The Press is Plutocratic

In Federalist #39 James Madison, the Father of the Constitution, defines a Republic as a type of government where officers are either elected or appointed by people who are.1


Governance in a representative democracy 2 is a particular type of feedback loop.3

There are elections,
the elected make decisions,
they act,
the people learn about the actions
and the results of those actions,
and then there are elections again.


For the Government of the United States, the Presidents and Congresspeople are elected, the Judges are appointed by those who are elected, and the press are paid for. 4

Shorter:
A republic means elected or appointed officers.
The process is a type of feedback loop.
One step in this loop is bought and paid for.

Haiku:
For a republic
elections are feedback
a portion is bought.

footnotes

1. "[W]e may define a republic to be, or at least may bestow that name on, a government which derives all its powers directly or indirectly from the great body of the people, and is administered by persons holding their offices during pleasure, for a limited period, or during good behavior." back


2. There are lots of people who say "This is not a democracy, it is a republic." I follow the terminology developed developed by Charles de Secondat, Baron de Montesqieu et de la Brede, the political philosopher most widely read by the American Revolutionaries. He said there were three types of governments, Republics, Monarchies and Tyrannies, and that there were two types of Republics, Democratic and Aristocratic. The only modern Democratic Republic is Switzerland, and that only partially. Athens and Rome (the lower "House" between the end of Tarquin to the Second Triumvirate) are the ancient examples. We are definitely an Aristocratic Republic by Montesquieu's definition. We also have one feature resembling a Democratic Republic (identification left as an exercise for the reader).back


3. I got the idea of this type of loop originally from the work of Colonel John Boyd, United States Air Force, which he calls an OODA loop. I am unaware if he applied the theory to anything beyond military strategies. back


4. Hired and fired by wealth maximizing entities which are the media conglomerates.
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