Whither A Free Press?

 

The cure for the evils of democracy is more democracy!

 

H. L. Mencken, Notes on Democracy, 1926

 

 

President Joe Biden gave his first press conference, as president, this past week. The reviews of it seemed to center on his style rather than content. The political left was enthralled with how ‘presidential’ he appeared, while the political right gleefully aired clips of Biden’s forgetfulness, blank stares and reliance on prepositioned notes and responses.

Such partisan views would be all well and good if it were not for the content of his responses, the presentation be damned.

The Madison Conservative is troubled by many of the Presidents responses, but none more than his comments on a free and open press. Even more troubling was the stenographic and sycophantic media’s silence on the Biden administration’s apparent strategy to remove the first amendment’s protection of a free press.

What seems almost regularly required first, however, is a need to clarify another Joe Biden outright lie about the Trump administration. Biden specifically noted that no previous administration left unattended minors alone on the border to die of thirst or hunger, until the Trump administration, which Biden claimed, had a policy of killing migrant children. Trying to justify his own incompetence in dealing with the caravan crisis on the United States southern border by making such disgusting claims mandates that Biden be called out publicly, often and as loudly as possible.

The Madison Conservative is more than happy to oblige.

 

Moving on, there used to be a universally held belief that the press existed to bring truth to power. The founders and framers knew that a government-controlled press was a giant step towards the death of democracy. A free and open press was intended to be the watchdog of government, to bring light to the process of government. While the press is sadly limited to staffing itself solely from the human race, this intent, while imperfect, mostly worked as intended for the first 240+ years of the greatest nation the world has ever seen.

Somewhere around the day Donald Trump was elected, the mainstream media decided to be advocates whose sole purpose was the destruction of the Trump administration and the man himself. The fact record is clear; if Trump supported something, it was hourly described as racist, homophobic, xenophobic, and any other phobic they could imagine. The facts were never an issue; everything he did was wrong and hateful. At some point the Madison Conservative will discuss in great detail the impartial facts of President Trump’s successes. The record is clear and one Trump and Americans should value.

 

Upon taking office, Biden spewed the common line that they would be as transparent an administration as the nation had ever seen. Biden stated he would always be direct with the citizenry, be honest with them no matter the facts. The lie to that statement was proven during his press conference.

He was asked, point blank, if he would support transparency and allow the press access to the migrant centers, so that the American people could see what the government was doing in their name. He responded with a resounding yes, he would support said transparency and allow the media in.

He was asked when that would happen.

In a response that should appall all Americans, and no doubt bring the founding fathers to rage from their respective cemeteries, President Joseph Biden, sworn to protect, defend and preserve the United States Constitution, said this:

 

He would grant access once his plan to address the issue was implemented.

 

He was asked when specifically, that would be. His response:

 

“I don’t know”.

 

In other words, the President of the United States, leader of the free world, and supposed defender of the United States Constitution unilaterally dismissed the concept of a free press. He told America, her allies, and her enemies that a free press would only be permitted by his fiat.

 

The deafening silence from the media was total and horrifying.

 

In broad strokes, the liberal media noted how great it was that Biden was bringing ‘normalcy’ back to Washington after four years of the Trump terror, while the right leaning media, led by Fox News, kept beating the point that the Fox White House correspondent was not selected to ask a question.

 

Neither side seemed bothered by the apparent dismissal of Constitutional rights.

 

This should alarm the American people and be a warning of what is to come.

 

The Biden administration declared that the press could operate only within its declared limits, and report only what the administration decided was acceptable.

 

And the media accepted the Biden whim of press censure.

 

The people need to have their voices heard. This is no longer a partisan fight, but rather a call to action under the guidelines set forth in our most sacrosanct document, the Constitution. A free press is an extension of free speech. Once the press has been subjugated to governmental whim, it is a guarantee that free speech will soon fall.

This is not hyperbole; look at autocratic regimes around the world. The first thing to be controlled was the media, and then speech.

 

A nation of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall certainly perish from the face of the earth if they willingly surrender their rights.