Mr. Smith's B__gers Go To YearlyKos

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Sunday June 04, 2006 · 4:04 PM PDT

2006/06/04 · 16:04

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is on Turner Classic Movies again right now, and 67 years later it's more topical than ever. Pliant, corrupt politicians slip giant earmarks into bills for corporate cronies. Graft and bribery. Publishing and public opinion totally controlled by Mr. Taylor's corporate owned media. And news reporters so cynical, they treat Washington reporting more like entertainment than democracy.

Except for one idealistic group of enthusiastic, inexperienced fledgling journalists, with their own presses and their own technology for spreading the truth. Daring to speak out.

B__ ger - "Taylor's running things, isn't he?"
Governor - "What does Mr. Taylor have to do with this? I won't have talk like that.... I'm in no mood to listen to childish prattle.
B__ ger - "When are you gonna get the guts to stand up to them and be your own man?"

Who are those brave B__gers?

No, it wasn't the Bloggers back in Frank Capra's movie - they were called the Boy Rangers. Only now we serve that function.

Our current Net Neutrality struggle comes near the climax of the movie. The corporate media literally aims to run the Rangers' news wagons off the road with their giant newspaper trucks. But today it looks like despite a corrupt Congress and FCC peddling telecom interests, we've gotten our message out and Net Neutrality can win the day.

These are by no means the only strong modern analogies. Jimmy Stewart's idealistic, unstoppable Jefferson Smith reminds some people of Russ Feingold. Against all the odds, he fights and wins the day, even when he's filibustering on the Senate floor and can't always hear directly from his network of helpers.

As many of us head off to YearlyKos for our first national B__ger convention, catch Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and let its timeless insight and idealism inspire you.

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