Ultra-conservatives have known for a long time that their ideas were and would always be extremely unpopular outside white oligarchic circles and would have to be imposed upon the country, since the electorate at large would never choose them in open elections.
The surge of white-supremacist christo-fascism in the US that we're seeing tod…
Ultra-conservatives have known for a long time that their ideas were and would always be extremely unpopular outside white oligarchic circles and would have to be imposed upon the country, since the electorate at large would never choose them in open elections.
The surge of white-supremacist christo-fascism in the US that we're seeing today is the fruit of efforts dating back to Fred Koch and the early days of the John Birch Society and consistently funded and amplified by Charles and the late David Koch and numerous other extremist ultra-conservative billionaires (Mercer, Scaife, and Olin, inter alia). Their strategy has long been to own politicians via "campaign contributions"; permeate the courts with far-right ideology by funding and supporting law schools that would churn out very conservative lawyers, some of whom would eventually attain judgeships; create and fund organizations such as the Federalist Society to promote the progress and visibility of sufficiently conservative young lawyers; create and fund "think tanks" to pollute the public square with ultra-conservative policy advocacy disguised as "research"; and funding and supporting certain universities and university departments to ensure the teaching flowed in a sufficiently conservative vein. Look no farther than the George Mason University Economics Department for a classic example.
The ideology stems directly from John Calhoun in antebellum South Carolina and flows through the work of James M. Buchanan, an ultra-conservative economist and professor at -- wait for it -- George Mason University. Buchanan provided the theoretical basis for libertarians' and then Republicans' dogma about the need to suppress democracy, eliminate taxes, all but eliminate government, etc. etc.
For full treatment of all this, read _Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right_, by Jane Mayer, and _Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right's Stealth Plan for America_, by Nancy MacLean. The former focuses more on the stealth-funding work from roughly the mid-20th century onward; the latter lays out the history of the oligarchic, anti-democratic thinking and the developing of an ostensibly legitimate intellectual basis for it via Buchanan's work.
It's no accident we're now seeing overtly fascist and hate-filled statements and policies, judicial decisions supported by tortured logic and bizarre interpretations of history and legal precedent to justify pre-determined outcomes, openly corrupt politicians and judges and justices, corporate profits at unprecedented levels, constraints and regulations on capitalism watered down or destroyed as fast as possible, and the separation between church and state completely ignored.
The far-right's goal has long been the permanent imposition of white-supremacist, oligarchic, theocratically-infused control on the country. They've made very deep inroads; TBD whether the electorate will wake up in time and in sufficient numbers to prevent the complete and irreversible takeover.
Ultra-conservatives have known for a long time that their ideas were and would always be extremely unpopular outside white oligarchic circles and would have to be imposed upon the country, since the electorate at large would never choose them in open elections.
The surge of white-supremacist christo-fascism in the US that we're seeing today is the fruit of efforts dating back to Fred Koch and the early days of the John Birch Society and consistently funded and amplified by Charles and the late David Koch and numerous other extremist ultra-conservative billionaires (Mercer, Scaife, and Olin, inter alia). Their strategy has long been to own politicians via "campaign contributions"; permeate the courts with far-right ideology by funding and supporting law schools that would churn out very conservative lawyers, some of whom would eventually attain judgeships; create and fund organizations such as the Federalist Society to promote the progress and visibility of sufficiently conservative young lawyers; create and fund "think tanks" to pollute the public square with ultra-conservative policy advocacy disguised as "research"; and funding and supporting certain universities and university departments to ensure the teaching flowed in a sufficiently conservative vein. Look no farther than the George Mason University Economics Department for a classic example.
The ideology stems directly from John Calhoun in antebellum South Carolina and flows through the work of James M. Buchanan, an ultra-conservative economist and professor at -- wait for it -- George Mason University. Buchanan provided the theoretical basis for libertarians' and then Republicans' dogma about the need to suppress democracy, eliminate taxes, all but eliminate government, etc. etc.
For full treatment of all this, read _Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right_, by Jane Mayer, and _Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right's Stealth Plan for America_, by Nancy MacLean. The former focuses more on the stealth-funding work from roughly the mid-20th century onward; the latter lays out the history of the oligarchic, anti-democratic thinking and the developing of an ostensibly legitimate intellectual basis for it via Buchanan's work.
It's no accident we're now seeing overtly fascist and hate-filled statements and policies, judicial decisions supported by tortured logic and bizarre interpretations of history and legal precedent to justify pre-determined outcomes, openly corrupt politicians and judges and justices, corporate profits at unprecedented levels, constraints and regulations on capitalism watered down or destroyed as fast as possible, and the separation between church and state completely ignored.
The far-right's goal has long been the permanent imposition of white-supremacist, oligarchic, theocratically-infused control on the country. They've made very deep inroads; TBD whether the electorate will wake up in time and in sufficient numbers to prevent the complete and irreversible takeover.