June 2, 2006
by Steve Osborn

Once upon a time, people looked to their newspapers to give them the facts. Newspapers reported what was going on in their world, and that included what the government was doing. Thomas Jefferson said, "If I had to choose between government without newspapers or newspapers without government, I would unhesitatingly choose the latter." The people were jealous of their hard won freedoms and proud of the Constitution and Bill of Rights and the guarantees they gave to the people. The government was watched closely if it appeared there were excesses. The fabled Fourth Estate was the guardian of the people's interests. There were many investigative journalists who, when government fraud was perpetrated, accessed their sources within the government to find the truth, and the truth was published for the world to see. This frequently led to the reverse of those excesses and the dismissal of the miscreants. Journalists were the respected watchdogs of the people.

Now, it appears that it is not the excesses of government that has to be exposed, but those who expose it to public view have become the criminals. The courts are no longer interested in the quality of the information on government perfidy. They want to find and punish those who discovered it and brought it to the light of day. With the advent of such monopolistic parties as Fox News working hand in glove with the government, the investigative journalist has almost become a thing of the past. The handful that still exist are facing indictment and prison for exposing government fraud and illegal and unconstitutional activities. The government wants the names of whistle blowers and people of conscience so it can pillory them and instill fear in anyone else who might want to expose the government. The FBI is even trying to obtain the ancient files and papers of Jack Anderson, to mine the data and ferret out his sources, most of whom are probably dead by now, as he is.

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If you ignore propaganda sheets and faux news programs, we have approached very closely, that condition dreaded by Jefferson, a government without newspapers. This means a government that can shred the Constitution and Bill of rights with impunity, that can put draconian measures into law quietly, without fanfare, and without exposure until it is too late.

If you study your recent history, you can find examples of other governments without newspapers. Soviet Russia and Nazi Germany come to mind. They eventually fell, one by war and one by near bankruptcy, but millions of people, for years, were mere automata, conditioned by years of single view propaganda. Listening to dissenting views, or expressing them, brought death or a gulag to millions.

That is not the future envisioned by the founders of the United States of America. In six years, we have been turned from a free society, able to express its opinions and criticize the government's excesses, into a nation where people tend to look over their shoulder and express criticism at low voice. With the courts falling more and more under the spell of this administration, the correcting forces of criticism and information will come under increasing fire. After reading of Halliburton's new no-bid concentration camp building contracts, it makes one wonder for whom is that "housing" being built. What are der Bush's "other programs?"

We the People are running out of time. If we do not demand that the Constitution and Bill of Rights be returned to the halls of government, intact and functioning; if we do not insist that the Courts, the Congress and the Executive function in a way that reflects our founding documents; if we do not insist upon a free press, then we shall be truly lost. The United States of America without the Constitution and Bill of Rights is only a name. A country that can be run by a government as it sees fit. A country no different than any other dictatorship in history. One that will one day fall, at a terrible cost in blood, poverty and misery, not only here, but around the world.

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Stephen M. Osborn [send him email] is a freelance writer living on Camano Island in the Pacific Northwest. He is an "Atomic Vet." (Operation Redwing, Bikini Atoll 1956, ) who has been very active working and writing for nuclear disarmament and world peace. He is a retired Fire Battalion Chief, lifelong sailor, writer, poet, philosopher, historian and former newspaper columnist.