Thread by @trollhuntress

In order to understand the GOP of 2018 we have to realize that what we see today is not the result of a grassroots shift to the right but comes from a strategic nexus of extreme wealth, racism, history & religion.
Where did it come from, what is it, and how can we beat it?
THREAD

2. FDR who pulled the country out of the Great Depression said there were four essential human freedoms, the freedom of expression, freedom of religion, freedom from fear, and freedom from want.
Yes the freedom from want.
His social programs upended the capitalism of his day.

3. FDRs new taxes and regulations caused the wealthy to hate him so much they staged a coup to install an autocracy that might have worked were it not for a patriotic whistleblower.
They also bankrolled 'The Liberty League" to fight him politically. timeline.com/business-plot-…

4. The elite realized that America Democracy was hurting their wealth. "Undeserving" lower classes who could now vote wanted education, infrastructure, social security programs and medicare. This was outside of their control to monetize yet paid for in part by their own taxes.

5. They knew these projects would cause a redistribution of wealth and eventually would promote competition from lower classes, limiting the aristocrat's legacy. What they really wanted was an oligarchy where all wealth and power is controlled at the top by a "successful" few.

5. Although The Liberty League failed, their ideas resurfaced in 1958 championed by The John Birch Society which later folded into the Libertarian Party, Heritage Foundation, Tea Party, the CNP, The Religious Right & all other Koch Bros' funded groups. motherjones.com/politics/2010/…

6. With each loss and permutation this group developed powerful connections and eventually created a political strategy with a long view on how to slowly win. They embedded themselves in the GOP & Paul Weyrich developed the Heritage Foundation in part to implement it.

7. Here's some information on Paul Weyrich's success expanding the GOP base by tying Evangelicals to it, causing him to sometimes be called a father of the Evangelical right (although he was a Catholic who moved in Bircher circles)

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8. His movement is sometimes called Dominionist as they believe God grants them dominion over the less worthy. His strategy can be simplified into 4 principles and 3 stages (thanks to Katherine Yurica) although his full "educational primer" is here: web.archive.org/web/2001071315…

9. First of all it must be understood that the basic premise of this strategy is that most people will believe whatever they are told if religion & subsequently education, politics & media are controlled with their message in mind, so they must take control of these by the end

10. The first step is to build and promote institutions that exist side by side with "progressive" institutions but offer a different view. This has been accomplished so far with right wing media, homeschooling & school vouchers, far right politicians, & far right church groups

11.“We will not try to reform the existing institutions. We only intend to weaken them, & eventually destroy them. We will endeavor to knock our opponents off-balance at every opportunity. All of our constructive energies will be dedicated to the creation of our own institutions"

12. Then "End the bond between voters and govt" by privatizing & "starve out" liberal institutions (schools, healthcare, medicare, social services) via tax cuts, school vouchers & defunding while relentlessly criticizing them as poor and ineffective. huffingtonpost.com/eric-zuesse/ho…

13. “We will maintain a constant barrage of criticism against the Left. We will attack the very legitimacy of the Left. We will not give them a moment’s rest. We will endeavor to prove that the Left does not deserve to hold sway over the heart and mind of a single American."

14. "We will offer constant reminders that there is an alternative, there is a better way. When people have had enough...they will be embraced by and welcomed into the New Traditionalist movement. The rejection of the existing society by the people will thus be accomplished..."

15. Here are the 4 principles the "primer" lays out:
1) Falsehoods are not only acceptable, they are a necessity. The corollary is: The masses will accept any lie if it is spoken with vigor, energy and dedication.

16.
2) It is necessary to be cast under the cloak of “goodness” whereas all opponents and their ideas must be cast as “evil.”

3) Complete destruction of every opponent must be accomplished through unrelenting personal attacks.

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4) The creation of the appearance of overwhelming power and brutality is necessary in order to destroy the will of opponents to launch opposition of any kind.
informationclearinghouse.info/article7512.htm

16. Although this "program" was written in 2001, we can easily see how darkly successful they have been, but also where they haven't. For example, the last one hasn't (yet) worked on us as we still feel protected enough by institutions to loudly resist and protest.

17. Honestly I don't think they were quite prepared to win in 2016. Another 4 years of destruction of Hillary might have worked better for them, and they certainly weren't prepared for Trump and his incompetency, or the strength of the resistance.

18. But they are making up for it by tearing down everything they can get their hands on as fast as possible & by filling the courts with their judges, which is key to their bigger power moves.

19. The best thing we can do is shine a major light on all of this, inform ourselves, network, talk, encourage media coverage, write, comment everywhere. These kinds of strategies are dependent on darkness and stealth.
Call, be loud, be seen, educate. #resist.
end.