The Lack of a Conservative Think Tank in Idaho

The Lack of a Conservative Think Tank in Idaho

I sometimes wonder if the increasingly leftist leaning of Idaho politics might reflect that there simply is no local organization putting any effort into public policy advocacy with a conservative bent. The State Policy Network, for example, strives to bring together conservative public policy organizations from around the U.S., and they have members in many states--but not Idaho. An endowment of five million dollars would produce about $250,000 a year in interest income, easily--and with that kind of money, an organization could afford to hire several economists, an historian (let me make a suggestion on that), a PR person, a webmaster, and start producing thoughtful and useful public policy analysis materials.

Now, there are certainly business interests here in Idaho that are promoting their agenda--but that's not the same thing as promoting free markets. Business interests are frequently indifferent to free markets, and sometimes quite hostile to them--as the recent farm price support bill demonstrated.

Now, I'm not sure that there are actually any wealthy conservatives. Just about everyone I know who could afford to endow a foundation with five million dollars is liberal to Marxist. (Although not Marxist enough to, you know, actually give away their fortunes to the needy.) But I consider the possibility that there are rich conservatives out there to be at least a real possibility--more likely than the existence of leprechauns.