Tea bagging goes upscale

This recently came in the mail (I am a on the Bozeman,Montana Tea Party list):——————————————-

How the Supreme Court Decision on Citizens United Changed the Political Landscape

Dear Tea Party Patriot,

Here at the Bozeman Tea Party, we are fortunate to have a number of organizations. One of them is Western Tradition Partnership, (WTP) a grassroots organization dedicated to “Rediscovering the Treasures of the West”through rational, responsible natural resource development and land use policy, while free-market oriented solutions are developed for future needs.

WTP is providing easy access to a webinar conducted by Cleta Mitchell, attorney for one of the most respected law firms serving non-profit organizations nationwide. Read below for details.

Find out why President Obama, in an unprecedented move, slammed the U.S. Supreme Court during his State of Union message, for its decision on the Citizens United case.

WTP Invites You: Webinar with Top Conservative D.C. Lawyer on “Citizens United” 1st Amendment Supreme Court Decision

Don’t miss this opportunity to participate in this top-level conference call February 3rd with nationally recognized campaign finance expert Cleta Mitchell, of Foley & Lardner LLP, on what the Citizens United decision really means to you, to non-profits, and to businesses

Is the ruling, as the radical Left claims, “the end of Democracy”, or does the Citizens United vs. FEC Case decision restore fundamental rights that have been stripped away by incumbent politicians who desperately want to control the flow of information?

Western Tradition Partnership invites you to get the real story from one of the nation’s foremost experts, attorney Cleta Mitchell, on what this will mean to our political future.

Earlier this week, WTP’s Jacob Leis hailed the Court’s decision and declared that, “This ruling levels the playing field for smaller grassroots organizations and companies who – unlike unions and mega-corporations – cannot afford a platoon of lawyers every time they want to express their opinion on policy or political candidates.”

To get a FREE invitation to this exclusive conference call on Wednesday, February 3rd, 12:00 PM to 1:30 PM Mountain Time, click the link below and WTP will take you right to the registration page.

BONUS: Register now and you’ll instantly receive the Foley & Lardner LLP “quick facts” memo on Citizens United case – free to all WTP registrants!

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

If you’d like to learn more about Western Tradition Partnership, visit their website at http://www.westerntradition.org. Check out their free speech updates or, if you are affiliated with another Tea Party organization, invite one of their representatives to speak at your next Tea Party gathering by contacting Tim Ravndl at 406-266-5212 or Karolin Loendorf at 406-544-5639.

Sincerely,
Ken Champion, Chairman
Henry Kriegel, Director

P.S. We’ll update you on latest developments and activities of the Bozeman Tea Party and some of the many excellent organizations affiliated with us so stay tuned for more.

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Western Traditions Partnership is an advocacy group that was founded by Former U.S. Congressman Ron Marlinee and Montana State Representative John Sinrud. I joined the group this morning, and was not asked for contributions or dues, nor does the web site offer up anything on funding or founders. Apparently, the group gets all of its money from industry and business executives, at least according to The Union News.

In other words, it is a classic astroturf outfit.

It is interesting that WTP is taking time and trouble to sell Citizens United, a ruling that favors wealth and power more than any in United States history. Tea baggers are ordinary Joes, only able to have any voice at all because they banded together (even if they are being manipulated). The effect of C/U will be to drown out the voices of anyone lacking the money to be able to buy air time. Since the Tea Baggers in theory rely on news coverage to spread their message, they will be among those of us drowned out.

Yet here is anonymous money and power taking time and trouble to sell them on this awful ruling.

All very interesting …

Footnote: “Tea-bagging” is a form of mass cohesion among various alienated elements within our society, and conscious manipulation by higher and unseen elements. It is but a more base form of what Obama did in facing Congress – giving voice to grievances without actually addressing them. It’s fulfilling and has the effect of muting opposition to ruling forces by redirecting energy at contrived enemies.

And, it is conscious – that is, those who are manipulating this movement (not Marlinee or Sinrud, who are only a step above the common tea bagger) are very much aware of what they are doing and why they are doing it. In a sense, they are preventing a revolution by neutering the anger of those who have the most cause to rebel. Konrad Kellen and Jacques Ellul would be awash in substance for further investigations into the art of propaganda were they to come back and observe our world today. Here’s Kellen:

Cast out of the disintegrating microgroups of the past, such as family, church of village, the individual is plunged into mass society and thrown back up on his own inadequate resources, his isolation, his loneliness, his ineffectuality. Propaganda then hands him in veritable abundance what he needs: a raison d’etre, personal involvement and participation in important events, and outlet and excuse for some of his more doubtful impulses, righteousness – all factitious, to be sure, all more or less spurious; but he drinks it all in and asks for more. Without this intense collaboration by the propagandee, the propagandist would be helpless.