Are an inquisitive free press, an informed, responsible public, and

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

government institutions with checks and balances like 3 legs of a stool needed for a functioning democracy?

Or maybe with at least 2 you can keep things going, but with only one it's very difficult...

If you have corrupt leaders and government institutions without checks and balances, but you have the informed responsible public that cares, and a free functioning press to inform it, you have a hope to recover the functioning gov't.

etc.

Right now I think we are lacking in all 3 areas. Shrubco dismantling or circumventing all checks and balances painstakingly established in U.S. gov't, nay, Western societies for centuries including habeas corpus principles dating back to the Magna Carta. Press is dead or dances to the strings pulled by shrubco, with a few scattered honest souls like Molly Ivins or Paul Krugman here and there. Public is mired in apathy.

Even as corrupt as most of the press appears to be now, we could EASILY generate a new, very healthy and functioning press out of the internet almost overnight, as you can disseminate information very cheaply this way. There's loads of talent and motivation, just read the articles the Nashua Advocate is posting here. All it would take is to consolidate some of the best and most enterprising blogs and apply some rigorous editorial standards. You could create powerhouse, very effective, media giants providing excellent news virtually overnight. Problem is, it's the DEMAND for a functioning press that is lacking to drive the creation of such enterprises, i.e. it is the public that is lacking. Fully close to half of adults, maybe a little less, maybe even more, are happy to listen to crap like Faux and call it good.

I'm rather pessimistic about what the outcome to all this is going to be for our country. Feel like we're headed into a very bad place, very quickly.

[theorist]

1. Great post. Recommended. Just remember...

that it's important that we're conscious of these things, and we have the intellectual honesty to bring issues of this magnitude to the fore. It will take time to pick up the pieces, but we need to win.

The first step is to uncover unethical practices, but we can only uncover so much as citizens with limited resources. The Gannon affair is so important because it is an instance where me (a non-journalist) can do research from my desk at home and make a difference. If we can do anything to bring down this illegal regime, it is through citizen movements of this calibre.

[leveymg]

2. We're in the midst if a revolution, but don't yet recognize it as such

Before blogs, I used to have to search day and night to find a fraction of the wealth of news and information that's posted here. It was hard, lonely work. Now, it's all in one spot, and I can even communicate with other interested readers -- many of them international -- about it!

THIS IS the new, functioning press that you're saying the country lacks. We'll always need the big establishment wire services and daily newspapers to vacuum up information for us, but we're writing and analyzing our own history. That's the beginning of a powerful revolutionary change in the way that politics is created.

Wow! Just wait and see what we can do - we already have a Party of our own. We're in a minority for now, but soon many of the rest will catch on and join us.

Viva DU!

[rzemanfl]

3. The media is totally corrupted. I can't figure out how to start a

thread (maybe I can't yet) but please look at this:

http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/tallahassee/news/opinion/10964305.htm

This article says the Howard Dean "scream" video was taken totally out of context, he was shouting to be heard over a noisy crowd. Look at it. The fricking media won't cover Bush's bulge but went out of its way to edit Dean so he looked bad.