The Conservative Movement, that has been gaining momentum since the 1960s, has made one of their missions, destroying progressive agencies; especially those that support the Welfare State.
In the U.S., they honed in on ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now), that advocated for low- and moderate-income families.
What bothered Conservatives the most about ACORN, however, was their voter registration drives, that encouraged the poor and disenfranchised to take part in the democratic process. They knew that anyone involved with the organization would not vote Republican. Conservatives have always worked to make sure that they didn't vote at all, and ACORN stood in the way of that.
I had written before of one such attack on the group's integrity, perpetrated by two young warriors, Hannah Giles and James O'Keefe.
I only shared the story because it exposed the kind of tactics used by the American Leadership Institute, created by Morton Blackwell, and its Canadian affiliate, the Manning Centre for Building Democracy, created by Preston Manning.
ACORN would take a much bigger hit, however, when it was discovered that Dale Rathke, the brother of ACORN's founder Wade Rathke, had embezzled almost a million dollars from the group. ACORN executives handled the matter internally, not to cover up a crime, but because they knew that word of an embezzlement would be all the ammunition conservatives needed to shut them down.
They were right.
The right-wing noise machine went into overdrive, calling for their immediate defunding, and without so much as a public hearing, the government was forced to stop financial aid to a group that had done so much for so many. ACORN went into receivership and were forced to close their doors.
Fox News, not wanting to draw attention to their advocacy work, instead equated the agency with "voter fraud", despite there being absolutely no evidence to support it.
Bill O'Reilly has since coined the term 'The ACORN Factor', to describe any voter fraud and subsequent defunding, promising to seek out perpetrators and make sure that their punishment was swift.
Of course he only meant liberal groups. If he wanted to include conservative voter fraud, it would become a full time job and require a staff of thousands. Google 'GOP voter fraud' and see how many stories pop up.
Pundits, not wasting an opportunity to expose the hypocrisy, are now suggesting that if O'Reilly wants to defund any group engaged in voter fraud, they should start with the Republican Party.
Harper Government: No Single Acorn but the Whole Damn Forest
Not since before Confederation, when voting booths were often scenes of violence, in an attempt to suppress the vote; has Canada experienced such mass voter fraud, as perpetrated by the Conservative Party of Canada.
The Robocalls scandal, which was national in scope, was a blatant attempt to steer voters, already identified as not supporting Conservative candidates, away from the polls.
Using Bill O'Reilly's ACORN factor would mean that we must defund the CPC.
But if that isn't enough to convince you, how about their attempt to sneak the so-called Fair Elections Act, which is now being challenged in court; past us?
This act will make it difficult for students, seniors and First Nations to cast ballots, but will also make it next to impossible to detect voter fraud.
Elections Canada will be gutted and attempts to encourage voting, no longer part of their mandate.
Not only is the Act unconstitutional, it is undemocratic, as it clearly is designed to give Conservatives an unfair advantage.
Voter Fraud. The ACORN factor. Defund the CPC.
But let's not stop there.
Dean Del Mastro. ACORN factor. Defund him.
Mark Adler. ACORN factor. Defund him.
Rick Dykstra. ACORN factor. Defund him.
Shelley Glover. ACORN factor. Defund her.
Lisa Raitt. ACORN factor. Defund her.
And how about registered charities and non-profits that shill for the Party, like the Fraser Institute, The Canadian Taxpayers Federation and Charles McVety's Canadian Christian College that was actually accepting "charitable" donations for the CPC?
In fact, it was McVety, Jim Flaherty's former campaign manager, who brought Karl Rove to Canada to teach Canadian conservatives how to cheat; so he should definitely lose any funding or tax exempt status.
Yes Canadians should listen to Bill O'Reilly. Once in a while he actually makes sense.
.. Goodness gracious .. its so rewarding to see you posting again .. You may just be the brightest shining light in these times of dark secretive rabidly partisan federal government !
ReplyDeleteThankfully, McVety has made himself such a ridiculous figure through his outrageous and false claims (e.g., Darwin was a racist, McVety was censored, Kinsey was a pedophile, homosexuals prey on children, etc.) that the media pay very little attention to him now. In fact, the only media outlet that I have seen him on recently is Sun News, Canada's version of the National Inquirer.
ReplyDelete