Ed Feulner: Heritage is fighting back
June 4, 2009| By Edwin J. Feulner, Ph.D.
Heritage Foundation President Ed Feulner sent this letter to Heritage members and supporters about how we are fighting back and offering real alternatives to the liberals in Congress and in the administration.
I recently read a heartfelt letter that's been featured on many Internet forums and circulated via email. It is signed "Alisa Wilson, Ph.D., Beverly Hills, Calif." She was responding to a Wall Street Journal op-ed from last year headed "Where's the outrage?" I'm sure her sentiments would resonate with millions of Americans right about now. She begins, "I can tell you where the outrage is. The outrage is here, in this middle-aged, well-educated, upper-middle- class woman." In nearly 900 words she describes the reason for her outrage:
- "I am outraged that my country, the United States of America, is in a state of moral and ethical decline. There is no right or wrong anymore, just what's fair. Is it fair that millions of Americans who overreached and borrowed more than they could afford are now being bailed out by the government and lending institutions to stave off foreclosure?
- "I am outraged that the country that welcomed my mother as an immigrant from Hitler's Nazi Germany and required that she and her family learn English now allows itself to be overrun with illegal immigrants and, worse, caters to those illegal immigrants.
- "As if the battle for good and evil isn't enough, now come the environmentalists who are so afraid of global warming that they want to put a bag tax on grocery bags in California; to eliminate Mylar balloons; to establish something as insidious as the recycle police in San Francisco."
As I said, I'm sure millions of Americans share Ms. Wilson's feelings about such things. I constantly hear much of the same from Heritage members as I travel around the country. But here is the part of her letter I want to underscore:
"The outrage is here, but I have no representation, no voice. The outrage is here, but no one is listening, for who am I? I am not a billionaire like George Soros that can fund an entire political movement. I am not a celebrity like Barbra Streisand that can garner the attention of the press to promote political candidates. I am not a film maker like Michael Moore or Al Gore that can deliver misleading movies to the public. The outrage is here, but unlike those with money or power, I don't know how to reach those who feel similarly in order to effect change….So, America, although I can tell you where the outrage is, this one middle-aged, well-educated, upper-middle-class woman is powerless to do anything about it."
The key word is powerless. Many Americans are outraged by what is happening in and to their country, but they feel powerless to do anything about it. That's a self-defeating combination: Where outrage motivates, powerlessness enervates. Where outrage energizes us to fight, powerlessness tells us to give up.
But we're seeing many signs that this sense of powerlessness is ebbing. And as it does, people are fighting back. Over the past few months we've seen hundreds of thousands of ordinary working Americans, people not given to political activism, standing up and speaking out.
The spark that touched off this continuing blaze of action was probably Rick Santelli's now famous rant in February on the trading floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. His televised tirade resonated with working Americans, because he spoke what was in their hearts and minds: "The government is promoting bad behavior."
That moral and political theme continues to be amplified by spontaneous Tea Party protests nationwide. On tax day, April 15, at least a million Americans gathered at approximately 3,000 Tea Parties across America to protest the tax-and-spend agenda enacted by Washington liberals. More Tea Parties have been popping up since then, and Internet blogs are crackling with plans for more protests on July 4.
Another sign of a conservative reawakening in America is the amazing and unexpected success of Mark Levin's book Liberty and Tyranny: A Conservative Manifesto. Published in March, it is already in its 18th printing, with a million copies in print. More than 1,000 readers have posted reviews on Amazon.com, with an average rating of 4.5 stars. The book's publishers got it right in this press release: "Mark Levin's message has obviously struck a chord beyond his substantial fan base. He is now reaching an even wider audience of citizens across the political spectrum."
Reaching ever wider audiences is one of the central goals of Heritage's 10-year Leadership for American campaign, launched in 2007. We're making steady progress toward that goal.
One measure of our success is Heritage membership. With the exception of two years in the mid-1990s, our membership has remained in the 200,000s for the past 20 years. Since the launch of our Leadership for America campaign, we've increased our membership by about 60 percent, passing the 450,000 mark in April. Our 10-year goal is 1 million members. Our May President's Club meeting here in Washington attracted 1,000 members; 400 were with us for the first time, which is a new record. And 250 were Young President's Club members, all under age 40.
We're also making huge gains in mass media. From January through April, Heritage experts made 369 TV appearances, an increase of 184 percent over the same period last year. They also made 562 radio appearances, an increase of 121 percent. Heritage Web sites received 3.4 million visitors during this period, a 78 percent increase. And our "Morning Bell" email subscriptions have grown 129 percent since January.
As we continue to expand our reach, more and more Americans recognize our name and view us favorably. In 2007, our tracking surveys found that only 32 percent of Americans had ever heard of The Heritage Foundation. Today, 53 percent know who we are, and the number who view us favorably has more than doubled in the past six months.
This is important because the Heritage name, more than that of any other organization in America, has become synonymous with conservatism. Most liberals have abandoned their label, and begun calling themselves "progressives." Conservatives aren't doing that. We are proud to be conservatives, and we are confident that our ideas deserve wider currency.
Ideas are the key. We must change the climate of ideas in America. For now, liberals hold political power and are making political gains. But they are powerless to turn collectivist schemes into successful policies.
Ideas are the key. We must change the climate of ideas in America. For now, liberals hold political power and are making political gains. But they are powerless to turn collectivist schemes into successful policies. For evidence, look no further than California, a testing ground for liberal ideas.
George Will recently summarized the results. Over the past four years, despite the influx of illegal immigrants, the state's net population dropped by 1.4 million. California's business costs are 20 percent higher than in other states. Income and sales taxes are among the highest in America, and unemployment is above 11 percent and rising. "California," Will notes, "has become liberalism's laboratory, in which the case for fiscal conservatism is being confirmed." Yes, and it is also confirming Margaret Thatcher's observation that the facts of life are conservative.
Californians leaving their state are motivated by the same impulse that is prompting Tea Party Patriots to speak out across the country: They believe in personal responsibility and limited government. They do not want to live under a nanny state that holds them responsible for other people's welfare.
As liberals advance their agenda in Washington and its costs mount up, more and more ordinary Americans are becoming outraged. Our message to them and to Anita Wilson is simply this: You are not powerless. You have a voice in The Heritage Foundation – a voice that you can trust to remain on principle and on message.
Thank you for all you do to keep Heritage growing and spreading the conservative message to ever larger audiences. We appreciate your generosity and your loyalty more than you can know. Together, we're making a difference. Stay the course.
