General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: (Must get this off chest).... Unless Obama walks his talk on Net Neutrality, he is a Phony [View all]Armstead
(47,803 posts)I try to be hopeful and all of that. But over time, I've seen these same mistakes repeated -- and I'm sick of seeing preventable disasters being allowed to happen due to a combination of public apathy (or misinformation), the greed of Corporate Oligarchs, and the corruption and weakness of political leaders, especially those in the Democratic Party who claim to represent core democratic and liberal values.
(And yes, we hire politicians -- but we hire them to lead based on our collective interests, not on what their corporate sponsors want.)
There are always many scenarios possible, including compromises and flexibility. But frankly I don't see that happening. Instead we put into place Corporate Monopoly Empires that are almost unshakable -- such as Too Big To Fail Banks and Media Monopolies who have a chokehold over the information infrastructure.
In the long run these things get WORSE and more entrenched, because it becomes more difficult to pry loose the grip that the Oligarchs gain, with their ever growing power and wealth. Look at how the Banksters were REWARDED for tanking the economy instead of being broken up and hauled off to jail for their crimes.
And we see the demise of the middle class, the worsening of the position of the lower classes, while a handful of Fat Greedy Pigs at the top siphon all of our money to themselves and buy the political process with our acquiescence.
I hope you are correct. But right now I am very angry and disheartened as I see YET AGAIN a complacent WH and Congress allowing the concentration of wealth and power in the media to move into an ever higher gear through the same patterns of mergers, deregulation and corruption. (In this case, the combination of the Comcast merger, Direct TV/ATT merger and the dismantling of Net Neutrality)
I would love to see that pattern change.