The following was sent vis e-mail, in slightly altered form, to each of the addressees - this is a composite :
United States Senator for New York and
United States Senate Majority Leader
322 Hart Senate Office Building
United States Senate
Washington DC 20510
United States Senator for New York
478 Russell Senate Office Building
United States Senate
Washington DC 20510
United States Representative for the
17th Congressional District of New York
1017 Longworth House Office Building
United States House of Representatives
Washington DC 20510
I am Joann Prinzivalli, one of your constituents from White Plains, New York. Before I get to the task at hand, I offer my congratulations to Congressman Jones on his election, and to Senator Schumer for his much-deserved elevation to the position of Senate Majority Leader.
For more than forty years, I have watched as our nation has slid inexorably toward disaster in a slow-moving train wreck. A resolution of the constitutional crisis occasioned by the recent insurrection in which our Capitol Building was invaded by violent thugs whose actions were precipitated by the words of the former president, and current members of the Senate and of the House, must take priority.
I understand from news reports, that the Articles of Impeachment of the former president will be delivered to the Senate at 7 PM today – I urge the Senate to take swift action. There is enough evidence for a conviction just based on televised speeches made by the former president and his social media communnications. While there was sufficient evidence presented in his first impeachment, numerous members of the Senate not only broke the special oath, Senators McConnell and Graham openly stated that they would be forsworn. Later destructive actions of the former president can be laid at their feet. This time around, the way they treat the trial should be evidence of whether they support the insurrection.
Next, there is the matter of those Senators and Representatives who incited, encouraged, planned, or participated in the insurrection, or have given aid or comfort to the insurrectionists, most notably Senators Cruz and Hawley. They must be expelled from their office as being disqualified from holding that office or any other, by virtue of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. While Article I Section 5 of the Constitution calls for a two-thirds majority to expel a Senator, the 14th Amendment provision makes it clear that in the event of supporting insurrection, the expulsion is automatic, requiring only a finding of fact, ad it is reinstatement that requires a two-thirds vote.
To the extent that Senators or Representatives indirectly promoted the Rebellion by continuing to falsely assert the illegitimacy of the election well after all legal challenges had been disposed, but who are not held to have been disqualified from holding office, they should be censured by their respective House, and only expelled if they persist in crossing the boundaries of free expression.
Once the Congress has put its houses in order, legislation must be written and enacted that strangles the roots of the problem.
1. The Fairness Doctrine. The Federal Communications Commission adopted the Fairness Doctrine in 1949, with the rise of television, requiring that television news provide a reasonable balance of views, and in 1959 that television news provide “varying opinions on the paramount issues facing the American People.” This bulwark of fairness was scuttled by the Reagan Administration in 1987. By 1993, opponents of fairness in media promoted the Telecommunications Act, signed by President Clinton in February 1996. The loss of the Fairness Doctrine for broadcast news, and the failure to regulate internet and cable news media has resulted in a Balkanization of news media, a diverse proliferation of biased and partisan news coverage, deepening the divide in the populace, and widening the differences among Americans. It is not only media content sources themselves, but aggregators and republishers (even indirect republishers such as Twitter and Facebook) that contribute to the problem, The result, in the recent election, is that millions of Americans have been convinced by their news providers, and by some of their elected officials, that a free and fair election was tarnished by widespread fraud, fraud that has been refuted at every level save the level of the media and politicians sowing dissension and insurrection. The Fairness Doctrine must be restored and expanded to cover broadcast media as well as internet media.
2. Break Up media conglomerates. Communication Industry deregulation has led to a great deal of merger activity in the media – having local and national print, broadcast, and cable news in the hands of a few large corporate entities is bad for freedom of the press – while the freedom of the press has always militated in favor of those wealthy enough to own a printing press, or buy access to one, having a variety of press outlets all controlled by a small number of large conglomerate owners, is bad for the government and for the People. In addition, it is critical that as to the internet, content providers and internet service providers (ISPs) be separately owned, with ISPs being treated as public utilities subject to federal and state regulation. When it comes to content providers that are merely platforms for user-provided content, they should be treated both as public utilities and as content republishers.
There are so many other pressing issues facing this Congress, and the new Administration, and other legislation that must also be passed to undo the harm of the past 40-plus years of our history. Prioritizing the above will do much to help create a media environment in which “news” is factual, and news-opinion as to the issues of the day are presented with a view toward airing legitimate differences of opinion.
Thank you for taking the time to address these issues as I hope you will.
Sincerely
Joann Prinzivalli
No comments:
Post a Comment