Promoting Lies
The occupation of Iraq is the issue that has convinced a large majority of Americans that the country is headed in the wrong direction. The war is the results of an imperial presidency and the failure of Congress to perform its Constitutional duty of oversight. The Democratic majority remains reluctant to use its power of the purse to cut off funding for the war, which would end the occupation and begin to curtail the ever increasing power of the military-industrial complex.
One major problem of the American social and political system is the failure of the press, especially television news, to inform the public about the magnitude of the unconstitutional activities of the executive branch. Frederick A. O. Schwarz and Aziz Z. Huq, the authors of “Unchecked and Unbalanced: Presidential Power in a Time of Terror” observe: “For the public to play its proper checking role at the ballot box, citizens must know what is done by the government in their names.”
Chalmers Johnson the author of “Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic”, examines the media’s role in promoting lies and demoting democracy. He claims that instead of uncovering administration lies and manipulations, the media actively promoted them. The first amendment to the Constitution protects the press precisely so it can penetrate the secrecy that is government's most powerful, self-protective weapon. As a result of the media’s failure, oversight of the government by an informed citizenry did not occur. The people became mere spectators as ideological extremists, vested interests, foreign operatives, the Israeli lobby, the petroleum industry, warmongers, profiteers allied with the military-industrial complex, and the entrenched interests of the professional military establishment hijacked our government.
Seymour Hersh, who for forty years has been one of America's leading investigative reporters, put the matter this way: “All of the institutions we thought would protect us particularly the press, but also the military, the bureaucracy, the Congress have failed. All the things that we expect would normally carry us through didn't. The biggest failure, I would argue, is the press, because that's the most glaring. What can be done to fix the situation? You'd have to fire or execute ninety percent of the editors and executives.”
One major problem of the American social and political system is the failure of the press, especially television news, to inform the public about the magnitude of the unconstitutional activities of the executive branch. Frederick A. O. Schwarz and Aziz Z. Huq, the authors of “Unchecked and Unbalanced: Presidential Power in a Time of Terror” observe: “For the public to play its proper checking role at the ballot box, citizens must know what is done by the government in their names.”
Chalmers Johnson the author of “Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic”, examines the media’s role in promoting lies and demoting democracy. He claims that instead of uncovering administration lies and manipulations, the media actively promoted them. The first amendment to the Constitution protects the press precisely so it can penetrate the secrecy that is government's most powerful, self-protective weapon. As a result of the media’s failure, oversight of the government by an informed citizenry did not occur. The people became mere spectators as ideological extremists, vested interests, foreign operatives, the Israeli lobby, the petroleum industry, warmongers, profiteers allied with the military-industrial complex, and the entrenched interests of the professional military establishment hijacked our government.
Seymour Hersh, who for forty years has been one of America's leading investigative reporters, put the matter this way: “All of the institutions we thought would protect us particularly the press, but also the military, the bureaucracy, the Congress have failed. All the things that we expect would normally carry us through didn't. The biggest failure, I would argue, is the press, because that's the most glaring. What can be done to fix the situation? You'd have to fire or execute ninety percent of the editors and executives.”
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