Of, By and For the Party! (Internet blog censorship)

CFP ^ | March 10, 2005 | J.B. Williams

[MikeEdwards]

For decades, we have sat helplessly watching as a government intended to be of, by and for the people became increasingly all about the Party.All about the politics and the politician.

So there is a good reason why the Internet is now the new target for censorship by Washington insiders and media elites alike.. Network news ratings are tanking, newspaper circulations are plummeting and Washington elites are growing weary of answering a steadily increasing volume of mail from we the people. This isn’t how it is supposed to work (in their minds).

We the people are supposed to go to the polls every two years or so and return to our daily routines assuming our elected officials are doing what they promised when they asked for our votes. The press is supposed to be the people’s watchdog, keeping us informed on a need-to-know basis, shaping the headlines to keep us up to speed.

The Internet has messed up everything . Things in Washington generally happen at a snail’s pace. It takes time to gather a consensus and make anything happen there. Meanwhile, information on the Internet is moving at light speed and the people’s reaction to that information is almost instantaneous.

Recent casualties of the people’s new weapon, John Kerry, Dan Rather, Arlen Specter and Mary Mapes to name a few, are unnerved by this growing power of the people to gather information on their own and engage in the process of self-governance, becoming their own watchdogs. We no longer need the press shaping our opinions by shaping our headlines. In fact, it turns out that the more aware we become of that practice, the more they get shoved to the ash heap of history. . . . .