I recall hearing the M-P band playing Henry Fillmore’s rousing march, Americans We.

Fillmore titled his march to echo Lincoln’s statement that a house divided against itself cannot stand. One nation indivisible. We are all Americans. Yet I keep getting mailers that try to set me against some part of our population. They come disguised as opinion polls or questionnaires. Innocent on the surface. Insidious within.

This being a local paper, op-ed pieces should address local issues. But when national issues profoundly affect citizens of the 98270 zip area, they deserves local coverage. For example, a nationwide flu epidemic might sweep in. Or an overhaul of our nation’s systems might touch every home. Broad issues that invade local lives rate local ink.

We have a new president who, from all indications, has the intelligence, poise, wisdom and people-skills to guide the reform of an ailing economy and foreign policy. No doubt about it. He is a good and able man. For the sake of Marysville’s anxious wage-earners and business people he deserves our support.

Yet forces were at work to undo his administration even before his inauguration. Heavily funded propaganda machines were primed to attack his agenda, whatever it was. These sneaky forces won’t accept that the nation voted for change. At least Rush Limbaugh was forthright in saying, “I hope Obama fails. Somebody’s gotta say it.” Rush represents the same power base that unsuccessfully tried to get the military to unseat FDR in the 1930’s. They just won’t go away. Who are they?

A so-called ballot from The Heritage Foundation arrived in my mailbox. It opened with “… a wake-up call now that Barack Obama, Big Labor and tax-and-spend special interests are taking control of the White House.” It closed with, “With liberals like Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi now taking more power in Washington, the Heritage Foundation is unleashing a bold new campaign, etc. …”

The negative bias was evident in questions such as, “Are you concerned that unchecked spending will continue to get worse as liberals like President-elect Barack Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi take more control in Washington?” Note the repetitive linking of Obama with Pelosi.

Another sample of Heritage’s divisive rhetoric: “In 2006, Congress earmarked $4.8 million for research on how to use wood. . . Do you approve of this use of our tax dollars?” Though un-forested areas might be united in a resounding NO, Marysville’s waning lumber businesses might welcome research to stimulate wood-products industries. Question after question, I was prodded to react against issues I didn’t understand.

Americans We is a great title for a patriotic march. We are Americans. We aren’t divided like Serbs and Croats, Hutus and Tutsis or Sunnis and Shiites. People come here because we represent a haven from sectarian bullying. Yet the Heritage Foundation persists in driving wedges. What is their point?

Paul Weyrich, recently deceased co-founder of Heritage, acknowledged that as a conservative, he didn’t intend to “conserve” anything. “We are different from previous generations of conservatives,” Weyrich explained. “We are no longer working to preserve the status quo. We are radicals, working to overturn the present power structure of the country.”

What’s going on here? Our nation needs good conservatives as much as it needs good liberals but who are these people? Since the days of President Reagan, the Heritage Foundation has been known as “The Shadow Government,” pulling strings, preparing ultra-right appointees and influencing legislation. What is their agenda?

Heritage draws from deep pockets that write the Heritage Foundation’s agenda. Coors, Gulf Oil, Bechtel, G.D. Searle, Chase Manhattan, Readers Digest, Mobil Oil, Smith Kline, Olin, GM, Ford, Proctor and Gamble, and the Federation of Korean Industries are representative of its donors. Also Richard Scaife who underwrote the “swift-boating” campaign that topped John Kerry.

Heritage isn’t alone. The American Enterprise Institute and others are in the same racket. The Alliance Defense Fund’s flier paints it as a fine Christian organization bent on preserving all that’s good about America. Reading between the lines, ADF is also in the business of setting ultra-conservatives against other slices of our society.

I received another Heritage survey last week. It claimed that President Obama’s program will raise the taxes for 100 million Americans by an average of $1,716. They’re right! Except to arrive at that average, 98 million of the 100 million will pay no more tax with only 2 million ultra-rich citizens being called upon to pay enough to validate the average of $1,716. Of course they don’t want that to happen and the Heritage Foundation is their voice. What they want from Marysville is for us to unwittingly endorse their smarmy scheme.

One needs to look no farther than the mailbox or a computer’s inbox for evidence of political fraud. Their workers phone me at dinner time to ask how I stand on issues. They pose innocent sounding questions such as, “Are you content with your present level of taxes?” Of course I’m not. But I’m not going to tell pollsters because they’d use my answer to bolster a case for no-new-taxes. Right when the nation needs to adjust tax rates for the top 1 percent.

The next time you get one of those questionnaires, understand that they’re not after your input, they want to control your opinions.

Comments may be addressed to: rgraef@verizon.net.