Press depression

4 + 5 = 0
(by R.P.Edwards)

The fourth estate
The column…five
A champion…that takes a dive
Depending on objective words
Instead…a swooning sound is heard
And we, the bearers of their lack
May never have our nation back
For Murrow’s children
Gone astray
Espouse “their” whims
Their preference…say
The heralds voice
A barkers jive
The fourth estate
Now…column five

There were three estates, see: the clergy, the nobility, and the commoners. Edmund Burke (English fellow, a long time ago) said there was another power group to deal with…the press. These scribblers were the “fourth estate.” Now, Mr. Thomas Jefferson, writing to his bud, John Jay, said, “Our liberty cannot be guarded but by the freedom of the press, nor that be limited without danger of losing it.” A pretty important group, I’d say.

“The fifth column.” A phrase having to do with this guy named Emilio Mola who said he had a “fifth column” within the city of Madrid (Spanish Civil War) to go along with the four outside the walls. In other words: there’s a fox in the henhouse.

And so we have the joining. Here’s what I mean. Long before the November elections we had a media that overwhelmingly favored the “leftward” candidate. They loved his rhetoric, his vision, his promises, his poise. They “tingled” when he spoke and, when it came time to put pen to paper, the wunderkind candidate was seen through the glasses of rose. So…here we are, mere months into the new Camelot, and on the brink of disaster(s). And, I contend, should disaster come, then equal culpability must go to a media that has become the equivalent of a “fifth column.” Yes, if things go terribly wrong (and they very well might…to deadly effect) then we need to remember those who cosigned the loan.