Right Wing Apparat

March 19, 2004

At Media Transparency, Jerry Landay takes a close look at the right-wing think-tanks, organizations and groups that constitute the modern conservative movement: The Apparat: George W. Bush's back-door political machine

Americans are familiar with some of the names, if not the background, of the cohort's leading members -- the American Enterprise Institute, the Heritage Foundation, the Cato Institute, the Manhattan Institute, the Hudson Institute, the Hoover Institution, the Federalist Society, the Reason Foundation, Citizens for a Sound Economy, the American Legislative Exchange Council, the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, and the National Association of Scholars, to name just a few.

Earlier this month, The National Committee for Responsible Philanthropy released a report, Axis of Ideology, which "details the effective philanthropic strategies that 79 conservative foundations have used to support the activities of 350 public policy-oriented right-wing think tanks at the federal, state, and local levels."

Progressives have no comparable empire. The Center for American Progress (CAP), MoveOn.org and the American Constitution Society are good organizations, but even together they can only generate a fraction of the volume of the conservative movement. Perhaps the progressive thought leaders should not be using the think-tank model, but instead should be using blogs and Internet tools. For example, with your generous grant, the editors from Buzz Rant & Rave could be doing quality analytical work to demonstrate the value of progressive policies. Perhaps I listened to a bit too much NPR during the last pledge drive...