Know the Players: Part Two

In this series, I am attempting to lay out the vast network of advocacy groups and activists that have taken hold of much of our modern-day politics.   Part One discussed the father of “community organizing,” Saul Alinsky, and the blueprint he provided for future radicals. In this installment, I would like to move from the tactics of activists to the source of their power.

Allow me to set up a familiar situation:  You are watching the news, when a representative from some activist group comes on to talk about a particular issue.  You change the channel. By the end of the day, you have watched 5 different shows.  All of them featured a different spokesman from a different organization, but they all talked about the same thing.  Did you ever find it odd that these so-called independent groups seem to move in coordination with one another?

Most of these groups are only small parts in a massive political machine.  Who is behind their growing influence?  As with any group, if you wish to understand their power, you have to look at their finances.  Sure, they receive small donations from people all across the country, but the big bucks come from a select few.  Not the goofball Hollywood types, but the wealthy elite.  Not the millionaires, but the billionaires.  The George Soroses of the world.

Early Life

“If truth be known, I carried with me some rather potent messianic fantasies from childhood, which I felt I had to control, otherwise they might get me into trouble.”- George Soros

George Soros was  born in Budapest, Hungary in 1930 as Gyorgy Shwratz.  Due to the rise of anti-Semitism and fascism, his father changed the family name to Soros in 1936.   In 1944, young George was sent by his father to live with a Ministry of Agriculture employee, posing as his godson, for protection.  During this period (which he has called the “best year of his life”),  he was forced to keep his own identity a secret, while helping his guardian confiscate the property of other Jews.  Even in retrospect, it never bothered Soros that 70% of Jewish Hungarians were killed during this time.  This was a fascinating experience for the boy, and to this day he claims to feel no guilt or sorrow for the fate of his fellow Jews.  At the age of fifteen, Soros first began to trade jewelry and currencies during the Hungarian hyperinflation.  It would seem that, above all else, Soros’s teen-years taught him one important lesson.  The misfortune of others could be quite profitable.

In 1947, he moved to England to pursue a degree from the London School of Economics.  After graduation, Soros spent the next few years working in banking and trading at various firms.  It wasn’t until the 1960′s that he went into investing for himself.  While he made money with several investment groups (including the famously successful Carlyle Group), the bulk of his wealth comes from the self-founded Quantum Fund.

A Billionaire is Born

The Quantum Fund is a privately owned group of hedge funds.  George Soros is the adviser for this group through his company Soros Fund Management.  While the organization has been wildly profitable, it has come under scrutiny for some of its tactics.   Most notably, Soro’s Quantum Fund was behind the Black Wednesday incident of 1992, in which he short-sold $10 billion worth of British pounds.  The UK was then forced to pull out of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism and Soros was dubbed, “the man who broke the bank of England.” In 1997, Soros was involved in the Asian Financial Crisis and the collapse of the Thai baht.  In 2002, he was convicted of insider trading in France.  He was even banned from trading in China.  In the U.S., he has been investigated for insider trading and the current economic climate has sparked speculation that Soros is now betting against the dollar, much as he did with the British and Thai currencies.  Despite all the controversy surrounding this man, no one can deny that he managed to rake in quite a fortune.  A low estimate of his wealth places his worth at about $8billion, but most estimates are closer to $11billion.   With a virtually unmatched bank account, George Soros is now the most powerful man in left-wing politics.

Political Powerhouse

George Soros has dedicated his life to influencing global politics.  There are two things that make him stand out among other politically minded elites.  The first, is the wide variety of causes he supports. Most people tend to focus on a specific issue which they feel passionate about.  Soros donates to and helps to raise money for a large number of advocacy groups.  These groups work to lobby politicians, influence the public, and groom future public officials in the following areas:

Foreign-Relations Philosophy

“The main obstacle to a stable and just world order is the United States.”- George Soros

• Dismantling American sovereignty in favor of a global government body (possibly an expansion of the U.N.)
• Promote the concept that the United States is a fundamentally unjust and oppressive nation
• Support of “open borders” policies
• Defense of “civil rights” of suspected anti-American terrorists and those who abet them
• Support of steep reductions in American military funding
• Funding for projects which depict American military actions as immoral
• Fostering anti-Israel sentiment

Economic Philosophy

“The untrammeled intensification of laissez-faire capitalism and the spread of market values into all areas of life, is endangering our open and democratic society.” -George Soros (apparently trying to sound like an intellectual)

• Development of an international banking authority and “global” economic system
• Creation of a global currency
• Supports higher taxes and increased welfare
• Social welfare benefits for illegal aliens
• Promoting socialized medicine in the United States
• Use of extreme environmentalism (such as a severe carbon tax) to punish more industrialized nations

Social Philosophy

“My goal is to become the conscience of the world.” -George Soros

Despite his Jewish upbringings, George Soros is an avowed atheist and no friend of Judeo-Christian values.

• Taxpayer-funded abortion
• “Gay-marriage”
• Removing the “authoritarian” system of public schools and replacing it with a system that makes students and teachers equals
• More “progressive” Sex Ed classes in schools
• Drug legalization
• Legalized prostitution
• Euthanasia ( This may be traced to the death of his terminally ill father who “unfortunately wanted to live.”  After his father refused to give up or commit suicide, Soros says ” I was kind of disappointed… I wrote him off.”)
• Dissolution of the traditional family

The second thing that makes George Soros unique is the manner in which he distributes funds.  In 2002, George Soros was a proponent of the McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance Reform Act.  This bill was intended to curb the influence of wealthy individuals by limiting the amount any one man or corporation could donate to a political party.  Initially, people were surprised that someone like Soros would support such legislation.  Wouldn’t this bill hurt people just like him?  Not exactly.  The law had a huge loophole in it.  Non-profit groups which were not in direct coordination with a political party were exempt from these restrictions. These groups, commonly known as 527′s, were allowed to raise money and advertise for  particular causes as long as the candidates were not personally involved.

“My foundations support people in the country who care about an open society. It’s their work that I’m supporting. So it’s not me doing it. But I can empower them. I can support them, and I can help them.”- George Soros

Soros’s Open Society Institute is a network of 527 projects backed by the billionaire.  This system allows him to disburse funds to groups such as ACORN, Media Matters,Center for American Progress, The Tides Foundation and Moveon.org, just to name a few. In total, Soros backs almost 100 non-profit groups. These organizations lobby hard on behalf of left-wing candidates, especially during elections, but don’t actually work under the direction of a specific candidate or party.  This makes them even more influential than the old brand of lobbyists.  They have access to unlimited funds, and they are under no obligation to obey campaign laws.  This network of 527′s has often been referred to as the Shadow Party. One reason for this ominous moniker is their financial resources.  The unrestricted funds are often the hidden forces behind legislation.  Most politicians would love to have that level of financial support during their next campaign and no one wants to run against that sort of money.  The second reason for the name “Shadow Party” is their involvement in the recruitment and training of future leaders.  Over the past few years, it has become increasingly evident that many of our current officials cut their teeth working with one or more of these groups.  Through this training, they can make a name for themselves and increase their list of powerful contacts.  The beauty of this political machine, is its complex nature.  With so many mini-causes and funds being funneled down through a network of disbursement groups, it is almost impossible to see who sits on top.  In fact, if it weren’t for Soros’s own bragging, we may have never caught on.

“It is a sort of disease when you consider yourself some kind of God, the creator of everything, but I feel comfortable about it now since I began to live it out.” -George Soros

Modern Impact

Although he is still interested in global politics, George Soros has turned his attention primarily towards the United States.  He has entrenched himself in the battles over universal health-care, our struggling economy, and various social issues.  He is pushing harder than ever for the U.S. to join a “global economic system” and submit to an international governing body. One might wonder why a man who hates American values and traditions is so interested in U.S. politics.  Why does a man who believes industrialized nations deserve to be punished suddenly want to “help” us with our economy?  Why has a man who thinks of the long line of American Presidents as “oppressive” been visiting the White House lately? Because George Soros understands something that many Americans have forgotten.  He knows that the United States is still an exceptional country.  We are the most powerful and free nation in the world.  If the global-government types are to succeed, we must fail.  Americans will only embrace the New World Order if everything we have come to trust falls apart.  Our economy, our military, our religion, even our Bill of Rights are mere obstacles to the George Soroses of the world.  We must watch them closely and be able to recognize their handiwork.

In the next installment, we will begin to look closer at specific advocacy groups and the people behind them.