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[Bluetus]

74. I agree

I have benefited for years by reading the articles and never felt a need to post, therefore no account. We should all be aware of the sorry state of what represents itself as "mainstream" media. Clearly, we cannot depend on any of those corporate mouthpieces to uphold the traditional role of the "fourth estate" that the founders envisioned.

The term "fourth estate" has a long history. In old Europe, the estates were often thought of as the clergy, the royalty, the parliament and the people. Clearly, the American founders wanted none of that. They didn't want royalty, nor did they want a state-sanctioned religious "estate". In America's formative years, the four estates were usually defined as the legislative, the judicial, the executive, and the free press. The Constitution defined the first 3 estates in detail, but had not a single word about the fourth estate. However, that was heavily on their minds, as the free press was the very first amendment.

The problem is that they expected a right to a free press to be sufficient to balance against the three "official" estates. And in most cases, it really did work for over 200 years. But it is no longer working, and because of that, the citizens themselves must maintain the fourth estate. This site is an important part of that. It is ironic that it takes a database problem for some of us to realize our own obligations in this regard. I hope once the technical problems are resolved, there can be an open discussion of the responsibility we all have to take up the vacuum left by the failing "mainstream" media.