Along with the Supreme Court having unleashed massive spending by the 1%, the extremely wealthy, spending to control the selection of election candidates and to control the election of their candidates; there has developed an extensive opposition opposed to the political objectives of the super-wealthy. That opposition primarily attempts to compete in the arena dominated by the wealthy, the arena of massive financial resources, massive spending.
It is based on solicitation of contributions from the other 99% – an attempt to compete against the massive wealth of the wealthy few with large numbers of small contributions from ordinary citizens.
That approach to the problem is playing the game the way the super wealthy want it played. Yes, in theory a vast majority of ordinary citizens should be able to determine the kind of government and its behavior, should be able to dominate the wealthy few because they are few, but the strength of the vast majority of ordinary citizens as a group lies not in its money, which it marginally has only enough of for every day living.
Rather, the power of the vast majority of ordinary citizens is in its vote. It has the power to act in its own interest, to turn out and vote for its own wishes and needs, to ignore and reject the wealthy oligarch’s propaganda and disinformation. It has the power to reject the racist, religious, and class competition among themselves conditioned into them by the wealthy.
There is only one way to reach that objective – organization. The efforts put into fund raising in a useless effort to compete at the level of the super wealthy must be put into one – on – one person – to – person organizing. It must educate all of that vast majority of ordinary citizens to the truth about the situation, motivating them to also participate in the organizing and educating effort, and motivating them to dominate the electoral process in their favor.
The enemy, the 1%, cannot be defeated by fighting them on their terms, where their strength lies, money and wealth.
They can only be defeated by joint, cooperative, informed and enlightened, motivated action by all of the ordinary citizens.
That is the only way for the 99% to take their country back from the 1%.
We’re not backing down in the face of Trump’s threats.
As Donald Trump is inaugurated a second time, independent media organizations are faced with urgent mandates: Tell the truth more loudly than ever before. Do that work even as our standard modes of distribution (such as social media platforms) are being manipulated and curtailed by forces of fascist repression and ruthless capitalism. Do that work even as journalism and journalists face targeted attacks, including from the government itself. And do that work in community, never forgetting that we’re not shouting into a faceless void – we’re reaching out to real people amid a life-threatening political climate.
Our task is formidable, and it requires us to ground ourselves in our principles, remind ourselves of our utility, dig in and commit.
As a dizzying number of corporate news organizations – either through need or greed – rush to implement new ways to further monetize their content, and others acquiesce to Trump’s wishes, now is a time for movement media-makers to double down on community-first models.
At Truthout, we are reaffirming our commitments on this front: We won’t run ads or have a paywall because we believe that everyone should have access to information, and that access should exist without barriers and free of distractions from craven corporate interests. We recognize the implications for democracy when information-seekers click a link only to find the article trapped behind a paywall or buried on a page with dozens of invasive ads. The laws of capitalism dictate an unending increase in monetization, and much of the media simply follows those laws. Truthout and many of our peers are dedicating ourselves to following other paths – a commitment which feels vital in a moment when corporations are evermore overtly embedded in government.
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