In his new book “The Secret Knowledge: On the Dismantling of American Culture.” Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Mamet gives a voice to one of America’s most openly oppressed minorities, the entertainment-industry conservative. He frames the discussion of the current culture war with his journey from being a “brain-dead liberal” to being a true believer on the right. Mr. Mamet is part of a growing resistance movement among entertainers, artists and musicians who are bold enough to buck the hard-left Hollywood orthodoxy and think for themselves. A few years ago actor Gary Sinise helped organize an informal salon of centrists and conservatives known as the “Friends of Abe,” i.e. Abe Lincoln. Other vocal supporters of the group include Jon Voight and Pat Boone, and one FOA gathering attracted over 600 free-thinking souls.
Add to this mix director Ray Griggs, whose new documentary “I Want Your Money” is a fierce critical stab at the pretensions of the Obama administration’s economic policies and the ruin they promise America. “It is no secret our government has an insatiable appetite for out of control spending,” Mr. Griggs told TRR. “Unfortunately, ‘We the People’ have only enabled these blank checks to be written time and time again.” Mr. Obama’s threat to hold up social security checks if the government is not allowed to borrow any more money is a typical scare tactic akin to extortion. “The liberals are using these ‘debt ceiling’ negotiations to scare the American people into thinking that increased spending and taxation is the only way,” Mr. Griggs said, “but anyone who knows a bit of history can tell you there are better alternatives.” His film takes and entertaining approach to a serious topic, to educate people on “how we got into this mess, and empowering them on what we need to do to get out of it.” But Mr. Griggs has faced the same problems as other “out of the closet” Hollywood conservatives. Major studios had no interest in supporting an unabashedly rightward-leaning documentary, even with the involvement of big names like John Stossel, Newt Gingrich, Michael Reagan, Ed Meese, Steve Forbes and others. Some crew members would work on the film only on the condition that their names were left off the credits, for fear of retribution. But “I Want Your Money” has become a grass roots phenomenon since its release in 2010, and shows that it is possible to be a Hollywood conservative and survive to speak the truth to power.
