A friend said give the Republican corpocacy enough rope and watch them hang themselves. More and more voters will wake up to the increasing degradation of the environment, the deterioration of schools and learning, the increasing numbers of poor and the medically underserved and non-served, and the humongous burgeoning of the military spending and its concordance in the enormous deficit this country is already building.
Molly Ivins in her post-election column, however, reminded us that if we let them hang themselves, chances are we'll be hung with them. She put a great twist of humor in it and I encourage you to read it at "Brighten Up, There's Always Another Election".
Last night (11/08) on Public Broadcasting Service's "NOW," I listened to Bill Moyers (the host) and Lewis Lapham (editor of "Harper's Magazine"). The transcript of the show is at the PBS website at Bill Moyers interviews Lewis Lapham. Lapham calls this new government an oligarchy. Indeed, indeed. And one that trades on the fears of the citizens of the United States.
So, what do the nearly 50% now-disenfranchised voters who voted do? With the Republicans holding control of Congress, the Presidency, and the Supreme Court, progressives and liberals effectively have no representation in the making and upholding of laws and regulations.
And then there are the people who chose not to vote because they felt there was no choice between candidates. Certainly in Colorado, the plaintive refrain was that voting for the Democratic Senatorial candidate was choosing the lesser of two evils. That comment has been said many times in many electoral contests, and it speaks clearly of the fact that many candidates are totally beholden to the big money-givers who fund their campaigns and those big donors are usually oriented to a particular industry.
Richard Cohen, columnist for the Washington Post, stated it plainly in a column on 11/8: the biggest winner in this election was the television industry, having earned $1 billion (yes, billion) for airing campaign spots. Guess whose CEOs will have big bonuses this year! And the ads themselves! If you go by them, and many voters do, because they don't have time or take time to read for themselves, you will have heard flagrant distortions, misrepresentations, and, he says, "outright lies." The best gift to yourself these past three months was to turn off the TV. Since I watch only "NOW," it wasn't hard to not get bombasted to death.
Cohen's column had two important pieces of information to offer: one is that Senator John McCain (Republican, who will become chair of Senate Commerce Committee), Senator Russell Feingold (Democrat) and Senator Richard Durbin (Democrat) "has introduced a bill that requires radio and TV stations to air a minimum of two hours a week of political programming in the campaign season." The second is that there is an organization called the Alliance for Better Campaigns; information about the bill is on their website.
Does the bill have hope? Not much, yet, and you know who will be fighting it-every local TV and radio station, most of which are owned by, at most, three or four major corporations. However, the FCC, which issues all broadcast licenses, hasn't taken the public out of the public airwaves, although it is trying to and we must be extremely watchful on this issue.
It is important to remember, as Cohen reminded us, that "the American people own the airwaves. The broadcast spectrum is limited. The broadcast media, unlike (thank God) newspapers, are licensed. The government assigns frequencies. It has the constitutional right to require that in exchange for the right to make oodles of money, broadcast owners give us something in return. They could start by devoting two hours [a week] to discussions of political or ideological issues." (emphasis added)
I might add that it would be useful to limit political ads to those whose content is the candidate speaking directly about an issue, what that person would do if elected. No mud-slinging.
I advise every constituent in the United States to start writing to your elected representatives now and ask about this bill. Bring to their attention. Keep hounding them about it. Don't let it get blackballed by the Republican leadership.
And remind the President that he doesn't have a mandate on Iraq. That many Americans do not want to see our country become the number one terrorist nation of the world by bombing more civilians – women and children – in Iraqi cities. In the one Arabic/Islamist country where women have equal rights and privileges with men, whose government is secular, not religious.
But hey, what can you expect from a President and his henchmen and women who wish to turn this country into a conservative fundamentalist Christian state? If you don't wish to see that happen, speak out, loudly and often! Fight any legislation and regulation that would push in that direction.
Bill Moyers said it eloquently at the end of last night's broadcast in his personal journal remarks, which have been posted at Election 2002. One quote in particular: "And if you like God in government, get ready for the Rapture. These folks don't even mind you referring to the GOP as the party of God. Why else would the new House Majority Leader say that the Almighty is using him to promote 'a Biblical worldview' in American politics?"
What can you expect from a President who will deny $34 million in funding the United Nations' women's health programs for reproductive health across the world. Funding that was approved by Congress. Funding that brings contraceptive advice and products to women, enabling them to have stronger families because they are not worn out from pregnancy after pregnancy, and birthing child after child who has little hope of living, much less of living a decent life. A woman's ability to control her reproductivity is directly related to a better standard of living for her family.
We can point fingers at our inept Democratic leaders, but the buck comes down to each one of us who demanded little and got even less from them in attacking the Republican agenda, in kowtowing on the Iraq resolution, in blowing off investigating the multitude of corporate scandals uncovered and to be uncovered, in a myriad of things they could have and should have done if they wished to be recognized as leaders of a democratic party (not capitalized on purpose).
I'd like to see a Wellstone party evolve out of the ruins.