Default is not a problem. It is an opportunity to save us from liberalism.
That's what team Limbaugh/Hannity has been saying for months from your local right wing talk radio station. That's where the same people who screamed 2+2=3 in the town halls learned about health care. That's where they learned half of America doesn't pay taxes. That's where they learned Obama was responsible for the deficit.
If the US defaults the government will continue to pay its debt so there's no problem there, they say. But, they say, Obama will be forced to cut what Limbaugh calls the bottom feeders and parasites. Teachers, union workers, government employees, welfare queens, etc., and finally get us back on the right path.
The internet was supposed to give us more democracy but talk radio has been kicking its ass. Americans cannot wait for high speed in every pickup. Climate change is here, default is around the corner.
The only reason talk radio has become the most powerful tool in media is that it is virtually invisible to the Left and the lies, distortions, swiftboating, and excuses it generates often aren't noticed until it's too late. Political analysts seldom factor it in. And evaluations of Obama's performance and whether he is a dupe or a coward are useless if they do not factor in the Right's most important weapon.
Obama does not have the bully pulpit except a short while before and after he's standing on it. Then those radio stations take over, coordinated with Fox and the rest of the right wing media machine. Forget framing and messaging by the Left until the radio is fixed.
The Republican 'backbone' to take the economy to the edge and over comes from those radio stations and the loudmouths and motormouths that scream their think tank-generated talking points, protected by call screeners and prompted by paid callers. That's where they create the alternate reality that allows them to declare 2+2=3 in town hall meetings, on TV, and on the floor of congress.
In times of national stress those radio stations will become more of a default source of news and politics in most of the country. Those signals are loud, clear, ubiquitous, continuous, and coordinated. Many are endorsed by university and professional sports teams. For many Americans there is little choice while driving or working. The GOP will have a good shot at spinning this whatever way they want, whatever the outcome, and the GOP politicians and media hacks will have little choice but to ride that bandwagon over the cliff.
It is a failure of the democracy's feedback mechanisms that we can't pass any major reforms or that we have to experience disaster instead of prevent it. The main culprit is talk radio and it all starts at those local radio stations.
Protests and picketing, shaming and boycotts of local sponsors of local right wing radio stations (the talkers themselves are virtually immune, national sponsors can be replaced), shaming of sports teams that help make the racism and climate change denial acceptable, and associating politicians and talking heads who repeat talk radio lies with the Limbaughs and Hannitys are a few ways to challenge talk radio (more here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x1553692 ).
The planet can't wait for legislation to fix the radio problem, whether it's a good idea or not. Until Americans in general, the Democratic Party, and one or more of the Left's organizations addresses the problem and stops giving right wing talk radio a free speech free ride, real democracy is impossible. And much of the criticism of Obama is unfair.
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