Stealth Planning Pays Off for the Right (Image Credits: Unsplash)
Conservative operatives methodically constructed a framework over years to undermine key federal environmental safeguards, positioning themselves for major reversals in the new administration.
Stealth Planning Pays Off for the Right
Four key figures – Russell Vought, Jeffrey Clark, Mandy Gunasekara, and Jonathan Brightbill – worked in the shadows during the Biden era. They drafted executive orders, secured funding from the Heritage Foundation, and gathered supporting research from aligned experts. Their target: the endangerment finding, the foundational scientific basis for all federal climate regulations since 2009.
Myron Ebell, a longtime skeptic of climate science, described their efforts as “pretty close to total victory.” This approach dismantled the core support for existing rules, forcing any future efforts to regulate greenhouse gases to begin anew. Patience and targeted resources enabled a small team to achieve outsized impact after 16 years of groundwork.
Why Progressive Ideas Fall Short
Calls to overturn Citizens United or tax the wealthy resonate widely, yet they demand constitutional amendments or supermajorities in Congress amid a hostile Supreme Court. No comparable infrastructure exists to advance these goals. Simple conservative slogans like “build a wall” carry clear mechanisms, while progressive priorities often lack operational engines.
Even securing vast revenues fails to resolve deeper issues. The healthcare system already absorbs nearly $6 trillion annually, yet it maintains fewer hospitals per capita than in the 1970s, charges the world’s highest drug prices for publicly funded innovations, and sees insurers reject 30 percent of claims routinely. Additional funds merely enrich entrenched interests within corrupted structures.
Breaking the Cycle: Lessons from History
The current progressive model – tax, spend, extract – fuels a repetitive loop across sectors like housing and education, where inputs vanish into private profits. Conservatives aim to tear down; establishment Democrats seek to infuse more cash into ruins. A superior strategy emerges: construct public alternatives that generate real value.
The Reconstruction Finance Corporation exemplified this during and after World War II. It established government-owned companies, either directly operated or via contractors, to create productive capacity without prior tax hikes. Such efforts produced wealth to address debt, shifting from wasteful spending to investments yielding returns.
Charting Public Power Initiatives
Saikat Chakrabarti, architect of the Green New Deal and now advancing Mission for America, outlines a framework for large-scale public construction. This shifts focus from redistributing billionaire gains to developing independent capacity in critical areas.
- A public energy company to produce and distribute clean power.
- A national AI laboratory, ensuring transformative technology serves the public rather than a handful of tycoons.
- Public pharmaceutical manufacturing to curb exorbitant prices for taxpayer-supported drugs.
- Public hospitals prioritizing community care over profit extraction.
Public funds already flow to private entities, as seen with Elon Musk’s ventures reliant on government contracts, subsidies, and intellectual property. Redirecting these toward public ownership mirrors restrictions on private nuclear arms while capturing societal benefits.
Key Takeaways
- Conservatives succeeded through secretive, patient planning – progressives require similar discipline for construction.
- Abandon circular spending; prioritize public entities that build lasting value.
- Embrace historical models like the RFC to generate wealth and counter debt effectively.
As conservatives implement their demolition agenda, progressives hold a window during the Trump years to erect enduring public infrastructure. This construction blueprint offers not just resistance, but renewal owned by the people. What steps would you prioritize in such a plan? Share your thoughts in the comments.
