Posted by
Always To The Right on Friday, July 31, 2009 5:19:39 PM
The leftward movement of American politics has tracked almost
exactly with the development of mass media, from radio to TV to the
Internet. Overt political bias from the media is not as damaging as the
general environment of permanent crisis they foster, accompanied by
heroic narratives of brave and compassionate politicians with Big Ideas
about how to rescue us from this week’s nightmare. This attitude is
essentially inevitable from the media, because fearful crises and bold
actions are the product they sell to their consumers. You’ll never see
a news anchor kick off his nightly report by admitting nothing much
happened today. Not even Fox News, routinely described as the
“conservative” news network, is immune to sensationalism - far from it.
Like all the other networks, Fox has a prestigious Washington bureau,
staffed with people who are breathlessly eager to report on the latest
adventures of our executive and legislative action heroes.
The idea that government is morally or legally prevented from
addressing a major issue - the very heart and soul of the Constitution
- is dismissed out of hand. James Madison’s assertion that “I cannot
undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which
granted a right to Congress of expending, on the objects of
benevolence, the money of their constituents” would be a complete
non-starter in today’s political climate. Rewrite that statement to
make it sound like it came from a modern leader, and it would be
swiftly denounced as uncaring and out-of-touch, the mutterings of a
callous tool of the rich who foolishly thinks government should let
poor people suffer, to finance tax breaks for his wealthy friends.