It's critical that the media — and especially the news media — be reinvented to reflect the interests and needs of the majority of the people. Foremost among the tasks before the citizenry is to develop compelling alternatives to the cynical and spectacular corporate media. While corporate lobbyists coopt Christian piety, gay bashing, racism, and fear, a new intensity is needed to withstand this surge of authoritarianism, militarism, and greed. Liberty and intellectual freedom are being torn down by a regime of power-lust. Cynical men who will wrap themselves in the flag and hide behind a cross while they knowingly betray the interests of the American people. These politicians derive their power by serving corporate paymasters who are quite pleased with this pageantry of patriotism and piety because it has allowed unprecedented control of the government by corporate lobbyists. reform of government must begin with reform of media institutions. The more independent the better.