Occasionally I get an idea for an entry that I put on hold because of a series I am working on. After the 2008 election one of my immediate reflections that I put on hold was that corporate media, particularly the types such as Rush Limbaugh and Fox News, sunk the Republican Party. This is a point worth mentioning even now.
I know this sounds odd. Limbaugh has made no secret he supports the Republican Party. Fox News is a little more subtle, actually claiming to be fair and balanced, but they are managed by a former political operative for the Republican Party and owned by a neoconservative. There is no one paying attention to the empirical evidence that actually thinks Fox News exists to be fair and balanced.
Fair and balanced or not, Fox News is entertaining and popular, as is Rush Limbaugh. As they entertain they persuade, which has become a problem for the Republican Party. Our two-party system seldom has been accused of producing wisdom. As political parties they must have access to wealth and vested interests in order to succeed. Because of this they are not prone to self-regulation, adjusting flawed beliefs for any reason except to get a few more votes or dollars. They must rely on other controls to “keep them honest.”
For example, an opposition party is supposed to provide opposition, thus exposing the weaknesses in the ruling party’s platform. The case for invading Iraq had plenty of weaknesses, but they all seemed to escape the “opposition” party’s attention. This was due in part to the unpopularity of opposing the war cries, made unpopular thanks to uncritical championing of these cries by Fox News. Even now they are championing the notion that invading Iraq turned out to be one of Bush II’s successful actions. In regards to our foreign policy the first line of homeostatic defense to keeping a political system in balance was removed.
The second line of defense for keeping balance is internal strife. If the ruling party gets too large this should cause them to fragment into somewhat contentious factions. This certainly happened to the Democrats fifteen years ago, but in the new millennium the Republicans seemed to be avoiding this problem. Oh, there were fiscal conservatives complaining about Bush II not being the least bit fiscally conservative, but they were marginalized to an extent that probably made Democrats from the early nineties consumed with envy. One of the fiscal conservatives, former Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill, even was investigated for treason. Now there’s a ruling party that knows how to induce conformity!
Once again, Republicans were assisted in this mission of squelching internal dissent by the likes of Fox News and Rush Limbaugh. Limbaugh entertains by being critical of Democrats 24/7 (at least through 2008). Fox News entertains by having liberal positions be overmatched and drowned out by conservative counterparts. Both are heavy on the opinions and light on the evidence. With this backdrop the rank and file was perceived to be conforming to Bush II policy even as there were some critics of importance.
With such immunity provided to a ruling party by the fourth estate, now run by corporate media, there remains one last defense to keep a political system in balance: corruption. If all forms of opposition to a ruling party are removed they will tend to abuse their power. Abusing power rubs the citizens of a democracy the wrong way and they react by “throwing the bums out.” Even without their image tarnished by the abuse of power a dominant ruling party has the vulnerability of no one else to blame when things go wrong.
Had Fox News and Rush Limbaugh been more critical of their own, when criticism was more than overdue, the Republicans might be in better shape now. They might have self-regulated in response to pressures from the fourth estate before they were so soundly defeated. Even now you will not discover what Bush II and Republicans might have done wrong from Fox News and Rush Limbaugh. They now work hard at exposing any weaknesses in the current administration which, of course, should have been their function all along, regardless of the party in control.
Tags: Corporate Media, Middle Class Politics, Political Misinformation
