I stopped reading newspapers the day the New York Times editorial page called for mob rule. They phrased it in terms of abolishing the Electoral College in favor of direct popular vote, but the consequences would be the same. Part of the genius that has allowed the American Revolution to thrive, is that democracy is an operational method within independently structured states, and then again within the national federation.
In the 18th Century there was no way of knowing how similar this is to how the brain works. Consider that all the charges within each cell are totaled and then the individual neuron either fires or it doesn’t. The pattern of those multiple yes/no decisions at the cell level subsequently determine how the mind as a whole thinks.
Newspapers coming off of printing presses were a major factor in shaping the structure, goals and ideas of the Great American Experiment, but it appears their role is in steady decline. An Associated Press report today says nationally Newspaper Circulation Falls 1.9%. Paid subscriptions peaked in 1984 just as cable TV and the internet were becoming widespread in American homes. Not all the Wisconsin papers suffered equally.
“Circulation at The Capital Times fell 1.9 percent, matching the national average. At the Wisconsin State Journal, daily circulation dropped 0.8 percent and Sunday circulation fell 4.1 percent. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the state's largest newspaper, saw its circulation drop 0.8 percent daily and 4.4 percent on Sunday.”
The Capital Times could not exist anywhere outside of Madison. In Madtown there is still an audience willing to pay to read people like Joel McNally, who writes “serious” articles arguing that photo IDs are to replace dogs and hoses as Republican attempts to disenfranchise minority voting rights. (HT Jiblog.) If circulation figures are a valid indicator, however, then perhaps there is a declining taste for moonbats like John Nichols who, like Ward Churchill, believes the US is the problem the rest of the planet is attempting to solve. (HT Sanity in Mad City) How the Capital Times stays alive and continues to behave like a trust fund baby who has never really had to be responsible is beyond my understanding.
