Version 2.7
PRA
Political Research Associates
1310 Broadway, Suite 201
Somerville, MA 02144-1731
Draft Version – Comments welcome – pra@igc.org
Copyright 2003, PRA

PRA
Political Research Associates
1310 Broadway, Suite 201
Somerville, MA 02144-1731
If you are viewing this slide show online, you can choose to view the slides as a full-screen show. To do this, click on the tiny screen icon in the lower right corner. Then Click on each slide to move to the next slide.

The “Right” 101
Recognize that the U.S. Political
Right is a complex network of social movements.

The U.S. Political Right: No Simple Answers
• No one organization “controls” the
Right. No single funder is “behind” the
Right.
• Some large organizations are important, but many others appear to be more influential than they really are.
•
Recognize that there are multiple networks of organizations and funders with differing and sometimes competing agendas.

Understanding How Social Movements Work
Social movements are composed of activists and allies organizing around a shared grievance and common goal. They seek some change in the existing social system through a variety of strategies and tactics. These may include (but extend beyond) electoral politics and legislative lobbying. Rallies, demonstrations, conferences, alternative media, and civil disobedience are examples.

Social Movement Dynamics
In addition to public events, other social movement activities include: the skillful framing of ideas and messages, the effective mobilization of available resources, and the construction of an appealing movement culture.
Successful movements have effective leaders, access to resources, and the ability to exploit opportunities in the existing political scene. These key ingredients are needed to mobilize support and organize successful campaigns around shared grievances, visions, and goals.

Different Tasks, Common Goals
Successful social and political movements are made up of a network of components that work together.
National Organizations
Local Activist Groups
Think Tanks
Media & Publicity
Foundations & Funders
Ideologues
Spokespersons
Cultural Workers

Movements and Countermovements
Movements for social change often provoke a backlash in the form of countermovements that seek to defend unfair privilege and power.
Civil Rights
Antiwar (Vietnam)
Women’s Rights
Gay Rights
Ecology
Segregationist / KKK
Pro War (Vietnam)
Antifeminist / Anti-abortion
Antigay / “Defense of Marriage”
“Wise Use” / anti-Ecology

Think About It

The Right is a Network of Dynamic Coalitions
Think of the U.S. political right as a broad series of social and political movements that have formed a series of coalitions. This network now controls the Republican Party, the government, and the political landscape of the country.

Social Movements & “The System”
When we talk about the “System” we usually include the government, the various institutions of the “State,” the political scene, and people with great power and wealth.
Sara Diamond observes that social movements are “systemsupportive” and/or “system-oppositional.” In the United States, the
Right would be system (or State) supportive in terms of maintaining law and order domestically, and a strong military and U.S. economic, political, and military supremacy internationally; White, male, heterosexual privilege etc. It would be system (or State) oppositional when it comes to distributive justice, domestically and internationally.
The Left, for the large part, would be the mirror opposite.

The Right has Institutionalized its Dominance
The Right has succeeded in dominating the political system, including:
• framing issues and debates,
• winning elections,
• passing legislation, and
• controlling government agencies.
Once a socio-political movement has institutionalized itself and penetrated many sectors of the political system and placed its operatives in government agencies, it is much harder for it to be dislodged by a countermovement.

The Resurgent Right: Why Now?
•
Conservative religious revitalization
•
Economic contraction and restructuring
•
Race resentment and bigotry
• Backlash and social stress
• Well-funded and networked infrastructure of right-wing organizations
Jean Hardisty: Mobilizing Resentment

Undermining Public Education
A central task for much of the U.S. Political Right is undermining the system of public education

Secular Public Education
The secular public education system is built on the concept that informed consent and shared values are foundation blocks of democracy.
A Prepared Citizenry:
•Knowledge
•Values
•Skills
•Civil Behavior
Secular public education is under attack by the Political Right
By preserving the system of free public education we preserve our ability to work for needed reforms to guarantee equal educational opportunity for:
•Impoverished Families
•Newcomers/Immigrants
•People of Color
•People with Disabilities
•Girls

The
Consequences of the Right’s
Attack on
Public
Education
Dismantling the Schoolhouse
By focusing on the consequences, not on the intent, it is easier to explain the results of the attack on the basic foundation of public education
•Perpetuation of sexism, racism, homophobia
•Theocratized knowledge base
•Condoning of discriminatory behavior
•Young adults uninformed about risks and opportunities
•Wider achievement gaps
•Fewer graduates
•More marginalized people
•Cream of crop gets all the benefits
•Support for public education decreases
•Less money goes to schools
•Either a 2-tiered system with haves getting most and havenots getting less than now or a theocratized system
•Undermining the Constitution

Conservative Education Bedfellows
Heritage
US DOE
William Bennett
Chris Whittle
Chester Finn
Diane Ravitch
Linda Chavez
Ron Unz
Lynne Cheney
Edison
EEN
CEO
AEI
Source: www.mediatransparency.org
, http://www.publiceye.org/
Hudson
Olin
Bradley
Scaife
Manhattan
AFTAH
CWA
John Silber
Abigail
Thernstrom
Peter LaBarbera
Phyllis Schlafly
Eagle Forum
KEY
Association
Funding
Think Tanks
Foundations
Organizations
Ideologues

Researching the Right
As an organizer you benefit from knowing a great deal about your opponents so that you can design an effective strategy.
•
Find out as much as you can about the right-wing groups that oppose your goals.
•
Contact other groups that have faced similar struggles.
•
Incorporate this information in your internal and public educational work.

Sectors of the Right
Styles of Thought
Conservative Right
Reactionaries
New Right
Christian Right
Patriots & Militias
Extreme Right

Major Sectors of the U.S. Political Right
One way to help understand the U.S. Political Right is to divide it up into specific sectors
SECULAR RIGHT CHRISTIAN RIGHT XENOPHOBIC RIGHT
There is much overlap and sectors are not mutually exclusive. Methodologies range from cautious moderation, to activism, to insurgency, to violence. Forms of oppression
—racism, sexism, heterosexism, antisemitism, xenophobia —vary in each sector. The use of populist, apocalyptic, or conspiracist styles can be found in several sectors in different forms.

Sectors of the Right: Submovements
Corporate
Internationalists
Colin Powell
Business
Nationalists
Pat Buchanan
SECULAR RIGHT
Economic
Libertarians
William Weld
National Security
Militarists
Donald Rumsfeld
Neoconservatives
Bill Kristol
CHRISTIAN RIGHT
Christian Nationalists
John Ashcroft
Christian Theocrats
Judge Roy Moore
XENOPHOBIC RIGHT
Paleoconservatives
Samuel Francis
Patriots
Militia of Montana
White
Nationalists
John Tanton
Extreme Right
Timothy McVeigh

Think About It

Sectors of the Right: Submovement
Corporate
Internationalists
Colin Powell
Business
Nationalists
Pat Buchanan
SECULAR RIGHT
Economic
Libertarians
William Weld
National Security
Militarists
Donald Rumsfeld
Neoconservatives
Bill Kristol
CHRISTIAN RIGHT
Christian Nationalists
John Ashcroft
Christian Theocrats
Pat Robertson
XENOPHOBIC RIGHT
Paleoconservatives
Samuel Francis
Patriots
Militia of Montana
White
Nationalists
John Tanton
Extreme Right
Timothy McVeigh

Sectors of the Right: Submovements
SECULAR RIGHT
SubSector: The Conservative Right (Mainstream Conservatism)
Corporate Internationalists —Nations should control the flow of people across borders, but not the flow of goods, capital, and profit. Sometimes called the
“Rockefeller Republicans.” Globalists.
Business Nationalists —Multinational corporations erode national sovereignty; nations should enforce borders for people, but also for goods, capital, and profit through trade restrictions. Enlists grassroots allies among Regressive Populists.
Anti-Globalists.
Economic Libertarians —The state disrupts the perfect harmony of the free market system. Modern democracy is essentially congruent with capitalism.
National Security Militarists —Support US military supremacy and unilateral use of force to protect US national security interests around the world. A major component of Cold War anti-communism.
Neoconservatives —The egalitarian social liberation movements of the 1960s and 1970s undermined the national consensus. Intellectual oligarchies and political institutions preserve democracy from mob rule.

Sectors of the Right: Submovements
Corporate
Internationalists
Colin Powell
Business
Nationalists
Pat Buchanan
SECULAR RIGHT
Economic
Libertarians
William Weld
National Security
Militarists
Donald Rumsfeld
Neoconservatives
Bill Kristol
CHRISTIAN RIGHT
Christian Nationalists
John Ashcroft
Christian Theocrats
Pat Robertson
XENOPHOBIC RIGHT
Paleoconservatives
Samuel Francis
Patriots
Militia of Montana
White
Nationalists
John Tanton
Extreme Right
Timothy McVeigh

Sectors of the Right: Submovements
CHRISTIAN RIGHT
SubSector: The Conservative Right (Mainstream Conservatism)
Christian Nationalists —
Biblically–defined immorality and sin breed chaos and anarchy. America’s greatness as God’s chosen land has been undermined by liberal secular humanists, feminists, and homosexuals.
Purists want litmus tests for issues of abortion, tolerance of gays and lesbians, and prayer in schools. Includes some non–Christian cultural conservatives. Overlaps somewhat with Christian theocracy.
SubSector: The Hard Right (Far Right)
Christian Theocrats —
Christian men are ordained by God to run society. Eurocentric version of Christianity based on early Calvinism.
Intrinsically Christian ethnocentric, treating non-Christians as secondclass citizens. Implicitly antisemitic. Includes soft dominionists and hardline Reconstructionists.

Sectors of the Right: Submovements
Corporate
Internationalists
Colin Powell
Business
Nationalists
Pat Buchanan
SECULAR RIGHT
Economic
Libertarians
William Weld
National Security
Militarists
Donald Rumsfeld
Neoconservatives
Bill Kristol
CHRISTIAN RIGHT
Christian Nationalists
John Ashcroft
Christian Theocrats
Pat Robertson
XENOPHOBIC RIGHT
Paleoconservatives
Samuel Francis
Patriots
Militia of Montana
White
Nationalists
John Tanton
Extreme Right
Timothy McVeigh

Sectors of the Right: Submovements
XENOPHOBIC RIGHT
SubSector: The Hard Right (Far Right)
Paleoconservatives —
Ultra-conservatives and reactionaries. Natural financial oligarchies preserve the republic against democratic mob rule.
Usually nativist (White Racial Nationalist), sometimes antisemitic or
Christian nationalist. Elitist emphasis is similar to the intellectual conservative revolutionary wing of the European New Right. Often libertarian.
Patriot Movement (Regressive Populists)
—Secret elites control the government and banks. The government plans repression to enforce elite rule or global collectivism. The patriot and armed militia movements are one response from this sector. Americanist. Often supports Business Nationalism due to its isolationist emphasis. Anti-Globalists, yet support noninterventionist national security militarism. Repressive towards scapegoated targets below them on socio-economic ladder.

Sectors of the Right: Submovements
XENOPHOBIC RIGHT
SubSector: The Hard Right (Far Right)
White Nationalists —Alien cultures make democracy impossible. Cultural
Supremacists argue different races can adopt the dominant (White) culture;
Biological Racists argue the immutable integrity of culture, race, and nation.
Segregationists want distinct enclaves, Separatists want distinct nations.
Americanist. Tribalist emphasis is similar to the race-is-nation wing of the
European New Right.
Extreme Right (Ultra Right)
—Militant forms of insurgent or revolutionary right ideology. Separatist or genocidalist ethnocentric nationalism. Reject pluralist democracy for an organic oligarchy that unites the idealized homogeneic nation. Conspiracist views of power that are overwhelmingly antisemitic. Home to overt fascists, neonazis, Christian Identity, National
Alliance, Church of the Creator.

The Paleoconservatives
Corporate
Internationalists
Colin Powell
Business
Nationalists
Pat Buchanan
SECULAR RIGHT
Economic
Libertarians
William Weld
National Security
Militarists
Donald Rumsfeld
Neoconservatives
Bill Kristol
CHRISTIAN RIGHT
Christian Nationalists Christian Theocrats
Let’s take a closer look at the
Paleoconservative sector of the
Xenophobic Right
John Ashcroft
XENOPHOBIC RIGHT
Pat Robertson
Paleoconservatives Patriots White
Nationalists
Extreme Right
Samuel Francis Militia of Montana John Tanton Timothy McVeigh

Paleoconservative Ideology
Paleoconservatives
Oppose
Economic
Economic regulations
Taxation
Land use regulations
Internationalism
Free Trade
Social
Community
Mass democracy
Dissent and rebellion
Racial diversity
Cultural
Unorthodox behavior
Multiculturalism
Religious diversity
Feminism & Gay Rights
Paleoconservatives Urge
State Support For
Economic
Unrestricted Capitalism
Wealth
Property rights
National business interests
Trade Restrictions
Social
Individualism
Elitist oligarchy
Law and order
Racial purity
Cultural
Traditional morality
Monoculturalism
Judeo-Christian tenets
Heterosexual patriarchy

Sectors of the Right: Submovements
Corporate
Internationalists
Colin Powell
Business
Nationalists
Pat Buchanan
SECULAR RIGHT
Economic
Libertarians
William Weld
National Security
Militarists
Donald Rumsfeld
Neoconservatives
Bill Kristol
CHRISTIAN RIGHT
Christian Nationalists
John Ashcroft
Christian Theocrats
Pat Robertson
XENOPHOBIC RIGHT
Paleoconservatives
Samuel Francis
Patriots
Militia of Montana
White
Nationalists
John Tanton
Extreme Right
Timothy McVeigh

Methodologies Vary
Demonization
Discrimination
Segregation
Separation
Intimidation
Violence
Expulsion
Murder
Genocide

Methodologies Can Vary by Sector
As social movements, different sectors of the right use different methods, tactics, and activities to achieve their goals. The state, however, usually has the power to use the most authoritarian methods. Thus controlling the state provides great political power.
Individuals in any sector of the Right can decide to use violence as a tactic.
Usually more willing/able to use democratic methods
• Fiscal conservatives
• Economic libertarians
• Neoconservatives
• Business nationalists
• Corporate internationalists
• Militarist unilateralists
• Christian fundamentalists
• Paleoconservatives
• Theocratic Christian nationalists
• White racial nationalists
• Fascists
• Neonazis
Usually more willing/able to use authoritarian methods

Think About It
A methodology is just a fancy word for the methods, tactics, and activities used by a movement to achieve its goals.

The Right is not monolithic, there are divisions and debates that cause friction.
Culture Warriors vs.
Economic Libertarians
Cracks in the Right
Paleoconservatives vs.
Neoconservatives
These divisions can be utilized by us as we build a progressive countermovement.
Purists vs.
Pragmatists
Neoconservatives vs.
Theoconservatives
Biological Racists vs.
Cultural Supremacists

Different Primary Targets
While issues of race, gender, and class are intertwined in all social movements, each movement sector will frame its arguments in a way that highlights a narrower primary target.
Christian Right
Patriot Movement & Militias
Extreme Right
Gender & Sexuality
Government & “Elites”
Race

Complex Combinations
Social movements target both primary and secondary issues, use different methodologies, and use frames and styles in different ways.
Movement Sector Primary
Extreme Right
Patriot
Movement &
Armed Militias
Christian Right
Targets
Race
Government
Gender
Secondary
Targets
Government,
Gender
Gender,
Race
Government,
Race
Methodologies Major Frames & Styles by
Hypothetical Rank
Insurgency:
Exclusion,
Violence
Reform:
Defensive
Vigilantism
Reform:
Electoral,
Regulatory
Domination
Conspiracism
Apocalypticism
Populist Anti-Elitism
Populist Anti-Elitism
Conspiracism
Apocalypticism
Domination
Apocalypticism
Conspiracism
Domination
Populist Anti-Elitism

Coalition Building
While there are cracks that cause fissures and splits in the
Political Right, the various sectors have often been able to work in coalitions on strategic campaigns and tactical alliances.
Sometimes right-wing groups work in parallel on broadlydefined projects without an overt coalition.
Christian Right
Libertarians
Conservatives
Oppose comprehensive sexuality education in public schools

Building Blocks of the U.S. Political Right
The New Right
Coalition became a major building block of the contemporary
U.S. Political Right & the Republican Party.
Ideological
Influence of
Neoconservatism
Funded by Right-Wing
Think Tanks
Coalition
Called the
New Right
New Methods and
Technologies of
Mobilization,
New Coded Forms of Racism
2000+
New
Evangelical
Awakening
Anti-Abortion,
Anti-LGBT Rights,
Anti-Feminist,
Dominionism,
Reconstructionism.
Ideologies of the Old Right
White Anglo Saxon Protestantism,
Eurocentrism, White Supremacy,
Male Privilege, Heterosexism,
Christian Superiority, Isolationism
The New Right
Coalition used right-wing populist rhetoric to build its membership &
Post WWII Fusionist Coalition
Economic Libertarianism
+ Social Traditionalism
+ Militant Anti-Communism
= Modern Conservatism voter base.
1970s –
1980s
1950s

Mobilizing Resentment
The term “New Right” is used to describe the conservative coalition built in the 1970s to elect Ronald Reagan as President in 1980.
“The New Right captured and mobilized widespread social stress caused by rapid social and economic stress. It did not create backlash sentiments out of whole cloth. They had already existed, at least latently. New Right leaders listened to them, took them seriously, and then mobilized and manipulated them.”
Jean Hardisty: Mobilizing Resentment, p. 42

Populist Rhetoric & Mobilizing Resentment
“Populism seeks to mobilize ‘the people’ as a social or political force. It can move to the left or right.
Populism can be tolerant or intolerant. It can promote civil discourse and political participation or promote scapegoating, demagoguery, and conspiracism. It can oppose the status quo and challenge elites to promote change, or support the status quo to defend ‘the people’ against a perceived threat by elites or subversive outsiders. Populism can have an upper middle/small entrepreneur class base or a lower middle/working class base.
”
(Chip Berlet & Matthew N. Lyons, Right-Wing Populism in America)

Components of Right-Wing Populism
Populism draws themes from several historic currents with potentially negative consequences, including:
• Anti–elitism —a suspicion of politicians, powerful people, the wealthy, and high culture...sometimes leading to conspiracist allegations about control of the world by secret elites, especially the scapegoating of Jews as sinister and powerful manipulators of the economy or media;
•
Anti–intellectualism
—a distrust of those pointy-headed professors in their Ivory
Towers...sometimes undercutting rational debate by discarding logic and factual evidence in favor of following the emotional appeals of demagogues;
•
Majoritarianism
—the notion that the will of the majority of people has absolute primacy in matters of governance... sacrificing rights for minorities, especially people of color and LGBT people;
• Moralism —evangelical–style campaigns rooted in Protestant revivalism...sometimes
leading to authoritarian and theocratic attempts to impose orthodoxy, especially relating to gender and sexuality;
• Americanism —a form of jingoism that twists patriotism into aggressive nationalism...often promoting ethnocentric, nativist, or xenophobic fears that immigrants bring alien ideas and customs that are toxic to our culture;
•
Producerism
—the idea that the real Americans are hard–working people who create goods and wealth while fighting against parasites at the top and bottom of society who pick our pocket...sometimes promoting scapegoating and the blurring of issues of class and economic justice, and with a history of assuming proper citizenship as defined by
White males.

Dynamics of Right-Wing Populism
As the size of the right-wing populist groups grow, they become the target for recruitment by both mainstream politicians and extreme right organizers.

Right-Wing Populist Rhetoric & Scapegoating
Right-wing populist rhetoric is used to build a broad coalition and attract voters to support politicians and legislation who claim to represent “the people,” but who promote policies that primarily benefit wealthy elites, and undermine attempts to achieve real democratic participation and equality.
The rightwing populists use the fable of “producerism” to creates a dynamic where targeted groups are demonized so they can more easily be scapegoated and falsely blamed for creating problems in the society.
Sometimes this goes further and generates conspiracy theories claiming parasitic secret elites manipulate the country through covert control of the the banks, news media, and education. These alleged secret elites are often portrayed as being in league with lazy, sinful, and subversive parasites at the bottom of society.
Producerism
—the idea that the real Americans are hard–working people who create goods and wealth while fighting against parasites at the top and bottom of society who pick our pocket...sometimes promoting scapegoating and the blurring of issues of class and economic justice, and with a history of assuming proper citizenship as defined by
White males.

The “New” Racism
Be alert to evidence of the Right’s “new racism.”
The Right has replaced simple racist rhetoric with a more complex, “colorblind” political agenda which uses coded language to mask that this
“new” agenda still undermines the rights of people of color.

Techniques of the “New” Racism
•
Coded language about Race that uses
Liberal Values for Illiberal/Conservative
Ends
• Explicit rejection of Overt Racism and
Racist Intent
• Shift of focus from Race and “Biological
Difference and Inequality” to Cultural
Difference and Differentiation
• Placing high visibility people of color up front in defending ideas and programs that undermine racial justice

PRA
The “New” Racism: Key Categories
Some sectors of the Right use a new coded language to mask policies that result in undermining true equality.
•
Colorblindness
•
Equality
•
Individualism
• “‘American’ Way of Life”
• Reverse Racism
• States’ Rights/Democracy

Using Beliefs as a Wedge
Note how the Right uses existing beliefs to split potential allies
The Right
CIVIL
RIGHTS
LGBT People People of Color
Source: www.mediatransparency.org, www.publiceye.org

Note how the Right uses existing values to split potential allies
Using Values as a Wedge
The Right
“ACCEPTABILITY”
“Bad” LGBT People
& People of Color
“Good” LGBT People
& People of Color

Using Language as a Wedge
Note how the Right uses language to split potential allies
The Right
REPRODUCTIVE
RIGHTS
Pro-Life ……
Baby Killing ...
Unborn Child
…...
Pro-Choice
… Medical Procedure
Fetus
Source: www.mediatransparency.org, www.publiceye.org

Think About It

The Price We Pay is Too High!
We Must Build Coalitions to Resist Right-Wing
Attacks on Democracy and Diversity
Whatever form our activism takes, we must not fall into despair and quiescence. The struggle for justice is an old and noble one.
That struggle has fallen on hard times now, as it has in the past and will in the future. No matter the challenges and the temptation to become cynical and inactive, we need to respond in solidarity with those most harmed by the Right’s policies.
And we must build on the legacy of resistance of progressives who lived—and worked—in other conservative times. With a sense of history and a sense of humor, we will continue our struggles against unjust power and unfair privilege.

Where to go for more information:
The Public Eye Website
•
Study the U.S. Political Right
• Get Involved!
•
Ground Rules & Tips for Challenging the Right
• Activist Resource Kits
•
Defending Democracy
•
Defending Reproductive Rights
• Defending Public Education
• Defending Immigrant Rights
• Building Equality
•
Topics Page
•
Security for Activists