12 Steps to Regime Change

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But even before the recent FCC decision, the "Fox effect" pushed news coverage to the right. Rupert Murdoch's pending purchase of Direct TV exponentially increases the power of conservative media moguls. You don't have to be a confirmed cynic to see that the corporate media are likely to get worse in the immediate future.

And we don't have time to wait for the mainstream media to turn around. Sure, we should vocally keep tabs on them as much as possible, realizing that media corporations must maintain a semblance of objectivity to be credible enough to make their profits. But more importantly, we need to use our own independent media system, which, with the help of the Internet, has grown tremendously, has risen in quality, and reaches many more people than ever before. Growing numbers of up-to-the-minute Web sites (including AlterNet.org, where I work), feisty magazines, alternative weeklies, activist newsletters, and all the rest of the independent media are powerful information sources. Added up, the independent media often do much more than the corporate media in presenting details and diversity of what's happening in America and around the world.

Many of us have become "connectors," zipping the best ideas, analysis, and personal voices around the Web so we all know what Robert Scheer, Arianna Huffington, Molly Ivins, Arundhati Roy, Amy Goodman, and numerous others are writing, thinking, and saying. Worldlink TV and Free Speech TV, our only progressive TV networks, are improving every day. When outspoken investigative reporter Greg Palast was asked how his current "alternative" book became a best-seller, he told the interviewer the alternative press needs to change its name: "It reaches more people than the mainstream."

#12: Make a Commitment

Activist Harriet Barlow has started talking to friends about the "5 percent" solution. If you are really serious about defeating Bush, she says, commit 5 percent of your income and 5 percent of your time to the cause, more if you can afford it. And start now. Many others are in tune with Barlow. Dedicate a portion of your time to what will be the most important election of our lives.

One thing we need to do is get together and talk about what's at stake and give each other encouragement. Regime Change house parties, salons, and picnics can become the rage. Progressive leaders travel all the time and are aching for invitations -- give them a call, especially if you are in a swing state. Plan on launching an exchange of ideas and information, not just hosting a speech. We need more interaction and voices, fewer speeches.

Many organizations with people on the ground, such as ACORN (www.acorn.org), NAACP (www.naacp.org), Greenpeace (www.greenpeace.org), League of Conservation Voters (www.lcv.org), Rock the Vote (www.rockthevote.org), and Win Without War (www.winwithoutwarus.org) and their affiliates will have local efforts going across the country. Check out their Web sites, volunteer, send them money if you can. Tom Paine.com, True Majority, and Peace Action have organized a campaign to register voters for peace, and the Swing State Project is recruiting volunteers nationwide now. Working for Change (www.workingforchange.com) is one of the best places on the Web to read about and take part in political actions. Get on their list.

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