The Fall of Illiberalism

  By Ryan Murphy

Democracy is flourishing in America and around the world; however liberal constitutionalism seems to have lost its meaning from its original definition embedded in ancient Western history.  Cable news ratings are showing numbers that favor conservative news over liberal news such as CNN vs Fox, because of a possible viewership craving for news that follows an ideology that mirrors the original definition of democracy. From the time of Herodotus, democracy has meant the rule of the people. Scholars like Alexis de Tocqueville, Joseph Schumpter, Robert Dahl, and Samuel P Huntington articulate, the power of the people must exceed the power of government, in every decision making variable posed upon an empire. This is essential to defining what a democratic empire is, through its roots stemming deep within Western history that was seeking to protect an individual’s autonomy and dignity against coercion. Any news channel or network that is void of seeking to protect the individual citizen from coercion no matter what the source, may find their ratings to be less than impressive in such times as this.

History is critical in assuring democratic citizens are protected from oppression, for if our history is forgotten society is doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past. In observing which news networks are reporting on the daily news with mixture of historical particulars, I found that CNN, MSNBC, and HLN speak nothing of history in conjunction with news all 5 days of the week. Fox News is the only network that consistently reminds its viewers of history and its implications tied in with current news events, and their ratings combined with their controversy continues to beat their competitors. This approach to encoding news creates a sense of empathy amongst viewers regarding decoding information, because everyone always remembers the history that changed the world for the worse, or for the better. Regardless of the mixed perspectives tied to historical events, freedom of speech allows those perspectives to be heard and debated permitting democratic citizens to exercise their right to freedom of thought. Without all the historically subjective, presumptuous, and imaginative ideologies out on the table by news encoders, how can an individual come to an educated decision that helps attain true separation of self through historical perspective?

Encoding news with history has made FNC the most controversial news network on television, but in a country that exercises freedom of thought is it not the responsibility of the press to “stir up the pot” when deemed necessary. “Freedom of the press” may be the most important power given to the people not for reasons that will stifle dissent, but for reasons that will encourage it. If a news organization does not question the status quo, then suspicion of corporate agenda should spark fearless investigation of hegemonic forces at work. Cable news viewers of the 21^st century are beginning to notice hegemonic forces in media, and as a result are shying away from liberal news because of their unquestionable agendas relating to Wall Street and Government.

General Electric’s annual revenue is $190 billion deeming it the second largest company in the world, and is invested in derivatives, weapons, and global warming’s clean air campaign despite their reputation for being the world’s biggest pollution contributor. GE owns; NBC, Universal, CNBC, Universal Studios, Syfy, History Channel, USA, A&E, Military Channel, GE Capitol, GE Energy, GE Technology Infrastructure, and the list goes on. The news reported by NBC is spun in favor of GE’s investments as they should be, however, decoding GE’s news with the correct perspective involves a full examination of what they are invested in. This rule applies for every news medium and their involvements with corporations, politics, charities, subsidies and Wall Street investments. Every media corporation is generally going to report news that helps their personal investments, so it should be expected that their presentation of the news will always be spun to help their annual revenues.

The evolution of empires since ancient antiquity, has followed a path of progression of a republic, to constitutional liberalism, to liberalism, to illiberalism, to fascism, to socialism, to communism.  A news medium that does not keep this in perspective will lose sight of the true definition of democracy is, and leftist new media has been on this path for quite some time. The political ideologies of republican and democrat are carefully organized diversions to maintain social status quo by means of pointless rivalry distractions. News Media’s sole purpose is create moral within a country to be united not divided and political left and right has lost touch with this concept. It seems conservative news encoders are beginning to make decisions that lean toward democracy news, seeking news stories that will inform the public of hegemonic oppression rather than covering the mainstream corporate propaganda that everyone is growing tired of. Both sides of the political news spectrum have much to learn about reporting news without spin, but as long as all news encoders remember to quote history as a vital source of information as it pertains to current news events, positive credibility will follow. Democrat John F. Kennedy once said, “Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth. History is a relentless master. It has no present, only the past rushing into the future. To try to hold fast is to be swept aside.”