As promised, here’s part two of why the media scrutiny of Sarah Palin is perfectly normal.

When you run for public office in this country, you are fair game in the eyes of the media. The American people are electing you to a position of power. You are meant to represent the voice and will of the people. You will oversee our tax dollars and enforce or create our laws.

So if you’re running for office, we the people want to know a little bit about you.

Someone has to learn all about you and disseminate that information to the public, because if we don’t know who we’re voting for, then we no longer live in a democracy. The handlers for politicians aren’t going to give you the whole story, because they’re working for the politicians to make them look their best. The pundits pick and choose what information they disseminate based on an agenda; they answer to their base.

Now, a lot of people aren’t going to believe this, and it is a bit shocking, so I hope you’re sitting down: The media works for and answers to YOU.

Yeah yeah, we can argue about corporate ownership of the major news organizations, someone can chime in with a quip about Rupert Murdoch and skewer the “media elite,” and don’t even get me started on how the mainstream media covers celebrities. I’ll be the first to admit that this isn’t a perfect system.

However, when you boil it down to the basics, the whole point of the profession of journalism is to serve the public by giving them the truth.

So is the press picking on Sarah Palin, or anyone else involved with the election? No. She chose to accept the nomination and knew the consequences. Like every politician before her, she has chosen to enter a profession that puts her and her family in the spotlight. And the press, as the only nongovernmental check on power, is simply doing its job and investigating a person who chose this path.

If you don’t like it, then you shouldn’t have signed up for this.