Sunday, April 09, 2006

The Republic Is Wounded

Folks are pretty busy. They don't have the time to look over the minutiae of every bill proffered, seek out consultants and experts and such. So we vote somebody else to do that for us. Unfortunately, our representatives tend to become beholden to lobbyists who finance the ability to campaign for reelection. Rates for media buys for politicians tend to be somewhat different than for regular businesses. By that I mean higher. This is how they can afford the overpriced newsreaders who trade reporting the truth for the safer and easier path of 'he said she said'. So the fourth estate is beholden to revenue streams, as are our representatives. The disconnect from the voters is being filled nicely by the netroots. Surely, not everyone has access to the internet, and most who do do not read blogs. However, blogs can have an impact on the corporate media and elected officials alike. Bloggers are not separate from the electorate, merely a concentrated slice of it. We tend to be more informed and feel it is our civic duty to shine the light of careful analysis on current events. Being voracious readers of the corporate media, as well as other blogs, some of us tend to get close to the truth of various issues. Lightening fast feedback to sloppy reporting is no doubt irksome to lazy reporters and sloppy editors, not to mention extremely uncomfortable to the Delays in congress. But if the Republic wasn't wounded, their would be no need for us. So don't worry, we're only here to help.

6 comments:

Beth said...

Not only do blogs provide lightning fast information, they also do quite a bit of investigative research.

Just look what happen with Box Turtle Ben over at wapo.

Oilfieldguy said...

Yeah, I wuz there when it happened. Awesome. I didn't cite it or any other example for fear of offending someone left out. We are making a difference. And this is just the beginning.

Beth said...

Oh Jeez, Kelly. I did read your name the first time I came here. Sorry about that.

And regarding the fastness of posting at the DNC, I have Lamont's link on my blog, so it easy to access it.

Sidebars are useful for finding things fast. I want to change NBF to a three column blog soon. Too much wasted space on either side.

jen said...

great post, ofg. jen

markfromireland said...

I saw on FDL that you said you were having problems getting the graphic you wanted etc for your blogger template. What's the problem exactly? I used to lecture in this stuff and can probably help. Leave a comment on my blogger blog including an email addy I can get you at and I'll see what I can do for you. Blogger templates are fairly simple creatures so long as you leave the php includes alone. That's not relevant to what you want so I wouldn't anticpate much by way of problems. (Obviously the comment with your addy won't be published)

Judy Gex said...

It's way past time to outlaw lobbying.

Great post.