FreedomWorks Background Info
FreedomWorks was founded in 1984 and is located in the capital, Washington D.C. The interest group consists of hundreds of thousands grassroots volunteers spread across the country.
Beliefs
Basically, FreedomWorks believes in less government, lower taxes and, of course, more freedom. FreedomWorks uses campaign to recruit an "army" of followers to demand policy change. The FreedomWorks has a natural ability to reach political elites and give them innovative ideas for current policy reform.
Known Political Supporters
"Folks, you've got to get to know this organization ... They have been doing a great job all over the country educating people."
-President George W. Bush
"I am an enormous fan of FreedomWorks."
-U.S. Rep. Mike Pence
"You guys are everywhere."
- Florida Governor Jeb Bush
PAC
FreedomWorks forms a political action committee in order to endorse certain candidates and to attack what they call "enemies of freedom". They have a set battle plan for each election and attempt to endorse new candidates to the best of their ability. They support Senator candidates such as Rand Paul and Pat Toomey. They also support Representative candidates David McKinleys and Todd Young. The Battle Plan for 2010 was called Taking Back America. FreedomWorks identified Top Targets for this years Congress election in attempt to regain control of Congress. FreedomWorks encouraged its members to follow these important races and to GOTV or Get Out The Vote. Essentially, they wanted people to get out there and cast their vote.
Common Supporters
Common supporters include members of the Tea Party and far-right Conservatives.
Current Lobbying
A current issue in today's society for FreedomWorks is budget spending by Obama. They believe that too much of our money is being spent by the federal government and we should be receiving more of it in our tax returns each year. Abuse is prevalent is in federal spending right now.
Another issue is the fact that technology is advancing so quickly that some companies are unable to market their ideas before other companies surpass them. FreedomWorks wants the government to increase regulation only to slow down technological advancement.
Political Activity
FreedomWorks is mainly involved in the issues of border security, card checks, energy, healthcare, insurance, and social security. They believe in engaging citizens and representatives in order to DEMAND change for the better.
Bibliography:
http://www.freedomworks.org/
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/freedomworks
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1110/45000.html
GIVE US AN A!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My first impression was that it was a little scary that they wat to build an "army" of supporters, and their opponents are "enemies of freedom". That is really hostile in tone, and sounds just a tad drastic.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I don't know what the dog has to do with anything, but it's pretty cute.
I like the short section of Background Info! Why are they recruiting an army? Their enemies are enemies of freedom? They have a BATTLE PLAN for each election?!? Also, I think their interests are a little bit conflicting….. one would think that people who are supported by radical right wing people and claim to want more freedom would want LESS government regulation, not more rules about technology. I think it is great that they really want people to get involved; citizen awareness would really be helpful.
ReplyDeleteWhose adorable dog is that? :)
It is questionable as to why Freedom Works overall wants less government regulation but yet they want more regulation when it comes to technology. When it comes to less government spending though I am not surprised as that seems to be a major issue now these days, as our government continues to spend money on things that are not really needed.
ReplyDeleteDanielle asks the essential question here. why is some regulation ok but others are not? Don't we want regulation of surgery centers and doctors? regulation of police behaviors and conduct? regulation of schools and educational standards? When we didn't have regulaltion of corporations and banks we had runaway stick markets (1920s and 2000s) and bank loan fraud (again, 1920s and 2000s) During the 1930s we instituted new regulations like the FDIC and SEC to ensure consumer protections. Then those were repealed a few years ago. Look what happened. What did they expect?
ReplyDeletep.s. weird dog.