politics
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Bring back the Fairness Doctrine. It's abolishment ruined news and talk radio.
And citizens united, and the Frank Dodd act while you’re at it
Just go all the way back undoing all the bullshit court decisions catalogued here: https://reclaimdemocracy.org/corporate-accountability-history-corporations-us/
Please and thank you very much!
Citizens United has a very physical building we can protest outside of
I'm not so sure about that. The Fairness Doctrine required that all sides be presented as having equal weight, which in our time would include Nazism, eugenics and Fascism.
These were also very much present in 1949 when the act was introduced
There are ZERO leftist voices in media. Reinstating the Fairness Act is a step towards changing that.
Demand free speech rights for leftists. That's literally how the conservative takeover started: demanding free speech rights for conservatives, leading to the Telecommunications Act which empowered this Sinclair slime.
And no it didnt, as it was coupled with FCC regulations that demanded that broadcast media serve the common good.
This is a huge problem. The TV / radio stations that pump out MAGA drivel far outweigh any that are neutral, which is the most that the Dems have to offer.
And that’s the crux of the information battle. Quiet honest and neutrality, vs screeching lies and a right wing bias that’s so hard they are horizontal.
This is why, I suspect, that millennials and Gen Z are getting their news and information from nonstandard sources, like podcasts and Tik Tok.
Why don't their liberal counterparts get it?
They do, but they support it. People need to realize "liberalism" is still right wing, and right wing is always anti-people/pro-monopolization.
We have no leftist presence or voice in America, and it really shows as democrats keep marching further right to court "centrists" that are never going to vote for them.
Bright side - more people seem to realize mid right or far right isn't the choiciest of choices, but downside is it's far too late.
My old polisci professors would probably argue that there are right wing, left wing, and centrist forms of liberalism.
The political compass is an arguably silly example of this, but there is a point that being on one end of a social spectrum doesn’t mean you’re on the same end of an economic spectrum.
Individual rights - state/federal authority Welfare - slavery with extra steps Individual well-being - collective economic power Local direct democracy - nationwide democracy of the peerage Isolation - global influence
There's so many ways to slice it. These are off the cuff - but it most certainly isn't a 1 or 2 axis space
Demand free speech rights for leftists. That's literally how the conservative takeover started: demanding free speech rights for conservatives, leading to the Telecommunications Act which empowered this Sinclair slime.
There are no liberal counterparts. The billionaires are all capitalists. That's all there is to it. Any other political theater they perform for you playing left and right is just theater.
Dems and Republicans are identical parties on economic policy (note I said economic, not all policies).
I don't think they're the same on economics, neoliberals push for advantages to entrenched entities and the status quo, while post-neoconservatives push for rapid moves and sabotaging existing systems
The combination of the two is crippling, and they have a lot in common (like cutting welfare programs and shaping the landscape to put up barriers of entry to reduce competition), but their styles are very different
An important thing to note - it's not a single dichotomy, there's 3-6 axises, minimum.
The worst crackdown in recent memory on welfare happened under Clinton and the neolibs. I think both of these groups have examples of doing the things you've listed.
I appreciate your insights but respectfully disagree as there are examples of your listed priorities across party lines.
The end part is right. The same billionaires and companies pay both sides campaign bills. Which is why they're basically the same economically.
You're correct about Clinton, but that's not the norm. Normally, they go one step forward one step back, but they're happy to cut welfare quietly
But today, Republicans don't really go after welfare anymore - they try to pass corporate welfare and slash regulation instead
"They're the same" is a shortcut our minds take to make thinking simpler. It skips thinking about a bunch of details.
They're similar, but not the same - the subtleties matter. Even if you want to replace them all, it's important to understand them at a level deeper than "they're all corporate shills".
You have to be able to communicate about them clearly and be able to evaluate fresh faces, otherwise you're just generally complaining about how things suck
I mean, even economically they aren't the same. Biden's advancing a wealth tax, can you imagine Trump or McConnell doing that?
How are these acquisitions making them enough money to bother with given the state of news outlets in general? Arguably among the reasons they're able to happen at all is that many newsrooms are struggling to even remain operational, resulting in their owners selling them off to cut their losses.
Yet even after acquisition, have there been any indications that the new owners are doing any better with them financially?
I assume they're willing to take the loss to help preserve the political landscape that allows them to protect and grow their financial interests in other markets. They may not really care if the media outlets are profitable.
Opinions are cheap. So cheap people will offer them up on the internet for free.
Journalism is expensive. Gotta chase down leads that go nowhere. Gotta work hard to confirm a source, because you don't want to be just printing rumours, right?
Right-wing media doesn't need to pay the cost of journalism. They print opinion and rumours. So a right-wing paper is cheaper to run than a paper that has journalists working for it.
Wow. Welcome to 2002. No shit.