NYT: Next Generation of Conservatives (By the Dormful)

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/14/politics/14heritage.html?ei=5094&en=d3bc4645e2201d70&hp=&ex=1118808000&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print

They are young and bright and ardently right. They tack Ronald Reagan calendars on their cubicle walls and devote brown bag lunches to the free market theories of Friedrich von Hayek. They come from 51 colleges and 28 states, calling for low taxes, strong defense and dorm rooms with a view.

And let's get one thing straight: they're not here to run the copying machine.

The summer interns of the Heritage Foundation have arrived, forming an elite corps inside the capital's premier conservative research group. The 64 interns are each paid a 10-week stipend of $2,500, and about half are housed in a subsidized dorm at the group's headquarters, complete with a fitness room.

Unusual in its size (and in its walk-in closets), the program, on which Heritage spends $570,000 a year, is both a coveted spot on the young conservative circuit and an example of the care the movement takes to cultivate its young.

<snip>

Like all Heritage applicants, she also answered a 12-item questionnaire designed to ferret out latent liberalism with questions about guns, abortion, welfare and missile defense. (If you agree with the statement that "tax increases are the most appropriate way to balance the budget," this is probably not the internship for you.)

I'd love to see a group of Army and Marine recruiters and film crews invade that campus. Why aren't these young chickenhawks rooming in Iraq in support of their glorious leader's war?

[Melodybe]

1. Well they should go and sign up, if they love defending this country

so much.

I hope they never get laid, and if they do they get VD.

Ichy VD.

[saigon68]

2. Those Fuckers would NEVER even think of enlisting

That shit is for the Poor white trash, the "Negroes" and a few "spics", hell let them fight and die---"We are here to get connections to make a financial killing"

</extreme Sarcasm>

[tabasco]

27. Wait till they have a draft and watch these little piggies squeal !!

There will be a pandemic of anal cysts across the Nation !

[wellst0nev0ter]

42. Oh, THEY'LL Run To Eye-Rack

If you throw enough money at them and stick them in the fancy-schmancy Green Zone

[atreides1]

3. Sort of like...

...the Hitler Youth Program, but for college students.

[nadinbrzezinski]

4. they have a yellow streak running down their backs

don't they?

[Auntie Bush]

25. Yes, it matches their leader's.

[baron j]

5. They are "bright"? Huh?

Intelligence, and enlightenment, include more than just memorizing raw data, or propaganda, in their case.

[Joyce78]

6. Draft them

[Carolab]

7. Does the Heritage Foundation publish a list?

Perhaps we should send recruiters their names. Or mail info to them on how to enlist.

[maxrandb]

17. It's In the Patriot Act Isn't It??!!

I mean, my kids school is required to give contact info to the recruiters.

Is it just public schools, or are private schools also required to provide contact info??

[Igel]

38. It think it's any school receiving a certain kind of federal

funding.

Want them to stop divulging the kids' names? Get the school board refuse that funding.

[bluestateguy]

8. Oh, they might enlist...

to be those little pencil neck pissant staffers who are too cowardly to leave the Green Zone. How do you think the Coalition Provisional Authority obtained most of their staff?

[CityDem]

9. They will run the gulags of the future

These conservative twits are the Rumsfelds in training. They will be dreaming up the rules for torturing the oppressed in future years.

[noonwitch]

19. Either that, or they'll "come out" in their 30s

They're young.

I always laugh, because the two or three totally conservative dweebs in my high school in the late 70s/early 80s ended up being openly gay adults at some point in their 30s. These were the conservative debate-team guys, who back then read Buckly and Safire, not trash like Sean Hannity or Ann Coulter's ravings.

[northzax]

28. well I don't know about the gay part

but the safire and buckley comment is right on.

and please remember, everyone, that there are 50,000 interns in DC right now, hell, I have two doing research for me, these guys area drop in the bucket. On the other hand, our side needs to encourage this networking as well.

[Carolab]

10. Maybe we should suggest that this FISHWRAP

print a list of PROGRESSIVE internship programs?

Ones that aren't PAID $50 per day to do the dirty work but rather do it because they believe in the cause?

Or are they trying to say that "Conservatives" (read: radical right wingers) are more "organized" and "brighter" and "more dedicated"? Or that progressives don't sponsor college internships?

And, by the way, this isn't BY THE DORMFUL. There are 50 total interns per year. Fifty, and THEY ARE PAID--$50 per day, plus perqs.

Should we do a little digging?

Here are a few:

http://www.usactioneducationfund.org/site/apps/nl/newsletter2.asp?c=kuIVLbP5G&b=292480

http://www.rockridgeinstitute.org/aboutus/internships/2005/announcement

And I'm sure there are plenty through this list of groups:

www.movingideas.org

[burrowowl]

11. Send then to Iraq!

As Pogo would say: Toot Sweet!

[xchrom]

12. you have to hand it to the heritage foundation.

they work hard to brinng in fresh and aggrssive new blood.

which leaves me one conclusion -- liberals need to make it a goal to convert the young.

now that ought to scare the bejeebus out of some conservative christians and dedicated randians,

[bklyncowgirl]

13. This is a good idea and the sort of things progressives should be doing

The conservative movement does some things very well and liberals should take note. One of them is developing think tanks and nurturing the intellectuals to staff them.

They've taken the time and effort to develop the intellectual underpinnings of their movement and this is more evidence of something that liberals should be doing.

By the way, I agree, all these people should be in Iraq, but that's just not going to happen any time soon.

[Carolab]

43. But...Progressives ARE doing it!

http://www.rockridgeinstitute.org/aboutus/internships/2005/announcement

http://www.movingideas.org/

[BR_Parkway]

14. hmmm, walkin closets to keep them hidden while they bash gay folks?

not that all of them are like that to be sure, but I bet the numbers are much higher than in any random group.

[AngryAmish]

23. Not to flame but I thing this is a form of gay bashing

They are bad, therefore they must be gay. I see it all the time over here and I don't like it.

[BR_Parkway]

29. As one who has been on the wrong end of gay bashing more

times than I care to count, I can't agree with your misinterpretation. I didn't say 'they are bad, they must be gay'

I said (or was trying to say) that I thought the 'closet' reference was so appropriate, given the high number of closet cases who secretly hide behind their denouncement of gays within these conservative groups.

Thank you for your support of the gay community here online, it is appreciated.

[truthisfreedom]

15. what heritage? our country's heritage? where did this "heritage" term

come from, that they use to describe their subversive operation?

they are operating in direct violation of Democracy.

[no_hypocrisy]

16. Aw geez, it's the next generation of Alex P. Keatons to be released into

the public.

[cap]

18. what will it take to get the brookings institution et al to raise funds

for programs like this. The Brookings institution rarely makes it into the press these days for some strange reason. I know that they have a fully wired press room in their building. They used to make it in the press all the time in the 80's. They provided the counter arguments to the Reagan trickle down theories.

[KittyWampus]

20. Will The Times Feature Camp Wellstone Next?

[truthisfreedom]

21. shh. if they do, frist will find a way to make Camp Wellstone illegal.

on the basis that it's Democratically funded.

[brainshrub]

22. Say what you want about these cowards, but it shows how advanced the

Say what you want about these cowards, but it shows how advanced the Conservative machine is when it comes to training the next generation on corporate enablers.

Liberal activists don't get paid internships, subsidized dorms or fitness rooms. Case in point; Here is where I had to sleep when I was protesting the inaugural:



This was one of the better accomodations in my experiance as a liberal activist.

When these Hertatage Foundation maggots graduate they will send our children off to foreign wars, dismantle the infrastructure that supports the middle class and engineer coups to topple democracies in other countries.

If the Left wants to fight back, they have to start funding think-tanks that *gasp* support activists so they don't burn out soon after college.

[tonekat]

24. Young Farts of America

...should have been the title of that article. Draft them first. I don't think these emerging Needermyers (Animal House reference) would have such a smug look if they were wearing a full pack in 115 degree temps.

But yeah, the dems need to do some things to show youth that there might actually be some reasons to join the good guys.

[leesa]

26. So the dumbest of the dumbest have arrived.

[Coventina]

30. They can talk to me AFTER THEY GET BACK FROM IRAQ!!!!!

Until then, they are spineless turds.

[Judi Lynn]

31. The stench of so much rotting moral fiber must be unbelievable!

From the article:

While the prestige of Heritage is part of the appeal, so is the work, which rarely involves making coffee or copies. Joel Peyton, who just graduated from Western Kentucky University, is helping to write a paper on privatized services in national parks. That is a task for which he may be especially well suited: after spending three summers working in a Kentucky state park, he published a paper this year denouncing "the inefficiencies of a government-run park system."

When Mr. Peyton's application reached the desk of Ronald D. Utt, a Heritage senior fellow, Mr. Utt said, "Get this guy." An expert in privatization, Mr. Utt had been wanting to make the same arguments about the National Park Service, which he called "the world's largest lawn care and janitorial service."
(snip)

and....

"I was sick of being ridiculed by my teachers for being a Republican: 'Oh, here comes the Republican,' " she said. A veteran intern, she has worked on Capitol Hill (for former Senator Tim Hutchinson of Arkansas), in the White House (for the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives) and at a fund-raising organization (the National Republican Congressional Committee).

"Most of my internships were more on the campaign and active side of politics," Ms. Seidenschnur said. "I wanted to come to Heritage to see more of the intellectual side of politics and the conservative thought movement. When I analyzed my résumé, I realized that was greatly missing."

Oh, and the internship held one other appeal.

"I have a balcony," she said. "It's just magical."
(snip)

Whoever has wanted to grow up to become a pompous, inwardly DEAD, complete asshole?

[Massachusetts]

32. "NYT: Next Generation of Conservatives (By the Dormful)"

Reason #1 Why we need a Draft. Those who support (even those that don't), conflicts such as the "Rumble in Baghdad", should know what the fear, of the possibility of death at the hands of another is like.

Anyone who represents the American Public will then have the experience and ability to be wise(r) when dealing with human conflicts, and UNDERSTAND how precious OUR greatest resource is (OUR sons and daughters).IMO

[kodi]

33. summer camp for Brownshirts, btw: note any inconsistancies in the article?

"The Next Generation of Conservatives" article starts with:

"They are young and bright and ardently right. They tack Ronald Reagan calendars on their cubicle walls and devote brown bag lunches to the free market theories of Friedrich von Hayek."

I would refer you to Hayek's essay entitled "Why I am Not a Conservative."

http://www.fahayek.org/index.php?article=177

Do you notice any inconsistency in describing self-professed conservatives as those who are ardent readers of Hayek, yet do not seem to understand what the man had to say about conservatism and "free market theories?"

These passages come from his book "The Constitution of Liberty "(University of Chicago Press, 1960), from pages 221 through 231:

"To Adam Smith and his immediate successors the enforcement of the ordinary rules of common law would certainly not have appeared as government interference; nor would they ordinarily have applied this term to an alteration of these rules or the passing of a new rule by the legislature so long as it was intended to apply equally to all people for an indefinite period of time. Though they perhaps never explicitly said so, interference meant to them the exercise of the coercive power of government which was not regular enforcement of the general law and which was designed to achieve some specific purpose."

"The important criterion was not the aim pursued, however, but the method employed. There is perhaps no aim which they would not have regarded as legitimate if it was clear that the people wanted it; but they excluded as generally inadmissible in a free society the method of specific orders and prohibitions. Only indirectly, by depriving government of some means by which alone it might be able to attain certain ends, may this principle deprive government of the power to pursue those ends."

"The habitual appeal to the principle of non-interference in the fight against all ill-considered or harmful measures has had the effect of blurring the fundamental distinction between the kinds of measures which are and those which are not compatible with a free system."

"A functioning market economy presupposes certain activities by which its functioning will be assisted; and it can tolerate many more, provided that they are of the kind which are compatible with a functioning market. ... a government that is comparatively inactive but does the wrong things may do much more to cripple the forces of a market economy than one that is more concerned with economic affairs but confines itself to actions which assist the spontaneous forces of the economy."

"In so far as the government merely undertakes to supply services which otherwise would not be supplied at all (usually because it is not possible to confine the benefits to those prepared to pay for them), the only question which arises is whether the benefits are worth the cost. A great many of the activities which governments have universally undertaken in this field and which fall within the limits described are those which facilitate the acquisition of reliable knowledge about facts of general significance. So do most sanitary and health services, often the construction and maintenance of roads, and many of the amenities provided by municipalities for the inhabitants of cities."

"The range and variety of government action that is, at least in principle, reconcilable with a free system is thus considerable. The old formulae of laissez faire or non-intervention do not provide us with an adequate criterion for distinguishing between what is and what is not admissible in a free system. There is ample scope for experimentation and improvement within that permanent legal framework which makes it possible for a free society to operate most efficiently. We can probably at no point be certain that we have already found the best arrangements or institutions that will make the market economy work as beneficially as it could. It is true that after the essential conditions of a free system have been established, all further institutional improvements are bound to be slow and gradual. But the continuous growth of wealth and technological knowledge which such a system makes possible will constantly suggest new ways in which government might render services to its citizens and bring such possibilities within the range of the practicable."


The claim by many conservatives of interpreting all state action as mere “interference,” as if a popularly elected government was merely a protections racket, is intellectually fraudulent. I see from such people little rational discussion on the where to draw the lines between government and everything else that arises from a society and its fundamental belief systems.

Their Holy Grail of “limited government” is a baseless canard, as if anyone defends “unlimited government,” and just as repugnant is the use of the term “government” that does not recognize differences between the popular will of the people via democracy and other less legitimate forms of government.

Refusing to see the distinction renders democracy unthinkable and void and legitimizes a mindset that rejects social contracts between people for the common benefit. What surely follows is not anarchy, in its true political sense, but the law of the jungle. And I can only assume that is the plan of most of the more virulent so-called conservatives, who believe that they are the strong and will rule the jungle. It is not in any sense a political philosophy, rather one of a method of achieving power.

[Doctor_J]

34. Then maybe we WON'T have to have a draft

when all of these patriots sign up.

[progressivebydesign]

35. Good to know that Repug money goes to good causes. NOT.

If the assholes in that other party actually used their power and enormous wealth for good... imagine what the Country would be like. Instead, they pour billions into turning out more fascists. Bet they all have that Trent Lott hair.

[AX10]

36. We should send this to the recruiters.

These days, they are looking for all the patriots and we have them right here. (YAF-Young Autocrats Foundation)

:hide:

[bunny planet]

37. Heritage Foundation Madrassa, only rich, white, Christians need apply.

[thebigidea]

39. the Times seems obligated to do a Neocon Jugend piece every 3 months

[Zerex71]

40. You know, the Reich had a name for this:

Hitler Youth

[SoCalDem]

41. THIS is our biggest problem, folks..

These are carefully chosen "Stepford Republicans". You can bet your last dollar that they are chosen for smarts, looks and poise in front of cameras.

They are the NeoCon Youth Corps, and they will hit the ground, running..when they are done with "finishing school".

No doubt, there are the requisite number of 'ethnic' in their group, and these will be proffered for airtime whenever there is likely to be an issue discussed that those "who look like them" migth be interested in.

They are little more than a traveling theatre troupe, but we all know how effective they are.. They do not 'scare' middle Americans who were raised on 50's & 60's sitcoms and 'feel-good' movies. They are clean-cut kids-next-door, and people WILL listen to them.

An Army of Donna Braziles, Jesse Jacksons, Noam Chomskys, Michael Moores, etc cannot do what this cadre of "fresh faces" can do..

They 'appear' non-confrontational, polite, well spoken, knowledgeable, and friendly... but underneath, they are fully programmed with all the vile double-speak they will need to derail any information that is not in the party's best interest.

This is little more than a Propaganda School..