why is the right powerful?

[gold_bug]

How did the rightwingers and hardliners become so powerful in the USA when they are the minority? I don't really know the answer to that question but here's a few thoughts.

First, consider organization. In the modern world organization is one of the primary sources of power in society. And the right seems to understand this principle well; for example see this article from Asia Times Online, December 24, 2003,US right weaves tangled but effective web by Jim Lobe.

Here's an interesting website by the Interhemispheric Research Center about right/conservative organization: Right Web "the architecture of power that's changing our world". Right Web explores the many ties that link the right-wing movement's main players, organizations, corporate supporters, educational institutions, and government representatives to each other in a new architecture of power.

Secondly, there's the language thing. The rightwingers have constructed a verbal system that is strong and internally consistent, and by employing language they can oftentimes steamroll the opposition and critics. They have learned how to frame the issues in such a way that the "background" of a debate is usually a favorable terrain for them and hostile for their opposition. For some great insights into this, please see this interview with George Lakoff: "how conservatives use language to dominate politics".

Then there's a tangential question I sometimes ponder: Why do so many middle class and working class people vote Republican when by any objective measure it's not in their best interest to do so? I think this December 17, 2003 BuzzFlash interview with UC Berkeley Sociologist Arlie Hochschild helps to answer it.

Oh, and one more thing that is somewhat related... The Christian Science Monitor has a nice little section on the Neoconservatives: Empire Builders: Neoconservatives and their blueprint for US power

(edit for typos)