Over two hundred forty year ago, the mounting frustration after enduring many years of a long train of abuses, resulted in a gathering of representatives of the States of America setting in motion a chain of events beginning with the expression of the details which impelled them to declare their independence and thereby assert the right to separate from the bonds of tyranny, and culminating in the drafting of a Constitution which established a new government founded on the principles that all men are created equal and endowed with unalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
One purpose of the Constitution our forefathers drafted, is to protect the personal liberties of citizens from intrusions by the government. Most, but not all those protections are expressed in the Bill of Rights, the first ten amendments to the Constitution that was adopted by “We the People” of the United States of America. While all the rights of liberty are significant, perhaps the rights of freedom of speech, freedom of press, the right to peaceably assemble, and the right to petition the government for a redress of grievances, are the most vital to ensuring that tyranny over the people does not return and government once again becomes destructive of and fail to secure the benefits of liberty.
Rights do not stand alone as they also carry responsibilities. One of the responsibilities of a free press is to provide an additional check on the abuse of power to prevent tyranny. Partly as the result of influences from the financial control of a small minority of wealthy corporate interests that are aligned with captive regulatory government agencies, the free press has failed to satisfy that responsibility, thereby becoming ineffective. Currently, the press and the media not only fail to investigate government corruption, but they also actively toil to withhold truth and in so doing, aid and abet the abuse of power. The press not only thereby has failed to provide an additional check on the abuse of power, but itself has become an instrument of tyranny, aiding our present government in the deprivation of the rights and benefits of liberty for all citizens.
The right to life is not just one of mere existence, but it includes the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health. Looking back through the American experience, it is clear the press has become an accomplice with the government, impeding the right to enjoy a quality of life that is healthy, vibrant, and enriching rather than toxic and causing injury. The air that we breath, the water we drink, the food we eat for nourishment and sustenance, and even the medical and pharmaceutical products imposed upon the people, have all been tainted with toxins that thwart and prevent achieving the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health. The press and government agencies also perpetuate false information about the benefits and risks of certain foods and of medical and pharmaceutical products; they have failed to notify the public of dangerous substances in our water supplies and in our air. The press has failed the people by becoming nothing more than an instrument of government directed propaganda for the industries that have captured government agencies, and profit by adversely affecting the health of the American people.
The time has come for a new Revolution, the time is now for the press to publish the truth regarding the risks and benefits of the substances that can and do affect our health and our environment, to publish the truth regarding scientific fraud committed by our government agencies, and to publish the truth regarding corruption in government. It is only through truth and transparency in our press and media, that our government will fulfill its function of preserving the unalienable rights of we the people who have consented to be governed.