SPOOF SPACE BY STEELE CODDINGTON | JULY 3, 2013
One of the most significant "fours" in the world is the 4th day of July - Independence Day in America! That is the day we citizens of the United States celebrate a Declaration of Independence, approved on July 4, 1776, declaring that, "all men are created equal." And that, "they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." And further, "to ensure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed." One of history's most astonishing declarations, it led to an even more profound document, the United States Constitution.
Signed by all state delegates on Sept. 17, 1787, this unparalleled Constitutional document consisted of seven articles that established and defined the Legislative, Executive and Judicial branches of a government and its powers. It forever set the example of freedom throughout the world. Shortly thereafter, even more astonishingly, Amendments to the Constitution were proposed for approval, and on Dec. 15, 1791 the first ten Amendments were ratified as the United States Bill of Rights. They established America's fundamental contract with individuals to protect them from the government they just formed.
The very first Amendment established freedom of religion, speech and the press, as well as the right to assemble and petition the government. This Amendment supports a unique but non-government "fourth" in our society, often referred to as the "Fourth Estate." Commonly understood to be "The Press," it includes today not only print journalism, but radio and TV. So to help in the preservation of a free society, the Constitution and Amendments incorporated a sacred obligation to a non-government institution to criticize and expose the very power that created it. How is that gift working out today? Marginally!
Many in today's Press abuse their privileged state by endorsing government political ideology that agrees with their own political philosophy even if the consequences have traditionally proven detrimental to America's best interests. By slanting, omission, repetition, relationships and fabricating hard news, the Press becomes the propaganda arm of the Administration.
Opinion and editorializing are O.K. but deliberately misrepresenting or non-reporting as to mislead or brainwash to support scandal or corruption is a failure of the free press. When it becomes commonplace, it's time to get your news from a different source and to join a chorus of shouts with a different meaning of "four" - "FORE!"
"FORE" is a cry of warning on a golf course, shouted to protect people from an unexpected danger. It is a perfect analogy to warn people, citizens, of a sneaky government that has demonstrated repeatedly that its president and his government agencies are secretly, illegally abusing their trust. Look at it this way: you can't any longer just stand uninvolved as a spectator on the side of the fairway of political abuse and allow yourself to get smacked in the head with a liberal golf ball, hit by an incompetent driver whose pronounced left hook drives his balls so far out of bounds they can't be found. As any golfer will tell you, when you're short of essential equipment, you can't compete in tournaments around the world with players who want to break your own clubs over your head. Your "FORE" is urgently needed to continue celebrating our Declaration of Indepen- dence.