A Reminder: THIS... Is Where It All First Went To Hell... The Powell Memo:

[WillyT]

The Powell Memo (also known as the Powell Manifesto)
The Powell Memo was first published August 23, 1971
ReclaimDemocracy



DATE: August 23, 1971
TO: Mr. Eugene B. Sydnor, Jr., Chairman, Education Committee, U.S. Chamber of Commerce
FROM: Lewis F. Powell, Jr.

<snip>

In 1971, Lewis Powell, then a corporate lawyer and member of the boards of 11 corporations, wrote a memo to his friend Eugene Sydnor, Jr., the Director of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The memorandum was dated August 23, 1971, two months prior to Powell’s nomination by President Nixon to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Powell Memo did not become available to the public until long after his confirmation to the Court. It was leaked to Jack Anderson, a liberal syndicated columnist, who stirred interest in the document when he cited it as reason to doubt Powell’s legal objectivity. Anderson cautioned that Powell “might use his position on the Supreme Court to put his ideas into practice…in behalf of business interests.”

Though Powell’s memo was not the sole influence, the Chamber and corporate activists took his advice to heart and began building a powerful array of institutions designed to shift public attitudes and beliefs over the course of years and decades. The memo influenced or inspired the creation of the Heritage Foundation, the Manhattan Institute, the Cato Institute, Citizens for a Sound Economy, Accuracy in Academe, and other powerful organizations. Their long-term focus began paying off handsomely in the 1980s, in coordination with the Reagan Administration’s “hands-off business” philosophy.

Most notable about these institutions was their focus on education, shifting values, and movement-building — a focus we share, though often with sharply contrasting goals.* (See our endnote for more on this.)

So did Powell’s political views influence his judicial decisions? The evidence is mixed. Powell did embrace expansion of corporate privilege and wrote the majority opinion in First National Bank of Boston v. Bellotti, a 1978 decision that effectively invented a First Amendment “right” for corporations to influence ballot questions. On social issues, he was a moderate, whose votes often surprised his backers"

The memo:

Confidential Memorandum: Attack of American Free Enterprise System

DATE: August 23, 1971
TO: Mr. Eugene B. Sydnor, Jr., Chairman, Education Committee, U.S. Chamber of Commerce
FROM: Lewis F. Powell, Jr.
...

<snip>

More: http://reclaimdemocracy.org/powell_memo_lewis/

[DJ13]

1. A judicial (asshole) activist if there ever was one

[truebluegreen]

6. FYI, he wasn't on the bench when he wrote the memo

and was known as a moderate "consensus builder" when he was on the bench. I'm not a fan, but I wonder how he would view the legacy of that memo from this side of history.

[cantbeserious]

9. SCOTUS Judge - January 7, 1972 – June 26, 1987 --- Powell Memo - August 23, 1971 - Quid Pro Quo?

eom

[truebluegreen]

11. If it was a quid pro quo

why did Nixon also offer him the job before he wrote it--in 1968 I believe. More like authoritarian birds of a feather, scairt of all the hippies, minorities, wimen, whatever. I still wonder if Lewis Powell would recognize his party in Republicans today.

[niyad]

2. a monster in judicial robes.

[lordsummerisle]

3. He looks as ghastly as his writings n/t

[MisterP]

4. its point was that the Establishment had to be protected, that it was under threat

that gave us our current plague of "think" tanks, the Sagebrush "Rebellion," the Reagan "Revolution," Team B, the coup in the Southern Baptists, a synchronized backlash that even hit *pharmacists*: it's where we get scientific "dirty cops" saying secondhand smoke is woo and that waste is great!

[truebluegreen]

5. Yup. A powerful middle class in the 60s

and uppity blacks, women, students, environmentalists, consumer advocates, you-name-it--all wanting a seat at the table and a voice in policy--scared the crap out of the authoritarian establishment and business community. The Powell Memo was secretly! written to and for the Chamber of Commerce who, along with their allies, used its guidelines to subvert popular culture and political will ever since. I think of it as the beginning of the vast right-wing conspiracy.

[WillyT]

7. Ding Ding !!! - We Have A Winner !!!

[truebluegreen]

12. Thanks, WillyT

[appalachiablue]

14. +10. Can't have that! Must have huge servile peasantry, small middle class, lots of wealthy elites-

[calimary]

8. EXCELLENT! EXCELLENT!!! EXCELLENT!!!!

Last edited Fri May 1, 2015, 03:17 AM - Edit history (1)

Should be required reading.

This is how they set up and implemented their attempted takeover. To push the pendulum back as far "right"-ward as possible. Basically to nullify the enlightenment of many of us during the 60s, and even farther back - to the New Deal (which they've always despised. They HATE having to help people. They hate even more virulently having to help pay for it).

They're the IGMFU Coalition. As in "I Got Mine, F-U." Never forget that.

[WillyT]

10. Thank You...

[Damansarajaya]

13. He looks like Mr. Burns on "The Simpsons." nt

[appalachiablue]

15. He does. Lewis Powell creator of THE CONSERVATIVE MANIFESTO, 1971.