Rich Liberals Vow to Fund Think Tanks - Aim Is to Compete With Conservatives

Washington Post ^ | August 7, 2005 | Thomas B. Edsall

[summer]

At least 80 wealthy liberals have pledged to contribute $1 million or more apiece to fund a network of think tanks and advocacy groups to compete with the potent conservative infrastructure built up over the past three decades.

The money will be channeled through a new partnership called the Democracy Alliance, which was founded last spring -- the latest in a series of liberal initiatives as the Democratic Party and its allies continue to struggle with the loss of the House and the Senate in 1994 and the presidency in 2000. Many influential Democratic contributors were left angry and despairing over the party's poor showing in last year's elections, and are looking for what they hope will be more effective ways to invest their support.

Financial commitments totaling at least $80 million over the next five years generated by the Democracy Alliance in recent months -- at a time when some liberal groups, such as the George Soros-backed America Coming Together, are floundering -- suggest that the group is becoming a player in the long-term effort to reinvigorate the left. The group has a goal of raising $200 million -- a sum that would inevitably come in part at the expense of more traditional Democratic groups, although alliance officials say donors have committed to maintaining past contribution levels....

[driftless]

Ditto. It amazes me to see people who have made millions in the free-market society want to down the socialist road. It could be a form of insanity, although I'm sure the persons involved just think of themselves as "progressive". These are people who learned how to make a lot of money without learning how a free-market, capitalist society is actually made. For self-made millionaires to want a "progressive" nation is like chickens buying the axe for the farmer.

[bill1952]

LOL! I never thought of that. 8^)

[George W. Bush]

Anyone think they'll raise even half the money before giving up on it or seeing it implode in liberal silliness?

These people have a poor record planning anything or operating in the real world. They don't know how to take corrective action on real mistakes and they get discouraged or lose interest pretty quickly.

I think their pet think tanks will get the Big Flush after their Waterloo in '06.

[riri]

They couldn't have been much more funded than they were for the 2004 election and they still lost. The dirty little secret they don't want you to know.

[ottersnot]

'What does it take to win?'

Believing in something would be a start.

[longtermmemmory]

Never underestimate the enemy.

These "think tanks" have the MSM AND the university system to prop them up.

The "think tanks" have infrastructure, what this is REALLY is an effort to create a counter to the new media. A new new media if you will.

The problem with it is that like all democrat efforts to get their looney left message out, the sum of its parts is LESS than the whole of the individual parts.

[Liz]

These organizations need to be investigated to determine if money-laundering is taking place, whereby monies earmarked for the Democracy Alliance were partially deposited in foundation accounts, and the remainder fraudulently converted the deposited offshore out of sight of the IRS, SEC, and US banking laws.


The IRS has received numerous complaints that non-profits---particularly foundations----are being used to run just about every kind of off-the-books accounting fraud.

Concerns have also been raised that the IRS has been stymied in its efforts to penalize organizations’ falsified tax documents and official financial instruments to cover-up theft, and the failure of individuals to report stolen money as income.

Authorities need to determine whether the foundation colluded with corporate donors who are officers of publicly-held companies and foundaiton donors in schemes that may have included misusing corporate reserve accounts, concealing losses, inflating asset values and improperly accounting for transactions, as well as deferring profits into reserve accounts, improperly shifting capital funding to other projects to hide illegal payments to Air America...........and whether money laundering schemes are being employed to evade the IRS, SEC, FEC and US banking laws.

Nonprofits, institutes, think tanks, authorities, trusts, unoins, and foundations, have the potential for, and may, in fact, be major money laundering conduits.


They wrap themselves in high-sounding causes while perhaps engaging in activities that are fraudulent and benefit insiders at the expense of law-abiding Americans.


TO REPORT TAX FRAUD PHONE TOLL FREE 1-800-829-0433

[Liz]

NEA, NARAL, PP'hood, ACLU, etc......all of the lefties need to be examined thoroughly.

[Reaganghost]

The entire article is about regaining political power by finding ways to raise money and then deploy it. It mirrors the Democratic mind set that their sixty years of unchecked power reflects, throw money at the problem-if the problem isn't fixed-throw more money at it.

The Democratic Party is about power, nothing else. And their method of attaining and holding power is socialism. Almost by definition, Democrats are incapable of intelligent thought or planning. But they are masters at manipulating feelings and emotion, if you will, Democrats and their allies in the media are masters of propaganda. And that makes them very dangerous.

Conservatives recognize the superiority of conservative thinking. As such, conservatives think it is only a matter of time before Democrats get the message and become part of the solution or will be totally defeated and replaced by a party that does get the message. It is this kind of thinking that poses the very real danger of underestimating the Democrat's ability to find a message that resonates or a segment of the Republican population that can be turned. Between Ross Perot and "It's the economy stupid", Democrats defeated an incumbent Republican that had had one of the greatest military victories in history. If Dubya's brother had not been governor of Florida, a certified fruitcake would be in Whitehouse. And if the Swift Boat Vets had not sailed to the rescue, a lot of Republicans could have ketchup all over their faces.

Many conservatives are unlikely to take these Democratic Think Tanks seriously because conservatives know that Democratic "think tanks" are not going to find solutions to our country's problem. What conservative don't recognize is that these think tanks are not looking for solutions, they are looking for ways to get elected. And unless conservatives recognize how effective Democrats have been at getting elected in spite of their absurd thinking, there is a grave danger that conservatives will underestimate them again, once more resulting in Democrats returning to power.

There is a way to drive a stake through the heart of the Democratic Party once and for all. After Labor Day, FreeRepublic can play a leading role in crafting the stake and finding someone to drive it.