The Left vs. Right

Deciding between left and right is a false forced choice. Solving our problems requires both sides to contribute to solutions.

One organization that recognizes this is Represent Us, which has its information about annual conventions here to do just that. At the RepresentUs convention I went to (in 2018), about one third of the participants self-described as right-wing participants, and two third described themselves as left-wing. All of us came together to work on solutions to make government work for the people instead of for career politicians and for the ultra-rich.

If we drill down to the foundation of both sides of the political divide, we find a lot of commonality. Both sides are against the legalized bribery (lobbying) in DC that prevents real solutions from getting done.

However, the elite of both parties, Trump, and the corporate mainstream news all have a vested interest in keeping us divided, and so they encourage people to be polarized, so they can divide and conquer and we remain weak. That's why there are so-called left-wing news outlets and right-wing news outlets, which encourage both sides to remain in their bubble and become more extreme. However, both news polarizations are still just corporate mainstream news and so they are not going to cover stories that would bring the extremes together to both work on problems together.

The descent of the mainstream media into partisan bubbles can be traced back to Pres Reagan’s elimination of the Fairness Doctrine. This doctrine required all broadcast stations to serve the public interest and to present multiple sides of all issues. The stations were required to give free airtime to vetted candidates. After the elimination of the Fairness Doctrine, news stations became profit centers competing for eyeballs. They retreated into their respective bubbles. Reagan’s legacy is the media mess we have today.