Ending America's First Monarchy!: An excerpt

This is an excerpt from Les Aaron's latest book, "Ending America's First Monarchy"due out in limited edition beginning in June of this year : The Media Overview:

Think Tanks: Right now, there is a kind of rough equivalence in the numbers of Think Tanks that line up as either democratic or republican but that statement by itself is also deceptive

Here’s why: The role of the Republican Think Tanks is much different than the typical Democratic Think Tanks. They are in effect Research and Development spheres of influence that exist to draft ways to create and execute policy that serves conservative interests. As such, they are much more integrated into the Republican communications hierarchy than Democratic think tanks into partisan politics and have an agenda that is specifically underwritten by conservative interests that have little to do with the overall public good.

In effect, what results is that the diverse approach to communications by the Republicans is “additive” while the traditional Democratic approach has always been seen as fragmented and wanting.

For the most part, republican “think tanks” play a pivotal role in shaping legislation and finding legalistic ways to circumvent normal regulatory restrictions in order to achieve their goals.
In some cases, they not only craft the message, they establish specific groups to support their positions and they create the “need” for the legislation. To accomplish their various ends, they may employ tacticians, marketers, publicists, speakers, writers, editors, commentators, essayists and others who contribute to the desired result’. Therefore, the definition of “Think Tank” when it applies to republicans really needs to be modified significantly if it is to incorporate all of the things that republicans do to assure a majority, a consensus and a positive outcome for their points of view. In short, they have been pivotal to the communication of the republican message; they are well funded and an important adjunct to the Republican media infrastructure..

On the other hand, democratic “think tanks” tend to be more directed by the interests of the public good. They are for the most part dedicated to a variety of other issues that influence the environment, public health, international relations, human rights and corresponding issues.

.Unlike the democratic think tanks that are consumed with the broader issues of our age—concern for life, the environment, preservation of species, global warming, etc.-- it is increasingly clear that many of the right wing think tanks are employed for the express purpose of keeping the message on target and adding heft and believability where possible..

Unfortunately, they do not stand as a counter-weight or an alternative that would help perhaps shape or improve the dialogue but , alternatively, serve to enable or reinforce the message. This really puts them into a different category or what might be called ‘political facilitators’—or ‘enablers’-- rather than the broader, ecumenical definition of Think Tank as places where independent thinking can flourish and new ideas can propagate as opposed to what we find: narrowly defined, well financed conservative groups that are highly focused on gaining new advantages to benefit members of their own group. This is a major distinction and should be kept in mind.


We need to understand that:

The Democratic Think Tanks for the most part are apolitical and not singular in purpose or outlook but, instead, committed to any number of issues and are not necessarily marching to the same drummer as the Party faithful.

Democratic Think Tanks are not under the thumb of the DNC. They do not jump through hoops to accommodate the brethren. For the most part, they are havens of independent thought and they have little to do with the leveraged ends and restrictive thought of many of the Republican Think Tanks who take their marching orders from big moneyed interests or White House strategists; nevertheless, the leading Republican Think Tanks exercise considerable clout, have access to Right Wing pinnacles of power and effectively serve the interests of the Right Wing leadership and include such big league members as the Heritage Foundation, the Hoover Group and others of the Big Five Think Tanks.