Laura Clawson's important essay
Koch brothers' 'grand strategist' says raising the minimum wage is like Nazi Germany quickly uses up her three fair-use paragraphs on the most outrageous aspects of top Koch brothers' strategist Richard Fink's speech. Fink reveals what may be the more insidious and dangerous tip of an important iceberg for Democrats to pay attention to - using business advertising strategies to "repackage" hard-core conservative messages in more attractive terms. This strategy is coupled with the creation of "soft-warm feelings" for the Koch's messages by donating money to the United Negro College Fund and other popular charities–giving the impression of "positive intent." And, at the same time vilify liberals, by lumping them in with socialist, and fascists as "collectivists."
His premise is that 1/3 of the voters love freedom, ( the right), 1/3 are collectivists (Democrats) and one third are the "non-ideological middle." He seems to feel Mitt Romney erred by campaigning on language that only appealed to the one third that already believed in freedom, but lost too many of the vital middle third that ultimately determines the outcomes of elections on the issues of "intent."
So the winning strategy is to vilify the left, as "collectivist-fascists" while creating a "warm and caring" cloud of fuzzy feelings about the right by illustrating positive and caring intent. He gives the example of donations to the Negro College Fund.
We need to pay attention as many billions of dollars are being invested in this approach to mold and re-frame our political environment and perceptions.
In Top Koch Strategist Argues The Minimum Wage Leads Directly To Fascism, Laura Windsor also reports:
Fink rounded out the set, outlining the path to achieve the goals of deregulation and limited government. The message, he said, should focus on intent, meaning, and well-being.
While at the same time labeling liberals as "fascists." Lumping liberalism, socialism, and fascism, into the catchall "collectivism," his plan is to portray America's future as as a "binary choice between freedom and collectivism," with several billion dollars "applying business marketing to political messaging."
“Mitt Romney won on leadership. He won on the economy. He won on experience,” Fink said. “What did he lose on? He lost on care and intent. Intent is extremely important.” ... “Yeah, we want to decrease regulations. Why? It’s because we can make more profit, OK? Yeah, cut government spending so we don’t have to pay so much taxes,” said Fink. “There’s truth in that, you all know, because we’re in the 30 percent of the freedom fighters. But the middle part of the country doesn’t see it that way.”
“When we focus on decreasing government spending, over-criminalization, decreasing taxes, it doesn’t do it, OK? We’ve been reaching the third by telling them what’s important -- what we think is important should be important to them. And they’re not responding and don’t like it, OK? Well, we get business -- what do we do? We want to find out what the customer wants, right, not what we want them to buy,” he said.
Fink concluded that if the brothers' network could solve its messaging problem, it would “earn the respect and good feeling through the middle third.” He also held up the Koch partnership with the United Negro College Fund as emblematic of their strategy.
We are getting an important heads up here, fellow Democrats.