It’s fun to live in a zip code that politicos view as split between Republicans and Democrats. I get phone calls, door knocks and mailings from both sides. And this week, I got a doozy: the 2015 Reagan Ranch calendar.

Each month features a photo of saint Ronald himself engaged in a ranch-y activity: Reagan cutting a log with a chain-saw. Reagan paddling a canoe. Reagan riding a horse. If I hang this on the wall, I can relive those wonderful days of yesteryear, when all was right with the world, before the evil interloper Barack Obama took away our freedoms, became a dictator and simultaneously didn’t do his job.

Sadly, there are no pictures of Reagan killing PATCO, the air-traffic-controllers’ union—a very visible opening salvo in the continuing war on working people and collective bargaining. No pictures of him tripling the national debt, or of the giant Reagan Office Building in Washington DC that gives the lie to Reagan’s espousal of smaller government. And no pictures of Reagan’s closest advisors sabotaging Jimmy Carter’s efforts to release the hostages held by Iran, or of Iran-Contra. That he worked on some of these issues and crises at the Ranch—also known as the Western White House during his term in office—makes me cringe even more.

The four-page letter accompanying the calendar comes “from the desk of Michael Reagan,” Ronnie’s son, to whom has fallen the job of preserving the former president’s saintly image and his 688-acre ranch in southern California. You see, gripes Michael, “the Clinton administration had no interest in saving the site. The California assembly passed up the opportunity to preserve it,” too.

That should tell us something. But Michael presses on.

“Thankfully, Young America’s Foundation—the premier conservative student outreach organization in America—stepped in to save the Ranch…They recognized the powerful impact the Ranch could have in teaching our nation’s youth about conservative principles.”

“…In these days when the leftists in Washington are expanding government and radically transforming our nation, it is vitally important that America’s youth understand my dad’s vision of freedom, so they can fight back against socialism.”

Let’s see: I seem to recall that when Ronald Reagan was a “young American,” he was a Democrat and a union leader–in fact, a six-term president of the AFL-CIO affiliated Screen Actors Guild. As late as 1980, early in his presidency, he spoke out against Poland’s crackdown on labor unions, saying,” one of the most elemental human rights [is] the right to belong to a trade union.”

Reagan also expanded Medicaid several times during his presidency and signed legislation that laid the foundation for what is now the Affordable Care Act.

Ignoring these facts, Michael wants me to donate so that young people can go to the ranch for seminars led by “top conservative speakers, such as: “Ted Cruz. Rand Paul. Dr. Ben Carson. Senator Mike Lee. Steve Forbes. Michelle Malkin. Gov. Scott Walker. Ed Meese, and Senator Rick Santorum.”

That’s a rogue’s gallery of some of the worst right-wing conservatives, whose policies hurt young people [especially if they are non-white and/or economically disadvantaged], and restrict their freedoms, such as voting. The young Ronald Reagan—maybe even the older one—would have been shocked.

So, sorry Michael. I know you loved your daddy. But I won’t be contributing $15, $25, $50, $100, $500, or$1,000 “to ensure that President Reagan’s freedom philosophy and accomplishments are passed on to today’s youth and future generations.” Even if I have to pass up the opportunity, for $1,000, to have my name “engraved on the Freedom Wall at the Reagan Ranch.”

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The right-wing Obama hate squad called me today. A very excited roboman informed me that he was calling on behalf of the Conservative Majority. “If the thought of another four years of Obama makes you cringe, you need to hear this message,” he said. Why?  Because “President Obama has an immediate plan to release terrorists from Guantanamo prison, to overturn the 2nd Amendment, and to allow the United Nations to tax Americans. These plans are flat-out unconstitutional. Our only choice is to impeach Barack Obama. We believe that he is guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors–not to mention the fact that he may not even be an American citizen. The Conservative Majority is the most powerful conservative lobby in America. If you want to more know about the Conservative Majority’s plans to impeach Barack Hussein Obama now,press 1 now.”

In case you’re interested, the number that appeared on caller ID when this call came in was 202-810-0485. I called it. It’s the Conservative Majority Fund, and the recorded message describes the group as a “political action group whose  purpose is to expose Barack Obama and his mysterious past.” It was founded in 2012, as “the most aggressive organization advocating for the defeat of Barack Obama through investigative research and tv advertising.”

So, how’d that defeat-y thing work out for ya?

This is why I keep a pad of paper and a pen next to all phones in my house. I take notes, so you don’t have to. But, geez: These people never stop, do they?

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I’m being recruited by the Heritage Foundation. They like me, they really like me! Or, perhaps, they like my zipcode and phone number, which apparently place me smack in the middle of conservative-voting territory and make me a prime target for their particular brand of baloney. They want my membership money, and they’re willing to send out a nine-page [!] mailing to try to get it.

But why should I be the only one to read their sales pitch? Now, you can see it too, because I’m sharing the highlights with you right here. It’s not going to work for me, and it’s not new, but it’s worth a look, just to remind ourselves of what progressives are up against in the battle against the non-fact-based, fear-driven gut of some American voters.

In rereading this mailing, I was struck by the use of language and imagery to portray the “Left” as an un-American, baby-ish [see: “temper tantrums,” screaming” and “wailing”], negative, Constitution-wrecking, autocratic, Big Brother, “European,”  “reckless,” unruly “horde.” See for yourself. Here are some excerpts, which I’ve culled so you don’t have to.

What the Heritage Foundation says about President Obama

“The havoc wreaked by President Obama and his Leftist allies has left wreckage that will take years to clean up. They took a bad situation created by reckless government spending and an unprecedented financial crisis…and made it much, much worse…adding $2.7 trillion to our national debt in just two years!

“They pursued their laundry list of costly liberal policies, the clear wishes of the American people notwithstanding, and charge ahead as if it meant nothing to them.

“They inflicted ‘ObamaCare’ on us, one of the worst, most bureaucratic and byzantine, and most destructive pieces of legislation in our history.

“And they continue to push a discredited redistributionist agenda to ‘share the wealth’ by expanding government’s power over all our lives.”

On Social Security and Medicare, Heritage Foundation says…

“…the best thing we can do…is to finally get serious about reforming the ‘entitlement’ programs that are driving our nation to bankruptcy while making us more dependent as a people.

“Our plan to fix this system would provide all retirees with premium-support payments from government to help them purchase a health care plan of their choice. We would also decrease payments for the wealthiest citizens, and cap total Medicare spending to prevent runaway costs, while protecting seniors from medical bankruptcy using catastrophic coverage.

“We call for repealing ObamaCare in its entirety…We urge providing a health insurance tax credit of $2,000 for individuals and $3,500 for families, with extra support for low-income families.

On government and taxes, Heritage Foundation says…

“Our plan rolls back non-defense spending to 2008 levels, moves some federal programs back to the states, privatizes others and ends some altogether. It also sells $260 billion in federal assets over 15 years. Here, we’re guided by the principle that government should only do what is authorized by the Constitution.

“Our plan would replace today’s complex tax system with a single rate for all, holding the government’s take at no more than 18.5 percent of the economy.

“One of our key goals here is to persuade the American public to stop thinking of Social Security and Medicare as open-ended ‘defined-benefit’ entitlements, and start thinking of them as insurance designed to provide real economic security for those who need it most. We know that this will be an uphill battle, as Americans have been conditioned to believe that since they ‘paid into’ the programs, they’re entitled to all those benefits. But they need to understand that the system can no longer deliver on these promises…”

Scare tactics, words of fear and other baloney

“You can practically hear the wails of the liberals and their defenders in the news media already,” it says here on page 5.

“It will take real courage to stand up to the demagoguery, the lies, and the fear-mongering thrown our way by the voices who want to see our nation go the way of Europe’s socialist welfare states.”

“We aim to…take on all those who say there’s no turning back from our current road to socialism.”

“[Liberals are] reduced to trotting out their old-style class warfare rhetoric to try and fire up their troops, while hordes of angry, bitter Leftists take to the streets to try and ‘occupy’ Wall Streed and demand more redistribution of wealth. Theirs is not an optimistic vision of the future. They see a tomorrow of bitter clashes over diminishing resources, of using the government to take from those who’ve earned it to give to those who demand, of constant screaming and protesting and temper tantrums. That’s not an American dream, that’s an un-American nightmare!”

Bottom line

This kind of language and persuasion is dangerously effective, and that’s why progressives need to get over our disappointments over President Obama’s lack of perfection and make sure that he is re-elected in November 2012.

The post The Heritage Foundation wants me to join up. Here’s their scary pitch. appeared first on Occasional Planet.