One of the mysteries of life in these curious times is that millions of Americans are enjoying the benefits of government — but are either unaware of it or in denial.
A 2008 study found that 40 percent of Medicare recipients, 44 percent of Social Security beneficiaries, 53 percent of people with student loans, and 60 percent of homeowners with taxpayer-subsidized mortgages answered “no” when asked whether they were using a government social program.
Whateva87/Flickr
But whatever their confusion, at least they’re not running for president. Mitt Romney, on the other hand, is. And on the campaign trail he’s disparaging Americans who turn to government to get what he calls “free stuff.”
He cites his experience as a private sector executive as proof that he has the managerial chops to run the government like a business. For evidence, he touts his stint as CEO of the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, when he adopted cost-saving tactics, such as moving the Olympics’ Washington office from a ritzy K Street building to a modest flat squished between a burrito shop and a hair salon.
Conveniently unmentioned by the heroic free-enterpriser, however, is that his success was largely the result of “free stuff” he got. Specifically, the games nabbed $1.5 billion in direct federal funding and indirect financing from Washington after Mitt’s committee went grossly over budget and was unable to attract enough private investment. If lobbying lawmakers for “free stuff” were an Olympic event, Mitt would take the gold.
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) called the level of federal subsidy “a disgrace,” made all the more disgraceful by exposés documenting that much of the loot funded projects for wealthy Utah developers. One resort owner received $3 million to build a three-mile stretch of road through his compound — a breezy million per mile. Remember Mitt’s Olympic haul of government gold the next time you hear him assail poor people for getting food stamps.
We’re not backing down in the face of Trump’s threats.
As Donald Trump is inaugurated a second time, independent media organizations are faced with urgent mandates: Tell the truth more loudly than ever before. Do that work even as our standard modes of distribution (such as social media platforms) are being manipulated and curtailed by forces of fascist repression and ruthless capitalism. Do that work even as journalism and journalists face targeted attacks, including from the government itself. And do that work in community, never forgetting that we’re not shouting into a faceless void – we’re reaching out to real people amid a life-threatening political climate.
Our task is formidable, and it requires us to ground ourselves in our principles, remind ourselves of our utility, dig in and commit.
As a dizzying number of corporate news organizations – either through need or greed – rush to implement new ways to further monetize their content, and others acquiesce to Trump’s wishes, now is a time for movement media-makers to double down on community-first models.
At Truthout, we are reaffirming our commitments on this front: We won’t run ads or have a paywall because we believe that everyone should have access to information, and that access should exist without barriers and free of distractions from craven corporate interests. We recognize the implications for democracy when information-seekers click a link only to find the article trapped behind a paywall or buried on a page with dozens of invasive ads. The laws of capitalism dictate an unending increase in monetization, and much of the media simply follows those laws. Truthout and many of our peers are dedicating ourselves to following other paths – a commitment which feels vital in a moment when corporations are evermore overtly embedded in government.
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