Ted Frier

Ted Frier
Location
Boston,
Birthday
April 02
Title
Speechwriter
Bio
Ted Frier is an author and former political reporter turned speechwriter who at one time served as communications director for the Massachusetts Republican Party, helping Bill Weld become the first Bay State Republican in a generation to be elected Governor. He was Chief Speechwriter for Republican Governor Paul Cellucci and Lt. Governor Jane Swift. Ted is also the author of the hardly-read 1992 history "Time for a Change: The Return of the Republican Party in Massachusetts." So, why the current hostility to the Republican Party and what passes for conservatism today? The Republican Party was once a national governing party that looked out for the interests of the nation as a whole. Now it is the wholly-owned subsidiary of self interest. Conservatism once sought national unity to promote social peace and harmony. Now conservatism has devolved into a right wing mutation that uses divide and conquer tactics to promote the solidarity of certain social sub-groups united against the larger society while preserving the privileges of a few.

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MARCH 31, 2012 10:41AM

"We the People" and other things that aren't true

Rate: 4 Flag

According to a recent study by the University of California, 93% of income growth since the economic collapse of 2008 has gone to the wealthiest 1% of American households.  Just 20 years ago, the amount of national income growth earned by the top 1% was less than half that.

So, if you are a right wing movement and not even you can justify concentrated economic and political power like that, what do you do? Well, you produce a video that celebrates "freedom" and shakes its fists at "tyranny" and hope the gullible will think the plutocratic takeover of our country is as American as apple pie.

The video is called "We the People" and it looks like it's gone viral on the Right, collecting more than six million hits. I saw it because a friend of my wife's thought it was just great and was sure we would too.  Guess she didn't get the memo!

The video is organized like an open letter to President Obama and its tone is a perfect replication of the gauzy, abstract vernacular of Fox News.

As the narrator informs President Obama, We The People "have stated resolutely we reject your vision for our country."  We The People "have assembled across America resisting your efforts to subvert our constitution and undermine our liberty."

The video is filled with the sort of Americana that appeals to Sarah Palin's right wing "real Americans."  As the Battle Hymn of the Republic plays in the background, scenes of Mount Rushmore, the Lincoln Memorial, a saluting Marine, an Apache attack helicopter, the Preamble to the Constitution, American flags, American flags, American flags and more American flags fill the screen.  Even a Bald Eagle makes a guest appearance.

The video claims to speak for We the People but its voice is boilerplate Tea Party Republican: "Our greatest treasure is freedom;" "We believe in the power of the individual;" "Freedom is the capacity of self-determination."

There are also the Thomas Jefferson-like "long train of abuses" hurled at the President: "you have expanded government, violated our Constitution, confounded laws, seized private industry, destroyed jobs, perverted our economy, curtailed free speech, corrupted our currency, weakened our national security, and endangered our sovereignty."

And this is why, the video's producers say, "we" are assembling all across this land, so that "we" can deliver "our" message that: "We will not accept tyranny under any guise;" that the redistribution of "the fruits of our labor is Statism and will not be tolerated;" that "We The People will defend our liberty;" and that "we will protect our beloved country and America's exceptionalism will prevail."

At first I thought "We the People" was the kind of parody Saturday Night Live might do as a spoof of right wing propaganda. Even its title was laughhable - "We the People" - as if the 70% of We the People don't exist who think Democrats are right and Republicans are wrong when it comes to such key questions as whether to tax the rich more, to eliminate subsidies for oil companies or to preserve America's endangered safety net.

But, at the end of the day, it is also disheartening to see how easy it is for the hard work of raising the level of understanding and debate in this country to all go to waste as vacuous, dishonest, manipulative and utterly content-free propaganda like this is produced to bamboozle even very smart people like those who sent us this insulting piece of reactionary performance art.

Then again, given recent experience, why should we be surprised that so many seem impervious to facts and reason or who now see politics as nothing more than brute force and war -- a take-no-prisoners, law of the jungle scramble for survival of the fittest?

But I did like the Bald Eagles.  

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Comments

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I would watch it, but I'm pretty sure it would just depress me.
We'll have to get this to flakcheck so they can investigate and provide some explication on how well the claims agree or don't agree with reality. It's frustrating that so many people are prepared to accept this kind of dishonesty without any thought or analysis or questioning; pure emotional manipulation, and willing followers incapable of thinking their way out of a paper bag, much like the pied piper of Hamlin.
Steven Colbert always does this shtick better. Otherwise -- yadda, yadda, yadda.