What Is Missing in America? By Al Sikes

Reality: America can be and has been a tinderbox. In my lifetime a number of Presidents were either shot or shot at: Harry Truman, John F Kennedy, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, and Donald Trump. Including my friend Jim Brady, Ronald Reagan’s Press Secretary.

Democracy is a seed bed for passion. And we are not necessarily a gentle people. So let me go back in my life and then forward highlighting a problem that makes America, indeed democracy in general, more volatile and vulnerable.

In 1978 I bought KLGT, a radio station in Breckenridge, Colorado. It was my first venture in broadcasting and experience with the “public interest” standard which was required of broadcasters by the1934 Communications Act.

The 1934 Act brought scientific order to the use of radio waves and for those fortunate enough to own a station, an obligation to broadcast in the “public interest”. In my case, that first station, was the only station in town—I was a monopolist in a small ski town. Stories about the evolving FCC interpretation of “public interest” and how they affected my ownership would quickly wear you out, so let me skip ahead a decade.

In 1989 I became Chairman of the FCC. The Commission I chaired became an accelerant in the transition from analog to digital communication leaving today’s FCC with little real work to do. We now stream most programing on our various devices. I live in Maryland, but can listen to the Colorado station.

We stream music from say Spotify, and listen to Podcasters who deliver the news we want bypassing what might make us uncomfortable. Real journalism, seeking the truth, is not the mission of Podcasters who characterize the news daily.

Today’s business model is clear, Podcasters with cleverly shaped and delivered points of view win. They are often charismatic and generally discard news that might challenge the hardcore message that attracts and holds their listeners. This is not an “eat your vegetables” medium. The best Podcasters are paid very well, don’t spend money on a news bureau, and large audiences result in very big pay checks.

And, as radio, TV and newspapers became prey to digital offerings, real journalists often became casualties. Real journalists challenge, with facts, prejudicial thinking on the Left and Right. We were a smarter people in 1978 when I bought KLGT—it was harder to hide from facts and viewpoints that made us think. This is not a salute to what on the Right is called  “legacy media”, but significant parts of its legacy practiced truth-searching. Truth-telling, well that is a damnably difficult job regardless of the medium or personalities.

Reflecting. Are we too dumb now to understand the implications of a $37 trillion debt? The last balanced federal budget was in 2001. How did we get here? Either journalism failed or people are incapable of computation.

What about toxic polarization fed by a continuous loop of invective? Tucker Carlson are you listening? Those whose business is shaped by preying on emotions formed a new fault line. And foreign intelligence agencies exploit this opening.

What about the White House cancelling the Congress? The framers that we honor insisted on a branch of government that could discipline authoritarianism. Their first Article created the legislative branch.

But now forces of brittle cowardliness in the Executive branch paired with feckless legislators have brought us low. The public is aware of this dysfunction. Pew Research Center finds that only 22% of Americans trust the government to do what is right. In 1964, 77% were said to trust.

Senator Patrick Moynihan, a Democrat who worked for a Republican President, argued repeatedly that when people withdraw trust and respect from government, government performance worsens which in turn deepens public contempt — a destructive cycle.

We, Americans, fought a civil war because a significant hunk of America could not see beyond its own prejudices and self-interest. What’s next for 21st Century America?  What about the fusion of power and money?

Maybe I was one of only a few offended when President Trump put the oligarchs of digital media front and center at his inauguration. Sitting in the celebrity row were: Elon Musk, Tesla and X (formerly Twitter); Jeff Bezos, Amazon; Mark Zuckerberg, Meta (Facebook and Instagram); Sundar Pichai, Google/Alphabet; Tim Cook, Apple. All, of course, billionaires many times over who now control much of the news and information we receive and how we receive it. And, generally their overarching interest is private not public.

The oligarchs of today have built their business models around clickbait that incentivizes predation. Click, click, click is the routine as we are bombarded with advertisements and our contact information and predilections are seized and stored for future exploitation.

I would suggest that one reaction to the oligarchs and their consenting President is Zohran Mamdani, the socialist who is leading in the race to become the next Mayor of New York City. When Americans get mad they push back. It’s our history. Donald Trump was a beneficiary of this anger.

Maybe the FCC should be given a 21st Century job. It certainly needs rescuing from its White House directed mission of harassing media the President does not like.

And us? We need to go beyond our comfort zones. We and only we can make democracy work. We need to get in the middle of the clash of ideas. Unquestioned affection for a political party or politician fails our country.

Al Sikes is the former Chair of the Federal Communications Commission under George H.W. Bush. Al writes on themes from his book, Culture Leads Leaders Follow published by Koehler Books.