Tuesday, November 8, 2016

Warning from Dennis Kucinich on Washington Think Tanks

Think tanks are taking a beating these days.  Here is the latest from former congressman Dennis Kucinich, who wrote a piece for The Nation entitled "Why Is the Foreign Policy Establishment Spoiling for More War?  Look at Their Donors.":
Washington, DC, may be the only place in the world where people openly flaunt their pseudo-intellectuality by banding together, declaring themselves “think tanks,” and raising money from external interests, including foreign governments, to compile reports that advance policies inimical to the real-life concerns of the American people.
The DC think tanks provide cover for the political establishment, a political safety net, with a fictive analytical framework providing a moral rationale for intervention, capitol casuistry. I’m fed up with the DC policy elite who cash in on war while presenting themselves as experts, at the cost of other people’s lives, our national fortune, and the sacred honor of our country.
Any report advocating war that comes from any alleged think tank ought to be accompanied by a list of the think tank’s sponsors and donors and a statement of the lobbying connections of the report’s authors.

The full piece can be read at the link above, and Mr. Kucinich's website can be found here.

It is the latest in a slew of articles that have recently come out detailing and/or lamenting the rampant pay-for-play at many major think tanks.