After several days, the Progressive Caucus in Washington no longer represents real progressives. It’s another political vassal of the corrupt Democratic National Committee. Most progressives saw it as a sellout in the first place, and the letter to Biden seeking diplomacy and then recanted ended its facade. The caucus is now a headliner for comedians. Bernie Sanders cannot even save these amateur actors/politicians.
The problem will worsen unless Elon Musk can radically transform Twitter. We don’t have progressive media in this country or any other democracy within Western democracies. With Julian Assange at the helm, Wikileaks was the closest thing to press freedom that we have had in the last decade, and politicians in the West have worked to destroy Julian and Wikileaks ever since 2010.
Progressives will never be able to move the political compass unless there is press freedom like we saw under Wikileaks. There is a reason those in power fear whistleblowers and the media that holds them accountable for abusing their power. They accumulate power because of their wealth or status in government. In Western democracies and Eastern autocracies, it’s within their government.
A free press must operate outside the control of the powerful. Period. It must serve the people to benefit society at large. Otherwise, it is propaganda used by the powerful to control the people. Progressives need independent media to shape policies to improve society for the people and the planet. Conservatives can then debate their own policies, and people can vote on which they prefer.
What we have today is a polarization of disinformation – my disinformation is better than yours. Peace is always better than nuclear annihilation, but not in today’s political climate. Read that again – is that the most absurd statement you ever heard? That caught the progressive party in a spineless display of action/inaction.
Given the security context to the Russian and Ukrainian people in Europe, diplomacy and peace are relatively simple. Eastern Europe should have never been allowed to become militarized. Militarization only benefited the war industry. Julian Assange was correct in pointing out that the motive of the war industry is “endless war.” Any progressive caucus worth its weight in character would stand against war – as would much of the population. However, when the war industry dictates the media in Western democracies and Eastern autocracies, guess what?
Truth is the counter to propaganda, so truth-seeking (what Julian Assange set up Wikileaks to do) counters the war industry’s propaganda. It would counter all industry propaganda associated with placing profits before people and the planet. Think about climate change, health, food, energy, medical, pharmaceutical, etc.
The public responds rationally to the facts it sees. Inconvenient facts are not censored but are buried all the same; in principle, they are discoverable, but in reality they are out of the public’s awareness because, without regular repetition, no one remembers them.
https://declassifiedaus.org/2022/10/21/secrecy-and-empire/
Are you starting to see the point with a truth-seeking free press, why it’s so dangerous to those in power, and why they go to any lengths to destroy truth seekers like Julian Assange?
