War, Winston Churchill said, is too important to be left to the generals.
True enough. It can also be said that war is too important to be left to Presidents…or Congress…or to politicians.
While we're on the subject of what should be left to whom, let's conclude that politics is far too important to be left to either politicians or journalists.
Thomas Jefferson saw a free press as a necessary check and balance to the arrogance of government but that check fails when the press itself is not free.
Today's media is, for the most part, corporate owned, bureaucratically-controlled and intellectually dishonest. Even today's so-called "independent" web-based media is mostly driven by business plans, fat cat venture capitalists and philosophical constraints.
The left-wing Huffington Post is a business with some 75 paid employees working out of a loft in SoHo. The right's NewsMax is backed by billionaire conservative Richard Mellon Scaife.
When business controls journalism, business concerns control the news. A handful of media companies control the nation's newspapers, television stations and radio outlets.
Time to change that. Time to put news back in the hands of ordinary citizens who are fed up with the status quo. Time to take "citizen journalism" off the table of panel discussions and put it into the hands of, well, citizens.
That's why Capitol Hill Blue this weekend opened up its web site to any reader who wants to blog and become a citizen journalist. You don't need to agree with the philosophy of the owner of this web site. I own this place and I don't subscribe to any party or philosophy anyway. You don't have to belong to any political party or subscribe to any particular philosophy. You just need to be a concerned citizen who wants to take part in a revolution against the status quo.
Our blogs are open to Republicans, Democrats, lefties, righties, independents, liberals, conservatives or political agnostics.
We want to spark discussion – open, honest discussion – into the many problems this nation faces as we head into the November Presidential election.
We want to know what's going on out there in America – not filtered through a television newscast or a pundit's column but from you – the citizen in the street, the person most affected by what happens in the voting booth in 11 months.
Will it work? Heck, I don't know. I'm reminded of a quote in the movie, Citizen Kane, when Kane's guardian, frustrated by the millions Kane is willing to lose in his newspaper "whim," asks: "Charles is this any way to run a newspaper?"
To which Charles replies: "I don't know how to run a newspaper. I just try anything I can think of."
Some warn me that this idea will fail because opening the site up to the masses, they say, is "doomed to fail because it will turn into a mob instead of a movement."
Perhaps. I'm hoping it doesn't and I'm willing to gamble it won't.
The end result depends on you – the readers of Capitol Hill Blue.
Join us. Let's prove the naysayers wrong.
17 thoughts on “Let the revolution begin”
Here’s another issue to ask our candidates! I think we can assume that the Republicans will absolutely go for this intrusion; except for Ron Paul. I know that Google has my name on 3 pages of information but they are not all me! If Google can follow me around, I expect our government can as well. I wrote a blog on a possible war with Iran here and it was on Google the same day. A couple of years ago I had an article of mine sent to a site and it was followed up with another article, using my name, with information that was false. That’s the internet. I would fight to keep it open and away from the government.
I have a new website ready for use under an assumed name. After the election, if there is any hope for any freedom left, I will change my age, my sex, my name and keep fighting for individual freedoms. I am one pissed off old lady!
Here ya go, Cobalt.
I read this story just before I checked in here.
https://rawstory.com/news/2007/US_drafting_plan_to_allow_government_0114.html
— Kent Shaw
Don’t look now, but…….our wonderful government is already planning ways to monitor evrything in cyberspace. See Wall Street Journal 1/13/08 article on Mike McConnell wanting to “tap into cyberspace”. Sorry, I was unable to link article.
Dobro. I happen to agree with you. Our greatest threat is the Patriot’s Act. They can close down the ‘net at any time. I wish people had more respect for the internet and would stop promoting porn before the Congress calls a halt to it. My own emails are so filthy I’m changing my address again and again.
I realized this amazing tool for information 13 years ago and found so many abused it with threats to others and spreading terrible rumors about people just for the hell of it. My question to you is “How do we wake up?”
Mr. Thompson,
you are correct.
To all the readers, including you I say: Enjoy the wonder of Al Gore’s internet for as long as you can because; the internet is one of the biggest threats, if not the biggest threat the federal government has.
The internet is a threat far larger than the private ownership of firearms because the internet is knowledge, which is something the federal government would rather you not possess.
The internet has been on borrowed time since its first day of operation. I only needed a few days online to figure it out.
So folks: WAKE UP !!!!!
Back in the founding days of our country, there were some interesting battles between Ben Franklin, who ran a newspaper, and his mostly-ally Tom Jefferson vs. Alex Hamilton and the Federalists, the GOP of the time. Hamilton thought the “little man” was incapable of making good decisions, so power should be left with the wealthy and elite. T.J. and Franklin disagreed, and fortunately democracy won, last time. Let’s hope it doesn’t flip-flop…..
I’m a Buddhist and wouldn’t be surprised if Hamilton walks among us, again.
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