Conservatives: beware of Conservatism, Inc.

 

Ned Ryun at American Greatness cites Michael Anton’s Caveat Emptor for conservatives:

[Michael] Anton says, 

Now I’ll name names. If you’re at National Review, AEI or Heritage Foundation, your job is to pretend to oppose but really support; your whole business model as staff and management collapses if you don’t do that. It’s an open question why the donors donate to these places. I actually believe they’re deceiving their donors for the most part; that is I’d like to believe most donors to Conservatism, Inc. (NRO, AEI, Heritage) are writing checks because they believe these guys are fighting bad leftists, socialists, Communists, America-haters, critical race theory. They’re standing athwart yelling ‘Stop!’ They really think this. They don’t think, ‘I’m writing this check so that Rich Lowry, Ramesh Ponnoru, Jonah Goldberg and other fat useless grifters can have six-figure jobs to do nothing but sell out my country and pretend that they’re saving it.’ I don’t think they’re doing that, but to be completely clear, that’s what they’re doing.

There’s a lot to unpack just in that one 60-second statement, but Anton is absolutely correct: The overwhelming majority of “conservative” donors, knowingly or unknowingly, are getting played by Conservatism, Inc., which is really about 90 percent of the so-called “conservative” think tanks in D.C. but, quite frankly, it happens even in the smaller ones across the country.

. . .

If, as Anton says, donors think they’re funding these entities to actually fight the leftists, the question should be very simple: proof please of your work. Strongly worded statements and white papers don’t count, for the record. Show us the action items. . . .

If you contribute to conservative organizations or individuals, make sure the recipient(s) really is/are conservative.  Full article is here. 

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I believe he is fascist

Julia Arciga at The Daily Beast reports on Representative Ilhan Omar’s charming statement about President Trump:

“We have said this president is a racist. We have condemned his racist remarks. I believe he is fascist. . . .”

Let’s define terms. The online Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines “fascism” as

a political philosophy, movement, or regime (such as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition

President Trump loves our country and individual liberty. His administration has done more for minorities than Democrat administrations. President Obama increased federal regulation; President Trump has been de-regulating. 

“Severe economic and social regimentation” is on the agenda of the Democrat-Socialist Party; think Obamacare and endlessly playing the race card (headline at the link says it all, so you don’t have to go beyond the WSJ PayWall).  President Trump is getting government out of the way and decreasing taxes, which frees up the market to grow.

“Forcible suppression of opposition?” Like the mis-named Antifa mobs that beat up reporter Andy Ngo, who was there merely to video tape Antifa’s lawlessness in Portland? Or the Antifa mobs that rioted in Berkeley, smashing windows and committing other acts of vandalism?  Antifa should be called Pro-fa; they are the ones who want to silence their critics, to intimidate conservatives from speaking out.

President Trump takes hostile questions from the media all the time. No suppression there. It’s the left-wing media and Big Tech (Google, Facebook, Twitter, et al) that deliberately suppress opposing views.

Rep. Omar is spouting propaganda. Big surprise.

PS. Some online definitions place “fascism” in the far right of the left-right continuum. But as Jonah Goldberg laid out in his bestseller Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left, From Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning, fascist movements were and are left-wing.

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