A fact that everybody who is paying attention now seems to recognize.
It leads me to wonder whether the bigger threat to the nation is a.) radical Islamism, b.) the Democrat party or c.) the mainstream media.
Frankly, I'm increasingly inclined toward the latter. Without the ministrations of the MSM, the Democrat party quickly ceases to be a threat outside of, maybe, Berkeley and Yoknapatawpha County. And, without the fog cast by the MSM, the public could more clearly see and identify the threat of radical Islam...and be prepared to deal with it accordingly.
Eliminate either of the other two threats...and you've still got two threats left. But eliminate the MSM...and you're free to run the table.
I wonder if they can comprehend what they have become. I wonder if they could explain "why".
Probably not.
I struggle with these questions, too. I was raised to understand our revolution's basis in the Enlightenment. John Stuart Milton's "Areopagitica" elaborates on why the press should never be licensed. In watching the last election unfold, it made me wonder if some sort of rule is at play. A free peole can teeter on the brink of disaster, even when the instruments of information seem to be corrupted, but if the multiplicity of sources of information is protected, the truth often gets through. I had center-liberals telling me they couldn't vote for Kerry because although they had opposed the Vietnam war, and they didn't believe the Swiftboat Vets completely, they felt enough questions had been raised. This is in the face of the CFR muzzlings and all other seemingly coordinated efforts to prevent Americans from getting the truth!
The press has to be free. It's really up to us to shake out their lies. I think our decade is not the first to realize that the fourth estate isn't always an angel of truth. We had Yellow Journalism at the end of the 19th century, for example.
All of this has convinced me that the second amendment is more important than ever -- simply as a deterrent.