Overwhelming national response to FreeMarketAmerica.org launch video:

Over 1.1 Million views in five days

(Orlando, FL -- April 26, 2012) On Sunday (Earth Day), Consensus client Free Market Florida partnered with DC-based Americans for Limited Government to launch Free Market America with a stinging new video entitled “If I wanted America to fail.” (http://freemarketamerica.org)  The video went viral this week, drawing more than 1.1 million views in five days, headlining The Drudge Report and picking up coverage on the hit Fox News show “The Five,” MSN, The Rush Limbaugh Show, The Blaze, Breitbart, The Washington Times, the Glenn Beck show, Neal Boortz, Fox Nation, Real Clear Politics and more.

“We’ve been overwhelmed by the response,” said Consensus’ Ryan Houck, executive director of Free Market America.  “And among the many tweets, emails and messages, there is one sentiment that emerges again and again: This video articulates an unspoken fear that many Americans are sharing -- the fear that the country we love is in deep peril.”

Free Market Florida emerged from the 2010 “Vote No on 4” campaign having successfully defeated a Sierra Club-backed measure known as “Hometown Democracy.”  The group then tangled with EarthJustice and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency before partnering with Americans for Limited Government in April to launch Free Market America -- a new national voice for economic freedom.  The group’s focus is environmental issues.

“We believe that America has again met its moment -- it is time to decide,” said Houck.  “Either we renew our faith in the force that helped inspire a revolution -- the free market; or we condemn future Americans to walk the twilight path already paved by Europe.  We do not believe that it is too late.  On the contrary, we are filled with optimism because each and every day, more Americans are waking up.”

“If I Wanted America to Fail”

Based on Paul Harvey’s seminal essay, “If I were the devil,” Free Market America’s provocative video-letter to America rings with the same thoughtful intensity. “If I wanted America to fail” addresses the perilous side-effects of hitching our nation’s economic well-being to the bandwagon of environmental extremism.

VIDEO LINK: http://freemarketamerica.org

The video has become an Internet phenomena with over 1.1 million views in just five days, and there have been numerous requests for its publication as a guest column. The video is the launch of Free Market America, a project of Americans for Limited Government and Citizens for Lower Taxes and a Stronger Economy.

The script of this video is provided in its entirety below, with the request that any publication include credit its source, freemarketamerica.org.

If I wanted America to fail

By Ryan Houck, Free Market America

If I wanted America to fail …

To follow, not lead; to suffer, not prosper; to despair, not dream.

I would start with energy.

I’d cut off America’s supply of cheap, abundant energy. I couldn’t take it by force. So, I’d make Americans feel guilty for using the energy that heats their homes, fuels their cars, runs their businesses, and powers their economy.

I’d make cheap energy expensive, so that expensive energy would seem cheap.

I would empower unelected bureaucrats to all-but-outlaw America’s most abundant sources of energy. And after banning its use in America, I’d make it illegal for American companies to ship it overseas.

If I wanted America to fail …

I’d use our schools to teach one generation of Americans that our factories and our cars will cause a new Ice Age, and I’d muster a straight face so I could teach the next generation that they’re causing Global Warming.

And when it’s cold out, I’d call it Climate Change instead.

I’d imply that America’s cities and factories could run on wind power and wishes. I’d teach children how to ignore the hypocrisy of condemning logging, mining and farming — while having roofs over their heads, heat in their homes and food on their tables. I would never teach children that the free market is the only force in human history to uplift the poor, establish the middle class and create lasting prosperity.

Instead, I’d demonize prosperity itself, so that they will not miss what they will never have.

If I wanted America to fail …

I would create countless new regulations and seldom cancel old ones. They would be so complicated that only bureaucrats, lawyers and lobbyists could understand them. That way small businesses with big ideas wouldn’t stand a chance – and I would never have to worry about another Thomas Edison, Henry Ford or Steve Jobs.

I would ridicule as “Flat Earthers” those who urge us to lower energy costs by increasing supply. And when the evangelists of commonsense try to remind people about the law of supply and demand, I’d enlist a sympathetic media to drown them out.

If I wanted America to fail …

I would empower unaccountable bureaucracies seated in a distant capitol to bully Americans out of their dreams and their property rights. I’d send federal agents to raid guitar factories for using the wrong kind of wood; I’d force homeowners to tear down the homes they built on their own land.

I’d make it almost impossible for farmers to farm, miners to mine, loggers to log, and builders to build.

And because I don’t believe in free markets, I’d invent false ones. I’d devise fictitious products — like carbon credits — and trade them in imaginary markets. I’d convince people that this would create jobs and be good for the economy.

If I wanted America to fail …

For every concern, I’d invent a crisis; and for every crisis, I’d invent the cause; Like shutting down entire industries and killing tens of thousands of jobs in the name of saving spotted owls. And when everyone learned the stunning irony that the owls were victims of their larger cousins — and not people — it would already be decades too late.

If I wanted America to fail …

I’d make it easier to stop commerce than start it – easier to kill jobs than create them – more fashionable to resent success than to seek it.

When industries seek to create jobs, I’d file lawsuits to stop them. And then I’d make taxpayers pay for my lawyers.

If I wanted America to fail …

I would transform the environmental agenda from a document of conservation to an economic suicide pact. I would concede entire industries to our economic rivals by imposing regulations that cost trillions. I would celebrate those who preach environmental austerity in public while indulging a lavish lifestyle in private.

I’d convince Americans that Europe has it right, and America has it wrong.

If I wanted America to fail …

I would prey on the goodness and decency of ordinary Americans.

I would only need to convince them … that all of this is for the greater good.

If I wanted America to fail, I suppose I wouldn’t change a thing.

VIDEO Link: http://freemarketamerica.org

Contacts:

For Free Market America
Consensus Communications
Jessi Blakley, APR, 407-432-3673. jessi@onmessage.com

This month’s Water Sports Retailer Magazine, the official publication of the Water Sports Industry Association (WSIA), features a column by Consensus’ Jessi Blakley. The article reflects on her time this past February as a conference speaker at the WSIA’s Annual Summit in the Snow in Crested Butte, CO, and as a consultant for the national organization.

Blakley, who presented alongside Consensus Partner Roy Reid, APR, CPRC, advised the group of more than 100 industry leaders, from boat manufacturers and distributors to sports retailers and operators from around the nation, on how to prepare your organization for an unforeseen crisis and how to leverage new and social media tools to tell your story and protect your reputation.

Blakley and Reid also presented a five-year strategic plan to the Association’s Board of Directors at their Annual Meeting, which outlined tactical growth strategies, financial goals, and a succession plan to ensure a sustainable future for the WSIA, which serves as the only industry advocate for towed water sports.

To learn more about the WSIA and to read Jessi’s column, visit WSIA’s Water Sports Retailer Magazine online at: http://wsr.wsia.net/april-2012/.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                               

Date: April 3, 2012                                                                      

(Orlando) -- Jim Gray scored a landslide victory Tuesday night in his bid for the Orlando City Commission District One.  Jim received 55% of the vote in a four-person race, thus avoiding a runoff.

“Jim’s victory on the first ballot is an incredible feat in Orlando City elections,” said the Campaign’s General Consultant and Consensus co-founder Tre’ Evers.  “Most city elections go to a runoff the first time an individual is elected, so Jim’s first-ballot win is a convincing mandate for his agenda for a vibrant, economically strong and fiscally sound Orlando.”

Jim’s campaigned on his success in business, and his desire to bring private sector experience to City Hall.  District One was represented most recently by Phil Diamond, and previously by former Mayor Glenda E. Hood.  Historically, District One encompassed neighborhoods just outside of downtown and the less populated areas around the Orlando International Airport.  With the rapid development of Lake Nona and the Medical City area, the population in SE Orlando has exploded and now over a third of the residents in District One reside south of the 528 (Beachline). 

After graduating from high school Jim enlisted in the US Air Force where he spent three years and another three in the Air National Guard.  In between active and reserve duty, Jim married his high school sweetheart Kathy.  Jim obtained a degree in Finance from the University of Houston and shortly thereafter moved to the Orlando area to work for First Union and Wachovia banks.  Jim is currently Vice President of Parkway Realty Services in their downtown Orlando headquarters.  Jim was a youth baseball and basketball coach, a member of Florida Citrus Sports and many other community organizations.

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