The Fourth Estate

 “Well, all I know is what I read in the Papers.” said Will Rogers

The term Fourth Estate hails back to the 19th Century European concept of the realm of three estates:  the clergy, the nobility, and the commoners.  The Fourth Estate being a Free Press.

Thomas Jefferson believed in the necessity of a free press as a watchdog keeping citizens informed in government affairs, and that the press had the responsibility of accuracy in their reporting.

Unlike the Postal Code, Article I, Section 8, giving Congress specific power to establish Post Offices and postal road, and to make all laws which shall be necessary and proper, the 1st Amendment of the U.S. Constitution gives Congress the more broadly power to protect Free Speech and Free Press equally.  

Our 1st Amendment is so profoundly imbued that it even guarantees money as Free Speech, thanks to Right-Wing, GOP appointed SCOTUS with Buckley v Valeo, Citizens United decisions. Therein Lies the Problem.  

It’s ok to buy Congress to kneecap the United States Postal Service, and allow monopolies, wherein five multi-national corporations own the Mass Media aka Main Street Media.

The Postal Accountability & Enhancement Act. Passed by Republican Congress and signed by President George W. Bush 2006, a “poison pill” designed to destroy USPS requiring it to pre-fund its Retiree Health Benefits Fund 75 years in advance.

Postmaster DeJoy, appointed by Republicans, defies the Constitution by criminally destroying USPS property with over 700 automated sorting machines dismantled and thrown in the trash. And, DeJoy is not charged with a crime!

Deepak Chopra on PBS said: “Nature of Reality in the conscious mind is thru Stories.”  Corporate Media controls the stories.  And, they show no shame in removing Journalism and replacing with Infotainment.

After the FCC stopped enforcing the Fairness Doctrine under Reagan in 1987, broadcast corporations stopped having to worry about broadcasting in the public interest.

Leslie Moonves CEO - CBS said about Donald Trump: "It May Not Be Good for America, but It's Damn Good for CBS”  A disservice to America!

The spread of misinformation, disinformation clearly falls on Corporate Media, MSM, and they show no remorse in removing Journalism and  replacing it with INFOTAINMENT. The Billionaire$ money in Government is systemic. 

Obviously, it’s difficult to govern with an uniformed public. A Free Press, Fourth Estate, with accuracy in their reporting is vital to a functioning democracy”

The Moral Compass

Today, overwhelming evidence shows that people vote against their own best self interest.

Ike was last legit Republican President, Nixon conspired with Viet Nam to continue the war (Treason), Reagan conspired with Iran to hold the hostages, (Treason), George H.W. Bush came from Reagan, George W. Bush was appointed by SCOTUS, and Trump lost the popular vote.

Paul Weyrich, religious conservative political activist and commentator of the New Right said: “I don't want everybody to vote. Elections are not won by a majority of people, they never have been from the beginning of our country and they are not now. As a matter of fact, our leverage in the elections quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down.”

The GOP wins power by the slimmest margins, only because the election process is theirs through Gerrymandering, voter suppression, voter crosscheck purge, corporate so-called news, SCOTUS Citizens United, Electoral College, Billionaires with Dark Money.  It would take a tsunami of progressive voter turnout to overcome.

Sen Whitehouse’ reply to GOP when they ruled “because we can”: “Don’t think when you have established the rule of ‘because we can,’ that should the shoe be on the other foot, you will have any credibility to come to us and say: ‘yeah, I know you can do that, but you shouldn’t.”

The Dumbing Down of America with 40 years of  Reagan’s “Government is the Problem”, no Civic Classes taught in school, and his appointing Bennett Education Secretary who despised public education, can be traced to the source of our woe.

Long standing Eloise Psychiatric Hospital is now a strip mall, golf course & condominium thanks to Reagan’s policy of making mental illness a homeless problem.

Irony: the poor & disenfranchised cleave to the very people who cause their Woe - the GOP. Why? “If you're not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed, and loving the people who are doing the oppressing.” - Malcom X

The Republican Health Care Plan: “Don’t Get Sick, And if you get sick, Die Quickly” - Alan Grayson 

Who are the nefarious “They” that we keep referring to in our everyday political discourse?  James Madison, fourth President of the United States, in his Federalist Papers No. 10, explained that Factions, like minded groups, were the natural state of man.

A Faction when standing alone is Benign, but when aligned with other Factions is dangerous when the uniting Cancer is HATE coupled with fear and prejudice. That’s the “They” and the GOP is the Cancer.  

Here is a short list at random of issues which the Republican Party votes against solving:

1. Toxic waste
2. Homelessness
3. Guns
4. Hunger
5. Pregnancy
6. Cancer
7. Hate
8. Tearing children from their parents
9. Cutting Medication
10. Lack of Healthcare
11. Coivid 19
12. Misogyny
13. Student debt
14. Racism
15. Poverty
16. Autocracy and strongman government
17. Untreated mental health, closing Eloise
18. Air and Water Pollution

Reminded:

“Well, all I know is what I read in the Papers.” - Will Rogers

Visitor from Planet Ethics would agree with Deepak Chopra that “The Nature of Reality in the Conscious Mind is thru Stories.“ The Corporate Media controls the stories, is owned by five corporations, and is the source of our woe. Main Street Media shows no guilt in replacing Journalism with Infotainment.

The GOP is the antithesis of ethics. What is mysteriously scary is the question: are Republican Candidates the Fomenter or Reflection of their Electorate?