How rich conservatives bilk the rank and file into making them richer

[phantom power]

In the 1960s, conservatives realized that the nationwide grassroots network that activists built to support Barry Goldwater could be an ongoing source of funds, not only for conservative causes but for people wanting to sell snake oil. Lists of names and addresses became a valued commodity, built, bought and sold again and again for the benefit of those who controlled them and those who used them (Rick Perlstein lays out that history here).

That tradition continues, but in new and more complicated ways that I like to call the circle of scam. Organizations like the Heritage Foundation and FreedomWorks pay radio hosts like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity big money to offer on-air endorsements that are the radio equivalent of “native advertising.” Future presidential candidate Mike Huckabee sells his email list on “miracle cancer cures” hidden in the Bible. Conservative media figures like Dick Morris solicit contributions that somehow are never turned to the political ends they claim. Nobody wants to upend the system, because too many people are getting a taste.

The common thread can be found in the marks: the little old lady in Tupelo who sends in $50 thinking that she’s striking a blow against Barack Obama, the couple in Topeka who hopes Mike Huckabee’s biblical cancer cure can save their daughter’s life, the man in Toledo who thinks that the group with “Tea Party” in its name is going to have an impact on his state’s races. What none of them know is that their money is just going to make somebody who’s already rich a little bit richer.

And that’s where we get to the larger picture. There’s a line that runs from those donors to the biggest players in conservative politics and the politicians they support. When thousands of volunteers set out to knock doors on behalf of Americans for Prosperity, what are they seeking? A better America, more freedom, a return to the simpler time they remember from their youth? All that and more. But what are they actually going to get? They’ve been set to work by AFP’s prime donors, Charles and David Koch (whose combined net worth may exceed $100 billion), to elect candidates who will work tirelessly to lower investment taxes, destroy the right of workers to bargain collectively, and lessen the terrible burden of environmental, consumer protection, and worker safety regulations that so oppress the likes of the Kochs.

We see the same process again and again. The tea party rises up to turn back government overreach, and what do its participants get in exchange for all their money and labor? In the end, they get a Republican Party that is more ideologically radical, to be sure, but one that continues to hold the interests of corporations and the wealthy as its top priority. Social conservatives are assured by party leaders that if they get out and work in the next election, the tide of modernity can be turned back; it never happens, but you can bet that the people the elect will move heaven and earth to protect low capital gains taxes.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2015/02/17/how-rich-conservatives-bilk-the-rank-and-file-into-making-them-richer/

[hifiguy]

1. Whoda thunk it.

Reichwingers and religulous idiots running blatantly transparent scams to fleece the gullible morons? Really? What IS this world coming to.