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Post by the Scribe on Mar 24, 2024 18:35:52 GMT
The Republican Party has become nothing more than a front group for wealthy elites, big business and corporationsA front group is an organization that purports to represent one agenda while in reality it serves some other interest whose sponsorship is hidden or rarely mentioned -- typically, a corporate or government sponsor. Oligarchs, corporate polluters, politicians -- anyone who has a message that they are trying to sell to a skeptical audience is tempted to set up a front group to deliver messages that they know the public will reject if the identity of the sponsor is known.
The right-wing ideology primarily champions social conservatism aka "moralism & judgementalism"; limited government with limited regulations (on businesses, corporations, polluters); and Supply Side trickle up free-market economics and tax cuts for the wealthy; asserting the importance of personal responsibility so there is no stomach for social programs or healthcare to lift the poor, elderly and sick; and traditional values (christian nationalism). ALL of these so called values work PERFECTLY for their wealthy elite overclass also known as The American Oligarchs.discover the Origins of the Republican Party Overclass here: conservatism.freeforums.net/board/709/origins-conservatisms-overclass
Conservative Front and Advocacy Groups
There was a time when conservatives and liberals populated both parties. Not so much anymore especially in the Republican Party that has been so gaslit, triggered and angered by conservative media using culture war issues and persuasion techniques that are right out of the CIA Cold War playbook. Their audience seems to be vulnerable and attracted to the messaging they are pushing. And WHO is behind conservative media? WHO created it? WHO funds it? WHO funds the stink tanks that create conservative talking points? WHO is spreading that misinformation?
CONSERVATIVE MEDIA is a superbly organized, cohesive and efficient machine. It is a smooth flowing organization of advocacy groups, lobbyists, think tanks, conservative foundations, PR firms AND FRONT GROUPS. A front group is an organization that purports to represent one agenda while in reality it serves some other interest whose sponsorship is hidden or rarely mentioned -- typically, a corporate or government sponsor. Oligarchs, corporate polluters, politicians -- anyone who has a message that they are trying to sell to a skeptical audience is tempted to set up a front group to deliver messages that they know the public will reject if the identity of the sponsor is known.
In aggregate Conservative Media is the messaging vehicle for these FRONT GROUPS. Behind them are some very wealthy elite oligarchs. Because of the way our political system has been set up the GOP has become another FRONT GROUP for these same people. One such group, Koch Industries which funds the Heritage Foundation is responsible for the creation of Project 2025.
HEADLINES: (go online and enter title for full articles)
Leonard Leo, Koch networks pour millions into prep for potential second Trump administration
Huge funding from influential conservative donor networks is flowing into a conservative venture aimed at creating a Republican "government-in-waiting," including over $55 million from groups linked to conservative activist Leonard Leo and the Koch network.Launched by the Heritage Foundation in April 2022, Project 2025 is a two-pronged initiative to develop staunch conservative policy recommendations and grow a roster of thousands of right-wing personnel ready to fill the next Republican administration.
These 63 Billionaires Who Bankrolled Trump All the Way to Insurrection Have 'No Right to Feel Shocked'
"Will there be any accountability for these recent billionaire enablers of Donald Trump, who saw what damage he caused and still stood by him? Among the most steadfast enablers of this insurrection: Billionaires.--Institute for Policy Studies released an analysis that identified 63 U.S. billionaires--worth a combined $243 billion--who collectively gave $33 million to the Trump Victory Fund. They enabled Donald Trump. They bankrolled his campaigns. And they cheered as Trump cut their taxes, swept away regulations that pinched their profits, and packed the courts with judges eager to wink at their transgressions.
www.yahoo.com/news/lisa-murkowski-done-donald-trump-101529167.html
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Post by the Scribe on Mar 24, 2024 19:28:15 GMT
The Big Money Behind the Big Lie
www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/08/09/the-big-money-behind-the-big-lie
Donald Trump’s attacks on democracy are being promoted by rich and powerful conservative groups that are determined to win at all costs.
By Jane Mayer
August 2, 2021
excerpt:
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, a Democrat from Rhode Island who has tracked the flow of dark money in American politics, told me that a “flotilla of front groups” once focussed on advancing such conservative causes as capturing the courts and opposing abortion have now “more or less shifted to work on the voter-suppression thing.” These groups have cast their campaigns as high-minded attempts to maintain “election integrity,” but Whitehouse believes that they are in fact tampering with the guardrails of democracy.
One of the movement’s leaders is the Heritage Foundation, the prominent conservative think tank in Washington, D.C. It has been working with the American Legislative Exchange Council (alec)—a corporate-funded nonprofit that generates model laws for state legislators—on ways to impose new voting restrictions. Among those deep in the fight is Leonard Leo, a chairman of the Federalist Society, the legal organization known for its decades-long campaign to fill the courts with conservative judges. In February, 2020, the Judicial Education Project, a group tied to Leo, quietly rebranded itself as the Honest Elections Project, which subsequently filed briefs at the Supreme Court, and in numerous states, opposing mail-in ballots and other reforms that have made it easier for people to vote.
Another newcomer to the cause is the Election Integrity Project California. And a group called FreedomWorks, which once concentrated on opposing government regulation, is now demanding expanded government regulation of voters, with a project called the National Election Protection Initiative.
These disparate nonprofits have one thing in common: they have all received funding from the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation. Based in Milwaukee, the private, tax-exempt organization has become an extraordinary force in persuading mainstream Republicans to support radical challenges to election rules—a tactic once relegated to the far right. With an endowment of some eight hundred and fifty million dollars, the foundation funds a network of groups that have been stoking fear about election fraud, in some cases for years. Public records show that, since 2012, the foundation has spent some eighteen million dollars supporting eleven conservative groups involved in election issues.
.......
Jonathan Rauch, of the Brookings Institution, recently told The Economist, “We need to regard what’s happening now as epistemic warfare by some Americans on other Americans.” Pillars of the conservative establishment, faced with a changing U.S. voter population that threatens their agenda, are exploiting Trump’s contempt for norms to devise ways to hold on to power. Senator Whitehouse said of the campaign, “It’s a massive covert operation run by a small group of billionaire élites. These are powerful interests with practically unlimited resources who have moved on to manipulating that most precious of American gifts—the vote.”
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Alarmism about election fraud in America extends at least as far back as Reconstruction, when white Southerners disenfranchised newly empowered Black voters and politicians by accusing them of corruption. After the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, some white conservatives were frank about their hostility to democracy. Forty years ago, Paul Weyrich, who helped establish the Heritage Foundation and other conservative groups, admitted, “I don’t want everybody to vote. As a matter of fact, our leverage in the elections quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down.”
....................
Like most private nonprofits, the Bradley Foundation doesn’t disclose much about its inner workings. But in 2016 hackers posted online some of the group’s confidential documents, which showed that, once Mitchell became a director, she began urging the foundation to support nonprofit organizations policing election fraud. Mitchell has professional ties to several of the groups that received money, although she says that she has abstained from voting on grants to any of those organizations.
One recipient of Bradley money is True the Vote, a Texas-based group that, among other things, trains people to monitor polling sites. Mitchell has served as its legal counsel, and hacked documents show that she advocated to the I.R.S. that the group deserved tax-exempt status as a charity. To earn such a designation, a group must file federal tax forms promising not to engage in electoral politics. In a letter of support, she asserted that “fraudulent voting occurs in the United States,” citing a 2010 case in which the F.B.I. arrested nine Floridians for election violations. But, as with many voter-fraud allegations, the details of the case were less than advertised. The accusation involved a school-board election in a rural Black community in which a campaign had collected dozens of absentee ballots, in violation of the law. The charges were eventually dismissed. The judge found “no intent to cast a false or fraudulent ballot.” True the Vote, which was granted tax-exempt status, has since been the subject of numerous complaints from voters, who have accused it of intimidation and racism.
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Charlie Kirk—a founder of Turning Point USA, which promotes right-wing ideas on school campuses—injected a note of optimism. He suggested that the pandemic, by closing campuses, would likely suppress voting among college students, a left-leaning bloc. “Please keep the campuses closed,” he said, to cheers. “Like, it’s a great thing!”
Turning Point, which has received small grants from the Bradley Foundation, is headquartered in Arizona, and it has played a significant role in the radicalization of the state, in part by amplifying fear and anger about voter fraud. Turning Point’s chief operating officer, Tyler Bowyer, is a member of the Republican National Committee and a former chair of the Maricopa County Republican Party. Bowyer’s friend Jake Hoffman runs an Arizona-based digital-marketing company, Rally Forge, that has been Turning Point’s highest-compensated contractor. In the summer of 2020, Rally Forge helped Turning Point use social media to spread incendiary misinformation about the coming elections. In September, the Washington Post reported that Rally Forge, on behalf of Turning Point Action, had paid teen-agers to deceptively post thousands of copycat propaganda messages, much as Russia had done during the 2016 campaign. Adult leaders had instructed the teens to tweak the wording of their posts, to evade detection by technology companies. Some messages were posted under the teens’ accounts, but others were sent under assumed personae. Many posts claimed that mail-in ballots would “lead to fraud,” and that Democrats planned to steal the Presidency.
Back in Arizona, where the auditors are demanding still more time, Gates believes that the Big Lie has become a “grift” used to motivate Republican voters and donors to support conservative candidates and political groups. “The sad thing is that there are probably millions of people—hardworking, good Americans, maybe retired—who have paid their taxes, always followed the law, and they truly believe this, because of what they’ve been fed by their leaders,” he said. “And what’s so dispiriting is that the people who are pushing it from the top? They know better.”
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Post by the Scribe on Mar 24, 2024 19:38:33 GMT
Republicans Are the American Oligarchy
www.thenation.com/article/society/republicans-oligarchy/
The GOP remains committed to promoting the interests of the wealthy in government. Democrats win by fighting back.
CHRIS LEHMANN
CONSERVATIVE FRONT GROUPS AKA ADVOCACY GROUPS
ACCORDING TO THEM HERE ARE THEIR TOP PICKS
Top 16 Best Conservative Organizations
America Invaded Salem NOW
It is no secret that the Swamp of Washington D.C. runs deeper than anyone can imagine. From the massive apparatus of the Deep State, to the deeply-entrenched special interests of the Left, to the smear merchants of the Fake News Industrial Complex, the institutional power of the Left is the greatest obstacle we face today in trying to secure our freedoms and protect our Constitution.
That is why it is so important, now more than ever, to support the handful of conservative institutions and organizations that are fighting for us, both in D.C. and across the country. Below is a comprehensive list of the 16 most important conservative organizations in the country that you can trust, and should support today.
Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation: Alongside the threat of radical Islam, the specters of Communism and Socialism remain the greatest existential threats to our civilization, one that all should be made aware of. To this end, the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation serves two key purposes: It not only reminds us of the cataclysmic toll of Communism, with over 100 million killed by this evil ideology over the course of the 20th century, but it also annually reports on the rising threat of the acceptance of Communism among the rising generation. Its annual poll, held in conjunction with YouGov, for the purpose of demonstrating Millennials’ increasing support of this dangerous ideology, most recently showed that a staggering 70% of Millennials would support a Socialist candidate. This serves as a cautious reminder of the words of former President Reagan: Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.
Federalist Society: After President Trump leaves office, his most lasting domestic accomplishment will be the complete reshaping of the federal judiciary. And the group that is front-and-center in that shift is the Federalist Society, which played a central role in drafting President Trump’s list of judicial nominees, more than 150 of whom have since been confirmed. Represented in the Administration by Don McGahn, the Federalist Society played a direct role in the confirmations of both Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, as well as the record number of judges confirmed in the President’s first three years.
David Horowitz Freedom Center: Founded by the longtime patriot David Horowitz, the DHFC has expanded into a network that promotes the values of American conservatism and combats the ideologies that present the biggest threat to America today. Among the DHFC’s network are the publications FrontPage Magazine and Jihad Watch, the former featuring some of the brightest minds on the American Right, and the latter, under the management of Robert Spencer, diligently bringing attention to the danger of radical Islam.
Association for Mature American Citizens: AMAC is serving a very important role that many people may not even know about: Protecting older Americans with the best benefits without giving money to the most dangerous left-wing causes in America today. While the AARP is considered the foremost interest group for older Americans, they regularly donate to Democrats and other leftist politicians, and have supported such causes as Obamacare and abortion. AMAC is on your side, only supporting pro-America causes. This group guarantees that the money of its more than two million members’ money is well-spent, not only on the members’ benefits, but on causes that will protect the rest of America as well, and our Constitution. If you are over 50 and don’t want your healthcare taken over, join today for just $16 a month at amac.us.
Hillsdale College: While the vast majority of America’s universities and colleges are overwhelmingly leftist, Hillsdale represents one of the very few and very bright examples of an institution of higher education that actually does its job: One that teaches students about the history and rich philosophical foundations of America, instilling quintessential American values in its students. With a presence in both Michigan and Washington D.C., this college equally serves both the heartland of this nation and the epicenter of the political world, reaching out to regular Americans and future leaders alike every single day, and accepts not one cent of federal taxpayer funding.
Alliance Defending Freedom: Whenever conservative Americans’ civil rights are violated – whether by leftist activists or by the crushing weight of big government – the ADF is always on the front lines, ready to defend persecuted Americans in court. With such crucial victories as the Supreme Court decision to let the Bladensburg World War I memorial cross remain standing on public land, and with such representatives as David Cortman, ADF is one of the premiere champions of liberty in America today.
Family Research Council: In an era where family values, once the bedrock of our society, are now considered politically incorrect, groups like the Family Research Council are more important than ever before. The recipient of perhaps the single most egregious labeling of “hate group” by the nefarious Southern Poverty Law Center, the scandalous treatment of this group by the Left has only further demonstrated FRC’s bravery in taking a stand for pro-family, pro-life, and Judeo-Christian values.
Federation for American Immigration Reform: At the forefront of one of the most significant issues of our time – immigration – is FAIR. For 40 years, FAIR has advocated for many of the same pro-American immigration policies that President Trump eventually ran on, publishing numerous comprehensive studies on the negative effects of unfettered immigration on the United States population. While there are many fantastic think-tanks and organizations that devote their mission to advocating for an America First immigration system, FAIR remains the definitive example.
Claremont Institute: While many think-tanks can claim to be specialists in certain areas, from economics and national security to immigration, the Claremont Institute just might be the all-around smartest think-tank in America. A high-class institution that publishes scholarly material of a very high quality, Claremont has featured some of the brightest minds of the conservative movements among its distinguished classes of Publius Fellows and Lincoln Fellows. It also features the excellent publication Claremont Review of Books (featured on our list of the Top 13 Best Conservative Outlets), which showcases some of the most erudite analyses of American politics and culture you will ever find on the Internet.
Project Veritas: The leading organization in the country for true citizen journalism, Project Veritas has directly exposed some of the biggest scandals on the Left and in the Democratic Party today, from a pro-Hillary Clinton group admitting to committing election fraud, to explicit anti-Trump bias from high-ranking officials at Google, James O’Keefe’s revolutionary group does the work that the FakeNews Industrial Complex will never do.
American Conservative Union/CPAC: Led by the great Matt Schlapp, the ACU is the group behind the world’s largest annual gathering of conservative activists and leaders: The Conservative Political Action Conference. In addition to serving as an annual display of the best and brightest that the conservative movement has to offer, CPAC has directly played a role in Republican and conservative politics. Among the most significant moments to come out of CPAC was Donald Trump’s speech in 2011, which some view as the catalyst for his eventual political career. CPAC is the place where past, present, and future Presidents are featured, and is just as strong as it was when it was first founded in 1973.
PragerU: In the 21st century, information is not only more easily accessible than ever before, but it is far more important in influencing political decisions, especially with false information being spread more broadly than the truth. PragerU’s mission is very simple, but very important: Inform and educate as many people as possible, through very direct and easy-to-follow educational videos on every political topic imaginable, loaded with facts, statistics, and other details that fully support conservative solutions to the biggest issues of today. It is no wonder that they already have amassed over 3.2 billion views around the world.
Judicial Watch: The premiere ethics watchdog in the country, Judicial Watch continues to relentlessly fight the good fight against corruption and abuse of power by government officials, and investigate the matters that few other organizations will. From tackling FISA abuse by the Obama Administration, to directly challenging Ilhan Omar over her numerous felonies and acts of fraud, to their latest victory in securing a deposition from Hillary Clinton over her illegal use of a private email server, Judicial Watch is one of the few groups in this country that continues to hold government accountable.
Turning Point USA: There is arguably no greater fight in today’s culture than the fight for the hearts and minds of America’s youth, and Turning Point USA is far and away the largest and most effective group in this fight. For an organization that was founded just 7 years ago, TPUSA’s star has risen to astronomical heights, and many of its leading figures – from founder Charlie Kirk to former Communications Director Candace Owens – are a part of the MAGA family circle. TPUSA has proven its dedication to Making America Great Again, launching a get-out-the-vote effort to mobilize one million pro-MAGA students for the 2020 election, and hosting the largest and most successful conservative student conferences in history, featuring over 5,000 attendees at its most recent summit.
National Rifle Association: Few rights are more important than the right to bear arms. Although there are many fantastic pro-gun groups in the country, none of them are larger or more historically influential than the National Rifle Association. The NRA’s massive network of pro-Second Amendment activism and lobbying has certainly made them one of the Left’s biggest boogeymen, with just about every leftist politician trying to blame the NRA for any and all acts of gun violence in the country. If the frequency of Democratic attacks are any indication, this only means that the NRA is doing something very right in its fight to preserve the right to bear arms and the right to self-defense. Join today at NRA.org.
The Heritage Foundation: The Mothership of Conservatism, the Heritage Foundation has been at the center of conservative politics for decades, from the presidency of Ronald Reagan up to the Administration of Donald Trump. It is not only the most significant think-tank in America, but has even been acknowledged as the most influential think-tank in the world, having played a massive role in staffing and advising the Trump Administration. From its abundance of eloquent and highly knowledgeable experts, to its excellent publication The Daily Signal, the Heritage Foundation is indisputably the #1 greatest conservative organization in America today. Visit Heritage.org today and support this incredible organization today.
AMERICA First is the newest nationally-syndicated radio show in the United States, part of the Salem Radio Network. The host, Sebastian Gorka PhD., served most recently as Deputy Assistant for Strategy to the President of the United States, Donald J. Trump, and is author of the New York Times bestselling book “Defeating Jihad.” His latest book is “Why We Fight: Defeating America’s Enemies – With No Apologies.” You can follow him on Twitter @sebgorka, on Facebook, and on Instagram @sebastian_gorka. AMERICA First is available on the iTunes podcast app, streams live at www.sebgorka.com, and is on YouTube. You can contact him here.
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Post by the Scribe on Mar 24, 2024 19:40:51 GMT
Top 10 Conservative Advocacy Groups
www.thoughtco.com/top-conservative-advocacy-groups-3303616
RNC 2016
By Marcus Hawkins
Updated on June 30, 2019
Advocacy groups are one of the best ways for concerned Americans to get involved in the political process. The goal of these groups, also known as lobby groups or special interest groups, is to organize activists, establish goals for policy, and influence lawmakers.
While some advocacy groups get a bad rap for their ties to powerful interests, others are more grassroots in nature, mobilizing ordinary citizens who otherwise might not have an impact on the political process. Advocacy groups conduct polls and research, provide policy briefings, coordinate media campaigns, and lobby local, state, and federal representatives about key issues.
The following are some of the key conservative political advocacy groups:
01
of 10
The American Conservative Union (ACU)
Founded in 1964, ACU is one of the first groups established to advocate for conservative issues. They are also the host of the Conservative Political Action Conference, which each year sets the conservative agenda for those lobbying Washington. As stated on their website, ACU's primary concerns are liberty, personal responsibility, traditional values, and a strong national defense.
02
of 10
American Family Association (AFA)
The AFA is primarily concerned with strengthening the moral foundations of American culture by adhering to biblical principles in all aspects of life. As champions of Christian activism, they lobby for policies and actions that strengthen traditional families, that hold all life sacred, and that act as stewards of faith and morality.
03
of 10
Americans For Prosperity
This advocacy group mobilizes the power of ordinary citizens to affect change in Washington. At last count, it had more than 3.2 million members. Its mission is primarily fiscal: to ensure greater prosperity for all Americans by petitioning for lower taxes and less government regulation.
04
of 10
Citizens United
As stated on their website, Citizens United is an organization dedicated to restoring citizen control of the government. Through a combination of education, advocacy, and grassroots organization, they seek to reassert the traditional American values of limited government, freedom of enterprise, strong families, and national sovereignty and security. Their ultimate goal is to restore the Founding Fathers' vision of a free nation, guided by the honesty, common sense, and good will of its citizens.
05
of 10
The Conservative Caucus
The Conservative Caucus was founded in 1974 to mobilize grassroots citizen activism. It is pro-life, anti-same-sex marriage, opposes amnesty for undocumented immigrants, and supports the repeal of the Affordable Care Act. It also favors abolishing the income tax and replacing it with a low-revenue tariff.
06
of 10
Eagle Forum
Founded by Phyllis Schlafly in 1972, Eagle Forum uses grassroots political activism to build a stronger, better educated America through traditional family values. It advocates for American sovereignty and identity, the primacy of the Constitution as law, and ongoing parental involvement in their children's education. Its efforts were key in the defeat of the Equal Rights Amendment, and it continues to oppose the infiltration of what it calls radical feminism into traditional American life.
07
of 10
Family Research Council (FRC)
The FRC envisions a culture in which all human life is valued, families flourish, and religious liberty thrives. To that end, according to its website, the FRC
"...champions marriage and family as the foundation of civilization, the seedbed of virtue, and the wellspring of society. FRC shapes public debate and formulates public policy that values human life and upholds the institutions of marriage and the family. Believing that God is the author of life, liberty, and the family, FRC promotes the Judeo-Christian worldview as the basis for a just, free, and stable society."
08
of 10
Freedom Watch
Founded by lawyer Larry Klayman in 2004 (Klayman is also the founder of Judicial Watch), Freedom Watch is concerned with protecting freedoms including privacy rights, free speech, and civil liberties. The group states on its website that it also seeks Americans'
"freedom from foreign oil and crooked business, labor and government officials, to protecting our national sovereignty against the incompetent, terrorist state-controlled United Nations, and reestablishing the rule of law in what has become a very corrupt American legal system."
09
of 10
Freedom Works
With its motto "Government fails, freedom works," this advocacy group has been fighting for individual liberty, free markets, and a Constitution-based limited government since 1984. It operates as both a think tank that publishes papers and reports as well as a grassroots organization that puts ordinary concerned citizens in touch with beltway insiders.
10
of 10
The Heritage Foundation
Founded in 1973, The Heritage Foundation touts itself as the country's "largest, most broadly supported" conservative think tank with more than a half-million dues-paying members. Its mission, according to its website, is to promote "Free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values, and a strong national defense."
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