The Millennial Democracy

In the recent 2022 midterm elections, political contributions from billionaires topped the previous all-time highs reached during the 2018 midterms, clocking in at over $881 million. Looking at the graph of billionaire contributions since the Citizen's United  Supreme Court decision in 2010, each election cycle looks like a stair step to the next, with each seeing notable increases over the previous election cycle. With the majority of American media owned by billionaires or groups of them, politics increasingly becoming inundated with their money, and industry-dominating companies owned by the wealthy often seeing record profits while the American people struggle with inflation and supply-chain disruptions due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the thoughts, opinions and will of the billionaire class in this country surrounds and permeates our public discourse as never before. If the United States wants any chance of creating and maintaining a more equal and fair democracy and economy, the...

In 1949, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) of the United States implemented a policy regarding broadcast media known as the Fairness Doctrine. This policy required companies and individuals with broadcast licenses for radio or television to present controversial issues of public importance, and to do so in a manner which fairly showed differing viewpoints and opinions. All news stations and radio shows across the country were required to discuss current affairs deemed important to the American public, and they needed to present their coverage in a non-partisan, level-headed way. This policy tended to keep news reporting around the nation rather 'boring', notably steering coverage away from opinion or talk shows and towards news segments, public affairs shows or editorials. Yet, this was perhaps the greatest era of journalism in American history. News outlets under the Fairness Doctrine eventually gave us an industry which was likely the closest we've ever come to ...