In the current attacks on Julian Assange and Wikileaks, we are witnessing the next step in the process of transforming a democracy into a totalitarian regime.  The full power of the American government is engaged in discrediting Assange and shutting down Wikileaks. Voices on the right are calling him a terrorist, while Democrats use measured terms to convey his dangerousness without explicitly labeling him or describing the harm he has caused.  Most significantly, few political figures are defending him or the principles for which he stands.  Tellingly, Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell has called for the laws to be changed in order to successfully prosecute Assange.  (What do you call a system of government that changes the laws in a particular case in order to get the outcome it desires?)

It is important to keep sight of a couple of facts in this debate.  Julian Assange, whatever you think of him or the disclosures, is not a terrorist, in any sense of the word that we have ever used before.  Although the word “terrorist” is a by nature a politically loaded term, and there is not even a definition that is widely accepted, we have always reserved it for people who cause death or serious injury.  Wikileaks has not injured a single person; Wikileaks uses information, not weapons.  Assange has written and spoken widely about his values and ethics, and believes he is helping democracy and providing a valuable and ethical service to inform the citizens of free nations all over the world.  His own words defending his work are well-worth reading, especially if you have not heard anyone else make his case.  Can you think of another “terrorist” who has stated values that are enshrined in our constitution?  It is also vital to remember that Wikileaks acts in concert with mainstream news organizations all over the globe, and all of the “damaging” material it has leaked has been co-published with The New York Times, Le Monde, Der Spiegel, The Guardian, and other international establishment news organizations. What rational argument is there to charge Wikileaks with “crimes” that are not also leveled on its co-publishers?

And that’s where we run into serious problems.  Whether you consider Julian Assange a terrorist, or just think he must be forcibly stopped, you are endorsing a radical transformation of constitutional protections in the United States.  If terrorists are not entitled to due process, and if terrorists are people who are acting on unpopular ideas, anyone with unpopular ideas can be designated a terrorist at any time and imprisoned or killed, on the government’s say-so.  And if you don’t think Assange should be jailed, but merely stopped, you are enforcing government-dictated limits on the already-timid press, whose unrestricted freedom is the only means by which a democracy can function. Both of these outcomes are conditions of a totalitarian state.

We are on the brink of allowing centuries of iron-clad rights and freedoms to be turned into privileges accorded only to some.  There is very little we can do to halt the radical assault on our rights, other than using the blunt-force instrument of the ballot box, and even that has had little effect on the theft of our country.  But in this case, there is one very clear and very simple action that a concerned citizen of a free country can take that sends a powerful message.  Donate $25 to Wikileaks.  This show of nominal support sends the clear message that we are against the destruction of our democracy and we are for free speech and freedom of the press.  You can donate here. It is one of the only concrete acts you can perform to halt the attacks on our freedom, and the more people who do it right now, the better chance both Wikileaks and our democracy have for survival.

UPDATE:

Mastercard, Visa and Paypal have all suspended transactions to Wikileaks.  You can still use the link above to find out how to mail a check to Wikileaks or make donations via bank wire transfer.  However, two other sites currently allow electronic payments. Xipwire allows donations to Wikileaks (you can donate $10 just by sending the  TEXT MESSAGE “WL” to 56624).  And Flattr, which uses Paypal or your credit card to fund your account, may be suspended in the future, but is currently allowing this workaround.

Xipwire

Flattr

CORRECTION:

This post has been updated to correctly reflect Senator Mitch McConnell’s title.

Chris Matthews: “This man has launched himself, I believe he will be ahead in the polls next week, they see a winner here, Americans like a winner, even though he, uh, had to do it the hard way.”

David Gregory: “He said, ‘Make no mistake, we will win this election’ That wasn’t just rhetoric.”

Andrea Mitchell (on the convention floor being bombarded by balloons): “I’m right in the middle of the balloon drop if you can imagine… (unintelligible) …this was not a partisan speech. The celebration on the floor continues… The least partisan speech…(laughter from above) I am somewhere, somewhere on the floor of this convention, surrounded by balloons, and confetti, but it, it certainly does mirror the excitement of this crowd, and they were rallied to a cry, a cry for patriotism, a cry of service, and a much more personal description than John McCain has every before given about his service and what happened in that prison cell in Hanoi. And I think at this point– I’m about to, uh– be bombarded by balloons.”

Keith Olbermann: “I think the term you’re looking for is flee! All right. Andrea Mitchell good luck, reporting from-”

Andrea Mitchell: “-somewhere on the floor-”

Keith Olbermann: “- the political equivalent of a Chuck E. Cheese apparently. Let’s go up to the safer vicinity of the uh, of the rafters, with Tom Brokaw, our NBC special correspondent.”

Tom Brokaw: “Let me just say at the outset however though, Brian, that I feel very very privileged to have reserved seats for Andrea ‘Boom Boom’ Mitchell and the dance of the Republican balloons.”

Brian Williams: “A bunch of balloon-wielding thugs down there! Free Andrea Mitchell!”

Tom Brokaw: “Well look Keith, to get back to the business at hand — look at her! She’s indomitable! Not these balloons, nothing will keep Andrea from reporting from the floor of the convention, something that we have known all of our lives. If you think John McCain is a warrior – a journalistic warrior is right there in the middle of those Republican balloons!”

Brian Williams: “I’ve been in Ramadi with that woman with automatic weapons going off – that didn’t stop her, but it appears mylar has stopped Andrea in her tracks.”

Tom Brokaw: “Listen, I think Keith, to get back-”

Keith Olberman: (Laughs) “There she is!”

Brian Williams: “The Where’s Waldo of this convention!”

Tom Brokaw: “Get that microphone Andrea up there with the NBC logo.”

Andrea Mitchell: “Right now, this is the biggest balloon – I’ve seen Reagan balloon drops. I’ve been covering conventions for decades, but I’ve never seen so many balloons at one time.”

Keith Olbermann: “Andrea you’re the target too.”

Brian Williams: “Andrea Mitchell is under seige.”

(laughter)

Tom Brokaw: “I think what you can say is, that the speech did work for this hall, which was an important part of what John McCain wanted to do.”

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This is human drama at its highest level, and Sarah Palin, who is running for Soccer-Mom-in-Chief is a shoo-in for awards season.  It wouldn’t surprise me if the McCain campaign already knew about this because if they’ve been following the numbers for this story line on film and TV, this was the best thing they could do for their ratings.

One of the surprise television hits of the year has been ABC Family’s The Secret Life of the American Teenager, which tells the story of how a family deals with an unmarried teen’s pregnancy, and I bet you know how that story ends (and it isn’t with an abortion).  This closely follows the cheery and cheeky but oh-so-sweet movie Juno, about a teenager who didn’t mean to get pregnant, but after considering all of her options realized that carrying the baby to term and finding it a good adoptive home is the best way to live her life.  This movie was a hit at the box office last year and surprised everyone with Oscar nominations at year’s end.  Clearly, teen pregnancy is a story that is quite resonant with audiences, especially since they all make the surprising choice to keep their babies, no matter how unpopular that idea seems at first.

Narrative has overtaken journalism in American culture, and there is no “news” anymore that isn’t a “story.”  Reporting that contains characters you can identify with, a clear conflict, and a surprising outcome now completely dominates our news coverage.  Initially this was a style called New Journalism when it was became popular two decades ago but now it is neither “new” nor “journalism.”

Whether you see Sarah Palin as a hero or villain in the story of this campaign, she is exactly the kind of character that we are accustomed to from movies and television, and she brings familiar and relatable stories to the news cycle.  Whatever her policies may be (and they will hardly matter), her inclusion in this race may have been one of the savviest character choices anyone has ever made in order to hit all Four Quadrants of the marketing department’s audience analysis for this election movie.

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If you have been paying attention at all, you’ve probably been consumed with the John Edwards’ affair, the exciting sweepstakes of the Vice Presidential pick, whether the Olympics in Beijing were “good” or “bad,” and figuring out what to make of that weird, quick invasion of peaceful, democratic Georgia by those still-kinda-evil Russians.  There are interesting stories behind each of these issues, but it has been next to impossible to find any intelligent discussion about them anywhere in the mainstream media or even the blogosphere.  

I’m going to re-state an opinion that annoys nearly everyone I know: if you are relying on your television for any of your information about what’s happening in the world, you are ignorant and misinformed.  It really makes no difference whether you prefer CNN, MSNBC or FOX, if you like Rachel Maddow or Keith Olbermann, or if you just think you are “keeping up” with what the rest of America is watching, you are ingesting junk media which is the informational equivalent of eating McDonald’s for every meal.  

What has been so depressing to me over the summer is that many of my usual sources of information have been victims of the same silliness that afflicts the corporate media.  The columns of The Huffington Post (to pick the most disappointing example) have been rehashing the same shrill litany of non-topics as the corporate media, bereft of any truly intelligent critical analysis.  

There has been one standout news source, that I must publicly thank for its uncompromising and unbending fidelity to news, information and critical analysis:  Democracy Now!  hosted by Amy Goodman and carried on Pacifica Radio and many cable stations, and available by podcast from iTunes or at DemocracyNow.org.  I challenge anyone to carefully examine the breadth and depth of its coverage side-by-side with your favorite television cable channel or Sunday talk show.  In a mere five hours a week, it manages to be more informative, balanced, comprehensive, and critical than any of the channels that purport to do the same thing and waste 24 hours each day not trying.  This show is not funded by, nor should it be confused with, National Public Radio, although it is often broadcast on public radio stations which also carry NPR content.  It is truly independent media, completely reliant on listener support with no corporate or government funding.  [NPR has been largely destroyed by the Bush Administration, which has appointed right-wing ideologues to its board and management, and it has been cited in several nonpartisan studies to favor conservative voices by hefty margins and is a frequent repeat-offender on Media Matters watchdog list for misinformation.]  

As Labor Day next week marks the end of the frivolous summer season, I hold out hope that the Serious Campaign Season will bring a discourse of some substance, or at the very least generate topics that merit real discussion and analysis.  But I will not hold my breath.  

I am rousing myself from the despair and cynicism brought on by our bankrupt public discourse.  While I believe that everyone deserves to be able to bury his head in the sand occasionally as a coping mechanism, I am reminded that it is a privilege to do so.  Things may be about to get better for this country, but they also may be about to get worse.  The election of John McCain to the Presidency will represent a defining and permanently-altering moment in the history of our republic, and perhaps our planet.  The election of Barack Obama to the Presidency will represent not a solution to the problems that we face, but only the opportunity to begin to address them.  Those of us who will play a role in deciding this election, as voters, consumers of the public discourse, and sometimes opinion-leaders, have a responsibility to not sit idly by, discouraged and quiet, but to change the conversation and the terms of the debate.  It’s going to be ugly and we’re going to need to be impolite.   The times demand it.

Tim Russert was exactly what is wrong with America. He is the consummate Washington establishment journalist, exactly who Scott McClellan was talking about when he said that the press acts like a bunch of lapdogs eating the lies they get tossed like a bone.

During the Scooter Libby/Valerie Plame testimony before Congress, in which it became clear that he was a player and an insider, a trader of information, he testified under oath that he considered everything that anyone in power told him to be “background” and “off the record” unless he was explicitly given permission to print it. No wonder he was beloved by so many, he took the role of “journalist” and used the job description of “publicist” to do it. And that’s how our democracy gets dismantled when no one is paying attention.

The obituaries remind me of the death of Richard Nixon, with people falling over themselves to praise this unworthy man, as if his “preparedness” and “wit,” his genial manner, or his love for politics made him a good journalist.

Let me be clear: the reason that Bush is in office, that we are at war, that the economy is in the toilet, that our civil liberties have been destroyed, that we torture people and spy on our own citizens, is because of the failure of our corporate press to report facts and truth, in favor of merely restating “partisan” talking points and giving them equal uncritical weight. Tim Russert perfectly exemplified this; he completely abdicated his responsibility to report facts, truth and ask tough questions to people in power. Even Dick Cheney considered him part of his personal message machine. Tim Russert should be made to spend eternity with the Founding Fathers, so he can forever be dogged by Washington, Jefferson and Adams, who can lecture him for into the hereafter on liberty and freedom, and the duty of educated men in power to preserve our fragile democracy.