Democracy – When The Abuser Goes To Work…

Big Tech Tests Gullibility of U.S. Voters

So, it seems that Big Tech will continue to kick former GOP President Donald J. Trump off the major communications platforms in America.

And Americans are being asked to believe this is because he poses a continuing threat to Democracy.

How gullible do you have to be to buy that explanation?

This week, a Facebook appointed advisory group and YouTube, which is owned by Alphabet, the parent company of Google, ratified the continued suspension of Trump from their platforms. Twitter has permanently banned Trump.

Trump is the pivotal figure in the Republican Party because 75 million Americans voted for him in 2020. Trump is not only being silenced but he is stymied with respect to fundraising.

Trump’s ban from the modern-day public square could have serious consequences for the GOP in the next election, which will decide control of the Congress.

Two Party System?

The United States has a two-party political system but one party, the GOP, has had one hand tied behind its back by three left-leaning billionaires from Silicon Valley, Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, Sundar Pichai of Alphabet, and Jack Dorsey of Twitter.

Why America’s Free Press Is Circling The Drain

After 45 years in the news business, Marty Baron had no answers for how to address the flailing state of the U.S. media.

Baron, who retired as executive editor of The Washington Post (WP) on Feb. 28, was interviewed Sunday by CBS correspondent Leslie Stahl.

He criticized former GOP President Donald J. Trump for declaring that papers like the WP report “fake news” and for calling reporters the “enemy of the people.” Baron declared that democracy will not die in darkness because of the WP.

Of course, Baron knows that Trump is not the real problem with the media today.

The real problem is that Congress has allowed six corporations to control about 90% of media outlets in United States, and most owners are multi-national corporations that have little or no commitment to the First Amendment or the traditional values of America’s free press.

Baron’s assessment is emblematic of the shocking and extreme dearth of intellectual scholarship about the current and future state of the media. Instead, news anchors and journalism professors are teaching students to capitulate to corporate ownership by losing any semblance of objectivity.

Baron had nothing but praise for Jeff Bezos, the owner of the WP and the owner of Amazon, which many consider to be a monopoly in flagrant violation of U.S. anti-trust laws. Baron said Bezos came to the Post in 2013 with a visionary plan to expand its coverage from a regional newspaper to a national digital publication. (Of course, The New York Times had already launched a digital platform in 1996 and a subscription-based internet paper in 2011.)

The Demonization Of The GOP Threatens U.S. Democratic Process

Think of the City of Groton, CT, as the canary in the coal mine.

The New London Day newspaper reported today that all of the Republicans slated to run for local office in May in the City of Groton have withdrawn due to concern about a “hostile and threatening” environment for Republicans created by “increased, nationally publicized threats, intimidation and bullying of Republicans by many liberal Democrats… “

Miners put canaries in coal mines to detect carbon monoxide and other toxic gases before they hurt humans. The oxygen required for a healthy democracy is the willingness of people to run for political office so that voters have a choice over competing ideas. What happens when one political party can’t get candidates to run for office?

If the City of Groton is any indication, America’s Democracy is suffocating.

The City of Groton’s Republican Committee states in a press release that the candidates who withdrew expressed concern for the “safety and welfare of themselves and their family” and fear of being “subjected to unjustified public ridicule and embarrassment by Democrats supporting the liberal left…”

The Capitol Building break-in on Jan. 6 in Washington, D.C., exacerbated an existing atmosphere of negativity toward Republicans “whether they supported Donald Trump or not during the 2020 elections,” states the press release.

Election: U.S. At A Crossroads

Trust is the glue that binds any relationship together, including the relationship between citizens and their government.

The presidential elections is a dagger in the heart of the relationship between tens of millions of American voters who question the integrity of the election and the U.S. government’s response (or lack, thereof).

As poet Maya Angelou said, people will forget what you said and what you did but “people will never forget how you made them feel.”

What is most important right now is that many Americans feel, with some justification, that their voice was illegally silenced and their rights as American citizens were abridged. It is the consequences of erosion of trust that should be most concerning right now.

In Times Like These, America is Counting on … Who?

Democracy in America is under attack, according to The National Judicial College.

The NCJ, based in Reno, NV, sounds a warning bell in an email fundraising appeal entitled, “In times like these, America is counting on judges.”

According to the NCJ:

“Democracy’s last line of defense is being tested … Today many foundational elements of democratic civil society are under attack: law enforcement, a free press, an impartial judiciary insulated from the influence of the political branches.”

The NCJ says judges were charged by the framers of the U.S. Constitution to serve as a check “against unjust acts by the executive or legislative branches.” It urges recipients to donate now to “defend the rule of law.”

So apparently judges are the only thing standing between America and fascism? Are these the same judges who authorized dark money in political elections through the Citizen’s United ruling and who refuse to televise their proceedings?

The NCJ calls itself “the nation’s premier judicial education institution.” It is affiliated with the University of Nevada at Reno.