General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: My god, the privilege is astounding but unsurprising (video): [View all]VOX
(22,976 posts)NONE of these grassroots demonstrations are just spontaneously occurring. Theyre ALL organized and coordinated by interlocking far-right organizations. The funding tentacles of these respectable appearing entities reach far and wide. But, as always, their ultimate funding always emanates from the same sources.
All info below is from SourceWatch.org.
https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Idaho_Freedom_Foundation
The Idaho Freedom Foundation (IFF) is a conservative 501(c)(3) organization that is a member of the right-wing State Policy Network (SPN) and advocates for conservative state legislation in Idaho. Thanks It is based in Boise and calls itself a research institute that advocates for "free market solutions, private property rights, individual responsibility and transparent, limited government."
<snip>
In addition to receiving funding from the State Policy Network and the Donors Capital Fund, both with ties to the Kochs, the Idaho Freedom Foundation is a partner organization in the Charles Koch Institute's Liberty@Work program.
<snip>
https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=State_Policy_Network
The State Policy Network (SPN) is a web of right-wing think tanks and tax-exempt organizations in 50 states, Washington, D.C., Canada, and the United Kingdom. As of October 2019, SPN's membership totals 162. Today's SPN is the tip of the spear of far-right, nationally funded policy agenda in the states that undergirds extremists in the Republican Party.
<snip>
Tax documents and other available records reveal that SPN is funded by the same large corporations, right-wing foundations, and wealthy conservative ideologues that fund ALEC. Some of the most notable corporate funders of SPN and its web of "think tanks" include Big Tobacco companies (like Reynolds), Big Oil corporations (like the Koch family fortune), AT&T, Kraft Foods, Verizon, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Facebook, and Microsoft.
SPN and its "think tanks" are also largely funded by right-wing special interest groups and individuals, including the Koch brothers, the DeVos family, the Coors family, the Walton Family Foundation, the Roe Foundation, the Bradley Foundation, and Searle Freedom Trust.
<snip>
SPN groups operate as the policy, communications, and litigation arm of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), giving the cookie-cutter ALEC agenda a sheen of academic legitimacy and state-based support.
<snip>
https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Legislative_Exchange_Council
The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) describes itself as the largest membership association of state legislators, but over 98% of its revenue comes from sources other than legislative dues, primarily from corporations and corporate foundations. After the 2010 congressional midterm elections, ALEC boasted that among those who won their elections, three of the four former state legislators newly-elected to the U.S. Senate are ALEC Alumni and 27 of the 42 former state legislators newly-elected to the U.S. House are ALEC Alumni.
ALECs agenda extends into almost all areas of law. Its bills undermine environmental regulations and deny climate change; support school privatization; undercut health care reform; defund unions and limit their political influence; restrain legislatures abilities to raise revenue through taxes; mandate strict election laws that disenfranchise voters; increase incarceration to benefit the private prison industry, among many other issues.
ALEC is an "associate" member of the State Policy Network, a web of right-wing think tanks in every state across the country.
<snip>
Charles Koch is the right-wing billionaire owner of Koch Industries. As one of the richest people in the world, he is a key funder of the right-wing infrastructure, including the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and the State Policy Network (SPN). In SourceWatch, key articles on Charles Koch and his late brother David include: Koch Brothers, Americans for Prosperity, Stand Together Chamber of Commerce, Stand Together, Koch Family Foundations, Koch Universities, and I360.