FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICA’S
RADICAL RIGHT-WING MOVEMENT
[Paul Levy © 2019]
Introduction
For 50 years a powerful Right-Wing Movement has transformed America, capturing the Republican Party and achieving many other notable victories such as Citizens United, popularizing school vouchers, and reversing a growing commitment to address climate change by promoting climate change denial.
Recent exposés such as Jane Mayer’s Dark Money and Nancy MacLean’s Democracy in Chains help reveal this often stealthy Movement, but it has actually been recognized for some time. An early description of it, for example, was a book by John Saloma III entitled Ominous Politics: The New Conservative Labyrinth. Saloma was a moderate Republican and a founder of its Ripon Society. Writing in 1984, he saw the movement as a major danger to the advancement of his Republican Party. Here is how he summarized it:
Over a period … political conservatives have quietly built a vast coalition of think tanks, political action groups, religious broadcasters, corporate political organizations, senators and representatives, Republic Party officials, and other groups with budgets totaling hundreds of millions of dollars annually. I emphasize the “quietly” because this major development … has arrived almost unannounced.
Although the Movement has grown enormously since 1984, many of its early benefactors and most of its original design such as think tanks, political action committees, and partnership with the Religious Right remain at its core today. We think of the Koch brothers as being pivotal to today’s Movement, but they were already key players in 1984 and their father was before them. In fact, the term Kochtopus, commonly used today to refer to the brothers’ broad influence, was coined in 1980.
Progressive and Centrist activists need to confront this Movement – to shape an effective vision and set of strategies and launch a countermovement, if you will. But a prerequisite to doing this is to understand the Movement’s history, affluence, structure, strategies, institutions, entrenchment, victories, and core ideology.
This document is an attempt to advance these understandings. It is a collection of relatively brief descriptions of key Movement elements. Each contains citations and often supplemental material as well as references and links to Related Essays that I have written.
[1] Mayer and MacLean use the term “Kochtopus” to identify the reach of Koch activity and influence, so it seems recent. However, Saloma also uses the term, and it was originally coined by Edward Konkin III, a left-wing libertarian in 1980 (New Libertarian’s Manifesto).
Paul Levy
Reviews of Finding Phil
Like all true odysseys and love stories, Finding Phil begins with the wholly unexpected-- a package that leads the author to explore the life of an uncle he never knew. The story that emerges reveals webs of interconnection about identity within the author’s family and within the human family. Built on interviews, historical research, travel and contemplation, Levy's journey involves the nature of war, the impact of war deaths on families, and our indebtedness to ancestors.
L.R. Berger, author of The Unexpected Aviary, 2016
A fascinating journey of discovery and reclamation shaping generations touched by loss. There is a wonderful, yet tragic irony in discovering how much still remains to mark the life of one Jewish soldier fighting in a Europe trying to eradicate Jewish life and memory. Compelling gems throughout surprise and inspire as the author shares things he never perceived in his own family and allows us to wrestle with issues of human choice, legacy, and responsibility.
Tom White, Coordinator of Educational Outreach, Cohen Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, 2016
http://www.keene.edu/academics/ah/cchgs/
5.0 out of 5 stars A moving and compelling book
By Steffi on August 6, 2016
In 1987 Paul Levy received a package from the estate of the widow of his uncle, Phil, who died in World War II when Levy was just a year old. The package contained a journal kept by Phil, along with a Purple Heart and some photos and letters. In a moving prologue to the book, Levy talks about silence as a response to grief; it had been his family's response to Phil's death, but the bequest from Phil's widow inspired Levy to break the silence and tell Phil's story. Since family members who had known Phil were themselves all dead by now, Levy's wish to reconstruct his uncle's life and the circumstances of his death led him down many different roads. The overall theme of the book is the story of that journey, but in fact there are many stories here, all of them fascinating, some amusing, many very moving, and a few quite grim. I found myself as invested in getting to know more about Levy himself, as the "searcher", as I was in wanting to find out about Phil. In addition, Levy gives us the background history of the battles in World War II that flesh out Phil's experiences, presenting his narrative of these battles from the perspective of the soldiers who fought on the ground and in the tanks. This perspective makes all too vivid the experience of war as a series of fights for this piece of land, that crest of the mountain, this road; sometimes won by the allies, sometimes lost. I won't give away the ending but suffice it to say that it is powerful, and clearly made the long search worthwhile. I highly recommend this book!
5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderfully crafted book with excellent historical information
By Cheryl L. Dwyer on July 23, 2016
I began reading the book on Thursday and was captivated... just finished it today (Saturday). It's a wonderfully crafted book, lovingly written, and very interesting. I was never a history buff and only "experienced" war (Korean and Vietnam) second-hand through talking with family members--who really didn't want to discuss their experiences... But Paul Levy's inquiry into his Uncle Phil's war experiences and life gave me a greater insight into why a soldier risks his life for his country, for his family, for his beliefs... along with a history lesson on WWII that is easy to understand. Thank you for sharing Phil's story!
Review from BookConcious by Deb Baker
https://bookconscious.wordpress.com/2016/07/23/finding-phil-by-paul-levy/
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