I am a fan and supporter of Lou Dobbs. He has always been, and hopefully will continue to be a fearless advocate for a change in the status quo. I think he is on the right side of most issues, and I firmly believe that a majority of Americans generally agree with his well thought out, and persuasively stated opinions.

In the Mainstream Media today propaganda masquerades as news, and when this happens the truth is lost. We, as Americans are no longer required to think for ourselves. We are given a minimum of factual information, and are told what to believe. Thinking doesn’t come into the picture, it’s all about believing what we are told. Political dogma of the highest order, dumbed down to pop-culture level and repeated loudly and frequently so the general population has the message firmly implanted in their minds.

All propaganda must be so popular and on such an intellectual level, that even the most stupid of those toward whom it is directed will understand it… Through clever and constant application of propaganda, people can be made to see paradise as hell, and also the other way around, to consider the most wretched sort of life as paradise. — Adolf Hitler, ‘Mein Kampf’

In many ways Lou Dobbs served as a counterbalance to the propaganda, not only within CNN itself, but within the MSM as a whole. Note that I did not say a counterbalance to “liberal bias” in the media; for all the rhetoric coming from the right I just don’t see this supposed bias.

Eight years of the Bush administration, eight years of heavy-handed right wing politics in Washington, and how many of this supposedly liberal biased media bothered to report the truth? How many took a hard line against right-wing policies and programs that brought our nation to its knees? And now, the liberals who criticize Lou Dobbs, are the same ones who failed to speak against those rabidly right-wing policies of the Bush Administration for eight years, while Lou Dobbs was an outspoken critic.

No, Lou Dobbs departure is due less to a lack of liberality than to an overabundance of honesty. It is certainly true that the MSM is biased, but it runs deeper than a purported liberal ideology; it has more to do with supporting a larger agenda that has existed for far longer than any single administration.

This is really the point at which Lou Dobbs stepped over the line, and as a consequence, in October, gunshots were fired into his home, possibly at his wife. He stated that he has also been receiving death threats. This sort of thing happens all too frequently to those who stray too close to truths that the Government would rather keep out of the public eye — particularly when those individuals have a ready made soap box from which they can expose the truth.

Lou Dobbs was a thorn in the side of those who benefit from the deliberately imposed ignorance of the American People. In his televised resignation, he said that important national issues “are now defined in the public arena by partisanship and ideology rather than by rigorous empirical thought and forthright analysis and discussion.” He is above all, a thinking man and a man of reason — and that is what makes him a threat to the status quo.

When all is said and done, perhaps his departure from CNN is a blessing in disguise. He is no longer constrained in what he can or cannot say due to restrictive editorial policies, and through the medium of the internet, he has a ready made audience. It wouldn’t surprise me to see him transition into national politics, perhaps even making a run at the Presidency. Lou Dobbs isn’t a man who will fade into obscurity; he is a man driven by truth who I’m certain will not be silenced.

After all, losing ones position can sometimes be the surest path to finding ones calling — and America desperately needs more men like Lou Dobbs if we are to regain what we have lost.

The opinions expressed are entirely my own, and I take full responsibility for them. If you are offended or disagree with my opinions, thoughtful commentary or criticism are welcome. — David A. Hester