Moving Fast and Breaking Things

My dad watched the CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite for as long as I can remember. The respected journalist closed his broadcast each evening with the words, “And that’s the way it is.” Few viewers doubted the truth of that statement. His reputation as a reliable and trustworthy anchor on the nightly news was above reproach. Although there were two other excellent news channels, NBC and ABC, Walter Cronkite was “the most trusted man in America.”

Throughout the 1950s and 60s, and even into the 70s, all three networks basically broadcasted the same news stories. Whether one watched Cronkite, Chet Huntley and David Brinkley or Harry Reasoner, the facts were very much the same. The main difference was the personalities of the journalist. From time to time, my dad would switch over to another station, but he would always return to Cronkite.

Regardless of which news channel one listened to in those days, the evening broadcasts lasted only 30 minutes. The next news cycle didn’t air until 10:00 p.m., and that was local news, weather, and sports. There were no 24 hour news channels that offered partisan commentary.

Occasionally, at the end of a national news broadcast, there would be a 3 or 4 minute commentary on some story of interest or controversial event. The commentary would represent the newscaster’s personal opinion and would be followed the next night by a respected political figure or journalist who offered a differing view.

While commentators may have had different understandings of a congressional bill or some decision by the president, the facts remained the same. Sure, sometimes commentators would emphasize their perspective in a more advantageous way, which is certainly legitimate, but they didn’t try to twist the facts or out and out lie. There were no alternative facts! After all, facts are facts, only interpretations may vary.

All that begin to change with the abolishment of the Fairness Doctrine in 1987 which had been implemented in 1949 to regulate the potential misuse of a network’s broadcast power. The Fairness Doctrine made it much more difficult to mislead the public and fabricate news because contrasting views had to be given equal air-time.

The elimination of the Fairness Doctrine by the FCC gave rise to 24 hour commentary news channels, such as CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC. No longer would Americans hear the same nightly news; now American viewers hear commentaries by ideologically driven pundits who shape the news stories, sometimes distorting or even lying about the facts. Depending on what commentary source we listen to determines how we perceive what’s going on in the world.

In consequence, Americans no longer have collective access to commonly accepted facts. Aided by the demise of the daily newspaper, which in earlier periods was the primary source of information for most people, America has become a deeply divided country. Unfortunately, the major news networks, still a source of highly trustworthy news, attract only a handful of viewers, having been superseded by highly partisan cable news channels that play to the prejudices and biases of their followers and can play fast and loose with facts.  

But that’s not the end of the story of how our country became so polarized. In 2010, the Supreme Court ruled in Citizens United that private citizens and corporations could contribute unlimited amounts of money to super PACS which, by in large, could funnel money directly to individual candidates. Since the Supreme Court’s decision, expenditures by the ultra-rich to sway elections have exponentially mushroomed in American politics with no end in sight.  

The super-rich have an extraordinary advantage over the average American citizen. Their enormous wealth has a direct bearing on national and local elections. Their financial power enables them to shape or distort the news according to their self-interests. In effect, America has become an oligarchy.

Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, David Sacks

Billionaires, men like Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, David Sacks, and others, are a class of sociopolitical venture capitalists and financiers who are rapidly changing the face of American politics to their advantage. Even though they pretend to be like the average American, they are anything but. They manipulate working-class people by stoking racial fears, exaggerating reports of violence, and exploiting gender issues to advance their personal agendas, agendas that are obsessed with power and money.  

These gilded tycoons believe that their vast wealth entitles them to privileges that the rest of us can’t even fathom. Their motto “Move Fast, Break Things” was on full display when Elon Musk and DOGE dismantled the federal bureaucracy. Thousands of federal workers were fired in a matter of weeks, with little understanding or concern regarding their specific jobs. Research grants, medical funding, education, scientific institutions and many other STEM areas have been negatively affected. It will require years, if not decades, to recover.

Humanitarian aid to struggling countries, health care for American citizens, and making sure the working poor have enough to eat have little relevance to these billionaires. Religion, ethical or moral considerations play an inconsequential role in the lives of these super wealthy men.

Jacob Silverman in his book, Gilded Rage, argues that the tech billionaires are not primarily concerned with who is in office, whether it be a Republican or Democrat. Rather, they are laser focused on tax-cuts for the super wealthy (even at the expense of the average American), the dismantling of the regulatory state, protectionism against Chinese technology, and a hands off promise by the government to allow the tech billionaires to do as they please. These unbelievably wealthy men are angry that they are not receiving the due they feel they deserve. Just in the past few days, the administration has given an additional tax-cut to the richest of Americans. Enough is never enough for the super-wealthy.

These tycoons of technology, they are primarily men, believe that democracy has outlived its usefulness, and further believe that their technological brilliance gives them the right to rule the world. They have little regard for the common person and resent that the government would dare hold them accountable for their actions.

Their grandiose vision of world rule would be comical if it weren’t for the fact that these super rich have the means to accomplish it. They pour in millions of dollars into elections to elect people who will bend the rules for them. Musk contributed a quarter of a billion dollars into Republican coffers in the last election and, as a reward, was granted almost unfettered power and access to restructure the American government in his image. Even though he is gone, his destructive work continues.

We often feel powerless to stop the onslaught of these authoritarian billionaires. Their only value, as far as I can tell, is monetary and the pursuit of unrestricted power. Many of our politicians are enabling these oligarchic autocrats to advance their agenda without opposition.

I do not believe that Americans are as divided as it may appear. There are many values that we as citizens hold in common. We believe in the rule of law and that all people are created equal. We hold dear the Constitution of the United States. We do not believe that wealth makes one superior over another. Is it possible that outside forces are purposely creating political mayhem for their own economic advantage?

One thing is certain: The oligarchs in our country are, indeed, moving fast and breaking things. Will they break our democracy? Only the American people through the ballot box can stop them.