And Democracy too for that matter… The American People have supported precious little of what our government has done recently, and if more people knew the truth, there would be even less support. The deliberate efforts to misinform or simply not inform prevent the backlash wider understanding of Government policies would bring.
They must, for instance, prevent any discussion whatsoever of justice for the banksters, much less whether the criminals should face charges. Banish the thought that they should actually quit stealing or forfeit any of their ill-gotten gains. When OWS threatened to raise those issues on a wide scale they were brutally repressed. The 1% know what the consensus is on those subjects. (They don’t want too many of us knowing we’re all in agreement) They don’t tell us “austerity” is about allowing the looters to keep the loot while We the People eat the loss.
They never tell us their “trade agreements” will put our workers in competition with low paid third world people for our jobs. (A competition we’d lose handily by design) They didn’t say our former employers would get to pocket the production cost savings from cheaper labor and still sell their products here like always as if they weren’t imports. They know how much we’d support that.
There is pushback on these and plenty of other subjects, on both large and small scale. Not enough to actually influence policy. Certainly enough that there can be little doubt on any side that the will and wishes of the majority are routinely ignored or subverted. Especially if you consider the extent that people are deliberately misled.
For those paying attention, speaking of things like Democracy and “The Will of the People” seems more like a taunt. People are catching on, little by little. Too many still find it hard to accept that here in the USA their Government has been sold out from under them. But that’s changing. Perhaps those who protect this backwards status quo are the proverbial frogs who don’t notice the increasingly warm water…