The other day, I was enjoying my hour long commute, when I noticed a new billboard by the side of the freeway.
Now, normally my commute is action packed anyway, since I love to flash my "Draft Young Republicans" bumper sticker in front of every car that doesn't have the common courtesy to remove their "W '04" bumper sticker, despite the fact that the election has been over for 4 months. But I digress. This sign really rubbed me the wrong way. After all, unity is most certainly NOT what makes us great. What makes America great, as opposed to an oppressed nation, is the diversity of opinion and culture - NOT unity. In fact, almost the exact opposite of unity.
So I was officially creeped out, and I was feeling a bit "Fascistized", if that's a word. Then, I remembered another billboard in the same location from a few months prior.
Equally creepy. No setback will set us back from what? A global "War on Terror" that has no end? No setback in Iraq is too great to continue sending good young men after those whose lives have already been forever changed, physically or mentally?
I jotted down the name of the organization on the ads - It was, "Foundation for a Better Life". Still creepy. So I went to find their web site.
On their web site you can see the list of all of the billboards. Some are pretty neutral and convey a nice message, but others are incredibly transparent with clearly Fascist tendencies.
Reading their mission statement does nothing to alleviate the creepiness.
The Foundation supports the belief that each individual is entitled to personal dignity and self-respect and that most individuals are willing, when given the opportunity, to take personal responsibility for their actions and well-being. The Foundation also believes that capable people may also benefit from encouragement and reminders from time to time.
Hmmm... These buzzwords are familiar. Very familiar. Like an old friend that I can't quite place. "Personal Responsibility". "Self-respect". "Encouragement and reminders". These all translate to, "I am not a Socialist. People should fend for themselves."
It gets better.
The mission of The Foundation for a Better Life, through various media efforts, is to encourage adherence to a set of quality values through personal accountability and by raising the level of expectations of performance of all individuals regardless of religion or race. Through these efforts, the Foundation wants to remind individuals they are accountable and empowered with the ability to take responsibility for their lives and to promote a set of values that sees them through their failures and capitalizes on their successes.
So wait a minute here - "Raising the level of expectations of performance of all individuals regardless of religion or race..." Again, this sounds familiar to me. While the billboards seem to be in favor of helping people, the underlying message appears to be the opposite.
So the messages appear to be summarized as follows:
- You are responsible for your own success or failure, and you cannot blame external factors like something as meaningless as race or religion.
- You must conform or you are not part of what makes us great.
- Determination and hard work is everything, and it will pay off if you persist.
So as my wife said to me last night, "I don't understand, what's the big deal?" Here's the big deal.
The whole mission statement and 50% of the billboards are complete crap. Fascism disguised as patriotism and humanitarianism.
You look at the above billboard every day on the way to work, and you think, "That's right. I will work hard today and eventually I will be rewarded." As if magically, hard work alone will provide that reward. As if hard work stocking shelves will lead WalMart to pay you more than $7.50 per hour, eventually. I failed to pay the bills the last 12 times that I tried, but if I keep at it, the money will appear from somewhere. Not only that, but I'm also supposed to feel bad about my work and do it for free under certain circumstances.
This all tied together when I looked up the domain name from the Internic.
Registrant:
Anschutz Corp (18679919O)
555 17th St. Suite 2400
Denver, CO 80203
US
Phone: 303 298 1000
Fax: 303 298 8881
Domain Name: FORBETTERLIFE.ORG
Administrative Contact :
Slawson, Steve
(18857367I)
steveslawson@tac-denver.com
555 17th St Suite 2400
Denver, CO 80209
US
Phone: 303 298 1000
Fax: 303 298 8881
Technical Contact :
Anschutz Corp (18679919O)
steve.slawson@actsofkindness.org
555 17th St. Suite 2400
Denver, CO 80203
US
Phone: 303 298 1000
Fax: 303 298 8881
Record expires on 27-Mar-2007
Record created on 16-Feb-2002
Database last updated on 30-Jun-2004
So what or who is Anschultz Corp? Apparently, it is owned by Christian Billionaire Philip Anschutz, the 16th richest man in the country.
Philip Anschutz a billionaire Denver oilman who serves on Dole's campaign finance committee, hadn't given heavily to the RNC in recent years. But in April, after Anschutz and his wife reached their individual contribution limits for Dole's presidential campaign, his company, Anschutz Corp., gave the RNC $250,000.
So why would a multi-billionaire feel the need to engage in a public campaign to enourage Unity and Hard work?
ARBEIT MACHT FREI - Hard work will set you free.
[Photo pulled on request of copyright holder -- kos]
Where have I heard that one before? Like I said, it all ties together now.
Welcome to Fascist America, circa 2005.
I'm sure there is more to this. Anschultz made his billions through oil exploration. Help me find it.
Update [2005-3-2 16:32:43 by ColdFusion04]: There is more to it after all. I just discovered at least two sources that claim that Anschutz was (or is) a member of "The Council for National Policy", a group which also boasts membership (past or present) of many prominent Manhattan Institute past presidents and members. I knew there had to be a MI connection here. After all, the MI came up with many of the phrases in our modern political context, such as "Axis of Evil". And sure enough...
Other members of CNP who also have a Manhattan Institute connection:
Jeffrey Bell- CNP 1984; Deputy Chairman, Citizens for America; former President, Manhattan Institute
Charles H. Brunie - CNP 1988; chairman, Oppenheimer Capital; current Trustee and former chairman, Manhattan Institute for Policy Research
George F. Gilder - CNP Board of Governors 1982, member 1984, 1988, 1996. Program Director, Rockefeller-funded Manhattan Institute
A proven connection between Anschutz and the Manhattan Institute would make this a slam dunk case of neoCon influence.