Of all days, on the 4th of July, the anniversary of our nation’s founding through the audacious Declaration of Independence, like the stupid sheep they are, the American media agreed to be literally corralled and leashed by a powerful politician.

From the fomenting of race riots to the fabricating of evidence against a working class Hispanic man to literally bowing before President Obama, these liars, cheats, cowards, frauds, propagandists, and servants to power who disguise themselves as journalists, have time and again proven they are impervious to shame, even if it means protecting their own personal dignity.

Why in a Republic that guarantees the right of free association and a free and unfettered press, would representatives from the most powerful media institutions on the planet (among them, CNN and The New York Times), agree to be publicly humiliated by Hillary Clinton?

What is the mindset of lemmings. who not only willingly and publicly agree to be corralled within a leash, but who do not then and there rebel, as any good and self-respecting American would and should.

Unfortunately, these are easy questions to answer.

Don’t get me wrong, the answers are depressing, but there is no mystery here.

The Media’s Contempt for the First Amendment

America’s first and most prominent Amendment to our Constitution is constantly under assault by the very same media protected by the First Amendment:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Through regular assaults on religious freedom, which are about to hit warp speed in the wake of the Supreme Court’s same-sex marriage ruling; through their relentless crusading against the free speech inherent in campaign contributions; through their coordinated smearing of peaceful Tea Partiers as racist terrorists; the Leftists who have swarmed and infested the mainstream media have for years already shown a toxic contempt for free speech and assembly.

This is because the media are first and foremost political activists — left-wing activists who understand that free speech is a potent weapon against the Left’s ultimate goal, which is an all-powerful central government.

Hillary Clinton Is a Democrat

Had any Republican candidate brought out a rope to corral The New York Times’ Maggie Haberman (who is making some kind of statement dressed all in black at a 4th of July parade) or CNN’s Peter Hamby, or the rest of this sorry lot, the story would not be the “process story” it is today — it would be the biggest scandal in the world.

Because Hillary is a left-wing Democrat who will further the media’s ultimate goal of further-empowering the central government, the hog-tying episode is being presented as just another look at Hillary’s relationship with the media.

Had a Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, or anyone else with an “R” after their named tried such a thing, this morning the media would set democracy at Defcon 1 and be in full destroy mode.

Which brings me to…

Media Proves Their Fealty to Hillary Clinton

The opportunity this leash presented to humiliate themselves in front of the whole world was just too good of an opportunity for the media to pass up. What better way to show a potential-Democrat president that they are ready, willing, and able to serve?

Proving ones fealty, is another way of asking for access. Haberman is already Hillary’s chief hagiographer and defender at the New York Times. Agreeing to being publicly leashed might have been her way of applying for the job of White House Press Secretary.

Cowardice

The media breaks down thusly…

65% of journalists are left-wing activists abusing their position and power to further the cause of big government.

20% of the media are mercenary social climbers who believe in nothing more than their own power and careers. They go along with the 65% because they know this is the key to personal wealth and fame.

2% are actual reporters — good people trying to do a good job. These are the best of the bunch. Unfortunately, they are few and far between. This is the small group that would have told Hillary’s staffers what they could do with that rope.

13% are lily-livered, abject, low-life cowards who see how corrupted their profession is but who do not have the sand to do anything other than to go along to get along. To rebel against Hillary would have upset and risked their standing against the 85%. These cowards have seen what can happen even to a Bob Woodward who dares stray from the Narrative Plantation. Nothing to these cowards is worth the bad opinion of the 85%, including their own dignity.

Battered Media Syndrome

Throughout most of this Administration the media have time and again whined about their treatment at the hands of the Obama White House. On top of serial-lying, this White House has threatened, coerced, and spied on the media. Nevertheless, the media won’t leave Obama. Through all the cheating and abuse, the media continue to stand right by his side defending the indefensible, covering for him, lying for him, making up ridiculous excuses for his appalling behavior.

Like an abused spouse too in love with their own abuser to see anything else, our media suffer from Battered Media Syndrome. They have convinced themselves that the worse they are treated by powerful Democrats, the more they are loved and respected.

When a husband tells his wife that she can show him her love by agreeing to be tied up, something is horribly, terribly wrong — especially if she agrees.

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The five answers above — especially number four — should also clear up the matter of this weekend’s “ice cream” question.

The unanswered questions surrounding Hillary Clinton’s secret email server and the apparent comingling of her job as Secretary of State and her family’s personal enrichment through the Clinton Foundation, grow by the day. Hillary’s response has been to hide from the press.

Friday, after two full weeks of refusing to take questions, Ms. Clinton finally agreed to answer a few questions. She got 4 softballs, including “What’s your favorite ice cream.”

For all the reasons listed above, not a single one of these so-called journalists wanted to be the one to ask Hillary a difficult question and risk giving her a bad news cycle. To do so would mean earning Hillary’s bad opinion and the scorn of the rest of the media — it might hurt her chances of assuming power and the media’s own cause of a powerful central government.

This is the state of our media, not just on the 4th of July, but in the “Live Free or Die” state of New Hampshire.

Nothing our media does surprises anymore, and if you can still be surprised, you are part of the problem.

Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC