Editor’s Note: We hope you enjoy the video above. If you’d rather just listen to the podcast, click the button below to Apple Podcasts: The Common Bridge. It is also available on all other podcast platforms. We have included the transcript to this program below. We offer this program in it’s entirety to our paid subscribers, and welcome all to subscribe below.
You can also help the show by contributing in any of these methods:
• Shop. https://thecommonbridge.com/subscribe-shop/
• Zelle. rich@richardhelppie.com
• Buy Me a Coffee. buymeacoffee.com/RichHelppie
You can also send an email to Editor@TheCommonBridge.com
Thanks!
On the eve of a national election for President of the United States of America, there is tension, distrust and anger. At least there is tension, distrust and anger according to much of what we read, view, and listen to. Don’t turn away from the threat. Stay tuned!
Let’s be candid. Both major parties have again delivered subpar presidential candidates. Both Republicans and Democrats have maneuvered the election to another “lesser of evils” contest. Voters can choose who they are voting against.
Enough voters will be casting their ballots uninformed or misinformed to make a difference in the contest. I would have liked to write, “most voters will be casting their ballots uniformed or misinformed” because I believe that is true, but more difficult to defend.
So once again, in our country of 330 million, we are choosing to be represented by one unqualified or one unfit person or the other. Half of America is going to be very disappointed in the outcome whenever the count is confirmed to be final. At least there is consensus on that.
We should all be disappointed in the outcome, but there is another more crucial vote available that would change this pattern of horrible candidates for president.
Wait! Did you hear the news? One candidate just condemned and damned 193 countries! Headlines have been relayed around the world by every major news organization. 193 countries damned! Its right there from trusted “news” sources. Let’s go to our panel to discuss!
Turns out the candidate actually said, “God Bless America”, but the established media told their audience that what the candidate really meant was “to hell with every other country.” And the gullible who didn’t like that candidate ate it up and repeated it.
Then the supporters of the candidate in question castigated the established media and the partisans on the other side. And then it is time to wait for the next false reporting to come, hoping it is favorable.
Also, the tale about a candidate saying “God Bless America” and having it reported as condemning other countries is one I made up. To the best of my knowledge, it is a complete fabrication for illustration of the established media business model. Perhaps you were mapping a candidate and a “news” source onto this narrative which would prove the point. No one could blame you for doing so, due to 11th hour recirculation of long debunked false reporting.
Meanwhile, more days pass without a substantive conversation about healthcare, housing, national security, food supply, firearms, access to education, the federal deficit and other important matters. But we are so very entertained by the outrage while our country slowly circles the drain.
We could fix this with a single vote.
We would expect this vote to be unanimous.
We have the ability to banish the established media ecosystem once and for all. One vote from each of us.
We could vote the bums of partisan media out and vote in actual journalists and investigative reporters just with a change in habits and choices.
With the 4th Estate actually doing their jobs, politicians in all parties would be forced to behave better and speak better. Who knows? Maybe do their jobs on behalf of the country?
Imagine a world where interviews with a presidential candidate were not heavily edited to create a false impression of a favored person.
Imagine a world where one didn’t have to ask themselves, “what was actually said?” or “what actually happened?” when reading headlines of the day.
All we as news consumers and free citizens need to do is turn off the partisan propagandists and spend our time and money with the rising new media model. While the partisan hacks, propagandists, and false reporting also exist on new platforms, there are enough honorable journalists and investigative reporters finding voice and audience beyond the established media ecosystem. The charlatans are easy enough to spot and avoid. If you find yourself consistently affirmed emotionally in what you are reading, you may be in the grip of the old media model.
Granted, there would be those among us who would miss the toxic fury of their political opponent(s) being called Nazis. Others would miss the confrontational exaggerations about enemies real and imagined. There are many from all points on the political spectrum who are just annoyed and exhausted that there are viewpoints other than their own. It may be comforting to hear exaggerations and falsehoods that support your bias. However, ultimately you will pay the price in rage when other viewpoints just don’t die as your commentators wish. Or perhaps the holders of opposing views die, as has been suggested. Whatever, find some place or some topic you can agree on. It isn’t that difficult.
Conceding that populists, genuine or otherwise, gotta be popular, it does not mean turning away from repeated examples of one’s favored candidate not understanding the job of president or questioning their pathological fixation on crowd size. A smile and a shrug do not hold those we put in power to account. It creates a pathway for the next outrageous statement.
It is infinitely more dangerous when people are afraid to speak a contrarian view. We are all in trouble when a political party brings a Supreme Court Justice who refuses to define what a woman is, sees the First Amendment as a problem because it “hamstrings” government, and no one from that political slant will rise to protect women, defend the first amendment, or admit they once supported thinking that the one year anniversary of transvestitism should be celebrated by a president – or memorialized on a beer can.
Just as millions quit buying the beer in question, we can all quit reading, watching or listening to the sources that have lied to us repeatedly. Break their business model by not being the chump at the table.
And if you haven’t voted already for national, state, or local offices and referenda, please exercise that right in whichever way you choose. God Bless America. And I sincerely mean that in a good and hopeful way.
Onward
Share this post