The Ed Shultz Show

I want to start this by saying that I love the Ed Shultz Show. I listen every day, and the only thing that prevents me from calling in on a regular basis is the time slot, which is in the middle of the day. Of course, it's that time slot that allows me to listen in the first place, while I'm at work.

I went to the Seattle Town Hall Event on June 13th where the announcement was made that the shares of the show owned by Democracy Radio had been sold to a major player in the Radio business, Randy Michaels and P1 (Product First), a division of Radioactive LLC. Like the letter that Ed received and posted on his website said, the entire hall went silent. He had to tell us that it was a good thing, and many of us are still not sure.

I have a degree in business. I know how the market works, and I know you have to have money to get and keep your voice in the mix. That's all fine well and good. But here's the reality. Three people now own the shares in the Ed Shultz Show. My question is how is that Progressive? How is that Populist? Ed says all the right progressive and populist things, and he believes them. But like the vast majority of us, he can't live them. Not because he wouldn't want to, but because the system doesn't allow him to. It takes money, and he's now really excited about his ability to keep his show on the air through 2008 and help defeat whoever comes out of the Republican Party to try and keep this country going in the wrong direction. That's great, but then one of the show's new owners was on his show talking about all the money that they plan to make from advertising, and saying that it was a pure business decision that made them want to buy into the show, not because they support any of the things that Ed says. These two were part of the movement that brought Rush Limbaugh to the air, and they freely admit that. Ed says that doesn't make them Conservatives or Republicans, it makes them good businessmen.

Ed, THAT'S THE PROBLEM!

The impersonal nature of our businesses, corporations and the pure profit motive of our Capitalist economic system IS WHAT IS DESTROYING OUR COUNTRY AND DESTROYING OUR PLANET!

Our system of economics, thanks to Hamilton and FDR, is a capitalist system. It should be a free market that fosters fair competition of ideas, products and services. I'm not against that! I just recognize that 90% of the wealth in our country is owned and managed by 5% of our population. (Or some such rediculous statistic. It keeps changing depending on who you talk to.) How much of an influence do people making minimum wage or less have in our Congress? How much of the population am I talking about? Now, how much of an influence do people making more than $1 million per year have in our Congress? And how many people am I talking about? That's my point.

Ed, you read an email from me on the air on Wednesday. Sell stock. Sell shares in your show to the people who take a shower after work. Give us a chance to support you, and give us a chance to share in all the money that you and your two partners plan to make from advertising. Live your words, Ed. Become the progressive that we need you to be, and become not just the voice of the Progressive movement, but part of the heart and soul of the evolution of our country and the institutions that operate the machinery.

You're much better than Rush, Ed. Show us how much better you can be.