Years ago I made a resolution not to let the latest headlines of the day distract my attention from the real important issues in society. I realized that the incestuous relationship between corporate conglomerates, which act as cartels, and the mass media they've taken control over, resulted in a media environment that disseminates false narratives, misinformation, sensationalism, and outright propaganda, all to the benefit of the parasitic corporate cartels who owns it.
I covered this topic in-depth in a previous diary (click here to view).
The most important topics that need widespread news coverage are issues like how the Bush administration lied to take the country into a war of choice for illegal reasons, including personal vendettas and the enrichment of military contractors associated with the Bush regime. Also, how allegations of what were clearly war crimes were not properly investigated, by choice.
Other important topics include the unprecedented looting of the national coffers by Wall Street, and the subsequent government cover-up, again, because of the symbiotic relationship between powerful moneyed interests and their puppets in government.
And then there is the nationwide legislative trend to enact increasingly punishing and draconian laws, pushed by private prison corporations who will benefit direclty.
Nothing affects the lives of average citizens than the pervasive, endemic, and widespread cronyism that has infected cities and states across the entire country, again, driven by the ability of corporatist cartels to buy off politicians with special favors, campaign contributions, lucrative jobs, and many times, old-fashioned bribery and influence peddling.
Nothing is more damaging to society than the existence of a two-tiered legal system, where average citizens are subjected to increasingly punishing and draconian laws, while the rich and powerful get pass or a slap on the wrist.
And finally, there are the issues related to our disappearing constitutional rights, the widespread expansion of a total-information-awareness surveillance security/police state, and again, a lot of it pushed by nefarious corporate interests, acting behind close doors, hidden from public scrutiny.
Something that should be very concerning to progressives is the trend on the so-called liberal media, which has now become obsessed with reporting on every single "outrage" committed by Republicans and the right wing. The reporting mainly serves to inflame emotions of the "liberal" viewers, but really have very little effect on addressing the real issues we should be confronting.
It sets up an us vs. them (Democrats/Liberals vs. Republicans/Conservatives) narrative which leads to mindless tribalism, which at the ends distracts from real important issues, like confronting the widespread revolving door corruption and cronyism in government (regardless of political party).
Initiative
In order to address this issue, I came up with an idea I'd like to share with readers in the hopes of getting as much participation as possible. I'd like to build a database of news, specifically about government corruption across the country (in towns/cities, states, and at the federal level). In addition to news about outright corruption, I'm also particularly interested in revolving door cronyism, of instances when government officials leave public service to go work for lobbying firms, or any instance in which it is believed that the entity hiring the former public officials in doing so because of that official's prior public service (for profit motives).
As part of this initiative, I will be reaching out (recruiting) volunteer analysts to identify patterns, sources of corruption, and regional, national, and international trends. The findings will then be made available to anti-corruption activists to arm themselves with detailed information in order to put pressure on corrupt government agencies to clean up their acts.
I'd like to make this as easy and as simple as possible. All you have to do is submit the title of the news article, and the URL (web address): Click here to submit news about government corruption.
If you are interested in joining my network (click here to join) of social justice and anti-corruption activists, please join my mailing list. You don't have to do much to be an "activist." If you just share news about important issues once in a while, that would be just great. Of course, I'm also interested in connecting with people who have more time and resources to get more fully involved.
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