Posted on 08/18/2009 7:33:14 PM PDT by reaganaut1
PITTSBURGH -- A group of Republicans, looking to recoup the party's clout, is borrowing a page from liberal Democrats by beefing up Internet efforts to energize the grass roots.
The conservative Americans for Prosperity has further embraced Internet activism to energize its 700,000 members and point them to dozens of town-hall meetings with lawmakers over the past weeks, leaving Democrats on the defensive on a signature issue: overhauling health care.
Americans for Prosperity held their conference Right Online here last weekend. It centered on ramping up the use of Facebook, Twitter and other online megaphones to rally conservative opposition to what they consider ultra-liberal policies -- strategies popularized by organizations such as MoveOn.org and President Barack Obama's 2008 campaign.
That's a shift, these activists say, from recent years of GOP strategy, where the shaping of the party's message has been largely top-down, with the message coming from party leaders. Now, the message is bubbling up more from groups of online activists.
"People are saying we're not hearing encouraging or inspiring messages from our leaders in Washington," said Erik Telford, Americans for Prosperity's director of online strategy. "We need to rebuild from the ground up."
Timothy Phillips, the 45-year-old GOP strategist from South Carolina who leads the six-year-old organization, said his group was only one of many that are urging members to speak out against liberal policies. He said they help channel discontent with Mr. Obama's agenda.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
If people were not passionate about this issue they would not be showing up like they are. These are not like paid for whores from ACORN or SIEU. These are people who independently drive to events and show up not by coercing forces of some group.
AFP had a health care “tea party” in Colorado Springs last month: 1,000 people showed up in the rain at noon on a weekday.
Conservatives have been using the internet for 10 years...
Since the msm refuses to give us voice..we had no choice.
Why didn’t he mention the hate-filled empty headed filth at daily Kos or DU. Obviously this writer didn’t do a lot of research.
Much smnaller, much fewer members and not flushed with stimulus cash and Soros blood money
I have finally come to the understanding that the political system now being touted by the left as "PROGRESSIVE", to deflect criticism of them being liberal, is actually a synthesis of two previously existing government forms: Communism and Fascism.
When many use the word “fascist” they are simply using it as a pejorative. When people were calling Bush “fascist”, that was simply a smear. When I challenged them to define fascist, and they were unable to respond, I educated them. That reduced them to calling him monkey instead. Dear Leader has been RULING as a fascist (most recently demonstrated by his town hall antics) as I will demonstrate.
When I labeled Dear Leader and Pelosi, etc., Fascist, I was NOT using it as a pejorative. It's an attempt to describe as accurately as possible the system of government they espouse and are trying to bring about. I ran into a problem, though, when researching the question.
I excerpt part of http://open-encyclopedia.com/Fascism as a base for the analysis.
The word fascism has come to mean any system of government resembling Mussolini's, that
- exalts nation and sometimes race above the individual,
- uses violence and modern techniques of propaganda and censorship to forcibly suppress political opposition,
- engages in severe economic and social regimentation, and
- espouses nationalism and sometimes racism or ethnic nationalism. ,
... The purpose of the government under fascism proper was to value itself as the highest priority to its culture in just being the state in itself, the larger scope of which, the better...
... The Nazi movement spoke of class-based society as the enemy, and wanted to unify the racial element above established classes. The Fascist movement, on the other hand, sought to preserve the class system and uphold it as the foundation of established and desirable culture...
...Fascism rejects the central tenets of Marxism, which are class struggle, and the need to replace capitalism with a society run by the working class in which the workers own the means of production. ...
[Fascism includes] capitalism ... This was a new capitalist system, however, one in which the state seized control of the organization of vital industries.
Look at the agenda the Progressives have undertaken since gaining control of Congress in 2006, and indeed before that time. Control of business, reduction of personal liberty, using propaganda and censorship to suppress opposition, social regimentation, higher taxes which again reduces personal liberty, expanding national government everywhere, even severe regimentation passing laws about light bulbs and on and on. Much of their agenda and methodology is VERY fascist.
However, bullet points 1 & 4 give us a problem whether we use nationalism or racism. Progressives certainly never goad people into a frenzy by extolling the virtues of the United States so are not nationalists in the typical sense of the word. They don’t use racism that way, either- they merely use it as a pejorative. Thus, we are not quite accurate in equating Progressivism with Fascism.
A digression concerning Nazi (National Socialist) vs. Fascist: Nazi is a subset of Fascist, but that subset does not include any more Progressive traits than Fascist.
What actually is needed to describe Progressives is Fascism that is NOT nationalist, at least nationalism in the sense of promotion of their nation as superior.
They are not Socialist (Marxist), either. When have you EVER heard a Progressive politician or any of the Democrats extol the virtues of having a classless society? Certainly they don't desire that for themselves or their rich donors! They are definitely in favor of a classes, with themselves in the highest class.
This brings up the following, from the same main source: http://open-encyclopedia.com/Communism
In terms of socio-economic systems, communism and socialism are two different things. For example, socialism involves the existence of a state, while communism does not...[and] abolishes private ownership altogether.
I’ve heard it argued that Communism has never been implemented, as a result. Apologies to Marx and Engels, but it is the supporters of communism who make that argument. Communism as it is now defined requires that there be NO “state”.
This helps us gain some ground. Communism shares this major feature of "no state" with Progressivism! So, where are we now?
These super-liberals, including Dear Leader and those who are currently running congress, have been pushing CapNTax, ObamaCare, apologies for the US, making nice with sworn enemies, international law, eliminating military superiority, etc.. In nearly EVERY area of our culture or economy that they have been pushing most fervently, they push for a leveling of the US with other nations, and attempt to remove national differences and boundaries. These fit with Communism, except that they have NO DESIRE to eliminate "classes" of people, or that the state OWN business- they only wish to CONTROL business as in Fascism (they have stated that they don't want to run the banks or auto companies) and they don't mind that their favored elites are billionaires, just as in fascism. Like fascism, they desire to control individual thought and behavior and forcibly suppress dissent.
Either we stipulate that the “whole world” is the “nation” for Dear Leader et al, to accurately describe their government philosophy, and state they are "ONE-WORLD FASCISTS", or we need a new word to describe their desired governmental system.
A word that would accurately synthesize their thinking is:
CommuFascist
The important point, though, is that whether this philosophy is labeled CommuFascist, or “Progressive” or One-World Fascists, analysis reveals that Dear Leader, Pelosi, and these super-liberals are espousing a MORE EXTREME FORM of Fascism and VERY extreme form of liberalism. Dear Leader is a “one-world” Mussolini.
Far from being pejorative, analysis reveals I was being generous when I was describing them as Fascist, not pejorative. I might be calling them something more extreme instead, “Progressive” or equivalently, CommuFascist.
One of the most rational and well thought out posts I have ever read. Thank you for re-posting.
“...I have finally come to the understanding that the political system now being touted by the left as “PROGRESSIVE”, to deflect criticism of them being liberal, is actually a synthesis of two previously existing government forms: Communism and Fascism....”
I reached the same conclusion several months ago, but lacked the ability to put it into words.
Thanks for your post and explanation. Very well reasoned and written.
FINALLY! people understand what MUST be done. NOW for the people in each state to catch onto this and take back each local and state area along with the Federal government.
engages in severe economic and social regimentation, and
++++++++++
Several great advantages we have here, over Germany in the 1930s, that will prevent a full slide into CommuFacism - our economy, while not great before Obama has become much worse under him, whereas the German fascists took advantage of a depression and hyperinflation to bring about ‘economic recovery’. Bammy and crew have gone down an opposite road, turning a bad recession, into an impossibly DEEP recession.
The other thing they have tried to do, which I think has by and large failed is to turn people of color against whites - similar to how the aryans turned whites against Jews and others. Now they may be partly succeeding here. But we are a fairly mature multi-cultural country - with liberty and justice for all - don’t you know - and opportunities even for the most recent immigrants (see the Hmong refugees as examples.)
We mustn’t let them divide us on this second count either - the mongers.
We MUST stick together with conservative, liberty values - which is what is driving the town halls and tea parties - imho.
Cheers and kudos to the Conservatives out in our great land that are standing up to Commufacism in such an effective way!
Go Tea Partiers!!
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