This article struck a chord with me today. Granted, it is a relatively minor piece of campaign news. It is notable because for this is the first time in a long while in which I actually thought the trend of media consolidation might actually be reversed.
The trend towards greater and greater media consolidation has been going on basically my entire life. It is one of those things I sometimes think about, which bothers me sometimes, but which I basically take as an inevitable fact of life. Clearly there are other battles to be fought, and most people don't really care about media consolidation.
More generally, when I read this article it hit me that issues of media consolidation are beside the point. What struck me was that in my entire lifetime we have never had a genuinely progressive president. Hell, we have only had two terms of a democrat in the office, as compared to five repulican terms. Obama (or Clinton) might not just get their way on media consolidation. They might get their way on the entire progressive agenda.
Now Clinton was a good president, but he was no progressive. Even as a moderate most of his more progressive agenda was blocked by a republican controlled congress. If Obama (or Clinton) is elected this November, we'll have a progressive president with a democratic congress for the first time in 28 years. That is pretty damn exciting, if you ask me.
Now, I'm a firm believer in political moderation. Too much power in one party's hands is bound to produce abuses. I think that the back and forth between political forces, rather than being destructive, is actually a good thing. Generally speaking we get nice gradual change as the country's mood oscillates between liberal and conservative. The trouble, though, is that the pendulum has been on the far right for a long time now. One party rule has produced abuses. So perhaps a little one party rule on the other side might be a good thing. Maybe we'll shift the political spectrum back towards the middle, instead of having as our options right and far-right policies.
This time around, it looks like it could happen, too.
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Yes, I agree that a Democrat (especially Barack) in the White House would be a great thing. I would like to think that the general dominance of Rebublicans over the past several decades is mainly just a kind of protectionist response to the fact that the world is changing faster than ever nowadays. Perhaps people like conservatives because they want to make the overwhelming change as gradual as possible. But, I think that having someone who actually em braces change and is not afraid of dealing with it honestly would in itself be a great change.
This is truly an exciting prospect. I think you're right: more than just a change in a few policies, I think a Democratic administration has the potential to usher in a paradigm shift in American political culture, much as Bush did about 7 years ago. He proved that it is acceptable for a government to war-monger, pander to corporations, neglect the environment, torture, etc.; a Dem administration could undo that, although it will take some time.
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