The gorilla in the room: Freedom of Speech and the Press are at stake
Their world is one of exaggerations, conspiracy theories, lies, misinformation, assumptions, lack of facts, inability to comprehend science and scientific proof, faith based stubbornness centered on erroneous interpretations of the Scriptures, Republicans are unable to consider that people are different and that diversity has to be celebrated, not condemned.
Why do I say all this? Simply this: As the ultra-right becomes more emboldened; as the top 2% of those privileged super rich solidify their power, we are going to see more and more the attacks on our FREE PRESS and the limitations on OUR FREEDOM OF SPEECH. The calls for “toning it down” will increase as these special interests see any type of criticism as an attack on them; it must be muzzled and it must be silenced.
It is well documented that the Koch brothers for example have spent millions upon millions of dollars to fund right-wing think tanks, Astroturf movements and are working behind the scenes to decimate unions and clean air regulations.
We are now facing one very serious situation when the Supreme Court handed down a very perverse decision on January 21, one year since the Supreme Court issued its decision on Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. This ruling paved the way for outside groups to partake in unregulated and often-anonymous campaign ad spending, and unleashed an unprecedented wave of outside spending in the mid-term elections; we all saw the results of this unfortunate ruling: we now have corporations, organizations and even foreign interests donating money to change the outcome in our democratic process.
But most alarming is the fact that the Supreme Court would consider a corporation as a human being, equating the rights of the majority to those of inanimate entities that possess no feelings, no compassion and don’t have the ability to even think. This I think is terribly wrong.
We can look forward to more censorship in the private sector as was done to Keith Olbermann and for an even larger increase in moneys spent on political campaigns so that those same special interests can get those politicians they already have in their pockets elected. It may seem that the picture looks bleak right now but I have a lot of faith in that one half of the American people that is not gullible, naïve, uneducated, Fundamentalist Evangelical and otherwise racist or recalcitrant reactionaries…and it is an almost fifty-fifty divide – that they will turn out in the most overwhelming numbers ever to throw out the Teahadist-Republicans and to discredit what they represent. This ideological war is going to happen and the truth and common sense will prevail over demagoguery, stupidity, lies, and otherwise evil racism. It will also put a cap on greed…you will work hard and be innovative but you should not make a profit from human misery…that is one concept that will win out at the end.
I’m not in the business of making predictions but one obvious casualty sometime in the near future will probably be Rachel Maddow and another logical scenario is that one of these obscenely rich fat cats will acquire Google; that will have a very significant effect because as it stands Google has almost unlimited power and can pick and choose blogs to their liking. Google has been known to arbitrarily close down blogs and have offered no explanations…they don’t have to. Because Google is a private enterprise they don’t have to adhere to Freedom of Speech or observe the rules that guarantee freedom of the press. So imagine if one of these right wing rich dudes purchases Google…it will be devastating for everyone. But then again, isn’t that what totalitarian governments do? Access to the internet in places like Cuba and Iran is forbidden…it is an effort to keep people ignorant and isolated…they are easier to govern that way.
We have a saying in Spanish: "Cuando veas la barba de tu vecino arder...pon las tuyas en remojo", which means: When your neighbor's beard is on fire...you better wet your own"
