Andrea Batista Schlesinger

Give to the Heritage Foundation today

Give today and you will have "the knowledge that you are now taking a stand in the most important battle in America today -- the fight for our culture and our civilization against those who hate it and want to destroy it."

Fundraising pitch for the Christian Coalition?
The Republican National Committee?
The Minutemen?

No... The Heritage Foundation.

In a six-page rant, trustee Steve Forbes makes the case for donating to the Heritage Foundation, "a research and educational institute - a think tank - whose mission is to formulate and promote conservative public policies based on the principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values, and a strong national defense." Yet, nowhere in the treatise against all things does he explain how Heritage is a "think tank" that does research and education.

Instead, Forbes' call to action is "Are you fed up with the anti-war left, the anti-war media, the anti-war members of Congress, anti-war Hollywood and all the other anti-war people, groups, and institutions?" You'd almost think, from the tone of this letter, that the scholars of the Heritage Foundation weren't in charge of our government.

Now it's not exactly a secret that the Heritage Foundation is firmly entrenched in the conservative movement - in fact it is the neo-cons who created Heritage to generate the ideas that would fuel their efforts by shaping the larger public debate. I respect that, and have sought to emulate this strategy at the Drum Major Institute. But what is surprising in this rant is the extent to which the Heritage Foundation, whose views from the war to Social Security to welfare to the economy guide White House policy, feel so very beleagured. Is that because they feel like victims, or because they realize that their policies aren't working and are anticipating the backlash?

Or, as Steve Forbes might say in his next mailing, "Are you fed up with the anti-poverty Americans, the anti-middle-class squeeze Americans, the anti-wage stagnation Americans, and all the other Americans, Americans, and Americans?" If so, give to the Heritage Foundation today.

Andrea Batista Schlesinger: Author Bio | Other Posts
Posted at 10:56 AM, Aug 02, 2006 in Progressive Agenda
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