Thank you for the post! I would like to be corrected by anyone here on this forum, if I am wrong in any of the views below.
There are two major parties in the USA today: Democratic and Republican.
The base of the former consists of: fiscal liberals, religious liberals and atheists, academia, government employees, gay and lesbian communities, black Americans (95%+ vote democratic), other minorities, minority immigrants, Jewish Americans, some big business (Macdonalds, Coca Cola, Pepsi Cola, etc.); lots of women across the board, people of non-Christian faith, etc.
The base of the latter is: fiscal and religios conservatives, entrepreneurs, educated non-academic types and professionals, white males, some big business (HMOs, Tobacco, medical companies), millitary personnel, lots of Christians, smaller percentage of women, European immigrants of Christian faith.
What they want:
1) Democratic base:
fiscal liberals: more taxes for more social programs;
religious liberals and atheists: abortion rights, less interference of religion with state and politics;
academia: these think they are exceptionally smart and wise and want higher sallaries; more money for educational programs, hence more money for them; they are unwilling to undertake risks in life (e.g. starting a new business and applying their knowledge there), but prefer cushy jobs with no risks and higher sallaries;
government employees: Democrats=higher taxes=more salaries for bigger and bloated bureaucratic aparats;
gay and lesbian communities: more freedoms such as: free manifestation of their sexuality (so that they can recruit more people like themselves), marriages (so that they can have estate planning and tax deduction for living with their "significant others");
black Americans (95%+ vote democratic) and other minorities: these want higher taxes "for the rich" so that there will be more money for social programs, which will be used for their benefit;
some minority immigrants: coming here without language and education, these depend desperately on social programs for them (i.e. higher taxation of the rich);
Jewish Americans: these I simply do not understand why they vite democratic, may be because a democratic president fought against Nazis during WWII, I do not know;
some big businesses: (Macdonalds, Coca Cola, Pepsi Cola, etc.): please tell me why;
lots of women across the board: these want more education and healthcare for their kids;
people of non-Christian faith: these feel threatened by the right-wing Christian base, which is mostly associated with the "evil white male"
2) Republican base:
fiscal and religios (Christian) conservatives: no abortion, more (Christian) religion in schools;
entrepreneurs: less taxes, less governmental bureaucracy, educated non-academic types and professionals: same as the entrepreneurs;
white males: same as above, as they are mostly well-educated, self-sufficient and depend less on social programs;
some big business (HMOs, Tobacco, medical companies): less taxes (less subsidizing of social programs), less law suits, more government orders (mostly weaponry, machinery manufacturers), Tobacco companies - less harassing lawsuits, etc.)
millitary personnel: disciplined well-meaning people, who get paid more and get equipped better by Republican administrations;
lots of Christians: mostly whites, educated, self-sufficient people;
smaller percentage of women: strong, well-educated women, who can take care of their kids without dependency on social programs;
European immigrants of Christian faith: same as other Christians;
The above lists are far from complete and probably far from being accurate, but this establishes a starting point for my analysis of the kind of society I live in. I want to be corrected in my analysis, please do that!
But my big question is: why is the media so predominantly leftist? It has tremendous power in shaping public oppinion and can affect the direction this country is being shaped.
Once we understand why is media so leftist, the next question will be: Is this good ot bad? I guess the answer is: for some, it's good, for some, it's bad.
Then the last question will be: for those, for whom the leftist media is bad, what should they do?
My answer: contact the Republican base, raise money and create a counter-part for the leftist TV stations with enough number of conservative TV stations. FOX and consrvative radio stations are not enough to balance the leftist TV stations.
I am sure that society will benefit from balance in the extremely unbalanced, leftist, media field.
You asked, " my big question is: why is the media so predominantly leftist?"
I would say that the reasons for that are many, not the least of which is those who seek careers in the media at this point in time must subscribe to the doctrines that the media elite subscribe to, that the professors at schools of journalism subscribe to. I honestly believe that the Leftist media honestly believe they are doing the work of God in their excessive distrust of government, traditional American values, people of faith, etc. And the doctrines they hold to are all socialist in nature. I briefly attempted to study Communications at Hunter College in New York City and one of the texts for the class was a tome written by a man named Gramsci. Gramsci was an Italian (I believe) communist whose belief was that the way to gain power and control of a nation was to take control of the key institutions (over time). Moral absolutes (religion), current laws, current attitudes need to be overthrown in order for the world Gramsci envisioned to come into being. We have seen this taking shape in America with a take over of the schools beginning with Dewey, the decline of religious institutions with the liberalization of schools of theology, the shift in the media from journalism and reporting to commentary. Most or all of our institutions are no longer adhering to the first principles (the rule of law, the rule of the Constitution, fairness, etc.) Our election process is fast becoming among the most mistrusted or our institutions. The fiasco of the 2000 election (and there have been many other local and national elections), to me has resulted in Americans (and international) doubts about our ability to stand for what we have always stood for--the rule of law, free and open elections, government of the people, by the people, for the people. Once doubts are introduced about the ability for our constitutional republic to maintain its footing, alternatives will manifest themselves. The left, having developed a strong base of utterly dependent constituency groups (that you've correctly identified) will be there to swoop down and pick over the carcass of this once great nation and take it in the direction of communism/socialism and, ultimately despotism (from Leninism to Stalinism).
Hey, maybe I'm getting overly zealous here, but I see the seeds of this all around me, don't you?
Remember Nick Berg!
Instead of posting it here at FR, why not post it on a liberal forum, where you will be challenged? *Everyone* here knows we are at war. It is not us you have to convince. The only ones here who might not agree with you are few (Trolls, Libertarians, Libbies). You will not be able to save those who are already saved. Fish on the other side of the boat.