Noam Chomsky - Turning the Tide U.S. intervention in

The Challenge Ahead
Classics in Politics: Turning the Tide Noam Chomsky
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for public policy, which are relatively stable, changing slowly if at all.
These constitute the actual nexus of decision-making power in the
society, including investment and political decisions, setting the
framework within which public policy can be discussed and is
determined. The government consists of whatever groups happen to
control the political system, one component of the state system, at a
particular moment.
In these terms, the “left-wing” critique holds that the media may well
be critical of the government while they remain obedient to the state.
The “conservative” critique agrees that the media are often critical of the
government—this is their great crime; their obedience to the state is
assumed. “Conservatism” of the contemporary variety demands total
servility, not mere obedience. Thus the two forms of critique are not, in
reality, contradictory, quite often. One might add that obedience of the
corporate media to the state is hardly noteworthy or surprising; they
serve quite generally as ideological institutions of the state.
The enormous evangelical movement and its media have also
become a powerful factor in imposing the “conservative” consensus. The
United States is unique among industrial democracies in the allegiance
of the population to religious doctrines and institutions, often of a
fanatical variety; it is a dramatic exception to the general rule that such
allegiance declines with industrialization. It may be that this departure
reflects the more limited opportunities for political participation beyond
the local level in a society with a highly class conscious business class
and few politically-relevant secondary organizations. Ferguson notes “the
overwhelming importance of manufacturers in launching the great
revivals and temperance crusaders of the 1830s,” and the fact that
“while business elites almost always protected (and often encouraged)
immigrant churches, they spared no expense to destroy unions.” 24 This
makes good sense. People will seek some form of association, and if