{"id":104362,"date":"2019-07-29T11:12:21","date_gmt":"2019-07-29T15:12:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=104362"},"modified":"2019-08-15T12:00:40","modified_gmt":"2019-08-15T16:00:40","slug":"column-the-musings-of-a-simple-country-man-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=104362","title":{"rendered":"COLUMN: The Musings of a Simple Country Man"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
Hobie Morris<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The Folding Newspapers?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Hobie Morris<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf we are to guard against ignorance and remain free, it is\nthe responsibility of every American to be informed.\u201d \u2013 Thomas Jefferson<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Around the world, print journalism bleeds.  America\u2019s Fourth Estate has plenty of\ncompany!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In England, 200 local newspapers have closed in the last 10\nyears. (London Times)  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The impending closing of the Youngstown (Ohio) Vindicator is\ndue to dire financial conditions that plague much of American print journalism.\n(Washington Post<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What would a Founding Father and America\u2019s Third president\nnamed Thomas Jefferson think about what is happening in 2019?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This simple country man living with his beautiful wife in\nthe remote Brookfield hills feels a highly unusual connection with the man who\ndrafted the Declaration of Independence. \nThe first great biography of Jefferson (3 volumes) was completed in\neight years and published just before the Civil War.  It was of such great scholarship, it would\nstand the test of time well into the 20th century.  The author of this seminal magnum opus, Henry\nS. Randall, was born in little Brookfield in 1811!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If this simple man could turn back the pages of American\nhistory and sit down and chat with Mr. Jefferson, one question, among many, would\nbe about the press.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With no equivocation, Jefferson eloquently stressed the\nimportance of a free and vibrant press to the health and well- being of\ndemocracy.  With words I\u2019d never forget,\nhe eloquently and forcefully said (with a distinct pause between words):<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur \u2013 liberty \u2013 depends- on \n– the \u2013 freedom \u2013 of \u2013 the \u2013 press \u2013 and \u2013 that \u2013 can \u2013 not \u2013 be \u2013\nlimited \u2013 without \u2013 being \u2013 lost.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With a noticeable frown on his still handsome face, Mr.\nJefferson asked \u201cis it time?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I had to sadly say \u201cyes\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe media (press) is the enemy of the people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd this is your President talking?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYes,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. Jefferson said in his time such utterances would only be\nfrom the lips of an ignorant madman, a candidate for a coating of hot tar\nlavishly festooned with feathers and a ride out of town on an uncomfortable\nrail.  Such utter nonsense would be\nconsidered treasonable by patriots who had just fought and died for our freedom\nand independence, aided by newspapers in all the colonies.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDon\u2019t your people understand,\u201d said Mr. Jefferson, \u201cthat a\nfree and vibrant press is the protective cornerstone against such ignorance and\ndanger to democracy, a unique system of government that the newspapers of my\ntime did so much to help create?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jefferson went on to say he was so saddened to learn that\nseemingly many Americans will gladly give up their freedoms as they more\ncomfortably wallow in ignorance and apathy with little direction.  His generation bequeathed to later\ngenerations a spirit of democracy.  That\nsame spirit is alive and well with some Americans but dying in the hearts and\nminds of far too many.  \u201cRegardless, a\nfree press must grow strong and vibrant once again as it was in my day.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. Jefferson got up from where we had been chatting.  In leaving, he said \u201cI\u2019ll continue to watch\nwhat happens.  Hopefully, sanity will\nreturn to your political process.  Will\ndivisions exist? Of course they existed in my day.  A free press must salve divisiveness.  Democracy, to endure, needs civility\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With a final wave, he returned to the past. But these are\nonly the musings of a simple country man.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Editor\u2019s note: Hobie\nMorris is a Brookfield resident and simple country man.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Folding Newspapers? By Hobie Morris \u201cIf we are to guard against ignorance and remain free, it is the responsibility of every American to be informed.\u201d \u2013 Thomas Jefferson Around the world, print journalism bleeds.  America\u2019s Fourth Estate has plenty of company! In England, 200 local newspapers have closed in the last 10 years. (London […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":42368,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[23677,23808,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-104362","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-columns","category-opinion","category-top-story"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p43meu-r9g","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/madisoncountycourier.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/Morris-head-new.jpg?fit=226%2C287&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104362","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=104362"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104362\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/42368"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=104362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=104362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=104362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}