Crucial to the concept of democracy, whether it be a parliamentarian democracy as in Canada, a democratic republic such as in the US, or some other flavour of democracy, is the concept of a just, impartial and accessible government and its agents. When citizens lose the real ability to make their voices heard in the corridors of power then democracy dies. Oh yes you'll hear the dissenters say but citizens can always vote the bums out of office. Well yes and no. In a two party system such as the US has, where it takes real wealth and compromised morality before election to office can be obtained, there is no real choice between candidates or parties. The choice is always between one bum or another.
As if the lack of ability to effect meaningful change in the voting booth isn't bad enough, the real killing field of democracy, is in the actions of the state's agents, it's various departments overseen by political apointees, not elected officials. It is here, far from the light opf public scrutiny, that the judgements of public servants are bought and paid for by the highest bidders, corporations, and where the private citizen is locked out. 1
A short 10 days from now democracy in America will suffer a terrible blow. Effective participation in the political arena of one's society requires that an individual have the real abiity to form a considered opinion. When the sources of the information needed to form that opinion are concentrated in the hands of a few powrful media companies. Until now it has been the role of federal representatives such as the FCC to act in the public's best interest. Their mandate is not to act in the media corporations' best interests, but the public's. Well that's hard to do when your hand is deep in the corporations' pockets, and the Republican apointees to the current FCC commission aren't even trying to pretend differently.
On June 2, 2003 the FCC commisioners 3 Republicans and 2 Democrats will meet to vote on whether the restrictions on media conglomeration should be significantly weakened, in fact almost completely removed. The vote is a foregone conclusion. Over the past few years the big media companies have paid out nearly $3 million dollars to FCC commisioners in the form of fully paid trips to Paris, Vegas and other hot vacation spots. During those trips they were accompanied by industry representatives who, naturally, had unfettered access to the commisioner(s) on that trip. The public and pulic organizations have no such access, in fact in the case of Michael Powell (who has taken more money this way from the industry in the past 2 years than any of his predecessors) the public's input is not only unwelcome but essentially forbidden.
Regular readers of this space could be forgiven if they have a good chuckle over the thought of the Driveler agreeing with anything William Safire might have to say. Yet, his recent column, The Great Media Gulp, on this very topic is one I whole heartedly agree with. This issue is not one of conservative versus liberal, for the actions of the FCC in this case are being directed as well from the white house. This instance proves that the Republican part as it is consituted today is not a party of conservatives but instead a party of corporate handmaidens. As Safire says
The concentration of power — political, corporate, media, cultural — should be anathema to conservatives. The diffusion of power through local control, thereby encouraging individual participation, is the essence of federalism and the greatest expression of democracy.
Right on William.
Posted by The Dynamic Driveler at May 23, 2003 10:39 PM