We have been watching Republican state legislatures make great strides to suppress voting, in the name of fraud prevention, over the last two years. In the end, the courts told many of them they were wrong and directed them to correct it. I found it interesting how the states moved at the speed of a three-toed sloth to correct their suppression efforts, in the hopes of deceiving the electorate.
Voter suppression has long been a tool of those understanding they do not have that snow ball's chance to impose their beliefs, non violently, on the majority that doesn't understand that which is really good for them. With that I mind, I give you Paul Weyrich
Paul Weyrich was a well known conservative in search of a smaller voter turnout, he felt the fewer voters the better his ideas had an opportunity to be part of the government he wanted. Weyrich was co-founder of the Heritage Foundation, founded the Moral Majority with Jerry Falwell and the now well known, American Legislative Exchange Council or ALEC and several other conservative think tanks. Paul was a busy person for his causes.
THE LONG VOTER LINES...
Well, the electorate responded and proved to the Tea Party, they were not the only folks concerned about having freedoms diminished or taken away by a group with a selfish ideology.
Now that the folks that thought it would work for their side have learned it will not, perhaps they will invest some time to make voting more efficient, eh?
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The cruel joke began with Ideological Billionaires creating organizations like Americans for Prosperity and FreedomWorks and hired Republican strategists to get the far right to believe in their side of the message without knowing what the message is. These two organizations were formed in 2004 after Citizens for a Sound Economy was dissolved.
They were well positioned to move when Rick Santelli of CNBC made his infamous rant from the floor of the Chicago Board of Trade in 2009 and the Tea Party was thrust upon us. Americans For Prosperity (AFP) offered to assist folks with the creation of "Grass Roots" organizations using the terms or phrases like Less Government, Lower Taxes, More Freedoms. The trigger words used most often on their website are Smaller Government and Individual Freedoms.
Today, the list of words has grown but they are all built around the desires of individuals and the fears of individuals. The reason for these specific words date back to the time of Shakespeare when the Bard used words of emotion, the ones that touch the heart or gut, without using the thinking brain filter, the ones that can motivate immediately because of the emotion or passion automatically associated with it, thinking not required.
Now, the people are aroused and looking for more information to move forward with their new found cause and where do they find the facts to back up the emotion. I guess they could connect to their local tea party web site and find links to AFP and sites like Heritage Foundation, Cato Institute, American Enterprise Institute and more. All respected organizations producing many White Papers and sending their people to testify before Congress on the behalf of Conservatism. You are now connected and allowed to think again.
Why? Because many have just experienced Suasion, an exercise of influence by means other than argumentation or thinking. Now, I guess, they are feeling just wonderful about using free will to make a choice to match their beliefs. They are beginning to also feel really comfortable because someone is going to make government smaller, address your concerns for abortion and gay marriage, cut spending and support free enterprise to create jobs. They will get rid of Obamacare and get government out of your healthcare. They will prevent Socialism from happening in your country.
This is where the Cruel Joke kicks in. The real purpose behind these organizations is to get their like thinking candidates elected to office, Federal and State, The one's receiving those wonderful contributions to help convince the rest of the legislators that what is good for Koch Industries, is good for the country. It is true they want the same smaller government and more individual freedoms that the Tea Party groups also desire. The billionaires individual freedoms include things like less regulation that allow them to use the environment without paying for its protection. They want to eliminate unions so they can keep wages suppressed, some of them even want to have the minimum wage reduced. For some reason, it appears they are not comfortable with the current amount of money in their pocket.
The key players in this joke are the sixth richest people in the country, Charles and David Koch and play they do.
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