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| So, you have to ask yourself, if Bill O'Reilly wasn't a serial sexual harasser, would he still be on the air spewing this kind of racist crap? |
Where does the real power lie in our society?
We can still vote. That must mean something. Many of us live in districts where competition has been withered away by gerrymandering, and we see the utter dominance of one party over the other, and we often have little choice whom to vote for. But theoretically, the option is still there.
We have our faiths. And they can carry a large weight in the marketplace of ideas. But even though separation of church and state has often been blurred, different religious organizations don't always have the clout they wish they had. It is a positive thing that our moral center and sense of social justice comes from our faith communities, but they don't always accomplish what the hope for.
We have power as consumers. We can decide what products and businesses we choose to frequent, and it can be for any reason we choose. In fact, since we all react to things differently, sometimes these boycotts can be very ineffective. Chick-fil-A was barely thrown by the boycott engendered by their lack of support for gay rights. Hobby Lobby experienced barely a blip from their religious imposition on employee's right to choose healthcare centered on reproductive issues. Most recently, it can be seen with Ivanka Trump's line of products. They weren't selling, so stores were withdrawing them. But the subsequent caterwauling by Donald Trump and his staff, particularly Kellyanne Conway, led to a temporary resurgence in sales.
So sometimes consumer boycotts, but most of the time they don't. They really are only quasi-effective when they catch the eye of the real power center of America - Big Business.
Big business and their associated lobbying groups represent the true power in this country. They give the money that elect our politicians. They write the laws that Congress dutifully passes. You think you get the Supreme Court you get because of wanting to upend Roe v. Wade? No. They are first and foremost people who support business interests. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Robert did not go as far as Conservatives wanted him to in wrecking Obamacare, and he didn't because it was in the best interest of business interests (insurance, pharmaceuticals, hospitals) not to.
When Mike Pence was Governor of Indiana, and the legislature passed an extremist restriction on gay rights, it wasn't Indiana citizens that made him retreat and get rid of it. It was big business threatening to boycott the state if they didn't back down.
Most recently, we have seen the sudden departure of the leading cable news host, Bill O'Reilly. Throughout his tenure, he has said many questionable and even horrible things, both in relation to race and to women. His history of sexual abuse and harassment is almost as long as Trump's. It's true that millions despised him, but that didn't matter to the large entity, foreign-owned Fox News, because millions more watched him. He'd had the largest audience on cable news for a decade and a half, and although it is true that Rachel Maddow of MSNBC was beginning to challenge his status, he still ended his run as number one.
So why did he have to go now? Simply because the weight of sexual harassment stories and settlements just became too much for advertisers. What started out as a trickle leaving him, quickly became a torrent of exits. Fox News, for all its political zeitgeist, was in business to make MONEY. And without advertisers, there is no money.
Big business is neither good nor evil. They are fighting for the best interests of themselves and their stockholders. I don't believe should be eliminated, or all power stripped from them. They just need to be a part of the checks and balances that make this country work.
I like gas from Exxon. I just don't want them to be Secretary of State, or to control climate change legislation.
They need to be A voice in American society. They don't need to be THE voice.
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