Every tribe needs a talisman, a good luck charm if you will, and a bogeyman to rail against.
The left have their living deities – race baiting President Obama and spendthrift Australian PM Gough Whitlam for example – and their demons including Donald Trump and Tony Abbott.
On the political right, the legends are Thatcher, Reagan and Howard while nothing stirs the enmity like the name George Soros.
I often wonder why that is. Surely it’s not just because he is a multi-billionaire.
There are plenty of those.
The Left will say any criticism of Soros is motivated by anti-semitism but that doesn’t ring true either.
The centre right political sphere are usually unabashed supporters of the Jewish State while the most anti-semitic fervour is recorded on the left side of politics.
So who is George Soros?
According to his website, he is:
"a prominent international supporter of democratic ideals and causes for more than 30 years. His philanthropic organisation, the Open Society Foundations, supports democracy and human rights in more than 100 countries."
It also says he is one of history’s most successful financiers and has given away more than $32 billion to his foundations work. That work is to:
"support individuals and organisations across the globe fighting for freedom of expression, accountable government, and societies that promote justice and equality. "
It all sounds peachy and a postcard for billionaire philanthropy.
However, a look past the self-serving website blurb reveals a rather darker path.
Soros and the Open Society Foundations billions looks to be a one way flow of leftist funding. There is scarcely a left-wing cause he doesn’t have his financial fingerprints on.
Most of these are done at arms length through myriad of intermediary groups and organisations but the original source is often the same.
In America, websites document hundreds of organisations benefitting from Soros funds including innocuous sounding groups like Defenders of Wildlife – a green group that condemns logging, farming, mining and recreational motor vehicles; through to Planned Parenthood – the largest abortion provider In the United States.
Soros is also a keen advocate for the World Economic Forum (WEF) where he is an ‘agenda contributor’ with such notable contributions as blaming the “hysterical anti-muslim reaction to terrorism” as creating a breeding ground for terrorists and that the way to defeat ISIS and Islamic extremism is to not react like Donald Trump and Ted Cruz.
Last time I looked, the Trump approach was working while the Soros approach led by Joe Biden has already proved to be a disaster.
Soros also gave a speech to the WEF held at Davos in 2019.
He roundly condemned the surveillance state and authoritarian government. He said:
"Authoritarian regimes use whatever instruments of control they possess to maintain themselves in power at the expense of those whom they exploit and suppress."
I happen to agree with him on that point.
However, the difference between words, which are cheap, while action is actually expensive. That’s why we should pay more attention to what Soros does rather than what he says.
I’m the first to say there is a lot of myth mixed with truth surrounding this man and his outreach.
Organisations he has reputedly funded in turn are reported to have funded Australian left wing campaign organisations like GetUp!
Some of his influence has been revealed before.
In 2016 The Australian newspaper revealed that Soros- affiliated organisations “attack liberal democracy by delegitimising the classically liberal values of individualism, free speech, logical argument and public reason”.
That column by Jennifer Oriel noted:
“While NGOs and human rights groups routinely demand greater governmental transparency and accountability, they are rarely required to live up to their own standards. A new global transparency group, Transparify, rated Soros’s foundations zero for transparency among 200 organisations.”
A new book, scheduled for release in December, now promises to reveal the secret network of George Soros and its influence on global affairs.
It covers every single notable organisation Soros has funded over the past two decades and his influence on higher education, the 2020 US presidential election, his manipulation of the media and the true story surrounding his childhood under the Nazi’s in Hungary.
The author, Matt Palumbo, promises the book reveals ‘every salacious detail that’s to be gleaned from leaked documents from Soros’s Open Society Foundations,’ how his money is influencing politics in America and abroad, and how Soros is funding the decline of law and order in America.
Cory Bernardi is the author of seven books and has been a member of the Australian rowing team, a publican, an investment portfolio manager and spent nearly 14 years as an Australian Senator.
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