Everything about The Free Congress Foundation totally explained
The
Free Congress Foundation (more formally the
Free Congress Research and Education Foundation, and
Free Congress or
FCF for short), is a
conservative think tank in
Washington, D.C. founded and led by
Paul Weyrich.
Origin
In the
1960s and
1970s the
labor union-backed
National Committee for an Effective Congress was highly influential. In
1974, in part to counteract its influence, Weyrich founded the
Committee for the Survival of a Free Congress (CSFC), whose name implied that the
United States Congress was dominated by labor and other
liberal-leaning interest groups, and that this situation needed to change.
The CSFC was organized as a
grassroots organization focused on elective politics. It had some success, and was a pioneer in political
direct mail fundraising. It complemented in a respect the activities of the
Heritage Foundation, which Weyrich had also co-founded, which researched tax and regulatory issues. But Weyrich wanted an organization which would focus on conservative social values.
The CSFC thus became a non-profit
501(c)(3) organization, the Free Congress Research and Education Foundation. It also has a sister organization,
Coalitions for America, which, as a
501(c)(4), is permitted to lobby, and a
political action committee, the
Free Congress PAC, that's permitted to directly endorse and contribute to political candidates. The name "Free Congress" no longer directly refers to an effort to free Congress from liberal influence; it's now the equivalent of a brand name that has outgrown its origin and refers only to the organization that bears it.
Activist training
Since its inception, FCF has trained conservatives in basic techniques of activism and election campaigns, although it hasn't emphasized this activity today as strongly as in years and decades past.
During and after the
Cold War, the affiliated
Krieble Institute focused on training pro-democracy and anti-communist activists in eastern Europe as well as in the
USSR and its
successor states. To this day Weyrich has close ties to various Russian political figures and hasn't joined the hard line others on the right have taken on Russian president
Vladimir Putin.
Privacy
FCF is unusual among conservative groups, particularly since the inauguration of
George W. Bush and the
September 11 terrorist attacks, in taking a strong stance in favor of
privacy, not only from government, but also from corporations. Its Center for Technology Policy and Coalition for Constitutional Liberties has opposed the
USA PATRIOT Act,
ECHELON, a
national ID card, and other measures usually supported by conservatives for fighting
crime,
terrorism, and
illegal immigration.
Judicial nominations
FCF has been involved in the judicial nominations battles since the early
1980s. Its Center for Law and Democracy and its Coalition for Judicial Restraint have criticized Republican Senators for not being aggressive enough in blocking liberal nominees or in confirming certain conservatives. The CLD has also researched and publicized information about nominees' decisions and writings, either to attack or defend them.
The FCF has promoted what it sees as a philosophy of judicial restraint, in which judges largely defer to the elected branches of government on controversial political and cultural decisions. The individual most closely associated with this philosophy-and the chief exponent for the Free Congress Foundation's views on this subject for many years-is
Thomas Jipping, who has made numerous appearances on television and radio, as well as in both print and online media, supporting conservative judicial nominations put forward by the Bush administration, and conversely, opposing what he considered liberal nominees chosen by the previous Clinton administration.
Cultural conservatism
FCF played a founding role in galvanizing religious conservative political activism. But by the late 1990s, Weyrich declared that social conservatives were no longer a majority having a liberal agenda forced on them by an elite, but rather are a dwindling minority that have lost control over the culture; that traditional culture and the
counterculture have traded places. He acknowledged the need for continued political involvement as a matter of self-defense, but stated that politics couldn't restore traditional values, nor could what were in his views hopeless efforts to recapture institutions such as prestige media, academia, and mainline churches that had been lost to the Left. Instead he urged conservatives to invest their time and money in alternative institutions, which would, in his viewpoint, eventually become the norm due to the superior efficacy of traditional values. This sparked a firestorm of criticism from other conservatives who accused Weyrich of giving up.
FCF has also been willing to spark controversy on other fronts. It rejects what it calls
Political Correctness, dubbing it "
cultural Marxism" and blaming it on the
Frankfurt School of left-wing thinkers. Accordingly, it has been more willing than many other conservative groups to endorse or entertain views that some, especially on the left, would consider offensive and evidence of bigotry. It is arguably hostile to
Islam as a whole, rather than confining its criticism to extremist Islam or
Islamism. With regard to Judaism, in his column of
April 13,
2001 (
Good Friday) titled
Indeed, He is Risen!, Weyrich argued that "Christ was crucified by the Jews.... He wasn't what the Jews had expected so they considered Him a threat. Thus He was put to death."
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Foreign policy and defense
FCF took a hard-line anti-communist stance in the Cold War, rejecting
détente and
arms control and supporting efforts to overthrow communist governments. However, other than
Strategic Defense Initiative which it strongly backed, FCF didn't fully endorse the Reagan program of spending on expensive weapon systems, a stance it continues to this day. It remains hostile to the
People's Republic of China.
Perhaps because of Weyrich's switch from Latin Rite to the
Melkite Rite, which is in full communion with Rome although there are some differences in its
liturgy and traditions from the
Latin Rite best known in the US, FCF has been friendlier to post-communist
Serbia and
Russia than most contemporary conservatives. It was against US intervention in the Balkans, leaning more toward the Orthodox Christian
Serbs than the
Muslim Bosnians and
Albanians. It has also defended Russia's efforts in the
First and
Second Chechen Wars.
While arguably hostile to Islam, particularly to Muslim immigration to the
West, and tolerant of racial and religious
profiling in anti-terrorist efforts, FCF has been cooler to the worldwide
War on Terror, and particularly the
Iraq War, than other conservatives. However, it has largely refrained from endorsing direct criticism of President Bush's efforts in that regard, or any criticism of the intentions and conduct of US and allied forces.
Economics and trade
FCF departs from other conservative institutions in endorsing a
protectionist approach on
international trade. Furthermore, it isn't as purely free-market, supporting government efforts in
mass transit and privacy protection.
However, it also supports mainstream conservative views on
fiscal policy, calling for reduced spending and taxes.
Broadcast efforts
Like many conservatives, Weyrich has long believed that the mainstream news and entertainment media exhibit a
liberal bias. In an attempt to help counter this, in 1993, FCF launched a Washington, D.C.-based
satellite television station called National Empowerment Television (NET). Its logo featured a square of nine dots, referring to a puzzle that can't be solved without drawing lines "."
NET served in part as a platform for FCF and Weyrich's distinctive views and interests. For example, Weyrich is a supporter of
rail, and
Amtrak had a program on the channel called
America on Track; another program,
The New Electric Railway Journal, covered
light rail. There were even programs about
wine and
music. Other programs focused on FCF activity:
Endangered Liberties discussed
privacy issues;
Legal Notebook emphasized judicial nominations, and
Next Revolution covered FCF's take on social conservatism. The most popular program was
Direct Line with Paul Weyrich, in which the host interviewed lawmakers and other prominent figures live, permitted the public to call in directly with questions and comments, and delivered a commentary in the final segment.
NET was also a broader resource for the U.S. conservative and free market movement. Many organizations bought the rights to air programs on the channel, including the
National Rifle Association, the
Christian Coalition, the
Cato Institute,
Accuracy in Media, and others.
The channel featured high production values and cost a great deal, and in response to donor and investor pressure for a clear focus, FCF dropped all programs not directly related to public policy and conservative activism, and rebranded the channel as NET: The Conservative NewsTalk Network, with the initials NET no longer standing for anything, and the nine-dot logo replaced with one evoking the US Capitol dome. It also began news reports and updates, and a full-fledged investigative journalism program.
FCF planned to make NET a self-sustaining, even profitable commercial enterprise, rather than a money-losing tool of outreach, but was unsuccessful. In a decision he later came to regret bitterly, Weyrich turned over day-to-day operation of the channel to an industry veteran who had been successful with other startups. After a power struggle which Weyrich lost, NET was rebranded again into "America's Voice", and the channel abandoned all conservative identity, marketing itself merely as a non-ideological way for the public to make its views known to policymakers. FCF had to pay to retain its four programs on the channel, and after controversy over their content, even those were removed. Viewer support collapsed, and
Dish Network dropped it. Eventually America's Voice was sold, becoming "The Renaissance Network" (TRN), airing on a few broadcast stations, mainly
UHF and low-power channels. Facing ruin, TRN brought back FCF content, but it was too little, too late, and the channel folded.
Although NET and its successors failed, Weyrich had seen a market opportunity among conservative viewers disenchanted with the media, one which the
Fox News Channel reaped rich rewards from soon later.
FCF has also experimented with radio broadcasting, airing weekly taped programs on the Liberty Works Radio Network and other outlets.
Today, it offers interviews, soundbites, and commentary readings on its website,
FCF News on Demand.
Criticism
Alleged publishing of Islamophobic books
Carl Ernst, an academic scholar of Islam, states that the Free Congress Foundation publications is 'promoted and supported by right-wing organizations, who are perpetuating a type of bigotry similar to anti-Semitism and racial prejudice...Free Congress Foundation has received almost $24 million in funding from the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation and other conservative sources in the past twenty years.'
Alleged links to "Dominionism"
TheocracyWatch, a project run by the Center for Religion, Ethics and Social Policy at
Cornell University and critical of much of politically active religious conservatism, says that the Free Congress Foundation has ties to what TheocracyWatch calls the
Dominionist movement. As an example of "Dominionism In Action," TheocracyWatch says FCF's manifesto
The Integration of Theory and Practice: A Program for the New Traditionalist Movement "illuminates the tactics of the dominionist movement."
(External Link) The manifesto is no longer on the FCF website.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Free Congress Foundation'.
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