Don't Believe Everything You Think

We live in a time where confidence in our nation's leaders are at an all time low. Free press is protected in the Bill of Rights, and described in the Virginia Bill of Rights; "the freedom of the press is one of the greatest bulwarks of liberty and can never be restrained but by despotic governments." The job of the press is to educate the electorate, so “we the people” can know what government is doing and can wisely choose our representatives. What is rarely discussed, but just as important, is a free press is a pressure is the valve of the electorate. If the people lose a free and objective press, then they have lost a voice in the bully pulpit of the press; Mark Twain said, "Never pick a fight with people who buy ink by the barrel". It is commonly said a free press is necessary for the maintenance of a political democracy. But what happens when a free press is either oppressed or self censored? There are two probable results. The first and historic reaction is a hollow Democratic state, that degrades into a totalitarian regime. The other direction has never been seen before. It is when a people, so entrenched in the god given rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happines take to the streets; not to overthrow their government, but for the reconstruction of the Democratic state. America has seen attempts at deconstruction in the past, but the difference today is the media is unbalanced, blindly following an ideology that is not consistence with the constitution or the will of the majority.

It is expected that the press should be objectively adversarial toward the President. But what America saw with the election of President Obama, was the end of the political Left/ Right paradigm. In the name of security, President Bush (43) enacted some Draconian policies, while increasing the size of government and governmental spending. For this, he was continually lambasted by the press. However, when Obama continued Bush's policies, the press is consistently silent. While this could be taken was an indictment of the press, it also shows that, all posturing aside, the Republicans and Democrats simply offer the same political state. Our leaders lie to us so often, that integrity is no longer expected, and the lack of vigilance by the press leaves no accountability of government, as truth and action become different forms of rhetoric.

The lack of a free press has cause increased polarization amongst the citizenry. The cause is blind ideology that is no longer mitigated by an educating press. Glenn Beck wrote a book called “Arguing with Idiots”, with the misplaced belief that one could win a political argument using history and facts. An example is the new Arizona law that allows state law enforcement to identify and jail illegal immigrants. The Obama administration has repeatedly cast the law with a very unfavourable light, yet it appears few if any members of his administration has even read the law. Although it is my contention that substance doesn't really matter in the current polarized ideological arguments of today, it does matter in the area of competence. It has become an on going embarrassment to the Obama Administration, when the Attorney General, Eric Holden, the head of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, and State Department spokesmen P. J. Crowley have had to publicly admit they have not read the law.

The key to Marxism is manipulating the ignorant masses; that they have just enough intelligence that they would not knowingly give themselves over to such an oppressive form of government. Our founding fathers designed a government where the people are in charge. To maintain our freedoms and liberty, the people need good information so they can educate themselves. Today we are getting bad information. However, the American people have one ace up it's sleeve; they know no other style of government. In every other case were capitalism has degraded into totalitarianism, the country's form of government was not static; in America our government defines our country. I said earlier that the press' job is to be a pressure relief valve for a non-responsive government. When that failed, we saw the emergence of the Tea Party movement. The idealogical Left has nothing but disdain for the Tea Party, but the alternative would have been much worse for them. They want to make light of the Tea Party because they fear them so much. Without the Tea Parties however, there probably would have been rioting in the streets. The Left once again underestimated the American people and they have found a way to communicate and educate through the Internet. Expect the president, congress, and yes the press, to push forward with their assault on free speech; but I predict it will be to little to late.