Free Congress Foundation

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 is 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 is 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 has not 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 has not 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 could not 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 was not what the Jews had expected so they considered Him a threat. Thus He was put to death." [http://www.forward.com/issues/2001/01.04.27/news2.html]

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 did not 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 is not 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 cannot 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, [http://www.fcfnewsondemand.org/ 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.' [http://www.unc.edu/courses/2004spring/reli/026/001/spencer.htm Link from a course website of Prof. Carl Ernst] ]

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 [http://www.yuricareport.com/Dominionism/FreeCongressEssay.html "The Integration of Theory and Practice: A Program for the New Traditionalist Movement"] "illuminates the tactics of the dominionist movement." [http://www.theocracywatch.org/#Dominionist] The manifesto is no longer on the FCF website.

Notes

External links

* [http://www.freecongress.org/ Official website]

* [http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Free_Congress_Foundation Entry on FCF] from SourceWatch
* [http://www.pfaw.org/pfaw/general/default.aspx?oid=4314 Entry] from People for the American Way
* [http://www.mediatransparency.org/recipientprofile.php?recipientID=126 Recipient Profile] from Media Transparency