There is a civil war going on in our country and it is starting to show up in Congress. It is a war that is fought with words and the battle field is on cable TV and talk radio. It started back in the eighties when the floodgates were opened by doing away with the Fairness Doctrine. Conservatives were tired of being kept silent, tired of being polite, and tired of watching their tongue in mixed company. They wanted to unleash their hate, venom, and true feelings in public without consequences. What they said behind closed doors about blacks, gays, the lazy poor, unions, government workers, and bleeding heart liberals in general could now be expressed in public!
Their first major victory was a takeover of talk radio. AM Radio was a dying industry that was revitalized by conservative talk show hosts. The more outrageous, the more listeners they would have. Nobody questioned what was being said because station owners were making money and main stream media thought nobody listened to the radio anymore. Quietly, they amassed millions of soldiers in their war of words. They tapped into fear, anger, prejudice, and a frustration that their listeners felt. They fed into these strong visceral emotions and got a tremendous response from a certain segment of society. Their words were divisive and mean spirited but that didn't matter, their ratings kept getting stronger and stronger, which meant more money for the radio stations. After all, it is a business, it didn't matter what they were pushing!
Next, the expansion of the cable networks was fertile ground for the conservative movement. Roger Ailes, the former head of the Republican National Committee, became the founding father of FOX News and quickly stacked the deck with right wing zealots. He cleverly marketed the news station as,"Fair and Balanced", and it quickly became a legitimate news station surpassing CNN. Republicans had their own news station in which they could enforce their talking points each day. It was a 24/7 political advertisement for their platform, it didn't cost a dime, and and it changed the political landscape forever. FOX News today is a propaganda machine for the right wing of this country!
Now that they controlled the air waves, the next step was to organize ground troops. Dick Army and the Koch brothers put their money behind the Tea Party movement and in an off-year election, made inroads into the fabric of our government, the House of Representatives. They know that the House controls the purse strings in this country, and nothing gets done without money. This was their opportunity to derail the Obama administration by denying him any legislation. After bankrupting the country for eight years under the Bush administration, they suddenly decided that the deficit was too large and no new revenue would be allowed. Even though every legitimate economist agreed that the government needed to spend our way out of this historic recession in order to avoid a worldwide depression, they refused to play ball. Even the polls favored the democratic position of taxing the top 2% to create a jobs program, but they were still playing rope-a- dope, stalling the President's agenda.
This all sets the table for the election of 2012! They know that most people are ignorant, easily swayed by bumper sticker slogans, and the President will take the blame for the "failed"economy. Their plan to to take over the country altogether is almost complete! They are almost there! All they need is the cooperation of the ignorant on election day, people who will vote against their own self interests, and their mission is complete. They will have won the un-civil war! Unless enough people see through their plan. Wake up, America!
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