Sunday, February 7, 2016

Wonky Tonk

"We'll take our country back!" say the candidates.
"Who took it away?" asks the citizen.
   
"We'll make America great again!" say the candidates.
"When did it stumble into failure?" asks the citizen.

   Meanwhile, by most objective measures, the U.S. continues its recovery from one of the worst decades in its history.
   The Great Recession ended seven years ago, disastrous wars in the Middle East have ended, employment and wages are up, production is increasing and the national deficit is declining.
   So who's complaining?
   Racists, xenophobes and the ultra-rich who fear a closing of the income gap, that's who.
   This election campaign has seen and heard many warnings and complaints alleging terrible things being done to America by the current President. But what's so terrible about more people working and more people covered by health insurance?
   
   "We report, you decide" is the motto touted by the faithfully conservative Fox News network presenters and commentators. But if they fail to report or talk down any good news and stress any political bad news they can dig up, voters will be unable to make rational, educated choices in this election year, and will be forced to rely on biased claims of the radical righteous. That's especially odd, since these are the folks who complain loudly and long about bias in other media outlets.
   When challenged about slanted and biased coverage on right-wing media, a defensive conservative replied, "Yeah, but it's my kind of bias!"

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