The Practical Progressive

Book excerpt: Underneath today's elections is a fierce battle for power driven not by the country's elected officials, but by organizations and people you have never heard of. Since the 1964 Goldwater defeat, conservative philanthropists have built a set of ideologically-aligned institutions -- think tanks, legal advocacy organizations, watchdog groups, and media vehicles -- to change the country's intellectual and political climate and to assure conservative political dominance. Progressives finally woke up to this structural disparity and have embarked on one of the most invigorating periods of renewal and growth in political history. This book tells the story of the brightest and best institutions leading this revival.