For our 250th anniversary, the new blue ‘founding fathers’ are crushing the right

I have long maintained that certain Republicans, conservatives and people of faith are the ones primarily to blame for their own fears about the U.S. “being destroyed by the Democrats and far left.” Two recent news items only served to reinforce my belief. 

The first was a recent blurb in Politico Playbook referencing a piece from The New York Times headlined “How Democrats are embracing dark money.” It said that the Times, “using campaign finance records, tax filings, internal fund-raising documents and interviews with dozens of Democratic operatives, has pieced together how hundreds of millions of dollars donated mainly by wealthy individuals and corporations are coursing through the progressive ecosystem.” 

Shocking! Massively wealthy left-of-center individuals and corporations funneling money through the “progressive ecosystem,” to the benefit of liberal and far-left candidates and causes? Gee, when has that ever happened before?

Politico Playbook, also featured this tidbit: “Leading the Future, the umbrella group coordinating the AI industry’s $125-million super PAC network, is throwing its weight behind five House Democrats as it works to shape legislative fights around AI.”

Reading between the lines, one can surmise that, after a few Big Tech names went all in for the Republicans — Elon Musk topping that short list — the greater tech world is reverting to form and once again going blue.

To me, this has always been as simple as liberal and far-left billionaires putting their money behind their beliefs. Good for them. Isn’t that the American way? 

Conservative media can pound on George Soros all they want — often with very good reason — but it might be better served to turn its anger and frustration against the thousands of Republican, conservative and faith-based billionaires and multi-millionaires who choose to sit on the sidelines while whining about the “far left.”

For me, one of the most powerful and relevant speeches ever given was Teddy Roosevelt’s “Citizenship in a Republic,” delivered at the Sorbonne in Paris on April 23, 1910, which became better known as “The Man in the Arena.” “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done them better,” Roosevelt said. “The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly … who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.” 

Ultra-wealthy liberal and far-left Democrats have been eagerly jumping onto the floor of that arena for decades. But the ultra-wealthy Republicans, conservatives and people of faith have sat in the stands while criticizing all below them. These have morphed into “those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.” 

Now, as the U.S. gears up to celebrate its 250th anniversary, the subject of such inaction does have historical precedent. Coming up on four years ago, I authored a book titled, “The 56: Liberty Lessons from those who risked all to sign The Declaration of Independence.” The only reason I wrote that book was to protect those courageous heroes from the smears and cancellation being generously meted out by the left during that era. 

In 1776, the vast majority of the wealthy chose either to side with the tyrannical British Crown or to remain silent and not “rock the boat” so that their lives of privilege could go on uninterrupted. They have this in common with many of today’s ultra-wealthy Republican, conservative and faith-based rich.

Many of the 56 men who heroically signed the Declaration of Independence would have equated to billionaires today. As corny as it may sound to some, those who were wealthy Founding Fathers did look into mirrors and ask themselves the two most important questions of their lives: “If not me, who? If not now, when?” 

I have also maintained over the last five decades that the left and far left have secured a vise-grip on what I call the “five major megaphones” of our nation — the media, academia, entertainment, science and medicine. These arenas often control the narratives of our nation. 

There are literally thousands of Republicans, conservatives and people of traditional faith who are individually worth hundreds of millions to billions of dollars. Collectively, they have many trillions at their disposal to try and save the republic they claim the far left is “destroying.” Certainly, they have more than enough money to create their own megaphones.

Now, in the year of our nation’s 250th anniversary, how many of those wealthy Republicans, conservatives and people of faith are hiding in the shadows? How many of them will ask the same questions our Founding Fathers asked in 1776: “If not me, who? If not now, when?” 

The ultra-wealthy individuals who support liberal and far-left candidates and causes now populate the majority of the floor of the arena that Teddy Roosevelt made famous. If the ultra-wealthy on the other side of the aisle continue to wait for someone else to save their nation, the far left will write the next 250 years of our history. 

Douglas MacKinnon is a former White House and Pentagon official.