But they reveal little understanding of the complex interest-group politics and broader meaning of Medicare in America, as a social insurance program, as a pillar of the liberal welfare state, as a force in the lives of millions of people.

FORBES: PolitiFact and the Traditional Journalism Trap

The church was a pillar of the tsarist state, hounding pre-revolutionary dissenters such as Leo Tolstoy.

ECONOMIST: Russia

The moves have built momentum behind what could be his most dramatic and difficult reform modernizing and drawing foreign and private capital to the behemoth state oil company, a long sacrosanct but increasingly inefficient pillar of the Mexican economy.

NPR: Mexico's President Gathers Power, Pushes Reform

In its statement, read on state TV by a military official, the Supreme Council said the judiciary is a pillar of Egyptian society.

CNN: Egypt remains on edge during wait for election results