A Blogger relief act
Not with Federal or State funds, but DJW is suggesting Gidwitz and Eisendrath should use some of that wealth to start a think tank that focuses on state government.
Oberweis, Gidwitz and Eisendrath could have more impact this way then the ever could have as Governors.
I know there are some already and if commenters want to start list for us I'd appreciate it.
DJW is right though, we need more of them.
Now, you would think conservatives in Illinois would be at the forefront here. I talk with my Liberal and Progressive friends, and the first thing they mention are the well funded Conservative think-tanks that hire talented, thoughtful people. They all agree progressives can't seem to compete intellectually. (They say it, not me.)
So when Conservatives take those shots at JBT, they might ask what they're giving her to fight Blagojevich.
She can't win responding to everyone of Blagojevich's bribes to the electorate, with Illinois can't afford it (by the way, Quinn's Lap Top in every lap proposal was on CLTV last night).
She's going to need say No, the Democrats programs are wrong on principle, and to counter with principled solutions. Conservatives best equipped to craft those. So instead of debate about Brady + Oberweis would have meant victory, it's better to come up with some radically conservative solutions to school, pensions, health, and jobs.
Reminds me of the way progressive's discounted FDR as a rich guy and a intellectual light-weight, but when the country was crushed by depression; FDR had sense to turn to as many idea people as he could and took from them all.
Illinois headed for a few crisis and JBT + Birkett (I think they'll run as a pair like we've never seen before in Illinois) might be just as underestimated by we idea-hamsters as was FDR.
We need to climb into our wheels and spin more. They might ask us. Better yet, put the solutions out there in a way they can't avoid seeing.
4 comments:
I was hoping you'd comment Greg and give us a list.
You agree maybe some of these candidates money would have been better spent supporting institutes like these? That they could have had more impact on Illinois this way then they ever could have as candidates or elected?
And are we, as bloggers (right or left, I'm not sure it matters) doing the most we can to build consesnus around solutions?
I still say that isn't nearly enough. There are first-rate think tanks, but there ought to be far more. Springfield, especially, should be teeming with them.
Greg, I definitely agree that it would be great to see some left-right policy pieces, especially this summer when the research can help shape the gubernatorial debate and thus the 2007 session (which should be the most interesting budgetary session since 2003). I wouldn't agree that the legislature is bought off, however, or that Springfield is captured. I'm curious about the single sales factor change and your views on that one -- seems to me that the biggest manufacturers made out like bandits but all the smaller ones that predominantly sell to in-state buyers paid more.
Calling the Heartland Institute a think tank is an insult to cognitive psychology. There's no thinking going on over there. After years of getting pounded for serving as a mouthpiece for the drug companies, tobacco companies, insurance companies, and oil companies, they stopped publishing their list of funders so you wouldn't see the names of all of the drug companies, tobacco companies, insurance companies and oil companies on there.
But when the head of a "Think Tank" argues that tobacco shouldn't be taxed, because smokers actually live shorter lives and don't collect as much social security or Medicaid, and suggests instead that maybe we should be paying people to smoke instead, I stop calling them a "think tank" and start calling them a "shark tank."
If it isn't peer-reviewed, isn't published, and they won't fully disclose where they get their funding from, you might as well just skip the ghost-written white papers ask the lobbyists what their opinion is directly.
Besides, does anyoone really think we need another blue-ribbon white paper to tell us what's wrong with our education system? The experts weighed in on that one a long time ago.
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