Submitted by BuzzFlash on Mon, 09/24/2007 - 10:56am. Guest Contribution
A BUZZFLASH GUEST CONTRIBUTION
by Elliot D. Cohen

To the vast majority of Americans, today may seem like just another day -- work, coffee, TV, and the family dog. But there is now something chillingly different about America. The "Democratic" Senate has just officially sanctioned the end of democracy in America with the passage of a resolution condemning MoveOn.org's ad accusing General Petraeus of cooking the books for the White House to show that the "surge" in Iraq has been working.

When Thomas Jefferson considered whether he would rather have a free press without government or the opposite, he declared,

"The basis of our government being the opinion of the people, the very first object should be to keep that right; and were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter."

Behold these words: "The basis of our government being the opinion of the people." Jefferson never said this opinion had to be true or in line with the executive branch of government. To the contrary, it needed only be "the opinion of the people."

To all senators, Democrat and Republican alike, who voted to condemn MoveOn.org for speaking its conscience, these words of Thomas Jefferson are the immortal words that you have betrayed. It is now not "General Betray Us" but instead "Congress Betray Us." You have sold out the very essence of our democracy -- the free expression of opinion. In your official capacity as representatives of the will of the people, you have driven the final nail into the coffin of democracy. Henceforth, America is officially a nation without a free press, a nation without a backbone; a jellyfish deflated and devoid of what was once the spine of a free nation.

Members of the press, you are now officially on notice that you may no longer serve as an organ through which the voice of the people may be heard -- unless of course the message happens also to accord with the opinion of the White House. To the independent media, this is truly a somber day. To members of the mainstream corporate media who follow like drones, this may be business as usual -- just another story to roll over for.

But to all American citizens who cherish their nation for which it stands, the official end has finally arrived. According to the Senate, to speak freely, as to speak out against the Iraq war, now means to speak without the right. Americans, speak freely.


Elliot D. Cohen, Ph.D. <www.elliotdcohen.com > is a media ethicist and critic. His most recent book is The Last Days of Democracy: How Big Media and Power-Hungry Government are turning America into a Dictatorship. He is also first prize winner of the 2007 Project Censored Award.