Rick Green Wants Your Money So He Can 'Inspire' People with His Peculiar Versions of American History

Well, maybe not your money. But Rick Green is trying to talk gullible right-wingers into forking over $45,000 to fund a vanity project — a “reality show” featuring his family traveling the country and teaching folks about America:

“Red, White, Blue, & Green” is an entertaining message of hope for America as you follow the Green Family on their mission to restore an appreciation and passion for the principles that made America the greatest nation in the history of the world!

That’s from the project’s Kickstarter page. Green, who works as a speaker for David Barton‘s WallBuilders and is Barton’s sidekick on their web/radio program, explains more about the rationale for “Red, White, Blue & Green” on his website. This isn’t just any reality show, Green writes:

This one stars one of my all-time favorite families traveling the nation’s historical sites and teaching about American exceptionalism and our Constitution!

The Green Family is one of the most fun-loving families I know, but they unite fun with purpose as they pursue their shared goal of rekindling the torch of liberty in America. They have been traveling and speaking across the nation for years, and have often wished they could take everyone along to share the inspiring things they’ve experienced.

Through this new video project, they plan to do just that. 

We wonder if the “inspiring things” audiences will learn include Green’s escapades as a Texas legislator, as explained by the Dallas Morning News a few years ago:

While in the House from 1998 to 2002, Green drew fire for using his Capitol office as the backdrop for a health supplement infomercial. He also came under scrutiny for successfully arguing before the parole board for early release of a man convicted of defrauding investors (who just happened to have loaned $400,000 to Green’s father’s company); allegedly pressuring the state health department on behalf of ephedrine maker Metabolife International, one of his law firm’s clients; and squeezing lobbyists to pony up at a fundraiser for a private foundation he started. He made Texas Monthly’s list of the 10 worst legislators.

Green, who always denied any wrongdoing, cast himself as a fighter for traditional values. He still does, calling himself “a true Reagan conservative and strict constructionist.”

“Over the last decade, courts have increasingly become the front lines of the struggle in our culture over our basic freedoms and what it means to be an American,” he says on his site. “Too many justices choose to legislate from the bench rather than uphold the rule of law. For these reasons, I am running for the Texas Supreme Court, Place 3″ (the seat now held by outgoing Justice Harriet O’Neill, a Republican).

Green, R-Dripping Springs, was defeated in 2002 by Democrat Patrick Rose.

Their spirited and at times almost physical battle for the swing district seat in the Texas Hill Country was chronicled in “Last Man Standing: Politics, Texas Style,” a documentary by filmmaker Paul Stekler. And the hard feelings didn’t end there: In November 2006, Green was accused of assaulting Rose on election day at a polling place.

Yeah, politicians who seem to have questionable ethics standards are always inspiring.

But will his audiences also be “inspired” when Green dismisses the torture of terrorist suspects as similar to teasing by his sister? Or when he equates food stamps recipients to wild animals and suggests all mass murders have been liberal Democrats?  Will they be “inspired” when Green says critics of Barton are like Adolf Hitler and that their criticism is like what the Nazis did to European Jews? Or when Green teaches his own peculiar (bogus) versions of “history”?

How about when Green warns that separation of church and state leads to communism and crime? Or when he suggests that gay people are a particular danger to children? Will all of that be “inspiring”?

Well, maybe so. One thing about Green and Barton is that they know their audience. But wait. There’s more! From Green’s website:

For every level of sponsorship, the Greens will give you rewards far more valuable than the dollar level at which you donate. Check out the various opportunities to participate on the Kickstarter page. Some levels include the chance to meet the Greens at some of the historical sites and appear in the program. One level even includes attending a Rangers Baseball game with the Greens!

Yes, you can meet the Greens! How fun. How inspiring. How… shameless.