A Declaration of Independence!

Two hundred and twenty nine years ago this July a group of men from thirteen colonies gathered in the Philadelphia summer swelter to hash out and ratify a manuscript that we now reorganize as our nation’s founding document: The Declaration of Independence. In July of 1776 these patriots declared this land a nation independent of King George. They sought to stamp out tyranny. They sought to end the rule by those who were not answerable to the people of America – who taxed the people without really representing them in the making of laws and the governing of this land. We find ourselves in a similar state today, and we, the ideological descendents of those founding patriots, must not shirk our responsibilities. We must rise to the challenge of taking our nation back from a group answerable to special interests and media moguls. We must demand of those corporations using our citizen owned airwaves for free that they do so in the best interest of the American people as their license demands and as the FCC fails to enforce. I am not advocating violence…far from it. But I am advocating no less a revolution as the one this nation saw 229 years ago. “We the People of the United States” The words that begin our Constitution. A Constitution which has long been the envy of nations yet to see Democracy and the model for others who followed our nations steps on the road to the Democratic ideal. We the People of the United States must take back our nation and put it back on that road. It has drifted and detoured into a dangerous back alley, and we must bring it back on course. Let this be a New Declaration of Independence.

A Free Democracy requires a Free Press. The news media outlets in the US are owned by a handful of Corporate Moguls. They stay in business by selling advertising spots broadcast over the airwaves that We the People own. Those advertisers expect a profitable return on their investment. If We the People inform the advertisers and the TV and radio stations that we will not buy from those advertisers until they become more answerable to the people and cease and desist from suppressing stories unfavorable to those currently in power, we can bring them to their knees. In order to maintain profitability they will need to satisfy their license requirement that they use the airwaves in the best interest of the public—which will require truth and fairness and a willingness to thoroughly investigate the news even when it may displease those in the halls of power. If they will not fulfill their requirements we will drive them out of business through boycott—local station by local station—affiliate by affiliate—and eventually network by network. We the People will no longer tolerate half-truths and mere repetition of the party line in broadcasts. We the People will demand a real transparency in Government that this current administration has for more than four years prevented. We the People must keep one another informed while we bring the media back to the pursuit of the truth rather than obfuscation born of profit lust. The revolution may not be televised, but by God it will be blogged!!!!!! Let this be our Declaration of Independence!

Joe