Tech Trends

By: Branson Missouri 

The system many view as “institutionalized bribery”, is legal - as long as it is on the record. Off the record - it’s merely a bribe. Technically lobbyists can’t buy influence- but this is their job - to make sure the wheels of democracy turn in their clients direction. The pimps of democracy.
The fear of many is that the current system lends itself to systematic corruption. On the federal level - if power can be purchased and the dollar is weakened enough - democracy has the potential of being sold to foreign interests - the White House set ablaze - a mere relic of our forefather’s vision of self-rule.

When our nation was founded the colonies were ruled by King’s who regulated the press. British author’s who wanted to discuss an anti-empirial agenda had to write tongue and cheek - fiction was the only way to introduce dialogue into the marketplace of ideas. Contrary to public perception - freedom of the press was freedom to press. In other words, freedom of a machine to do any citizens will - life before corporate press outlets. The United States Constitution reflects the will of our dissident ancestors who had something burning inside them - something that the British government didn’t want printed.

Perhaps, a free-press could have saved the colonial citizens from bloodshed, but, by the time they were able to print pamphlets - it was too late - the patriots blood was already boiling - their hatred for the monarchy of Great Britain too large - a beef too big to settle peaceably. George Washington subscribed and was convinced revolution was necessary by these early newspapers and the nation we live in today was eventually birthed.

Modern day politicos have a hard time running on agenda’s such as campaign finance reform . A corporate culture of lobbying - a massive machine - has a friend with media outlets, after all, they need revenue to survive. Even on this site, politicians bid for ad space through a third party - the value is access to the reader base (you) and if they have a large enough budget they might be able to outbid the media outlets content with their own message - radio - t.v. - Internet - magazines. It costs money to deliver a message. It costs money to create media.

Reliable news outlets take great care instituting policies that separate and shield journalists from financial interests.

Some nations require time for politicians messages to be delivered - they force media outlets to hold debates. Even in America, for many years, a handful of news outlets were forced through legislation to offer time to candidates in a balanced fashion. Since the airways were leased they had that right. But this is the age of satellite radio, partisan websites, 600 channel cable franchises. A digital democracy is a tough machine to control - perhaps - impossible.

Legislation to renew fairness doctrine is anything but fair - a partisan attack armed with the knowledge that conservatives are far more likely to listen to the radio and liberals more inclined to use the Internet to gather news (due to current demographics). The lines are blurring …