Stretching The Definition

Hey - I looked it up so you didn't have to. Heritage: "property that is or may be inherited; an inheritance." Or, "a special or individual possession; an allotted portion."

Foundation? "the lowest load-bearing part of a building, typically below ground level" or "an underlying basis or principle." 

Put 'em together and what have you got? "A research and educational institution whose mission is to build and promote conservative public policies, based in Washington, D.C."

Does this make sense? Upon whose heritage is this foundation built, anyway? Probably the upper class white guys who we so often refer to as "the founding fathers." The ones who wore wigs and stockings and owned slaves and had wooden teeth. And owned tobacco plantations. The Heritage Foundation has a history of opposing tobacco control measures and taxation, and has been funded by the tobacco industry. In 2017, the Heritage Foundation published a paper that suggested that Congress and the Trump administration should embrace tobacco harm reduction as a way to help smokers quit and reduce regulatory burdens. In 2019, the Heritage Foundation also published a paper that criticized the FDA for not embracing alternatives to nicotine delivery, such as e-cigarettes, and for demonizing them. 

And if that were the end of it, maybe it wouldn't be so frightening to think that a group of conservatives were trying to push their far-right notions on us. Installing Trump loyalists at every level of government? Putting the Department of Justice under the President's control? Criminalizing abortion drugs? 

Hold on a second. Let's talk about that abortion thing for just a second. There were no laws forbidding abortion in America until the mid 1800s. Reproductive care including abortion was unregulated back then. It was provided by skilled midwives, nurses, and other unlicensed women’s health care providers. It wasn't until around the time of the Civil War that the Catholic Church started to push their way into the states' decisions to outlaw the procedure. Oh, and don't forget about having all public school kids being required to take military entrance exams. 

Is this the heritage we are hoping to return to? And what about all this fuss about our traditional AmericanTM Values? At this point I feel compelled to recall the words of one of this country's finest soldiers, John Winger, who said "We’re Americans, with a capital ‘A’, huh? You know what that means? Do ya? That means that our forefathers were kicked out of every decent country in the world. We are the wretched refuse. We’re the underdog. We’re mutts!" 

Because that's our true heritage. And we've been making it up as we go along for two hundred and fifty years. So shut up with your "Heritage Foundation" already.