor your telephone conversation. The right to express philosophical or political opinions or to criticize public institutions is absolute. The only exceptions to this rule are manifestly criminal conduct (fraud, pedophilia, soliciting murder) or invasion of privacy. * ACROSS THE BOARD ANTI-MONOPOLY LEGISLATION targeting the tech giants such as Google, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft etc. * CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT OVERTURNING CITIZENS UNITED vs FEE. * PUBLIC FINANCING OF ELECTION CAMPAIGNS. All contributions of $25 or less per month should be matched by the government 10x up to the level of the candidate with most money. For example, if a candidate takes $1 million in donations of $25 or less, the government should contribute additional $10 million provided at least one candidate collected more than $10 million from donations higher than $25.
You might think that this program has no chance of being enacted. But it is a program. A political program, a legislative program. It is better than no program. And never say never.
Structural Reforms
The U.S. today is ruled by a clique consisting of the media cartel, campaign donors, lobbyists, think tanks, the DNC and the top echelons of the appointed government. The media have de facto most of the power. The American media cartel is a massive lying machine the like of which the world has never seen before.
People will ultimately do what the TV tells them to do, and think what the TV tells them to think. It takes only a handful of evil billionaires to purchase all the newspapers to launch the entire country on a path of destruction. This is the case in America today. And that is not all. The Congress has been bribed by special interests. They finance their election campaigns. AIPAC and the military industrial complex come to mind. The Congressional seats could as well be traded on the commodity market. Major structural reforms are required:
* ANTITRUST LEGISLATION FOR THE MEDIA. Standard Oil was broken up into 34 different entities. We should break up the six headed media hydra into at least 30 different companies. No individual, family, clan, organization or identifiable group should be allowed to control more than 20% of the media market. This will not help if they all get the news from the three multi-national news agencies (AP, Reuters, AFP.) None of them should be permitted to control more than 20% of the U.S. market, i.e. the media should be required to diversify their intake.
* THE RIGHT TO A REPLY. When the media slander you, you should have the right to publish your version in the very same newspaper. The right to defend themselves against false accusations extends to foreign governments. It would put a check on yellow journalism. Audiatur et altera pars!
* REINSTATING THE FAIRNESS DOCTRINE. It was an FCC policy between 1949 and 1987. It required broadcasters to present issues of public importance such that contrasting viewpoints be presented. The courts found it constitutional, but then the FCC dropped it. It should be legislated as a law.
* OUTLAWING INTERNET CENSORSHIP. No entity that holds itself out as a public communication platform should be permitted to evaluate or censor content any more than T-mobile should censor your telephone conversation. The right to express philosophical or political opinions or to criticize public institutions is absolute. The only exceptions to this rule are manifestly criminal conduct (fraud, pedophilia, soliciting murder) or invasion of privacy.
* ACROSS THE BOARD ANTI-MONOPOLY LEGISLATION targeting the tech giants such as Google, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft etc.
* CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT OVERTURNING CITIZENS UNITED vs FEE.
* PUBLIC FINANCING OF ELECTION CAMPAIGNS. All contributions of $25 or less per month should be matched by the government 10x up to the level of the candidate with most money. For example, if a candidate takes $1 million in donations of $25 or less, the government should contribute additional $10 million provided at least one candidate collected more than $10 million from donations higher than $25.
You might think that this program has no chance of being enacted. But it is a program. A political program, a legislative program. It is better than no program. And never say never.