Reposted by Godzillionaire
Wait! The Founders knew all about the dangers of a misinformed electorate.
The Postal Service was put in the Constitution, and the Post Office Act passed right after, in 1791. That was in large part to distribute news—newspapers—so it would be harder to dupe the public.
Today we’ve forgotten this
![took over !. and, about a year later, the Postal Service Act gave his post greater legislative legitimacy and more effective organization.
Pickering continued in the position until 1795, when he briefly served as secretary of war, before becoming the third U.S. secretary of state.
Because news was considered crucial to an informed electorate, the 1792 law distributed newspapers to subscribers for 1 penny up to 100 miles and 1.5 cents over 100 miles; printers could send their newspapers to other newspaper publishers for free. Postage for letters, by contrast, cost between 6 and 25 cents depending on distance. 8. This subsidy amounted to roughly 0.2 percent of US Gross Domestic Product (GDP), according to McChesney and Nichols. 9]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:p66b7zkep57fp4rhrtktsdni/bafkreigscjvnfd2lxu74rluzlprvwfcimsakmnupzeijvv2baei7zofa3m)
