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by Rob Kall

OpEdNews.Com

The most powerful weapon the right wing has is their policy  and position promotion (PPP) think tanks (TTs). As the progressives on the left begin to find their power, their funding and the insight to build their own policy  and position promotion think tanks it will be necessary to do a kind dissection or reverse engineering of the right wing's PPPTTs . This article explores some of the specific functions and elements such a project entails. This article is purposely not talking about issues or policies. You don’t need to define all the things you use a nail to put together to describe how to make a nail.

In a landmark article on the neocon think tanks researcher Sally Covington described the success of the neocon thinktank over the last few decades.

 "Well-endowed with the financial and human resources to market their policy ideas, these institutions have effectively repositioned the boundaries of national policy discussion, redefining key concepts, molding public opinion, and pushing for a variety of specific policy reforms. Through the constant repetition and dissemination of conservative policy ideas, they have provided a philosophical underpinning for many of the most important fiscal and social policies developed and implemented over the past 16 years. And in the end, they have succeeded in making "positive government action in social welfare and economic development policy seem off limits and inappropriate"

Covington reported that in the 1980s, the Heritage Foundation offered the following advice on running a think tank operation.

"The easy part is getting your message right. The real test is getting your message out. ... Everything you do, every day, must involve marketing in as many as six dimensions. Market your policy recommendations, market the principles and values behind them, market the tangible publications and events your organization is producing. Market the think tank concept itself. Then market your specific organizations. And never stop marketing yourself and the other key individuals who personify the organization."

David Callahan  wrote another important article on the development of PPPTTs.  He concluded the article with these telling remarks.

"It is now beyond dispute that left-of-center funders have made a calamitous strategic blunder by underfunding public intellectuals and policy thinkers. This mistake is profoundly ironic. Who would have ever thought, thirty or forty years ago, that the right would come to believe more deeply in the power of ideas than the left."

Finally, people like George Soros and friends are actually providing serious funding to defend against the right's decades of assaults. Here are some of the elements a successful Progressive Policy and Position promotion think tank must build. While it may be necessary to prioritize which ones to do first, they will all be necessary if progressives are to wage successful battle with the right wing. And be assured it is a war that the right wing declared decades ago and that they are currently winning. What gives hope to progressives is that the far right is fighting for corporations and raw power, while progressives seek egalitarian justice, peace, fairness and they work with a bigger dose of heart

1. Build an echo chamber. One of the most powerful tools the neocon think tanks possess is their echo chamber. Once a policy or issue is arrived upon, it goes to the right wing echo chamber of newspapers, Fox news, and the right wing talk radio shows. They whip up readers and listeners to a frenzy. The handling of the CBS mini-series on Ronald Reagan is a great example of the power of the echo chamber. In her article on neocons, Covington says,

   "These groups flood the media with hundreds of opinion editorials. Their top staff appear as political pundits and policy experts on dozens of television and radio shows across the country. And their lobbyists work the legislative arenas, distributing policy proposals, briefing papers, and position statements."

   Covington quotes the American Enterprise Institute's  former president, William Baroody:

   "I make no bones about marketing. We pay as much attention to the dissemination of the product as we do to the content. We're probably the first major think tank to get into the electronic media. We hire ghost writers for scholars to produce op-ed articles that are sent to the one hundred and one cooperating newspapers three pieces every two weeks."

    

2. Develop, implement and support Outreach programs to promote policy and slant to multiple demographic groups: create specific presentations, persuasions, sales pitches and promotion strategies for different target demographic groups:    fundamentalists, seniors, HS students, college students, 20-30, 30-40, 40-60, athletes, NASCAR dads, soccer moms, as well as union workers, blacks, latinos, jews, catholics, baptists, other religious denominations, former republicans....
3. Build a team of high profile, celebrity columnists who will help the cause and feed into the echo chamber articles and columns that cover policy and positions the TT promulgates.
4. Develop influence and education organizations that provide free support and training to key leaders-- congress,  state legislators, city and borough council members, jurists, appointed officials in various state and county roles-- relating to voting, energy, ecology, communications, media, academia,  transportation, etc.
5. Build an organization that recruits and supports law students and another that supports attorneys. The Conservative Federalist Society  is comprised of over 5000 law students, 20,000 attorneys and 145+ law schools. The left has the ACLU, which is much more narrowly focused and not in the same league as the Federalist Society in terms of scope of influence.
6. Hold meetings that bring together progressive leaders to consolidate cooperation, build bridges and enable new partnerships. Al Sharpton says that getting democrats to work together is like herding cats. Any think tank will have to be non-partisan, but progressives of all stripes fit this un-cattle-like profile. Recent examples of such meetings include ourfuture.org's Take Back America conference and the JohnPodesta's new Center For American Progress's conference on Security and Peace.
7. Do research  in-house and outsourced which:

   a) supports creation of a detailed, documented and supported progressive vision and                                                                      

   b) debunks and attacks right wing claims, policies and positions identifies outright lies.

8. Dirty Tricks, Psy-ops, Counter espionage Operations

   This is not about breaking the law, but it is about working the law and using information to aggressively play hardball with the right wing, where playing hardball, breaking the law and using dirty tricks is the standard operating procedure. Consider Paula Jones and the string of harassments the right wing TTs funded to beleaguer and distract Bill Clinton. If a few million dollars can pry up dirt information on an adversary to progressive principles, like George W. Bush, that will sway even a half a percent of supporters, that money is well spent. (if this makes you squeamish, you are living in a dream world, or would rather choose to lose than use the same strategies they opposition uses. This is war, and it can get dirty.)

9.  Raise money for causes and promotion of issues.
10.  Seed new think tanks
11.  Support and nurture power people who are out of office or power-- like when they lose elections or their party loses and they lose important appointments. Keeping strong leaders still swimming in the political and policy "broth" will keep them sharper, more publicly visible and more ready to jump into leadership opportunities as they occur.  PNAC's members included Cheney, Wolfowitz, Perle, Feith, and a long list of other people who were out of political work while Clinton was in office. They sure jumped into action when Bush was given his office.
12.  Create mailing lists both snail mail and email

    -to maintain communication with hundreds of thousands or millions of "members" or affiliates, both to keep them aware of issues and news and the relevance of the news to key issues, both progressive and right wing.

    -to have a fast response team ready to activate urgent policy strategies

    -to raise funds

    Think of Moveon.org and the American Progress Progress Report

     

13. Create Media Hubs, with Video and radio faciilities in NY, DC and possibly LA so local experts, celebrities and pundits can easily appear as talking heads on network and CNN-type shows and interviews.
14. Help establish and Support academic programs at universities. This adds credibility, creates another feeder source for new leaders and taps a natural ally--university education--which down deep, the right is the enemy of.
15. Use the Internet in new, innovative ways, tapping the savvy and creativity of Webpreneurs. Use Howard Dean's web strategy team as consultants.
16. Build programs to recruit and train next generation Progressives.
17. Build programs and strategies for raising money from progressive foundations, the internet and people who want change.
18. Identify causes that are consistent with progressive philosophies that also have money to invest in supporting the TT, for example, small business groups, unions, associations or small businesses that would benefit from changes in health care, communications, energy, education, etc. 
19. Build databases-- all kinds, of progressives, right wingers, corporations, orgs, media, special interests.... One of the most powerful people on the right is Richard Viguerie, who specializes in databases and raising millions for the right. .
20. Build networks and coalitions... this will also contribute to the echo chamber and fundraising.
21. Establish a publishing arm to publish books and monographs that support advocated policy, including re-printing classics that support the progressive message.
22. Either start progressive policy and position advocacy and explication publications and/or fund existing publications. Consider the daily and weekly standards on the right and, on the left, The Nation, The Progressive, In These Times, Mother Jones and the American Prospect.  those on the right have historically received an estimated ten or more times more funding than those on the left.
23. Resouce Mobilization guidance: help progressive foundations and funding sources identify individuals and organizations who can contribute to the progressive agenda.
24. Build alliances with Universities. Build a network of internship programs that brings in bright new young blood.  One of the most aggressive funders of right wing think tanks, the Olin Foundation, was led by Willam Simon for over 20 years. He advocated taking funding away from colleges, because they do not support capitalism.
25. Build a "meme team" comprised of linguistic and narrative experts who will create key phrases that reflect policy positions in ways that are easy to understand and resonate with for the average person. The right has "tax and spend" and big government" as terms they and the dittoheads they feed them to use to bash liberals and progressives with millions of times each year.
26. Build an Internet presence with an explosively robust and dynamic presence and functionality, and support (help raise funds to help grow) existing progressive internet organizations, including news and opinion sites, media sites, blog sites and even humor sites. 
27. Support and coordinate with other progressive efforts to build a progressive media, including syndicated and local talk radio (like Pacifica and www.ieamericaradio.com and, as it evolves, www.anshellmedia.com)
28. Establish long term goals; for funding, projects, progressive change, people resource development.
29. Anticipate and Build protections against assaults from the right, particularly on the legitimacy of non-partisan nature, which will impact upon the tax exempt status. It is a certainty that as these progressive policy weapons come on line they will be attacked on multiple fronts by the right, via the echo chamber, legal challenges and dirty tricks. Expect the unexpected.
30. Manifest Progressive Vision. A progressive think tank should not just copy the right wing neocon PPPTTs. It should explore strategies for connecting with individuals and demographic groups that are based on progressive philosophies-- that tap heart and spirit, egalitarianism and sharing-- and they should be sure to walk the progressive talk. Some of these approaches should become mainstays of the progressive PPPTT and at the same time appear abhorrent to the right wing PPPTTs. 

We on the progressive left cannot lose this battle. We will combine the power of the TT weapons of the right with the heart and compassion of the left and the care for the needy, the care for fairness and equality and justice. By using the TT tools of power with the energy and  heart and spirit of the progressive movement, which emphasizes humans and humanity, we will prevail.

Rob Kall rob@opednews.com  is editor of www.OpEdNews.Com  a tough liberal news and opinion website. He has written numerous articles on think tanks. He also organizes the Futurehealth winter Brain, Optimal Functioning and Positive Psychology Meeting and the Storycon Summit Meeting on the Art, Science and Application of Story--  meetings that bring together the world's top experts in their respective fields.