BY SHARON MARTIN
“Remember the golden rule: He who has the gold, rules.”
Propaganda requires a plan and the money to put that plan in place. Someone has to pay the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs and other so-called think tanks to sort through research, find ways to make it palatable to their bosses, and spread what Kellyanne Conway calls “alternative facts.”
I’m betting the purveyors of sketchy information get paid more than Oklahoma teachers do.
Money perverts the news. Unless we search for alternate sources, we get most of our news from just six corporations. Social media is not a valid news source if you don’t read the articles and check the facts. Even our public television and radio stations have been so starved that they require influxes of corporate money.
Think about this when you watch Nova on PBS, supported by the David H. Koch Fund “in the interest of science.”
The platforms of the Democrats and Republicans are starkly different, but their need to raise money to get elected are the same.
Reports swirled around a group of Democrats who voted against an amendment to import cheaper drugs from Canada, hinting that said Democrats received large donations from pharmaceutical companies. Whether it is true or not, it illustrates the need to get big money out of politics.
When money from corporations and billionaires determines what we see on the news and who gets elected, we are no longer living in a free country. News not slanted by money interests and legislators not bound by promises made to donors must be the first two items on our agenda if we want to reclaim our freedom.
These should be our first jobs as citizens under this new administration: [1] make sure every citizen can and does vote, and [2] make sure we have valid information on which to base our decisions.
As of Jan. 20, there are no longer any checks or balance. We can expect to lose some or all of the following: affordable healthcare, Medicare as we know it, a woman’s right to choose. And if it’s the latter that is tripping you up here, remember, making abortions illegal won’t end them; it will just make them more dangerous.
We have two years to find candidates who will do the right thing even if it means they only serve one term. We have two years to gather signatures to demand publicly funded elections. We have two years to fight for voters’ rights.
Money talks. We have two years to make sure our voices are heard over the din.
– Sharon Martin lives in Oilton, OK and is a regular contributor to The Oklahoma Observer
