Newt Gingrich Puts Freedom of the Press in Danger?

The Press Was Suppressed by Newt GingrichNewt Gingrich

Last night I was watching the Republican presidential candidate debate hosted by CNN. Before the debate, rumors about Newt Gingrich, who in the past has been what can be considered a serial cheater, were circulating in the news. Now, since Newt Gingrich has been running on a family values/social conservative platform, I feel that asking a question that pertained to sexual immorality was certainly fair. After all, social conservatives place high value on morality, and spousal infidelity to such an extreme form might signal a serious character flaw to those who expect sexual purity.

In keeping to due diligence, John King began the debate by asking Newt Gingrich about the veracity of the accusations being made by his second wife. Keep in mind that he came about his second wife by way of cheating, and the time period that the wife was referring to was the time when he was cheating on her with his new wife. Anyhow, John King, a seasoned, well respected professional journalist, was following up on the reports.

The answer that Newt Gingrich gave him amounted to nothing less than an indictment of the media as a disgusting and despicable part of American society. Newt Gingrich got a standing ovation from the audience, and he essentially came out of the question as a hero and champion for the crowd which as far as I know was made up of mostly Tea Party supporters.

Shouldn’t Constitutionalist Love the Press?

However, I am confused by this whole spectacle. After all, all those who were participating on this debate claim to be strong constitutionalists, and as far as I know, the First Amendment prohibits the infringement on the freedom of the press. So forgive me if I become suspect of the Tea Party and all this Tea Party backed presidential candidates, but from where I stand, they do not seek to defend the constitution of the United States. Otherwise, why would they be infringing upon the First Amendment?

Think about it for a minute; the First Amendment protects freedom of the press, so they should be out there making sure that the press has freedom. Yet, every one of these candidates, especially Newt Gingrich hates the press. If it was up to them and the Tea Party there would be no press. Why is that? What is it about the press that is so offensive to the Tea Party? Why are candidates like Newt Gingrich so offended by the freedom of press?

History Might Offer Us a Window to their Reasoning

If we look at history, we will see that governments that have been oppressive tend to be the ones that do not have freedom of the press. “In 1933 Freedom of the Press was suppressed in Germany by the Reichstag Fire Decree of President Paul Von Hindenburg, just as Adolf HitlerAdolf Hitler was coming to power. Hitler largely suppressed freedom of the press through Joseph Goebbels' Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda. As the Ministry's name implies, propaganda did not carry the negative connotations that it does today (or that it did in the Allied countries); how-to manuals were openly distributed by that same ministry explaining the craft of effective propaganda. The Ministry also acted as a central control-point for all media, issuing orders as to what stories could be run and what stories would be suppressed.” (Wikipedia.org)

Dictatorships and oppressive governments such as Syria have a tight control of the media and as you can imagine the press is hated tremendously, just as much as the Tea Party and their candidates such as Newt Gingrich do. This is of course of great concern to all of us who love democracy and freedom. The last thing we need to do is allow press hating politicians take control of our country. This could result in an oppressive regime exercising total control of the media. You might think that this will never happened, but again, look at history and see the similarities between Newt Gingrich and what happen in Germany.

This is of course my opinion, but I wonder if any of you folks see the similarities of what happened in Germany during World War II, and the ideology and scary behavior that is espoused by these Tea Party candidates.