Wow! IssuesGuy at Seeing The Forest wrote some terrific articles about the Commonweal Institute and the work it is doing to counter the right-wing think tanks that have orchestrated the current rise to power of the most extreme right-wing government we've had in many years.

He first of all indicates that he prefers to call the current right-wing nuts who are in charge "regressives" instead of "conservatives." These guys have hijacked the term "conservatives" from the true conservatives who have a long tradition of responsible leadership.

He then goes on to describe the decades-long campaign by the Heritage Foundation and others to orchestrate the current rise to power of their cronies and puppets. This is documented in part in David Brock's book "Blinded by the Right: The Conscience of an Ex-Conservative."

He says the Commonweal Institute is envisioned as a moderate and progressive response to the Heritage Foundation. I'll be spending some time over the next few days reading some more at their web site.

If half of the claims made about the orchestrated take-over of the government by the extreme right are true, then things are scarier than I thought. If the Commonweal Institute proves to be an effective counter to that movement, then things could be looking up.