Grass-root of all evil
As I plunge into my mid-40s there are times I think nothing can surprise
me. And then I read a piece like today's New York Times interview
with FCC Chairman Michael Powell and, well, I'm amazed I'm so amazed.
Powell orchestrated the FCC's new rules allowing greater concentration
of media ownership in an era when big corporate media expansion, symbolized
by the death-grip Clear Channel Communications holds over the nation's
airwaves, has people of all political stripes worried. Congress recently
voted to override the FCC's new rules. Powell is shocked.
What's amazing is how he talks about his shock. Professing the airy,
disinterested role of a policymaker sofar above the fray he can't make out
the ant-like little people swarming in the muck and mire of the political
world, he describes the opposition to his regulations as follows:
"Basically, people ran an outside political campaign against the
commission," he said. "I've never seen that in six years." It seems Powell
is "frustrated and surprised" that people who felt his big-media-friendly
rules moved in the wrong direction actually organized
some opposition to them. How dare they? What do they think this is -- a
democracy?
Stephen Labaton's article continues:
| | Asked about accusations by some
that he had failed to build enough public support for the rules before
adopting them, Mr. Powell replied: "I've heard that represented as my
failure. I'll take that as my responsibility. But there was a concerted
grass-roots effort to attack the commission from the outside
in." |
Here we have it: a "concerted grass-roots effort"! What a horrible
thing! I think this is the first time in my life I have heard the term
"grass-roots" used in a negative way. To most of us, "grass-roots"
symbolizes healthy organizing of the citizenry beyond the corrupting
influence of big business lobbying and entrenched interests. It is our
democracy at its best. To Powell, somehow, it has become a term of
opprobrium.
It couldn't possibly be that his policy was so absurdly wrong for
today's United States that it managed to unite the liberals at Moveon.org
and the NRA against it. Nah. It must be a grass-roots conspiracy!
Like so many others in the Bush administration, Powell seems to feel that
his ideology is beyond public accountability. With Bush's poll numbers
sinking week by week, these public servants may eventually learn just how
wrong they are.
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