General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Have patience, children....this snowball is rolling downhill. [View all]calimary
(81,265 posts)Gotta keep hope up, for sure. Because it IS discouraging when we think of what we're up against. The bad guys already built a wall. Protectively around every CON representative because of his/her gerrymandered district. Strategic deceit and stealth - smooth talkin' campaign speeches and literature to back it up - so you really do NOT know what the candidate's about... until it's too late. An infrastructure boosted by big business that can donate avalanches of money (money: long described as the mother's milk of politics).
They've been working on this for more than 40 years.
THE POWELL MEMO (also known as the Powell Manifesto)
http://reclaimdemocracy.org/powell_memo_lewis/
The Powell Memo was first published August 23, 1971
Introduction
In 1971, Lewis Powell, then a corporate lawyer and member of the boards of 11 corporations, wrote a memo to his friend Eugene Sydnor, Jr., the Director of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The memorandum was dated August 23, 1971, two months prior to Powells nomination by President Nixon to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Powell Memo did not become available to the public until long after his confirmation to the Court. It was leaked to Jack Anderson, a liberal syndicated columnist, who stirred interest in the document when he cited it as reason to doubt Powells legal objectivity. Anderson cautioned that Powell might use his position on the Supreme Court to put his ideas into practice
in behalf of business interests.
Though Powells memo was not the sole influence, the Chamber and corporate activists took his advice to heart and began building a powerful array of institutions designed to shift public attitudes and beliefs over the course of years and decades. The memo influenced or inspired the creation of the Heritage Foundation, the Manhattan Institute, the Cato Institute, Citizens for a Sound Economy, Accuracy in Academe, and other powerful organizations. Their long-term focus began paying off handsomely in the 1980s, in coordination with the Reagan Administrations hands-off business philosophy.
Most notable about these institutions was their focus on education, shifting values, and movement-building a focus we share, though often with sharply contrasting goals.*
http://reclaimdemocracy.org/powell_memo_lewis/