General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: From BBC: "Study: US is an oligarchy, not a democracy" [View all]PatrickforO
(14,557 posts)My assumption, which may be in error, is that the American people were much more informed about issues in the past, and more likely to vote.
Consider the populist movement in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. At heart this movement was about whether we should allow bankers to control money supply or whether the government should. This movement stemmed from a longstanding argument which began while the states were still colonies, and which the bankers eventually won with the shady passage (Dec. 22, 1913, when most members of Congress were home) of the Federal Reserve Act of 1913.
Now, however you or I might feel about the merits of the populist argument, you must admit that it takes a certain amount of understanding to take an intelligent position on the matter.
Next, think about old newspapers. Google some and look at the copy. I mean, we're looking at maybe 8 columns of small text going into detail about the stories and issues of the day. Even the illiterate were better informed that Americans today because people would publically read the newspaper articles aloud and then the group would argue about it.
What I believe is that the current popular media, polluted by the 1971 Powell memo, Reagan's killing of the Fairness Doctrine, and the proliferation of hate-talk radio and Fox 'news' has seriously hurt any understanding the American people as a whole might get. Oh, sure, you can now get better information if you are a decent researcher and can discern bullshit from reality. Hell, with the internet, we have the sum total of human knowledge right at our fingertips. What we lack is the public forums for debate. It just doesn't happen.
So, smart people who can give you a detailed and sophisticated analysis of their favorite sports team, or name all the contestants on American Idol or The Voice or America's got Talent, cannot even place most other countries on maps or say what our three branches of government are.
Next, we have slime like the Koch brothers, who have funded, given a voice to, and politically empowered the John Birch crazy wing of the GOP and that group's new debate technique of denying the problem(s) advanced and if losing the debate based on facts, denying those facts, and if facts keep coming up, simply yelling louder than their interlocutor.
Last, we have six corporations who basically own ALL of our mainstream media, which is now driven by ratings and not truth. This group purposely underestimates our intelligence and has set for the meme, which has stuck, that we as a people are not sophisticated enough or patient enough to learn and understand nuance.
This is why, Indy, we are an oligarchy now as opposed to a working republic. Can you refute my arguments?