What's Really Important Politics Versus Governing
Robert LaHue, thank you for your comment on the “Answer to Jim Qualls� blog. I decided, wind bag that I am, to answer you in another blog post rather than in the comment section. This might afford more people the opportunity to get involved with the dialogue… or not. Who knows? It at least allows me to play with my format a bit.
You stated “I guess in my particular line of work, I get a sense that people on both sides of the political aisle want to limit the power of the press and totally misunderstand why that part of the First Amendment even exist….But maybe that’s just me.� I certainly don’t disagree with you as far as it goes.
No doubt politics and governing are at odds, with the Constitution getting caught in the middle, including an eagerness to control the press. Ask Judith Miller, recently retired from the New York Times. One would guess she hadn’t expected to go to jail when she first attempted to protect a source by exercising her first amendment rights, pursuant to the press. I think anyone in or out of the press can understand the need for such protection. Without it, many such sources will not readably come forward to share what they know with a public in desperate need of new information. And one would surmise the more important the need for erudition in a matter, the greater the tendency for some to attempt to ensure non-exposure, and thus the need for even greater protection of those willing to come forth with the story.
I suspect a lot of this began when the media begin to morph from purely reporting news to creating it as a form of entertainment and solicitation for corporate sponsorship. At that point it became a target for those who would seek to use it for their own purposes, rather than truthfully inform. And since corporations and governments appear to be on the verge of merging for purposes of consolidating even greater power and wealth in the future, what better incentive to attempt, in various degrees, to minimize the First Amendment as it concerns the freedom of the press. An uninformed populace, by means of omission, distortion, or misdirection is no longer in a position to judge if government is still of, for and by the people. None spoke more clearly to the dangers of such undertakings than did Thomas Jefferson: “Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost.�
There is little doubt that all sides in politics try and push the envelope. Yet in my experience, I have never witnessed such obvious lying, secrecy, corruption-by-avarice, and dishonest manipulation and control foisted on the American people as has occurred during the short six years of this present Administration and Congress. Perhaps what makes it so shamelessly conspicuous, and so much more unacceptable than ever before is the blatant, in your face, “I don’t care if you see or know what I’m doing� attitude/arrogance of those in power. They don’t seem to care if you see it; they can and will do whatever they like. A very narrow majority seems to be interpreted by these people as a huge mandate and sense of entitlement, regardless of so many failed policies.
This attitude is demonstrated quite well in Dick Cheney’s remark on the eve of the mid-term elections in which he informed NBC News this administration will be going "full speed ahead" with its present policies irregardless of the will of the people, as reflected by their vote: "It may not be popular with the public — it doesn't matter in the sense that we have to continue the mission and do what we think is right. And that's exactly what we're doing."
I believe the election results tell Mr. Cheney that this is, and will not be acceptable. Obviously that “what we think is right� is not a reflection of the will of “we the people� so much as a small cadre of politicians/neoconservatives nestled in the confines of the White House. Ask Donald Rumsfeld, who is {finally} looking for a new day job.
What bothers me Robert, is that we appear to becoming a nation driven more by political expediency, posturing and gain, than the actual needs of the nation and people. The terms un-American and unpatriotic, for example, are used by all too many to label those who are guilty of neither, but rather, simply disagree with how the nation is being led. It is not only our right to disagree with leadership, but our civic duty, and it’s reprehensible for some to insinuate it is traitorous to do so. So when I continually hear the “liberals are trying to destroy the Constitution� mantra from one political ideology, I feel the need to point out when those very same people are engaged in that particular activity themselves; and as you astutely point out, it’s something often attempted by “people on both sides of the political aisle.�
What’s really important to me is for the people of our nation to get back to addressing the concerns of the nation, and not those of their political parties. That the very fabric of our democracy has been threatened by the erosion of checks and balances between the three branches of government, as exemplified by the present “no oversight� Congress, tells me that the identification with a political party has become more important than the welfare of the nation and people, to all too many. At the level of leadership this appears to manifest as a need for securing more wealth and power. At the level of the people, it translates to the need to be right over the importance of recognizing truth. Such mediocrity will not successfully carry the United States of American into the 21st Century!