Mills’ writing immediately begins by discussing the connections between governments and the press. He makes an argument that “the government, whether completely responsible to the people or not, will often attempt to control the expression of opinion, except when in doing so makes itself the organ of the general intolerance of the public.” (23) Mills begins by first drawing attention to the fact that established free nations should not feel the need to worry about the control of the press, but continues to critic that fact that they do in fact use this very same practice.
Mills calls the practice illegitimate, but if it is illegitimate in the eyes of free nations why do they turn a blind eye to their own hypocritical actions? Why must people such as Mills be the ones to bring this up instead of officials within the government who have more control of this?
