Faced with a loose-cannon 2016 GOP presidential nominee who disagrees with them on key issues, Charles and David Koch — the two billionaire "Koch brothers" — are directing the vast resources of their political network toward down-ballot races. This should alarm liberals greatly.
The Koch resources are likely to be more effective in state and congressional contests than they would be in the presidential race. What’s more, the Koch network and other ultra-free-market networks at the state level already enjoy formidable clout — certainly far more power than the equivalent left-progressive organizations. Whatever happens in the 2016 presidential contest, the persistent imbalance between right and left in state-level organizational prowess will continue to shape politics and policy outcomes in ways that may surprise and disappoint majorities of citizens.
The presidential contest takes up most of the air in the media, but it is at the local and state level that political movements are built, as conservatives in recent years have recognized better than liberals.
A powerful "troika" of right-wing networks
Koch network-backed groups, above all the huge advocacy federation called Americans for Prosperity, have scored major victories over the past decade — working closely with already established cross-state political networks, like the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and the State Policy Network (SPN). These conservative cross-state networks have blocked the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, challenged efforts by the Obama administration to deal with climate change, derailed proposals to increase the minimum wage and enact paid sick leave, and weakened union and voting rights. Unless liberals and progressives find ways to counter conservatives across most US states, both Obama’s legacies and future liberal gains are likely to remain limited.
How have right-wing political networks achieved such striking victories? Our ongoing research on the shifting US political terrain shows that the right’s subnational success relies on complementary and reinforcing efforts by three key cross-state networks. These networks end up setting public agendas and shaping legislative choices:
The American Legislative Exchange Council, often called ALEC— formed in 1973 as a means of uniting businesses, conservative activists, and state lawmakers — is best known for drafting cookie-cutter, corporate-friendly "model bills" and disseminating them across state legislatures. ALEC also provides valuable services, including research assistance, expert witnesses, and talking points, to understaffed part-time legislators who would otherwise lack such resources. Although ALEC has suffered some setbacks in recent years in the wake of a progressive backlash (partly stemming from its support of "stand-your-ground" self-defense laws), it still claims as members nearly one-quarter of state lawmakers and several hundred private sector businesses and activists. According to leaked 2013 records, in 14 states at least a third of lawmakers were enrolled as ALEC members.
Conservative clout is further bolstered by a network of free-market think-tanks that was launched in 1986 as the Madison Group and is now called the State Policy Network. With at least one affiliate in each state, the State Policy Network coordinates research and advocacy related to many of the same policy priorities pursued by ALEC. State Policy Network affiliates produce research reports and media commentary that supports ALEC model legislation, and in many cases SPN affiliates also participate as dues-paying members in ALEC task forces and meetings.
The most recent addition to the potent troika of conservative cross-state networks is the Koch-backed Americans for Prosperity. Created after the demise of an earlier Koch-backed group, Citizens for a Sound Economy, Americans for Prosperity has expanded since 2004 into a nation-spanning federation comparable in size and resources to the Republican Party itself. Its current budget of about $150 million supports activities by some 500 paid staffers and about 2.5 million grassroots activists. Combining central direction from its Virginia headquarters with paid directors in close to three dozen states, Americans for Prosperity is well-positioned to orchestrate both legislative and electoral battles. Americans for Prosperity uses grassroots protests, lobbying, advertising buys, and local canvassing to help to elect far-right GOP politicians — and then urges and prods those politicians to support the ultra-free-market agendas promoted by ALEC and the State Policy Network.
A graph showing that while the right wing has established three strong networks, left-wing equivalents have had a harder time gaining traction. Several are defunct. Scholars Strategy Network
While the right has established three strong networks, left-wing equivalents have had a harder time gaining traction. Several left-leaning networks are defunct.
Tellingly, each of these networks extends across dozens of US states and plays a slightly different role in advancing shared goals — weakening unions, retrenching regulations and labor market protections, lowering taxes, and reducing government spending. ALEC pushes proposals within state legislature; the State Policy Network builds the intellectual and policy case for those bills; and Americans for Prosperity then generates outside political pressure, through ads and grassroots organizing, to ensure that lawmakers ultimately support the proposals.
Read more
http://www.vox.com/2016/8/3/12368070/democrats-losing-state-level
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