Posted by
daddontsk8 on Friday, June 15, 2007 5:37:27 PM
What happens when the power in a system shifts to a new center? The first thing is the original power center tries to do something to prevent the shift. We have witnessed some dramatic power shifts in political systems throughout the world over the past few weeks and months.
- In the Palestinian Territories, we are finally witnessing the power shifting to Hamas after that faction won the last Palestinian election months ago.
- In Lebanon we are witnessing the shift of power to the Lebanese government and away from Hezbollah, as the most militant holdouts try to bring the government down with a fight to the death.
- In China, we are witnessing the effects of the power of commerce over a a planned society. As people seek prosperity, they also are beginning to seek justice, revealing the human cruelty and injustice that has been the historical underpinning of the current regime.
- In Venezuela, students protest as they realize that all power has been taken from them by their leader, Hugo Chavez.
- Russia continues to grapple with its loss of political power taking a chapter from the oil-rich fascist regimes, using energy and military blackmail to bully its way onto the world.
- Monks in Thailand struggle to maintain their position of religious power in the face of one of the most aggressive religions in the world, Islam, seeking to declare Buddhism as the official state religion.
- Finally, in our own country, our legislative branch struggles to adapt to a far more democratic society than existed even ten years ago as the democratizing effects of talk radio and the Internet begin to truly exert political muscle.
The New York Times reported today about the Senate’s attempt to reintroduce its immigration reform bill. Quoting Trent Lott, who supports the bill, about the barriers to passing a bill, “Talk radio is running America. We have to deal with that problem.”
Talk radio is not ruining America, talk radio is ruining the way the Senate operates. Suddenly, the Senate can be filibustered by a force other than its members. What talk radio and the Internet provide is transparency. But the Senate requires that there be a clear line of demarcation between the public persona of politicians and the closed-door conversations of senators in negotiations. In our world of video cellphones, and miniature recording devices, the Senate is losing its ability to negotiate in private. To Senator Lott, this is a bad thing. But transparency will do for this country what no law has yet been able to do, revitalize trust in government as more about government and the processes that run it are exposed to the light of day and into the awareness of the citizenry.
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