The message is simple: that people are being manipulated by corrupt machines to influence their opinions and buy their representatives. I ask you, how is that any different than now?
Now there's much more of it, and many more hands in the pot. Equal opportunity and all that. A hispanic guy like you should appreciate that last bit.
No different at all, especially since some people are gullible enough to think it's worse today than it ever was. It's not like there was 24/7 news coverage in the 18th and 19th centuries.
That's just ignorance talking. Your point about press coverage might be valid, but it evaporates in contrast to the proportion of society now engaged in jobs that can fuck with people and/or impose fines. Today there're many times more positions of authority even if they are all rife with same degree of corruption and graft as in the past. Today it's not just taxmen, toll collectors and cops who cheat or fuck with people for personal benefits, and there's even less corruption in some vocations (like US soldiers) than during other eras, historically speaking. Today we've piled on things like the SEC looking the other way at well-connected Madoff (don't mess with him unless you have an easy case), town supervisors with publicly-funded millionnaire lifestyles (in all 50 states and DC too), cops retiring at 120% benefits based on overtime logged during last year in service, ad fuckin naseum. Today everyplace wants to emulate Southern Italy.
