{"id":6965,"date":"2017-11-30T09:24:56","date_gmt":"2017-11-30T17:24:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=6965"},"modified":"2017-11-30T09:24:56","modified_gmt":"2017-11-30T17:24:56","slug":"theres-strategic-deadly-attack-aimed-us-republic-not-russians","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2017\/11\/30\/theres-strategic-deadly-attack-aimed-us-republic-not-russians\/","title":{"rendered":"There\u2019s a Strategic and Deadly Attack Aimed at the US Republic, But It\u2019s Not the Russians"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The nation’s powerful anti-democratic forces have had a plan for decades\u2014a diabolic and wildly successful plan.<\/h3>\n
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by John Atcheson<\/a>\u00a0(commondreams.org)<\/div>\n
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“As we watch Trump\u2019s antics, follow his tweets, and fret over the Russians,” writes Atcheson, “the real danger is taking place beneath our national nose, as the oligarchy tightens its control over the press.” (Image: Pixabay\/CC0)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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An all-out assault on our freedom began in earnest 46 years ago, when Lewis Powell issued a\u00a034-page memo<\/a>\u00a0on August 23, 1971 in response to a request from the Chamber of Commerce.\u00a0 Their campaign was strategic, patient, inexorable, and fueled by billions of dollars.<\/p>\n

As Powell\u00a0put it<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Strength lies in organization, in careful long-range planning and implementation, in consistency of action over an indefinite period of years, in the scale of financing\u00a0available only through joint effort, and in the political power available only through united action and national organizations.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

A collection of wealthy conservatives funded what was a de facto coup, setting up foundations and think tanks designed to discredit government while portraying free markets as the source of salvation. To accomplish it they established a conservative presence in the press, educational institutions, and civil society \u2013 indeed, their coup aimed to completely change the cultural and philosophical assumptions underpinning the nature of our Republic, the principles it was founded upon, and the role of corporations in society.<\/p>\n

“Make no mistake, this takeover was intentional and it is the last step a decades long strategy to take over a free and independent press.”<\/p>\n

And it has been spectacularly successful.<\/p>\n

Today, the remnants of the last impediment to their takeover are being swept away \u2013 specifically, the remains of rules designed to assure an informed citizenry.\u00a0 Thomas Jefferson said he would prefer newspapers without government over government without newspapers. Today, we are losing the press, and as a result, losing the informed citizenry that has been the foundation of our freedoms since our nation was formed.<\/p>\n

The Death of Independent Media<\/strong><\/p>\n

This trust in an informed public has been a cornerstone to our freedoms for more than two centuries, but now, the oligarch\u2019s offensive is nearing fruition, giving them near total victory.<\/p>\n

As we watch Trump\u2019s antics, follow his tweets, and fret over the Russians, the real danger is taking place beneath our national nose, as the oligarchy tightens its control over the press.\u00a0 Three trends\u2014the death of net neutrality, scuttling FCC rules limiting cross media ownership in local markets, and the culmination of two decades of mergers will leave citizens a press of, by, and for the corporations.<\/p>\n

Make no mistake, this takeover was intentional and it is the last step a decades long strategy to take over a free and independent press.<\/p>\n

Democracy\u2019s Last Act \u2013 Three Strikes and We\u2019re Out<\/strong><\/p>\n

Net Neutrality:\u00a0With the end of net neutrality, a few giant corporations will control the ease of your access to the Internet, and the costs of and to the sites you visit. Outlets which don\u2019t toe the neoliberal, corporatist line will be buried in virtual static, they may be frozen out of the system by fees, and they will almost certainly get less bandwidth.<\/p>\n

FCC Rules:\u00a0The changes watering down the FCC rules designed to assure a diversity of views have been going on\u00a0since Reagan, and Bill Clinton doubled down on Reagan’s assault<\/a>, but what\u2019s happening right now is the death knell for an independent media.\u00a0 Trump and his minion, FCC chair Ajit Pai, have rolled back what\u2019s left of the FCC\u2019s power by rolling back rules governing \u201ccross ownership\u201d of newspapers, radio and TV stations in the same market.\u00a0 This makes the proposed acquisition of Tribune Media by the Sinclair Broadcast Group an easy sell.\u00a0 Sinclair\u2014the Hobby Lobby of broadcasting\u2014has close ties to the Trump Administration<\/a>, and further deregulation would give it coverage of some 72% of American households. Sinclair regularly requires their local broadcasters to repeat counter-factual right-wing jihads handed down from corporate headquarters on the nightly news.<\/p>\n

“It is up to us\u2014the citizenry\u2014to fight a pitched battle against the political charlatans who pretend to represent us while serving the interests of the rich and corporations.”<\/p>\n

Mergers and Monopolies:\u00a0The Sinclair buy out is only the latest in a two-decade long consolidation of the media.\u00a0 A\u00a0twenty-year frenzy of mergers has put about 90 percent of the country\u2019s major media outlets under the control of just six corporations.<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Limits on cross media ownership made local media the last bastion of an independent and diverse press.<\/p>\n

If these rules are scuttled and the Sinclair buy-out happens, it will be the equivalent of the Foxification of local news.\u00a0 Study after study shows that Fox News viewers are among the least informed Americans\u2014in fact,\u00a0one study revealed\u00a0Fox<\/em>\u00a0viewers were less informed than those who watched no news at all.<\/a>\u00a0 With this merger, Jefferson\u2019s fears will be realized\u2014our democracy,\u00a0already firmly in the hands of the oligarchy<\/a>, will take its last gasp.<\/p>\n

Trump may be a buffoon, but he is the perfect useful idiot, distracting us\u2014probably unwittingly\u2014from the carefully crafted script written by experts. These three initiatives are their last act.\u00a0 When the curtain drops, our more than 230-year experiment with a Democratic Republic fashioned on Enlightenment principles will be over.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t look to the Democrats to prevent it.\u00a0 As they demonstrated at the Democracy Alliance\u2019s recent meeting in La Costa California, they are firmly committed to the same old game of chasing corporations and fat cats for their money and, inevitably, serving their interests not the people\u2019s.<\/p>\n

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Which means it is up to us\u2014the citizenry\u2014to fight a pitched battle against the political charlatans who pretend to represent us while serving the interests of the rich and corporations. It\u2019s up to us to demand representatives who actually represent us. And it has to start with reversing\u00a0fighting the attacks on net neutrality and the FCC.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n