Secretive thinktanks are crushing our democracy

[T_i_B]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/sep/12/thinktanks-crushing-democracy-pr-agenices

We know that to understand politics and the peddling of influence we must follow the money. So it's remarkable that the question of who funds the thinktanks has so seldom been asked.

There are dozens of groups in the UK which call themselves free-market or conservative thinktanks, but they have a remarkably consistent agenda. They tend to oppose the laws which protect us from banks and corporations; to demand the privatisation of state assets; to argue that the rich should pay less tax; and to pour scorn on global warming. What the thinktanks call free-market economics looks more like a programme for corporate power.

Some of them have a turnover of several million pounds a year, but in most cases that's about all we know. In the US, groups claiming to be free-market thinktanks have been exposed as sophisticated corporate lobbying outfits, acting in concert to promote the views of the people who fund them. In previous columns, I've shown how such groups, funded by the billionaire Koch brothers, built and directed the Tea Party movement. The Kochs and the oil company Exxon have also funded a swarm of thinktanks which, by coincidence, all spontaneously decided that manmade climate change is a myth. A study in the journal Environmental Politics found that such groups, funded by economic elites and working through the media, have been "central to the reversal of US support for environmental protection, both domestically and internationally".

Jeff Judson, who has worked for 26 years as a corporate lobbyist in the US, has explained why thinktanks are more effective than other public relations agencies. They are, he says, "the source of many of the ideas and facts that appear in countless editorials, news articles, and syndicated columns". They have "considerable influence and close personal relationships with elected officials". They "support and encourage one another, echo and amplify their messages, and can pull together … coalitions on the most important public policy issues." Crucially, they are "virtually immune to retribution … the identity of donors to thinktanks is protected from involuntary disclosure."

[slackmaster]

1. They're not even secretive about it any more

http://illuminati-order.com/

[katty]

2. secret?...thinktanks-no more. more Open Secret

orwell & companies is here to stay, just like any other obnoxious brand.