The news article recently that The Hennessey Clipper will cease weekly publication is sad to us.

We remember a time in Oklahoma when even very small towns (under 1,000) often had a newspaper.

It gave people in those towns a way of communicating and keeping abreast of events. Very often, the publishers of those newspapers had strong opinions and weren’t shy about expressing them.

At that time, politicians didn’t dare overlook the little towns.

The advent of television, better highways and faster cars (and later the Internet) combined to cause people to shop out of town at the bigger cities or at warehouses far away over the Internet, killing many mom and pop stores that were the lifeblood of the local newspapers. Papers closed as the businesses died.

In those early days, newspaper editors – usually very independent minded – commented on issues of the day in varied ways, sometimes engaging other editors in spirited debate.

Papers provided a Dialogue

It provided a dialogue – a conversation that possibly caused readers to look into issues more closely and search for opposing points of view before making their own judgments.

By the way, we wish Clipper publisher Paul Laubach success with his plans to turn the newspaper into a bimonthly regional publication.

The nation’s current situation with eight media giants that speak almost as one voice is disconcerting.

We recall former President Obama’s assertion that his administration was scandal free.

The USA Today editorial board parroted almost verbatim Obama’s allegation and the line was repeated by other outlets despite Republicans’ investigations into the IRS’s targeting of conservative groups, the ATF’s Fast and Furious and the Obama administration’s federal guarantees for Solyndra.

Today’s Big Media Parrot Each Other

And who can forget Benghazi or the awful Obama-Biden Iran Deal that provided billions of dollars to the leading sponsor of terror in the world?

A domination of a government by an elite few is called an oligarchy.

The push by a few elite individuals to tell ordinary citizens every move to take – as in the shutdowns to protect us from the coronavirus – is a serious step in that direction.

Another question for which we don’t have the answer is: Do international powers rule the American media, or vice versa? Or are they the same?

We have noticed that even the Associated Press, which is alleged to be an unbiased news source, produces story after story, which have all the earmarks of opinion pieces, often not well disguised. Many daily newspapers routinely carry such stories as “straight” news.

Such is the status of the media in today’s America.

They appear to be doing everything in their power to dismantle a free, traditional America and turn it into a socialist state.

With the major media’s viewer ratings falling to historically low numbers, one might think the media giants might fall on their own petard and disappear – to be followed by media that ordinary people could have faith in.

The current mainstream media obviously have friends in “high” places that support them, including academia, TV networks and government officials. These “friends” can find nothing wrong with anything that the so-called progressives support, including rioting and tearing down centuries-old historical statues in the name of cancelling culture.

Country editors would have never supported such things, whatever their party registration.

Can’t Turn Back Clock

Obviously, we can’t turn back the clock. We will never again have an agrarian nation full of country newspapers.

However, everyday citizens can have an effect on the schools their children attend and they can discuss issues with the kids around the dinner table.

The family is another no-no of the left. Destroying family units has long been a leftist tactic, even to the point of removing children from homes.

Psst. They also hate Christianity – actually any religion that does not favor big government and strict control of the masses. The hope for a free America is citizens who think for themselves. Say, like a majority of those in Oklahoma, including and especially those in Kingfisher County. And this is not being patronizing. It’s simply the truth.

For instance, we don’t think a gang of rioters would receive the same welcome in rural communities that they do in Portland, Seattle and other large cities with leftist officials who appear to encourage anarchy.

We hope such lawbreakers never show their faces here but we believe they would not stay long if they should leave their big city havens for rural targets.