It seems that issues that beset us, the peace-makers of this country, are circular—our government is systemically corrupt and individually corrupt, corporations and individuals almost indistinguishable in goals and actions, and information provided to us, the public, spoon-fed from those same individuals and corporations. Elections are corrupt and since government officials appoint judges, they too are–in some cases—tainted or suspect. The establishment (so-called) feeds us fear and mis-information, often dis-information, and the circle continues; the public sometimes heroically surfaces and its cries echo across the countryside, but then these cries subside as we all go back to work, or to our families, or go off to hide and try to save our souls.
So: where to start? Many possibilities exist. Right now, I’m advocating working toward freeing our communication media. I’m talking mainly here of local outlets, of local radio programs specifically—let others (and I hope they will!!) liberate our tv, our print media, our personal communications. But we all have to choose where we put our efforts.
Recently in Corvallis, articles and letters were written about the death of a former radio host who reputedly, a few decades ago, offered a local radio show that included a community bulletin board and that responded to community needs and interests. Many people enjoyed that contact via the radio waves and – now that corporations own most of the radio stations and offer automated and impersonal programming – miss the daily contact with a human being and miss the information about their neighbors and their community. This indicates to me that not just the "peace-niks" of the community, but all of us, could respond to a truly local radio presence, and it could unite us.
Currently the Federal Communications Commission, dominated by 3 Republicans (of 5 on the commission, the other 2 people dissent from them and want to go back to a time when the FCC, fulfilling its mandate, required broadcasters to provide public service for their use of the public airwaves, and did not favor monopolies controlling information), is moving to extend the right of information monopolies to control more and more media. Its rules thus are cutting back the public’s right to read, to hear, to enjoy "alternative" media, alternative in the sense of being something different from the canned accounts and perspectives of the rulers—and could provide varied content, varied styles, varied stimulation.
In the early days of the country, alternative media might be a printing press with a newspaper, well within the possibilities of a young, relatively poor entrepreneur such as Benjamin Franklin to provide — but no more. Yet if regulations were changed, given the internet, given the possibility of low-power fm radio stations, these possibilities, in different shapes and styles of course, could still exist. It is therefore imperative that all of us do all in our power (write Congress-folk, FCC commissioners; work for a totally new and different administration at all levels, federal and state and local) to achieve these goals.
Right now, to me, though there are MANY efforts that all of us need to be and want to be involved in, these seem paramount. Somehow, some way, some of us must break through the circle that binds us.
The world is heating up with potential dire consequences - major cities underwater, dangerous weather patterns emerging and agriculture around the world threatened. So what is the number one topic in presidential debates? Illegal immigration.
Nineteen fanatics murdered thousands and destroyed billions in property on September 11, 2001. It was a criminal act of enormous proportion. But instead of treating it as a crime, we started a war against a country that had nothing to do with the act. Iraq, once a nation with a thriving middle class, but with a nasty leader, is a wreck. It was a country where people of differing religions lived in relative harmony but now, thanks to the US invasion, is rife with hatred So lets talk about illegal immigrants.
Our economy is in tatters as China, India and the Emirates hold billions of dollars in US debt. Major manufacturing has been shipped offshore so that "made in the USA" is becoming increasingly anachronistic. Personal, corporate and government debt is at a level that is unsurpassed and China is becoming the world's number one economy. Russia, only a few years ago was struggling to find direction but is now awash in dollars. So what do we ask the future leader of the free world? "What would you do about illegal immigration?"
Our personal freedom is rapidly being eroded as our emails are siphoned off to government computers. The Military Commissions Act cast aside the Constitution and the principle of habeas corpus, which protects against unlawful and indefinite imprisonment. It also gave the president absolute power to designate enemy combatants, and to set his own definitions for torture. But what about illegal immigrants?
Health care is administered first to those with good insurance or cash, plenty of it. If you have neither, tough. In New York, the financial, literary and artistic capital of the world, there are those who sleep on grates under cardboard.
Illegal immigration is a problem with no solution but strong opinions. Therefore it is an ideal subject for debate. People get stirred up about it. This nation of immigrants has a long history of animosity towards immigrants whether they were Italians, Irish, Jews, Russians, Chinese or anybody else who didn't look and talk like us. Eventually, they were assimilated and made the United States a stronger, more vibrant nation. But illegal immigration has nothing to do with the problems that we, and the next president will face.