Now that Glenn Beck is on the run it is time to take on a new target. He isn't really a worthy opponent, and appears to be about 5 minutes away from self-destruction anyway. I propose we go after paid political ads on TV next.
The present campaign finance system has been built up for many years, and has many perverse incentives to keep the status quo. One of the major factors is that the present incumbents know they have to spend a lot of money on TV advertising if they expect to stay in office, and this drives most of their fund-raising efforts. This makes them all too controllable by Big Pharma, the insurers, the banks, the media, and other big money players whose interests don't parallel my own.
The Fourth Estate (newspapers, TV, etc.) have the responsibility of shining light on evil things that are happening. They have been co-opted in this system. Political ads are a big part of their revenue stream. They have few incentives to shine the light on phony Astroturfing and stage-managed protests, or other abuses of the moneyed interests, and they know they will be punished by reduced advertising if they do. The broadcast media were given free use of one of my assets, my ownership of the airwaves as a citizen. They should provide political advertising for free, as remuneration for use of a national asset. This one change would start a trend in the right direction.
This subject has been discussed for many years but little if anything is done about it. Who would we expect to carry the argument? Anyone on TV who started a campaign about it would soon be shipped to the Peoria affiliate. The same is true of newspapers, who tend to share owners with TV stations. Incumbents have figured out how to live in the present system and have no motivation to make it easier for new rivals. There isn't anyone in the Old System to champion this cause.
Who in the New System could do it? Blogs, of course! Their funding is in no way related to TV ad revenues. We are the logical opposition army in this quest. I don't want to be the captain in this effort, but I'm willing to be a soldier, and predict many other will be soldiers too. Or maybe blog campaigns don't need captains.
What we do need are good slogans, or whatever these words are called in the political process .The words don't have to reflect reality, but they should disparage the opposition. Some candidates:
Socialized Political Advertising
"Those TV stations are taking funds from Public Officials to raise my taxes."
Airspace Giveaway
"The TV stations are given my airspace free or at miniscule cost, and don't give back anything else for compensation."
More descriptive, politically-loaded phrases are solicited.
'Thuse