SD Bloggers -- We the People, We the Press!

Here's this morning's warm fuzzy for my friends in the SD Blogosphere:

A couple days ago I mentioned a new book connecting blogging with the history of the American press:

I'm reading a book right now -- Aaron Barlow's The Rise of the Blogosphere -- which argues, among other things, that Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Paine, and Alexander Hamilton were the fathers not only of our country, but of blogging. Remember The Federalist Papers? Really a blog, says Barlow.

Our Founding Fathers would be proud of us... of Ben Hanten... and maybe even of NewYankton.info. [CAH, 2007.12.10]

I also noted in the comments that Barlow's book demonstrates that the "press" of the First Amendment was originally conceived "not as a separate institution, but as a tool of public discourse operated by the citizens (hey! that's us!)."

Mr. Barlow himself dropped in this morning and offered this comment, which should serve as encouragement for all bloggers, present and future:

Yeah! You get it certainly... it is us!

One of the problems for the professional news media is that its members often don't count themselves as part of "us," so talk about "us," rather than with "us."

Keep it up! You are part of a major shift in American media, a reassertion of control by the people who really matter, "us." [Barlow, 2007.12.12]

Bloggers, citizen-press, neighbors shooting the breeze -- give yourselves a pat on the back. Bloggers aren't perfect, but they are part of a revival of an vital American tradition of vigorous public discourse and grassroots involvement in public affairs. The press, just like the government, is us.