Commentary

The Vast Right Wing Conspiracy

So who really funds the Oregon Commentator, after all? You'd better make sure you're sitting down first.

BY ANDY COMBS

Last term I took a class from Professor Julia Fox. Fox is a sociologyprofessor, but she was teaching a political science course that focused on how politics and the economy are intertwined. At some point late in the term, she made a remark about how the Oregon Commentator was funded by a group that also funded white supremacist groups. This comment piqued my interest, so I decided to do some research and find out just who does fund the Commentator. I did not know where to begin until I realized that Professor Fox had handed out a list of "right-wing" think tanks, policy-planning groups, and foundations that fund and promote conservative agendas. With list in hand, I started digging, and what I found may startle and perhaps even frighten you.

The Heritage Foundation?
This conservative think tank was founded in 1973 by beer demigod JosephCoors. The Foundation may be the most famous think tank in the UnitedStates. They're quite influential because their research provides thefoundation for much Republican legislation. The group is conservative both fiscally and socially. I started with them because I figured that the Commentator would naturally be supported by the omnipotent Heritage Foundation. Unfortunately we aren't. I would have to dig deeper.

The Cato Institute?
I was directed to the Cato Institute after reading the Commentator's mission statement. Somewhere in there is something about "liberty." Since I relate liberty directly to being a libertarian (note: being a libertarian doesn't mean you're registered with a card and must capitalize the "L"; you can definitely be one and not the other) I decided to look into the brilliantly libertarian think tank, coined by Rolling Stone as "the hottest think-tank in Washington." The Cato Institute is fascinating, and I recommend that everyone read their newsletter, Regulation. I recently got a subscription and I'm quite pleased with it. Even though the Cato Institute and the Commentator fit under the same ideological framework, there was still no connection in terms of funding.

The Hoover Institute?
Located at Stanford University, the Hoover Institute stands as probably the most prestigious of these think tanks. It was founded in 1919 by Herbert Hoover (note: for all of you who recognized that Herbert Hoover was a U.S. President, he was not President at the time, that came later, 1928 to be exact). The Hoover Institute puts out a publication called Hoover Digest, which can be viewed on the Internet. The Institute spends a lot of its time and money examining foreign relation matters, but with an annual budget of twenty million, I was sure that as least one dollar must go to the Oregon Commentator. Once again, I was mistaken. I was getting nowhere with think tanks, so I decided to investigate policy-planning groups. Read on.

The Council on Foreign Relations?
The CFR was founded in 1921, and is probably the most well-known publicpolicy group. Its members include almost all current and past Presidents, Secretaries of State, Treasury, Defense, etc. Their main goal is to try to make peace throughout the world. I would not go as far as saying they are conservative, but they do believe in the free market, so they can't be all that bad. To sum it up, the CFR is a group of rich people who get together and use high ranking government officials to keep good relations with foreign governments and keep free and open markets. Goal number three of their mission statement says that they aim to "find and nurture the next generation of foreign policy leaders and thinkers." I figured they had to be talking about the staff at the Commentator, but when I checked, I found I was once again misled. It was time to look into the "right-wing"foundations.

The John M. Olin Foundation?
Founded in 1953 by the inventer and industrialist John M. Olin, theFoundation stands as one of the biggest private grant givers in thecountry. Last year alone, they gave away over fourteen million dollars.

Like most of the groups presented so far, the John M. Olin Foundationstands on the principles of economic and political liberty. TheFoundation's main goal is to direct its money toward groups that"strengthen the economic, political and cultural institutions upon which the American heritage of constitutional government and private enterprise is based." Even though the Oregon Commentator fits clearly within those boundaries, it does not receive money from this foundation.

The John Birch Society?
Though not a think tank, policy-planning group, or foundation, the Birchers are definitely "right-wing." They do not give money out to groups; for the most part they just try to stay afloat. Their story is interesting, though, and perhaps could be the basis of a good paper. To sum it up, John Birch was caught and executed by some Chinese communists in 1945. This made a martyr out of him, and Robert Welch started the John Birch Society in 1958 to honor his death. This group is very anti-communist. In fact, they are almost anti-everything. They are leery of anything foreign and believe that the Council on Foreign Relations is out to start a one world government and turn American citizens into slaves. I believe that writers from the X-Files and the John Birch Society have a lot in common. Ok, I admit that the John Birch Society is a stretch, but I thought that since they at least have a campus influence at the Street Faire every year, there was an outside chance of a funding connection. God knows I wanted to find a connection so I could be the first one to write a letter to the Emerald, but the Commentator is fully independent of the John Birch Society.

The Madison [Foundation? Center?]
Julia Fox, the most dubious of dubious professors here at theUniversity, claimed to her class that we are funded by a mysteriousfoundation/center taking the name of our fourth president. What did I find? Thank you Ms. Fox: IT NO LONGER EVEN EXISTS. Knowing that, in arealm of oppressive logic, we cannot be funded by something that itself is not funded, I continued my search...

The Collegiate Network?
Aha! We're getting warmer. It seems that this group provides technical and financial assistance to 71 publications across the country. They've even given money to the Oregon Commentator before. When the Commentator's computer was stolen a couple of years ago, the Collegiate Network provided a grant which allowed us to buy a new computer. You are probably wondering just who in hell is behind the Collegiate Network. The answer is the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, which was founded in 1953 to promote liberty, free market thinking, and personal responsibility. This was not as exciting as I thought. But wait a second. If the Commentator hasn'treceived money from the Collegiate Network lately, who funds us?

University of Oregon Incidental Fees?
Though not conservative in the least bit, the sole benefactor of the Oregon Commentator is you, the University of Oregon student. Our $13,000 budget comes directly from the same place that funds the ASUO, the Insurgent, and the marching band. This not only means that Professor Fox is a misdirected Marxist, but it also means that she, and anyone else who believes that there is a conspiracy surrounding the Oregon Commentator, is wrong (or deranged, or a conspiracy nut). Which is not surprising coming from her, considering that she is wrong about most everything.

Andy Combs, a junior majoring in Political Science (and attempting to double major in "Discover Oregon") is a staff writer for the Oregon Commentator