As I understand, Rachel Maddow covered much of the funding and support of FreedomWorks, but I thought I'd revisit it, in light of all the crazies coming out of the woodwork and this recent 9-12 March on DC that FreedomWorks was so influential in organizing.
Meet one the Community Organizers for FreedomWorks, Brian Steinhauser:
It's probably no big surprise that Steinhauser, is
an alum of the Young Conservatives of Texas, that he established a sister organization to YCT, the
Young Conservatives of California, or that his
favorite book is Atlas Shrugged.
Of more concern, however, are his radical right wing authoritarian traits and tactics and how this FreedomWorks organization is so well connected and funded:
According to
RightWebFreedomWorks is a conservative advocacy outfit created in 2004 as part of a merger between Citizens for a Sound Economy (CSE), a rightist pro-free market organization, and Empower America, which was founded in 1993 by William Bennett, secretary of education under President Ronald Reagan and a rightist pundit on issues from defense policy to family values (National Review, September 13, 2004)…
…(it is) a 'grasstops' organization driven by such inside the beltway 'superstars' as William Bennett, Vin Weber, and Jean Kirkpatrick and CSE's 'grassroots' following" …
… "CSE received $275,250 from ExxonMobil in 2001, an increase from $30,000 the year before. CSE merged with Empower America and became FreedomWorks in 2004. (July 31, 2004)…
… According to MediaTransparency, in 2005 the revenues for FreedomWorks were $3.8 million…
…"While Empower America bills itself as a 'nonpartisan, nonprofit organization,' its board of directors is a blue-ribbon panel of right-wing pro-corporate Republicans, and the organization itself is a kind of stepchild of the Heritage Foundation. Amazingly for a nonprofit entity, Empower America proudly declares political candidates to be among its 'products.' Its popular training sessions for reactionary candidates have enhanced the success of the pro-business theocratic right in recent years." …
Board of Directors include
Steve Forbes, and
Dick Armey.
In 2006, it was reported that FreedomWorks
netted more than $638,000 and about 16,000 members through the sale of insurance policies.(Kent Lassman, vice president for strategy at FreedomWorks) did not deny that the $638,040 that has flowed to the group over 5 1/2 years in monthly checks for "association fees" collected by Medical Savings Insurance Co. is a boost. But, he said, it is a small one for a group with a $7 million budget. A database search of the group's 800,000 members indicated roughly 2 percent -- or about 16,000 -- joined by signing up for insurance, he said.
Steinhauser is all over the net. His writing is antagonistic and peppered with all sorts of militaristic references:
The Conservative Revolution is Coming to Boston, MA This fall, look out for the conservative revolution on college campuses. It will be spreading to the city of Boston, MA as my good friend Ryan Sorba, an expert in campus activism, heads out there for the Leadership Institute. The LI is planning a massive onslaught against the campus Left, and all of their field representatives are now armed with a copy of TCR!!! Utilizing the ideas in the book, along with the combined resources of ISI, Students for Saving Social Security, Accuracy in Academia, Students for Life, Students for Prosperity, FreedomWorks, the Network of enlightened Women, and Students for Academic Freedom, the conservative campus field reps will create a firestorm this fall. The Campus Leadership Program at LI is set to have its best year yet. To quote Anthony Mantova of LI when I asked about the size and scope of the program, "Well, Left-wing scum doesn't smash itself." No, Anthony, it does not. But with this alliance of campus conservative groups ready for the fall, Left-wing scum like "Campus Progress" has a lot to worry about.
http://cache.zoominfo.com/CachedPage/?archive_id=0&page_id=1322507482&page_url=%2f%2fmaxgoss.worldmagblog.com%2fmaxgoss%2farchives%2f007094.html&page_last_updated=11%2f7%2f2006+11%3a28%3a28+AM&firstName=Brendan&lastName=Steinhauser">Crashing Moore's Party
July 30, 2004
IHSV Exclusive! Crashing Moore's Party
"Media cameras flashed and lit up our banner under the dark sky as we paraded down the dirty road toward Michael Moore’s filthy minions." So says Brendan Steinhauser of the Young Conservatives of Texas, whose entertaining and perceptive report on Thursday's Crawford, Texas screening of Fahrenheit 911 you can read only here at In Hoc Signo Vinces! (The last paragraph is especially telling.)
YCT Confronts Michael Moore’s Minions in Crawford, Texas
By Brendan Steinhauser
Early on Tuesday morning, July 27th, I received an email from a member of the local Free Republic Network. The email said that Michael Moore was coming to Crawford, Texas to show his new propaganda film, Fahrenheit 911. Since my organization, The Young Conservatives of Texas, specializes in right-wing protests; I knew I had to let my group know about the event. So, I contacted all of the members of YCT, in addition to my friends at Protest Warrior and TownHall.com. We organized a large caravan of conservatives that was itching to get to Crawford and meet the famous film maker head to head.
We made the two hour trip from Austin and drove down the main street in Crawford. It was filled with hundreds of GOP members and Bush supporters from across Central Texas. I was thrilled with the enormous support that Bush had, since I am so used to living among leftists and anarchists in Austin. My team unloaded our things, including anti-Moore signs, issues of our magazine Contumacy, and copies of my new book, The Conservative Revolution: How to Win the Battle for College Campuses. We made our way through the rambunctious crowd, and carried our YCT banner with pride. Many fellow conservatives knew us to be the group that uses guerilla tactics when it comes to activism. They were glad to see us there, and expected our usual antics. We were not going to let them down...
Steinhauser was the Washington, D.C. chapter leader of the right-wing protest group, Protest Warrior: He led the counter-protest against the anti-war movement's mobilization on September 24, 2005. The group's confrontational and provocative methods have caused incidents at numerous peace rallies. Steinhauser also led an "infiltration" of a peace rally in San Diego in March of 2005, and protests of Michael Moore in Crawford, Texas and San Diego, California. He brags about making short films of his provocative "infiltrations" and distributes them to other activists.
He brags about his involvement as a Protest Warrior; there are several
videos documenting their aggressive approach.
His buddy,
Ryan Sorba,
is also employed by FreedomWorks:
Ryan Sorba, a controversial College Republican at California State University--San Bernardino, is the Chairman of YCC. Steinhauser has written on his blog about their antics on campuses, and published a piece on TownHall.com about Sorba's attempt to establish a Christian club at CSUSB that discriminates against homosexuals and non-Christians.
FreedomWorks
http://www.freedomworksforme.org/about.php">is very direct in their description of how they target their audience, making reference to the “True Blue” who are "willing to show up":
“TRUE BLUE”: Freedom Works Foundation takes its strategic lessons directly from the American Experiment. First, our staff and volunteers alike hold the values of personal responsibility, individual freedom, and limited government dear. Second, we share the same passionate, patriotic commitment to succeed demonstrated by the original Sons of Liberty. Finally, we understand that an effective social movement is almost never built around an engaged majority of the public. As John Adams noted, it is only the “true blue” that count, because they stand up to be counted.
In other words, Freedom Works Foundation strategically targets audiences and communities most likely to show up, organize, and get educated. As everyone knows, most eligible Americans do not bother to vote. Even fewer pay attention to the basic public policy issues being debated by their county commission, their state legislature, or even the elected officials representing them in Washington, D.C. Still fewer know where their elected officials stand on these core issues. Only the “True Blue” take the time to know what is going on, and are willing to show up and let their voices be heard at rallies, town hall meetings, and in the media. These are the people who, like the original Sons of Liberty, drive the engine of our constitutional democracy.
I think we all know who the “True Bluers” are that this right wing authoritarian group is
targeting.We do this through programs that systematically identify, recruit, educate, and engage the “True Blue” of our great country, patriotic Americans willing to show up, learn, and make a difference.
How do we do it? Just like Samuel Adams did (with the help of some new technology): one recruit at a time. The following FreedomWorks Foundation programs are the building blocks of a sustainable citizen army – the Sons and Daughters of Liberty.
THE SOLUTION: We need to build a powerful, countervailing citizen force that can go toe to toe against the labor unions, liberal “consumer” groups, and radical environmentalists. The ideas of liberty need the political power that can be produced by an organized group of Americans committed to our values, trained in effective mobilization skills, and organized to drive the policy agenda at the local, state, and federal levels.
That is who Freedom Works Foundation is. That is what Freedom Works Foundation does. We recruit, educate and train citizens to fight for their beliefs. And we are effective.
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