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One of the reasons I appreciate editors (and proofreaders, who I forgot to mention), is that they make text more readible. I do admit to a bit of the grammarian in me, but it's out of a desire for quality. Whenever I read a sentence containing a spelling or grammatical error, it's like driving over a pothole. A truly malformed sentence can derail a train of reasoning. Proofreaders eliminate this garbage, making the text smoother. Editors make corrections, too, but at the conceptual level, to help the author state their ideas more clearly. In the end, they both provide a valuable service.
However, there are other reasons to get rid of the publishers: to let new talent shine through. We all have heard the tales of the musician who couldn't get signed on a major record label, so they tried to distribute CDs (or LPs) on their own, and couldn't get anywhere. Now, the Internet has MySpace, where musicians can post their own music for anyone in the world to listen to, giving them a chance to be heard. One could argue that the popularity of the iPod has helped independent musicians to get noticed, and a similarly popular e-reader could help independent authors get noticed. But to do that, someone would have to create a MySpace for authors, a "MySay". (Ok, I just realized that blogs fit this need.)
Still, budding authors need assistance to move from amateur to professional level, and until there is a web-based resource of proofreaders, editors, and the like, publishers (and magazines and journals), will be the best option for producing quality.
Of course, if you're not interested in quality, why are you buying books? There must be hundreds of amateur authors out on the Internet. Just wander around, and you find someone writing about anything, without regards to quality or standards. Don't like what you read in the standard news? Then read the Drudge Report, where fact-checking is optional. Can't wait for the next Harry Potter book? Then download the Chinese knockoffs--but don't complain to Rowling when her next novel blatantly contradicts what happened in the knockoff.
When will folks realize that you get what you pay for? If what you get is free, then you're lucky if it's good.
I'm going to shut up now, because I'm starting to rant, and I really don't want to get into an ad hominem flame war.
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