Frameworks for Understanding the US Political Right

What we can learn from how the Political Right took power

"Wrong About the Right"
by Jean Hardisty and Deepak Bhargava
From The Nation, November 7, 2005
http://www.publiceye.org/hardisty/wrong_about_right.html

How to Win the War of Ideas:
Lessons from the Gramscian Right
Susan George
http://www.tni.org/archives/george/dissent.htm

$1 Billion for Conservative Ideas
David Callahan
http://www.thenation.com/doc/19990426/callahan

The Strategic Philanthropy of Conservative Foundations
Moving a Public Policy Agenda
From a 1997 report by the National Committee on Responsive Philanthropy
http://www.mediatransparency.org/conservativephilanthropy.php

Why Now?
by Jean Hardisty
http://www.publiceye.org/magazine/v09n3-4/whynow.html

Drifting Right and Going Wrong
by Chip Berlet and Jean Hardisty
http://www.jeanhardisty.com/essay_driftingrightandgoingwrong.html

A progressive view of building a broad social movement

An infrastructure that includes thinks tanks, conferences, alternative media, art, theatre, music, etc.

What a successful social movement needs: A set of charts
http://www.publiceye.org/action/movement.html

Social Movements Need An Infrastructure To Succeed
by Chip Berlet
http://zmagsite.zmag.org/Sep2005/berlet0905.html 

A Broad Vision

A Call To Defend Democracy And Pluralism
The Blue Mountain Statement
Blue Mountain Working Group
http://www.publiceye.org/eyes/calldef.html

Skillful framing of rhetoric, but with resources and a mass movement base

Thinking about Elephants
Toward a Dialogue with George Lakoff
By William A. Gamson and Charlotte Ryan
http://www.publiceye.org/magazine/v19n2/gamson_elephants.html

Understanding the structure and funding of the U.S. Political Right

Introductory Slide Show explaining the basics of how the U.S. Political Right work
http://www.publiceye.org/research/rw101/RW101.htm

Page of Resources For Studying Right-Wing Policy-Making
http://www.publiceye.org/research/policy.html

Specifically on Foundations & Funding
http://www.publiceye.org/research/policy.html#Funding

Web Links: Foundations, Funding, & Non-Profits
http://www.publiceye.org/research/sites.html#Funding

Books of interest

Allport, Gordon W. 1954. The Nature of Prejudice . Cambridge, Mass.: Addison-Wesley.

Berlet, Chip and Matthew N. Lyons. 2000. Right-Wing Populism in America: Too Close for Comfort. New York: Guilford Press.

Diamond, Sara. 1995. Roads to Dominion: Right-Wing Movements and Political Power in the United States. New York: Guilford Press.

Felice, William F. 1996. Taking Suffering Seriously: The Importance of Collective Human Rights. Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press.

Guillaumin, Colette. 1995. Racism, Sexism, Power and Ideology. London: Routledge.

Hardisty, Jean V. 1999. Mobilizing Resentment: Conservative Resurgence from the John Birch Society to the Promise Keepers. Boston: Beacon Press.

Pharr, Suzanne. 1996. In the Time of the Right: Reflections on Liberation. Berkeley, Calif.: Chardon Press.

“In Tolerance there is no Respect”

Resources

• Frameworks for Understanding the US Political Right
• Vision Statements - Contemporary
• Vision Statements - Historic
• Power Structure Research
• Human Rights, Systems of Oppression,
  and Social Justice
• Uniting to Defend the Four Freedoms

Democracy is a process,
not a specific set of institutions

Democracy is a process that assumes
the majority of people, over time,
given enough accurate information,
and the ability to participate
in a free and open public debate,
reach constructive decisions
that benefit the whole of society, and
preserve liberty,
protect our freedoms,
extend equality, and
defend democracy.