Reply #20: Because several decades ago, when liberalism was the dominant [View All]

ideology in the US, a bunch of wealthy and powerful people decided to take the long view and start building a communication and organizational infrastructure to make their version of "conservatism" the dominant ideology.

They bought up radio stations--and eventually other media, including TV stations. They also founded and funded conservative "think tanks" like the Heritage Foundation, to have on payroll a bunch of "credentialed" talking heads to populate the media in order to "catapult the propaganda." Those foundations also produce an endless stream of "research" to provide support for their talking-points--though the research is no more trustworthy or valid than the studies the oil industry funds to show that global warming is a "myth."

They recruited and funded candidates to run in local and state elections, which most Americans foolishly ignore--everything from city commissions and school boards to state legislatures and boards of education. Those candidates often run unopposed (!), and often they are stealth candidates--not revealing their extreme views until they are safely ensconced in office. This meant that they always have a bunch of people in the pipeline to run for higher state offices and eventually for national offices. And of course their ownerhip of major media means they can give these people the sort of exposure that will enable them to become familiar names for low-information voters to mark on their ballots.

Meanwhile, they also had people of Karl Rove's ilk recruiting and traing dirty tricksters to undermine the integrity of our electoral system, and as we know, they also took control of our voting system itself, so they could swing close races electronically.

Of course, the fact that they are wealthy meant that such people could comfortably fund all these activities, and their single-minded determination to rule unopposed meant they were willing to put their money where their goals were. We know that a lot of these gazillionaires willingly continue to support RW operations even when they lose money rather than turn a profit.

Unfortunately, the wealthiest people on our side seem to believe that the footsoldiers in the good cause should be willing to devote their time and energy for free, or for a meager wage. Thus even those who do not believe in the RW agenda sometimes go over to their side simply because that is where they can make a lot of money. I am quite sure that many of these people--like Kobach, O'Reilley, Beck, and an awful lot of the others who do the most damage on the Right--are not really true believers in the RW cause. They just know what they have to do to become disgustingly rich. Even the footsoldiers on the Right are well compensated, whereas those on the Left are often dirt poor and thus unable to make organizing and activism a full-time job.

I wish the wealthy people who believe in progressive values would spread their wealth around a bit more, the way rabid RW gazillionaires do. I also wish our side could take the long view. Every time we don't get our dreams fulfilled quickly enough, we fall into disarray, so that every cycle we seem to be starting from square one, whereas even when they lose elections, the RW keep working consistently toward their long-term goals.

BTW, now that the RW owns the media, if we do decide to overreach, we will be castigated for it 24/7 in the media. When the RW does something really, really extreme, the IOKIYAR principle kicks into gear.

And now that the RW owns the election apparatus, were doubly screwn.