THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume VII, Issue # 26, January 31, 2005
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
FOURTH ESTATE, FIFTH COLUMN
By Alan Caruba
AMERICA'S MAINSTREAM MEDIA: OPPONENTS OF U.S. FOREIGN POLICY & ENEMIES OF INDIVIDUAL FREEDOM, THE RULE
OF LAW, & THE CONSTITUTIONAL DEMOCRATIC REPUBLICAN SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT -- THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA'S BIASED,
DISTORTED, & INACCURATE REPORTING OF "NEWS" REGARDING EFFORTS TO ESTABLISH A CONSTITUTIONAL DEMOCRATIC
REPUBLIC IN IRAQ & BRING THE BLESSINGS OF INDIVIDUAL FREEDOM & THE RULE OF LAW TO THE IRAQI PEOPLE
FULL STORY:
It is unfortunate that so many of the Fourth Estate (journalists) are also a Fifth Column, a force inside our nation seeking to distort and
destroy its achievements. Nowhere was this more obvious than the mainstream news coverage of the first free elections in Iraq, as the
first step toward a constitution and a government that is not composed of psychopaths and thugs.
In the face of a voter turnout that was heroic, many in the mainstream press did their best to emphasize the numbers of those killed by
the declared enemies of constitutional democracy. We lose that many people in highway accidents on any day of the year.
Thanks to the way U.S. history is taught these days, too many Americans think of it as something fashioned by slave-owning
hypocrites, while ignoring the price most paid for pledging their lives and their sacred honor to free the colonies from the greatest
military power in their world. Too often, modern Americans fail to grasp the difficulties faced and the sacrifices made for an idea called
freedom.
We know the names of the Founding Fathers, but we mostly do not know the names of those who fought for that idea. They did so not
for fame, nor fortune, but for a nation in which people could live safe and secure, governed by laws made, not by a king or emperor, but
by their chosen representatives.
It is unfortunate, too, that some Americans think that constitutional democracy has been declared in Iraq and our troops can and should
come home. It took seven years to drive the British out of the thirteen North American colonies, another couple of years with an
extremely weak, defective U.S. central government under the Articles of Confederation, and a top-secret, behind-closed-doors session in
Philadelphia to produce the U.S. Constitution, which provided for a strong and effective national government, while allowing the states a
substantial degree of autonomy (home rule) and guaranteeing each of them a constitutional republican form of government. The Iraqis
have until August to produce a constitution of their own and, in October, the nation will vote to accept or reject it. Iraq is a very
different place than the America of the 1700s, but they can do this just as we once did.
Even with our new Constitution, it took more years for the system we call constitutional republican democracy to develop effective
political parties and a democratic electoral system. Then, “four score and seven years” later, it had to be protected with a Civil War that
killed more men in a single battle than the combined first and second invasion of Iraq by the U.S. Armed Forces. And that count includes
casualties on both sides. After that, in just the last century, America had to participate in two world wars to defeat the enemies of freedom.
Then, with exquisite patience and endurance, we spent fifty years in a Cold War to defeat the totalitarian expansion of Soviet Communism.
If you listen to or read the instant analysis of the mainstream press, however, you would think that (1) constitutional democracy was a
crazed, stupid idea which could never succeed in the Middle East or anywhere else, (2) we are only in Iraq because the Bush
administration “lied” us into the conflict, and (3) we should quit the region as swiftly as possible. These views are very similar to the
notions of small children -- especially spoiled children -- who prefer cartoons to real life.
Constitutional democracy has begun in Iraq and it will take a decade or so to fight off its immediate enemies. For that, Iraq will require
our support. After that, it will take a generation or two to flourish, gaining practical experience with the institutions and processes of
constitutional democracy. Ultimately, the freedom and rule of law Iraqis put into daily practice will undermine all the monarchies and
despotisms that mark that region of the world. And that is why streets in Baghdad will someday be named after Bush, Rumsfeld, Rice,
and Powell.
History unfolds on a day-to-day basis. We need both the patience and the will to win this new war against the enemies of freedom and
the rule of law. We need to filter out the childish nattering of the mainstream press and simply believe what our eyes and our hearts tell
us is true.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
The News Media & Political Bias
The Middle East & the Problem of Iraq
Page Two
Page One
The Problem of Rogue States:
Iraq as a Case History
Alan Caruba is a veteran business and science writer, a Public Relations Counselor, Communications Director of the American Policy Center,
and Founder of the National Anxiety Center, a clearinghouse for information about media-driven scare campaigns. Caruba writes a weekly
column, "Warning Signs," posted on the Internet website of the National Anxiety Center
(www.anxietycenter.com). A compilation of his past columns, entitled Warning Signs, is published by Merril Press. In addition
to Warning Signs, Caruba is the author of A Pocket Guide to Militant Islam and The United Nations vs. the United States,
both of which are available from the National Anxiety Center, 28 West Third Street, Apartment 1321, South Orange, New Jersey, 07079.
© Alan Caruba 2005
Published with Permission of Alan Caruba
ACaruba@AOL.Com
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Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
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