Conservative Think Tank - Seeks Comments, Founders, Writers

I'm exploring a startup entrepreneurial, free-enterprise, Judeo-Christian advocacy group, a think tank of, by and for non-elites.

If you have either a little time or a little money (or both) that you can dedicate to a strictly right-wing think tank, you may be interested.

Some are no doubt familiar with my focus on NGOs (non-governmental organizations), the most infamous of which being the Soros network. While many are leftist, there are also those that purport to be right-wing, though most often they are heavily influenced by big business and academia - and virtually not at all by real-world small business viewpoints.

I'm developing a model for countering the influences of NGOs that, among other things, hurt small business, which negatively impacts families and local economies.

It struck me that small business offered a more manageable member base than the general public and also closely aligns with principles of the rule of law and economic liberty. By being by, for and of small business pure academia is avoided.

Interested parties, constructive comments are sought at this time.

So far in the exploratory phase, this is a high level of the vision (see first post):

A) A small business, privately-held, that is an advocacy group / think tank - but organized as a for-profit small business - who's mission it is to end the influence of NGOs.

I'm sick to death of this not-for-profit disaster we have going - it is completely corrupting. Thousands of stinking "non-profit" elitist institutions, think tanks, etc., present some kind of marketing boondoggle for wealthy liberals and some big businesses which they use to pretend they are somehow "doing good", when in reality they're just pushing one diabolical yet idiotic scheme after another through Congress and State legislatures that enrich themselves - and squeeze the daylights out of most American's wallets and rights.

NGOs have got to go, that's my slogan.

This is an opportunity for local businesses to have their own advocacy group that has tremendous political influence - WORKING FOR THEM instead of against them.

There are many small business groups, some very large. If they're large - does the individual small business person GET HEARD ? No. If the small business advocacy group is small enough for the individual member to be heard - can the group defeat BIG non-governmental organizations like the Soros network, unions, etc. ? No.

In my State, New Jersey, there are hundreds of thousands of small businesses. Congressional staffs simply can not listen to 200,000 ideas. The 200,000 ideas can be used, however - with ORGANIZATION that smart people in the private sector can figure out. It ain't rocket science. This can work as a for-profit corporation full "C" corporation that has the right idea and executes it.

There are several competitive differences between this group and other advocacy groups that will allow it to scale to a point where it can both have significant impact and yet still provide responsiveness to members (these will be kept private at this point).

B) Full Public Cisclosure

Not of internal working documents - but correspondence with a legislator, where we provided expert opinion or advice. No "backroom" deals. Public, in the open, where pressure comes only through marketing and influencing thought leaders in society until there is enough public support.

No one who was ever elected to any office will be a shareholder, employee or paid contributor or consultant in any way, shape or form, as this is not a lobbying firm.

Any and all pressure is out in the open pressure, not secret pressure or secret deals. We are not asking for special treatment, only a level playing field, the rule of law and getting government out of the way of everyone, so these things can be asked publicly.

Publicly disclose ownership, resumes of fellows, funding, etc. That is really a key part of the marketing - it's a small business about small business, not a front for some mega-corp or Dr. Evil.

If NGOs operated completely in the public - and their recommendations received the media attention they should - at least the public would have a chance to call their Congressman and voice any response or opposition, but that is not the case. Most people are unaware what is in bills except for behind-the-scenes players until laws quietly get passed - if then. Only advocacy groups can affect legislation significantly, and small business is woefully under-represented in that arena.

This group would not be trying to "sneak" bills into law, but the opposite: garner public support to "sweep" bills into law. A slower process, to be sure, but a legitimate process.

C) No asking for any government money for support, nor are donations to the company tax deductible.

Revenue is from real people who want to support the effort, not get a tax deduction. And no donations or management can be from large corporations. This is not an effort by big business, it's an effort by small business and real people who are not uber-wealthy. Donations, membership options, etc., need to be of set, limited sizes.

D) Advocacy Focus and Efforts

1) Produce white papers written by "experts". However the "experts" will not be from academia or the big business world. Anyone can be a member, but the "fellows" who write the papers must have some demonstrated record in small business, no matter how brief, and their resume can not be one of pure academics or working for mega-corps. It's an "everyman's think tank", and it's not about fantasies or cronyism, but reality and legitimate business.

Small businesses that are members are assured that their input will be read along with every other member's input. Through collaboration and meetings their voice will be heard. Some will not want to take the time, and don't want to make input - but they will be able to know that the group is working on their behalf. They will be privy to internal publications - so they will know what is going on in many areas that they are concerned about and impacted by, both nationally and locally.

2) Identify, expose and oppose the activities of any groups or persons that:

Present challenges in and barriers to entry to marketplaces for SPHB (including, but not limited to, bureacracy and regulation, unfair competition, extortion, corruption, etc.)
(these challenges and barriers may originate locally or from outside the local marketplace and from within the public or private sector)
Oppose Judeo-Christian principles, principles of Western Civilization
Have undue or secret influence on legislation and policy and are unelected, as this activity works in opposition to SPHB, Judeo-Christian principles as well as American principles

3) Market and Advocate for:

Public disclosure of all sources and influences on legislation and government policy (who is doing what)
Small, privately-held business (SPHB)
True free enterprise
Net-balanced trade
Judeo-Christian principles, principles of Western Civilization such as the rule of law, true liberty, etc.
Citizens who rely on and benefit from SPHB and free enterprise (including, but not limited to, employees, consumers, retirees, students, etc.)
Local issues as gleaned from member input

4) Provide collaborative information management environment for members, fellows, researchers, writers, etc.

5) Publish a Journal

6) Partner with other like-minded organizations

7) More, of course.

Thanks for the excellent questions that get to the heart of the matter.

Thanks for this thread. I am interested in some of your main ideas, but have a few reservations.

For example, in the market place of ideas, NGOs are one group that we would be: 1.) Joining; 2.) Competing with; and 3.) according to you, trying to Abolish.

Joining: well, on a simplistic level, we would be
a) a think tank / advocacy group (as we have a right to)
b) outside the government,
c) we have a goal of effecting policy changes and
d) we aim to establish a good reputation as policy experts

It may help to think of the name of the group as Small Business Policy Institute, Inc.

We are in quite a different brand image category - we're a "small business" advocacy business. Our members - business owners, free enterprise aficiandos and other interested parties - can collaborate online and in seminars and meetings. They can voice their ideas and challenges about the environment their business operates in. Our group - real people in business - will at least listen to our members and are likely to understand their issues and put in the full effort to effect changes that will help.

Also, our principles are sterling compared to the "bad" NGOs I'm talking about...
a) NGOs "hide in plain sight", that is they obfuscate their true motives when they create public campaigns and efforts. For example, they may say "spread democracy" on the website and to passersby, but such a public campaign might have a corresponding low-profile initiative more aptly titled "starting a revolution" internally. The vision I have for advocacy is no "alterior motive", "internal" initiatives; we either do the initiative publicly or we don't do it at all. And if we say, for example, we're "promoting business education in schools", we do what we say with no "shadow initiative".
b) Transnational NGOs often have more diabolical internal goals because they have zero allegiance to any one nation. The ones that would high on the list to expose are those that are of that nature and that promote schemes which are quite obviously working to the extreme detriment of citizens in one country or another. Of course, since our company would be U.S.-based, we would focus on NGOs that harm American free enterprise and the individual, small business owner sector of the economy.
c) My vision is to operate as a for-profit full C Delaware corporation to make things straightforward from a legal perspective and to remove the conflict of interest of advocating for "smaller government" then asking government for support. I think it is also very much "putting our money where our mouth is", that is, if business is such a good idea, why not organize as one. It would be straightforward to develop a various product and service revenue streams and simply keep spending within them to prevent losses.

In terms of competing with and trying to abolish:
If there are any NGOs whose purpose is attacking our members, we: Identify, Expose and Oppose. That is, IMHO, advocating for our members. Take New Jersey small business. Say we have a critical problem of healthcare costs and availability resulting from continual efforts by a few NGOs who keep pushing legislation quietly through the legislature. It's either small business or this NGO, somebody is going to lose. We identify, expose and oppose, using all the resources we can muster with our membership. Only with a concerted, long term effort at providing our own solutions that are better and exposing all the dirt and using it to rally public opinion will politicians start to listen. Otherwise, individual small business are helpless and no current organizations have efforts that are creative and energized enough (or care for that matter).

That 3 pronged approach of Join, Compete and Abolish would dilute our efforts, if my understanding of your NGO statements is correct.

I'm thinking of my own vision, not thinking about joining or competing. The group would simply have members and do it's work.

Is the topic of NGOs a sidetrack or a main track issue?

A main track for those that oppose our members' interests and operate in the shadows. If, theoretically, they pack up and leave a certain State, then we would simply continue advocating for regulatory rightsizing. If we wound up with some sort of ideal small business-friendly State somewhere, say Texas, for example, the organization could simply shrink back it's operations to a shell that maintains copies of our writings for posterity. I doubt we'll get to that point soon, however.

I would prefer that discussion of apparent conflicting goals be discussed and resolved, before a unifying set of goals be codified.

Did the above clear things up at all ? I will continue. Also, do you have thoughts about a set of goals after reading this thread so far ?

I would prefer to assist a narrow focus, sparse number of clearly stated goals entity in the market place of ideas.

I had the same thoughts as you while developing the idea. Did the above help ?

I’m a Type “B” person, so I’ll think about this and then reply.

____________

Here is a real life situation: 1.) USA Small businesses are being crushed by Obamanation Communism: Communal Control of Medicine and Insurance (=Obama”care,” and Dodd-Frank (=unending regulations).

2.) After much discussion, our Group decides that the most helpful thing that we can do for USA Small Businesses is to support the idea that Obama should be Impeached in 2013.

3.) After much debate, 3 questions are chosen from an award winning entry by a very old graewoulf as follows:

” - - - Three questions for Benghazi-Coward Obama:

1.) Are you HIDING INFORMATION from the US Congress about the Benghazi Massacre?

2.) Have you been LYING to the US Congress, The Media, or the American Public about the Benghazi Massacre?

3.) Were you, as Commander in Chief, GROSSLY NEGLIGENT about your responsibilities to protect and assist those four Americans who subsequently were murdered in the Benghazi Massacre?

BTW, the large cap words were the same as the 3 charges handed down yesterday to BP for punishment of their Gulf of Mexico underwater blowout, a while back.

Since the US Government is going to hold a company accountable for their poor decisions, then it should hold its CIC accountable his poor decisions, AND use the same legal charges. - - - “

________

Here is my question to you :

“How would this Group put (=mechanics, procedures, division of labor/duties, methods, etc.) those 3 questions to use to achieve the Group’s Goal of Impeaching Obama in 2013, and thus help Small Business in 2014 and beyond?”

You are going to have to be prepared to dump all the PC stuff the mainstream Conservatives are saddled with.

and boy are they showing their true colors this week

gonna have to get mean and say things...truthful things that folks have been browbeaten for two generations now to ignore even if staring them in the face

You up to that Peter?

if not then you are just more of what has lost our nation

we lost our country because we were afraid to take on minority victimhood culture head on

it’s that damned simple

fighting white liberals is easy

talking straight talk with non whites is where whites go wobbly

so far I have seen few up to it

some sites banned here, Mark Levin(sorta)...Michael Berry(pretty open about it)..our own Bill Flax and Matt Bracken

otherwise

what’s the point...just more losing strategy

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