Solutions

In a previous post, I commented on  a column by David Brooks entitled It's Not the Collusion, It's the Corruption, What the Mueller report says about our world.  Brooks concludes that the society is being attacked by nihilism, getting people to believe the system is rigged leading to a power vacuum where the unscrupulous can get away with various bad deeds.

And today, across society, two things are happening: Referees are being undermined, and many are abandoning their own impartiality. (Think of the Wall Street regulators, the Supreme Court, the Senate committee chairmen, even many of us in the blessed media.)

Brooks offers no solutions in that column, but I know from reading him in the past that he is favor of more civility in public discourse, as well as bi-partisan dialog.  I agree with him wholeheartedly on these points.

The mainstream media can help get the country moving back in the right direction by more comprehensively and objectively covering issues involving "intelligence".  As I noted here, the mainstream media, including especially our newspapers of record (the NY Times and Washington Post), are not covering important facts and opinions regarding some of the most important issues facing our country.  Instead, the mainstream media is feeding us selective facts according to our supposed national interests as determined by the defense/intelligence establishment.

Here's an article from May 2017 that discusses the NY Times lack of coverage of various non-establishment perspectives:  Six Ways the New York Times Could Genuinely Make Its Op-Ed Page More Representative of America.  The article notes that the paper of record doesn't employ a single columnist who supports Bernie Sanders or Donald Trump.

With regard to the Washington Post, it ran 16 negative stories on Bernie Sanders in 16 hours leading up to a crucial Democratic presidential primary debate.  In February 2019, in the space of 48 hours after Sanders declared his candidacy for the presidency, the Post churned out four negative pieces.

So my take is that the mainstream media bears some responsibility for the Trump nightmare.  By supporting the establishment line and not giving voice to legitimate points of view in favor of change, they opened the door for legitimate populist distrust of status quo institutions.  Since Trump came to power, they have compounded the problem by taking a partisan line unsupported by the evidence with regard to investigation of conspiracy between the Trump campaign and the Russians.  The mainstream media has thus given legitimacy to the nihilistic operations of Trump and his contingent.

Until such time as the mainstream media improves in this respect, I suggest that the solution is to seek the truth more independently, and to support populist candidates with a greater respect for the truth.  Support alternative media.  Withdraw support from the mainstream media.

Why do people read the NY Times?  Are they aware of alternatives?  Personally, I read the Times on occasion and watch NBC News nightly because these media operations have big budgets and standards, so they are able to provide relevant information and screen out a lot of not so credible stuff.  On the other hand, I find that there are many small media outlets on the Internet that cover the gaps and misinformation emanating from outlets such as the Times and NBC.  But it takes time and a certain comfort level with the Internet to do this, and many people apparently do not consider this a high priority.  Many would rather protest what the mainstream media tells us to protest (Trump), than to protest the mainstream media itself.  Obviously there's a need for and room for both.  But we've reached the point where the media (e.g. David Brooks) is telling us the media is the problem.  With a little more self-awareness, people like Brooks would probably be fired as have so many dissenting journalists.

So it's up to us to speak out against the mainstream media bias in favor of the status quo.  Of special urgency is the need to question the use of military/intelligence sources as sources of truth with regard to foreign affairs.  Let's hear what Tulsi Gabbard has to say and evaluate it fairly. 

It is natural that the establishment media will support the establishment economic and military/intelligence leaders.   Having been under attack for decades by the likes of Fox News and other right wing populists, we now see the establishment media responding in kind by eschewing objective reporting in favor of blatant partisanship.  The first step in restoring civil national discourse is to turn this around and deal with Fox News, Bernie Sanders, and Tulsi Gabbard in a more objective fashion.  There is no doubt a time for partisan warfare, but that should be after all other options have been exhausted. 

We are better off pulling together as a nation to the extent possible, and the principles of Getting to Yes can be useful in this regard: 

1. Separate the People from the Problem:  Yes, Trump is a pathological liar.  That doesn't mean that intelligence services are giving us the unvarnished truth with regard to conspiracy with Russia.  
2. Focus on Interests, not Positions:  Yes, we are interested in equal application of the law.  But, this is a pervasive problem in the U.S. as opposed to an isolated case of Trump obstructing justice.  Perhaps we should consider more seriously the legitimate issues raised by populists on both the left and the right.
3. Invent Options for Mutual Gain:  Instead of digging into a renewed Cold War, perhaps we should be more open to working with Putin and Russia, for example.
4. Insist on Using Objective Criteria in Decision Making:  The upcoming election provides a good opportunity for us to hold leaders accountable by electing better leaders.  The president is already accountable to the people as he must face reelection.  The intelligence agencies cannot always be relied upon to be objective as they are not always accountable for their actions and operate in secrecy.

Focus on the goal of a free and open society where majority rules, and minority rights are protected.