Welcome to Behind the Lines, a weekly conversation between Salt Lake Tribune cartoonist Pat Bagley and BYU economist Val Lambson:

Lambson: It is a tough choice this week. Your Occupy Congress cartoon is tempting, but I am going to choose your Ron Paul cartoon. For one thing, I want to understand your motivation. Are you chiding the big government bias in the media or celebrating it or what?

Bagley: I only draw what my big government minders tell me, so let me get back to you on that.

I thought you'd be thrilled at a cartoon recognizing that Ron Paul has been snubbed by most media outlets. He is polling among the leaders in Iowa, tied with Gingrich (behind Romney) in New Hampshire, and he has finished strong in the glamor polls staged thus far. By and large the media have written Paul off as "unviable." I also think his views make him a thousand-to-one long shot, but the Ron Paul phenomenon is one of the more interesting developments in this truly bizarre Republican presidential campaign.

Lambson: I agree that the Ron Paul phenomenon is one of the more interesting developments in this election cycle. I wonder whether Paul's reported lack of viability is a self-fulfilling prophecy. How many people will not vote for Ron Paul because they are being told that he doesn't have a chance because not very many people will vote for him? His views are not particularly radical relative to our founding documents, after all. It may be that they seem radical only because it is so rare to see a politician with a consistent set of views that do not change to fit the audience.

Bagley: I get a little uneasy when enhanced fidelity to the Constitution is ascribed to a particular candidate. Let's just say Paul's reading of the documents corresponds with yours. I believe he's a particular fan of Thomas Jefferson, who was a particular fan of the independent yeoman farmer. The problem I have with Ron Paul is his policies are tailored for a nation of yeoman farmers, but would be disastrous for a modern, urbanized nation.

Lambson: Of course one must make allowances for modernization, but where is the potential disaster in a strong military that defends our borders so that we can safely mind our own business? Where is the potential disaster in strong law enforcement that, however, restricts its activities to enforcement of laws against force, fraud and theft?

More to the point, however, is whether and why the media seem to prejudge these issues. Your cartoon calls into question the journalists who have proclaimed "we report, you decide," those who have asserted that they report "all the news that's fit to print," and most everyone in between.

Bagley: May I remind you that I belong to the only profession that is constitutionally protected? I hate to break it to you, but by participating in this blog you are also a moonlighting member of that profession. There isn't a test that certifies your suitability for membership. The right to voice spectacularly ignorant nonsense is what the First Amendment is all about.

The trouble isn't with the media. Our boy Jefferson wrote that democracy depends on an informed citizenry; I take that to mean a discriminating citizenry capable of critical thought. It's a nice sentiment. Readership surveys, however, show the public overwhelmingly prefers the sensational to solid news. I love the story of the Lincoln/Douglas debates, where Americans traveled days to stand on tiptoe for hours to catch every utterance. Then they'd retire to a local inn to debate the nuances of each argument late into the night. Now we tweet.

Lambson: And that was even before federally funded education!

You will get no argument from me about the importance of a free press or free speech more generally. As long as there is freedom of expression there is hope for liberty more generally. Long live the First Amendment!

Bagley: I'm no longer surprised when you express nostalgia for a time when you would be paid in chickens.

Lambson: I express no nostalgia for a time when most people worked in agriculture for subsistence. A difference between us seems to be that I credit liberty, limited government, property rights and the rule of law for allowing the technological progress that lifted us to our current prosperity.

Bagley: While waiting for Ron Paul to catch fire and lead us into a yeoman farmer paradise, below are links to good reads to pass the time. One is from David Frum, a longtime conservative and George W. Bush speechwriter; the other is by Tom Dickinson, who writes from the left. Both are examples of fine journalism.

http://nymag.com/news/politics/conservatives-david-frum-2011-11/

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/how-the-gop-became-the-party-of-the-rich-20111109

Comments last week were sparse, but tck62 gave the new Tribune comment policy a First Amendment thumbs up:

You guys at the Trib deserve an atta boy, you've found a good middle ground to eliminate the worst of the comment boards while protecting the free flow of thought.