01-25-2018, 09:19 PM
(01-25-2018, 09:00 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: 1. De-legitimizing the press. I feel that a robust free press is essential to a democracy. If the press has no power then that allows the government to run roughshod over citizens.
Sure, when Americans can get back to a free, unbiased press it will be better for all. Should we bust up the media conglomerates?
There will always be bias in the press. But as long as we have competing news sources with different biases we will be okay. The trouble begins when the President claims that any news that criticizes him is "fake news". Since Trump is a champion of large corporations why would huge news corporations want to destroy him? If your theory was correct and ALL media was biased then we would be hearing nothing but praise for our Supreme Leader. So how do you explain all of the criticism he is receiving if all media is biased in favor of large corporations?
(01-25-2018, 09:00 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: 2. Elevating corporations over government. One of the biggest roles of government is to protect the people from the power of corporations. The individual players may not be evil in their hearts, but capitalism at its very core values profit over human lives. Unchecked corporate power can produce the same fascist results as unchecked government power. The people just get exploited by corporations instead of dictators.
Corporations also employ a lot of people, as well as sustain the tax base that contributes to the government. Are you sure that you want to get rid of them? Where will government get the money to support the people, without companies that profit?
No one ever said that we should get rid of corporations. We absolutely have to have a capitalist system to motivate and drive innovation. But we also have to have a government that is strong enough to protect the citizens from exploitation at the hands of large corporations. If you don't know what i am talking about I suggest you do a little study of the history of the industrial revolution and how workers were treated before government regulations and unions brought reform. you will learn a lot more truth that way than just swallowing everything the right wing echo chamber feeds you.
(01-25-2018, 09:00 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: 3. De-legitimizing all government agencies other than the executive branch. Our system of checks and balances does not work if the the executive branch has all of the power. If the Department of Justice can not investigate the President then who will?
What?? We have an FBI that is appearing to have been biased and politically motivated, by the party that you support. Not sure that your point has much merit.
If my point has no merit then answer the question I asked. If the DOJ can not investigate the president and hold him accountable then who can? No matter who criticizes him (Media, DOJ, FBI) Trump will just claim that they are all crooked and politically motivated. and once he has convinced enough rubes to believe hi it will be the beginning of the end for democracy. If he loses the election in 2020 he will just claim it was "fixed" and his followers will believe him and refuse to recognize the elected President as legitimate. Trump himself even confirmed this when he bragged about how he could shoot a person in the middle of the street and his followers would still support him. That makes him a threat to democracy.
