Yours is the best summary of politics in America and its current relationship to corporate news outlets that I have read. The best label that I can find for this is shameless capitulation. This I would blame on corporate profit placed far above love, honor, and duty to the American people who did the work of building this country.
Thank you for crisply framing all of this. As a former member of the mainstream media who did not envision that our political infrastructure would be weakened the way it has, I agree it is time for all of us to recognize that our system of governance is broken and n eeds, if not replacement, a serious overhaul. A 21st-century Voting Rights Act that enshrines full democracy, including the principle that voters select politicians, not the other way around. An end to slavery-era vestiges like the Electoral College. A term-limited, less partisan Supreme Court. Curb the power of corporations and the wealthy to drown out the voices of other citizens. That's just for starters.
But we will never get our politics right until we get our culture right. There has always been in America a robust segment of the population not committed to the idea that all of us are created equal and that all of us deserve a life of freedom and dignity. But somewhere in the heart of our country has always been this notion that being "one nation" means that we share a common bond and a common destiny—that we can and should only rise if we rise together. The challenge for those of us who believe in that vision is to find ways to reassert it through the relationships and communities we build, the institutions we work through, and our artistic expressions.
A must-read piece. "Excruciating" is right. We're inching toward the realization (on a milestone anniversary, no less...the universe is scamp!) that this divided house cannot stand. The argument of whether it should stand is now irrelevant; it has collapsed. So...where is the vision for what could come next? This lane is WIDE open. Not even Newsom? It's like, collectively, we are the deer in the headlights--frozen in place as we attempt to process the reality of the Mack truck that is about change everything.
Brian, I completely agree. I still haven’t gotten over the stolen 2000 election, much less 2016. Thank you for this critique of the “leadership” on the Dem side. Every other day, I ask myself where Merrick Garland is now and what is he doing? We see Eric Holder all the time. Why can’t Garland do something to try to help the country after failing us so catastrophically?
Also: “The GOP has become a predatory, rule-or-ruin party” = chef’s kiss!
Well done. OTOH, it's hard to listen to criticism of mainstream media where "they've all failed." Of course, that means that each one has failed. Yet without specificity, it just becomes "more of the same." The absence of coverage of the corruption of Jarad Kushner and Trump Jr. is media's failure, but it is also the failure of Democratic leadership. Many of us are screaming inside our minds, but Schumer and Jeffries are playing like it's business as usual.
It's not the "free press", it's the "Liberal press" and the overriding concern they have is to avoid being accused of bias, especially towards any left wing ideology. This will continue to be their top concern until they are put into body bags by the fascists they protect.
"Today there is no equilibrium, because the GOP has become a predatory, rule-or-ruin party ... It doesn’t try to compete with the Democratic Party, it tries not to compete with the Democratic Party, by rigging elections and the rule of law."
I read this a lot and I dont say it is wrong. But to make progress, let us start from another premise.
The root cause of the problem is the Democratic Party.
By doing the bidding of the oligarchs, by abandoning the working class, by turning liberal values into a machine for laundering the interests of corporate power, the Democrating Party created a vaccum that the GOP now fills.
How does that sound to you? To what conclusions would it lead you? As painful as it may be, I would suspect that this could lead to a more constructive way forward.
Voters on both the right and the left agree that the ladder on which hard working Americans climbed up and improved their standing is broken. But for whom can they vote?
I kind of think no one really consumes the media that have capitulated. Why would you? It’s not informative. I’d rather stare at the four walls than watch or read that stuff.
Idk. Seems like the mainstream media made a choice to appeal to the audience of Bari Weiss’s Free Press. It’s gross but it’s a business decision. And, on the the other side, we have an efflorescence of YouTube commentators serving the true blue resistance niche. If anything, your gripe is with the audience.
This iteration of the Republican party needs to die and they signed their death warrant in 2016 when they nominated Trump. Unfortunately, they're like a grizzly bear with a hunter's bullet lodged in its skull, rampaging around causing destruction and mayhem -- not knowing that it's already dead. They can come back in 20 or 30 years after we've ended gerrymandering, Citizens Unites, and passed single payer healthcare, etc.
Yours is the best summary of politics in America and its current relationship to corporate news outlets that I have read. The best label that I can find for this is shameless capitulation. This I would blame on corporate profit placed far above love, honor, and duty to the American people who did the work of building this country.
Brian, A heavy load for the end of this week, totally on point. Thank you
Thank you for crisply framing all of this. As a former member of the mainstream media who did not envision that our political infrastructure would be weakened the way it has, I agree it is time for all of us to recognize that our system of governance is broken and n eeds, if not replacement, a serious overhaul. A 21st-century Voting Rights Act that enshrines full democracy, including the principle that voters select politicians, not the other way around. An end to slavery-era vestiges like the Electoral College. A term-limited, less partisan Supreme Court. Curb the power of corporations and the wealthy to drown out the voices of other citizens. That's just for starters.
But we will never get our politics right until we get our culture right. There has always been in America a robust segment of the population not committed to the idea that all of us are created equal and that all of us deserve a life of freedom and dignity. But somewhere in the heart of our country has always been this notion that being "one nation" means that we share a common bond and a common destiny—that we can and should only rise if we rise together. The challenge for those of us who believe in that vision is to find ways to reassert it through the relationships and communities we build, the institutions we work through, and our artistic expressions.
Outstanding, though depressing, write up.
I think that whatever ‘fight’ some Dems may have finally found within the party is way too little and much too late.
Happy Friday indeed.
This may be ancient history but I believe the 2000 election was the wellspring of our current, ongoing collapse.
A must-read piece. "Excruciating" is right. We're inching toward the realization (on a milestone anniversary, no less...the universe is scamp!) that this divided house cannot stand. The argument of whether it should stand is now irrelevant; it has collapsed. So...where is the vision for what could come next? This lane is WIDE open. Not even Newsom? It's like, collectively, we are the deer in the headlights--frozen in place as we attempt to process the reality of the Mack truck that is about change everything.
Thank you for this cri de coeur, which gives voice to so many of my frustrations.
Brian, I completely agree. I still haven’t gotten over the stolen 2000 election, much less 2016. Thank you for this critique of the “leadership” on the Dem side. Every other day, I ask myself where Merrick Garland is now and what is he doing? We see Eric Holder all the time. Why can’t Garland do something to try to help the country after failing us so catastrophically?
Also: “The GOP has become a predatory, rule-or-ruin party” = chef’s kiss!
Well done. OTOH, it's hard to listen to criticism of mainstream media where "they've all failed." Of course, that means that each one has failed. Yet without specificity, it just becomes "more of the same." The absence of coverage of the corruption of Jarad Kushner and Trump Jr. is media's failure, but it is also the failure of Democratic leadership. Many of us are screaming inside our minds, but Schumer and Jeffries are playing like it's business as usual.
It's not the "free press", it's the "Liberal press" and the overriding concern they have is to avoid being accused of bias, especially towards any left wing ideology. This will continue to be their top concern until they are put into body bags by the fascists they protect.
"Today there is no equilibrium, because the GOP has become a predatory, rule-or-ruin party ... It doesn’t try to compete with the Democratic Party, it tries not to compete with the Democratic Party, by rigging elections and the rule of law."
I read this a lot and I dont say it is wrong. But to make progress, let us start from another premise.
The root cause of the problem is the Democratic Party.
By doing the bidding of the oligarchs, by abandoning the working class, by turning liberal values into a machine for laundering the interests of corporate power, the Democrating Party created a vaccum that the GOP now fills.
How does that sound to you? To what conclusions would it lead you? As painful as it may be, I would suspect that this could lead to a more constructive way forward.
Voters on both the right and the left agree that the ladder on which hard working Americans climbed up and improved their standing is broken. But for whom can they vote?
Serenity now.
I kind of think no one really consumes the media that have capitulated. Why would you? It’s not informative. I’d rather stare at the four walls than watch or read that stuff.
Great piece!
Idk. Seems like the mainstream media made a choice to appeal to the audience of Bari Weiss’s Free Press. It’s gross but it’s a business decision. And, on the the other side, we have an efflorescence of YouTube commentators serving the true blue resistance niche. If anything, your gripe is with the audience.
This iteration of the Republican party needs to die and they signed their death warrant in 2016 when they nominated Trump. Unfortunately, they're like a grizzly bear with a hunter's bullet lodged in its skull, rampaging around causing destruction and mayhem -- not knowing that it's already dead. They can come back in 20 or 30 years after we've ended gerrymandering, Citizens Unites, and passed single payer healthcare, etc.