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The simple reality of the fact is that the Press is called the Fourth Estate for a reason. I don't think that there will be much debate that they have grossly failed the American people the last 20 years or so. A cursory look at the way the press has conducted itself since the Iran-Contra scandal to Bill Clinton to the passes the Bush administration has been allowed, will reveal that something is very wrong with our media in this country. Investigative journalism, responsible reporting, have gone out of the window in the interest of promoting sensational bologna that have no real bearing on the long term issues that are confronting America. In the wake of revelations brought forward in the Downing Street Minutes, the media instead reporting on the idiotic run-away bride. However, that is only part of the problem.
Another aspect, which you touched on in your post, is that the media is influencing our politics. Since I am of the camp that believes that the media has become dominated by right-wing ideologues I believe that the media is acting in its own best interests rather than the interests of the nation. The right-wing fluff of a myth that the media is liberally biased should have long ago been put to rest, but in the upside-down world of Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Candy Crowley, and Bill O'Reilly, there is a bias against those now proved stalwarts of honesty and conservatism, the Republicans. (Surely, you know that I jest...) The Republicans in the Capital and on the television have a strong interest in influencing what should rightly be Democratic policies. What am I getting at exactly?
Well, since the media has a vested SELF-interest in defining the debate, like the Republicans, Democrats across the spectrum -- progressives, liberals, moderates, and conservatives -- should be asking themselves why right-wing personalities are so concerned with influencing Democratic policies. This whole issue goes hand-in-hand with a problem that the Democrats in Congress only now seem to be waking up to; that is, so long as we allow Republicans to define the debate with wedge issues in the like, they are in control of the public discourse. It seems that those of the progressive branch in our party would instantly know how to respond to these regressive techniques. The reaction is that there should be NO reaction. Democrats need to learn to get ahead of the issues, get in front of them, and define the debate before Republicans and their allies in the media attempt to define their positions before the body politic.
If Democrats begin to behave in a proactive manner rather than reactive the national conversation on such pressing matters as Iraq, health-care, education, right to choice, civil rights, and any other manner of issues would be redefined. Furthermore, I also believe that Democrats as a whole are more in line with the views of the mainstream American than either the media or Republicans would have the American people believe. Republicans have continually charged over the last couple of years that Democrats have no plans, but many of us here have rightly debated those plans. Nonetheless, it is not enough that DUers -- who are rightly defined as political junkies -- debate those plans. If the Democrats in Congress really want to connect with the American people they need to bring those plans forward.
I always thought that the idea of Newt Gingrich proposing a Contract with America was a bit of hogwash. Why? Simple. It was more of a case of dictation than anything else. He didn't bother to see what the American people wanted and what direction the American people wanted to take this country. This was evident in the witch hunt of President William Jefferson Clinton. It was even more telling that the media played such a huge role in that sensationalist nonsense. Poles indicated that the American people did not want to impeach President Clinton, but the media and Congressional Republicans chose to do so anyway. Why? Because the whole idea of a Contract with America was never based on the wishes of the American people. It was based on the wishes of right-wing ideologues far too influenced by partisan pressure and opinion than by the views of the people they were supposed to represent. However, Democrats have the chance to change all of that now.
Democrats need to initiate a Conversation with America. Remember the old town-hall style meetings that were quite dominant in the northeastern United States? That is precisely what Democrats need to be doing when in recess from Congress. They need to engage the American people in a conversation about what direction Americans want this country to take in regards to both foreign and domestic policy. If, IF, they do this they can begin to cement a permanent majority, so long as they enact the recommendations of those they represent, their employers. The incoming Democratic leadership is fond of saying they want a transparent government. While this is a fine idea, a noble one, it is not enough. Transparency must be linked with engaging conversation.
If Democrats go out among the people by making their government more accessible to them it is going to be in stark contrast to the policies that Republicans have followed on issues from Terri Schiavo to stem cell research to implementing the 9/11 Commission recommendations. Whereas Americans voted Republicans out of office because they didn't seem to care what people thought, I believe that Americans would vote Democrats back into office because they ENGAGE them in CONVERSATION, not dictatorial contracts. Americans will see that Democrats really are trying to do what is best for them and in that way there will be a firewall, a buffer, put in place that will make a joke of the right-wing spin espoused by the media and Congressional Republicans who do not have the American people's interests at heart.
No longer will it be as easy for the media to influence Democratic policies or to define the debate, because the debate will be going on among the American people like it does in the micro-society of DU. By employing this proactive and populist tactics, Democrats will be going a long way in not only obtaining a lengthy majority, but staying in touch with their constituents and not falling into the pitfalls of power. Democrats can make themselves the representatives of the American people who are largely middle-class, tax paying, law-abiding people who want to do the right thing. The label of tax-and-spend liberals will be hard to place on Democrats if conversations are dominated by the proactive actions and legislation of Democrats rather than the half-truths and outright lies spewed by the likes of Rush Limbaugh.
Well... I hope that I really gave your post a response it deserves. I think you have hit on something, and I think that it is important that Democrats stop letting the media influence their actions and policies. I think it's important that Democrats begin to define the debate, initiate a Conversation with America, and get back to a government of the people, by the people, and for the people.
PS: I think I just wrote the rough draft for my next article... Thanks!
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