By Timothy V. Gatto

The arguments between the Progressives on the left and the Conservatives on the right are mostly straw-man arguments when it comes to cable shows. FOX News on one hand can’t bash the Democrats enough, while MSNBC can’t stop taking the Republicans to task. Still, the content of both cable stations is Republican against Democrat without much meaningful criticism of American polices and direction.

Once in awhile we get a gem from MSNBC like Rachel Maddow’s report on “Don’t ask, Don’t tell”. I’d just like to add that when I was stationed in Germany, a gay friend of mine took me to a gay bar in Kaiserslautern and when I walked in I saw about 15 guys from my unit if 240 guys there. Nobody knew and if they did, the soldiers in my unit didn’t give a damn.

Dylan Ratigan and The Ed Show on MSNBC offer some fresh criticism of the government outside the two party system, but it is an infrequent thing. Mostly the fare served up on Fox and MSNBC is to bash the Democrats and Republicans. Frankly, this for me is getting a little old. I already know that most Republicans are pinheads and that most Democrats are scared of their own shadow. It’s really time for the networks to get off the political soapbox and start to talk about what really matters to this country.

What does matter in this country? Well for one, according to a study done by the University of Southern California titles Who Owns America by Professor G William Domhoff, financial wealth in this country broke down like this; the top 1% owned 42.7% of the wealth. The next 19% owned 50.3%, and the next 80% of the population owned a mere 7% of this nation’s wealth. You would figure that these results from 2007 and reviewed in 2010 would be something to talk about, especially when MSNBC says they are speaking up for the “little guys”.

The military situation is very rarely talked about outside of Afghanistan. Just look at this graph from Global issues.org. We spend 46.6% of all global military spending. China is second with 6.6%. The largest Air force in the world is the U.S, Air Force. The second largest air force is the U.S. Navy!

Isn’t there something alarming about these numbers? Here we are in the middle of the worst economic slowdown since the Great Depression and we are spending Trillions of dollars on the military, an investment that has no return.

Where are the pundits when we are militarizing Latin America? Eight new bases in Columbia, 2 in Panama, 2 in Honduras and 40 warships and 7,000 men in Costa Rica. Why? Can’t we extend an olive branch to Hugo Chavez and the people in Venezuela? Why must we treat them as belligerents and surround them with the American military? Why don’t we hear about this from the “Professional Left” on the cable shows? Why isn't the treatment of the Palestinian by Israel people brought up on cable?

Maybe it’s because there is no “Professional Left” on cable. This bickering between cable outlets is designed to keep the American people separated and entwined in “straw man” issues while the real problems of the militarization of the United States goes on and we stay embroiled in a kind of economic class war.

The things that really matter, things like Campaign Finance Reform to take corporate money out of political races and the matter of politicians working for special interests along with the fact that 80% of this nation only holds 7% of its wealth are hardly mentioned. The use of DU weapons that spread radioactivity with a half-life of 400,000 years spread all over Iraq, Bosnia and Afghanistan never come up in discussion. The failure of the U.S. to sign the cluster bomb treaty doesn’t come up in discussion either.

I’ve realized that there is no “Professional Left” on cable. There are only “Professional Democrats” and this is a crime. I’m just wishing that someday the real left gets a voice on cable.

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timgatto@hotmail.com Read Tim's Book "Complicity to Contempt" and his Novel "Kimchee Days or Stoned Cold Warriors From Oliver Arts and Open Press and available on Amazon and all other online bookstores.