A priest is a mediator between mortals and a god.
The priests of the Roman Catholic Church served as the
mediators between God and the people of Christendom for centuries. The Church guarded and interpreted the
scriptures. The priests instructed them about proper worship. Reformers of the 1500s challenged the role of
priests, asserting that people needed no intermediary to communicate with God. Many paid dearly for daring to translate the
Bible into contemporary languages, providing for the masses unfiltered access
to the word of God.
Today the media serve as the priests of the political
progressive movement.
Seeking to honor their deity and further the cause, the
media control the flow of information.
They create news by polling the public and reporting only the “helpful” results. Scandals are dismissed. Hard questions are never asked. They worship the political machine with its
good intentions, as it advances the progressive political agenda. The media dutifully report this large,
growing government’s version of the truth.
Even as the government oversteps its Constitutional limits, the media believe
that the honorable agenda is being served.
But the story changes.
The government is caught deceiving the media. Journalists’ phone records are subpoenaed. The attorney general offers to speak to the
press “off the record.” Reports show
that telephone companies have been forced to provide information about all
their customers’ phone calls for at least seven years. The IRS hinders the work of the government’s political
opponents. The overreaching government begins
to impinge on the freedom of its priests.
The god has betrayed the priests. The priests are dumbfounded. This good, progressive government now seems
to be less than holy. The priesthood has
lost its leader, and no longer knows how to spin the news.
The media now understand the painful truth that the Founders
knew all too well: Power corrupts. It corrupts even those with good
intentions. It corrupts progressives and
conservatives alike. Power weaves
corruption into the culture of countless government agencies.
The deeper the corruption, the more difficult it is to expose.
A system of checks and balances can help keep people honest. Government is not divine. It always tends toward corruption. The media-priests only awoke when they themselves
were burned. May the media learn to hold
the government accountable. And may we
the people hold one another accountable.
