It's rather rare these days to witness the main media networks rigorously interrogate a Congressman on why nothing has been done about the Fiscal Cliff and the looming taxes.  It's even rarer to watch a news anchor openly question a Democratic congressman's answers on television.  You'd have more of a chance winning the lottery.  But today you're in luck, because I have a show for you.

Last Thursday on CNBC, Maria Bartiromo, host of The Closing Bell, Squawk Box, etc, challenged Maryland Democratic Senator Ben Cardin's remarks that Speaker Boehner is "the one holding back the next part of this puzzle piece."

How come you're not moving forward?  What's the problem, because American people are so tired of this, and they are really tired of the lawmakers thinking that the American people are stupid.  You can't keep coming on the show every day saying the same thing.  It's not a balanced approach.

The Senator then gave Bartiromo the quintessential answer that every Democrat uses; that they wouldn't "give up their protection of middle income families."  As if Democrats are the sole guardians of the middle class; or any politician for that matter.

Bartiromo subsequently countered Ben Cardin's rhetoric by rabidly firing off question after question asking him if he would raise the 1.2 trillion of real revenue that is needed to fill the hole by eliminating loopholes.  The Senator, being the politician that he is, replied "no" to all the eliminations and deductions that Maria proposed.  However, the Senator then went down the tax the rich path, saying it's the "easiest way to get the revenues."  Maria Bartiromo, obviously annoyed, slammed the Congressman by saying that's all Democrats want to do.  "It's your way or the highway," she said frustratingly.  All Senator Cardin could do after that embarrassing smack down was to smile and make a quick jibe about Bartiromo not allowing him to answer the questions.  But she was in no mood for the Senator's sarcastic remarks.

This lady should be given a medal.  She blasted a Democratic Congressmen on live television, while questioning the Democratic tax the rich mantra.  Have you ever seen that before, especially on CNBC?  It's a sign of the times.  It's a sign that the right to Freedom of Press has not been lost all together.

It's essential to a free republic that the press openly investigates and questions the actions of the local and federal government.  Without it, the press becomes a puppet to the administration; like it has become now.  Our Founding Fathers knew full well what could happen if the press was ever subdued or shattered in a nation. As Alexander Hamilton wrote in the Propositions of the Law of Libel, "The Liberty of the press consists in the rights to publish with impunity truth with good motives, for justifiable ends.  To disallow it is fatal."

If you let your media further sink into the pit of obsoleteness and incompetence then this government will be lost.  No free republic can stand without an inquisitive and open media that questions every Federal action with the persistence of a curious six year old.  Mrs. Bartiromo, if only for a few minutes, exhibited the true nature of a journalist, and gave a little insight into how our Founders envisioned the press to be; a force against government intrusion and tyranny.

Maria Bartiromo, I tip my hat to you.