ABSTRACT
Case story 8 tells the story of how grassroots activists, academics, think tanks and political bodies have worked together to achieve conservative goals, to support the change lesson:
Cultivate and use your networks at all levels of your organisation and industry, without letting them co-opt or derail your change plan.
It explores the different forms of technology that conservative activists have created to identify and appeal to conservative voters, from direct mail to microtargeting tools to smartphone apps and social media. It explains how ‘radical rich’ libertarians have funded the creation of think tanks, lobbying organisations and academic programmes to influence the public to vote for their causes. The combined efforts of grassroots activists and wealthy business owners led to a remarkable conservative legislative victory with the Supreme Court case Citizens United vs. the FEC. Its cast of characters includes Paul Weyrich, Richard Viguerie, Karl Rove, Rich Fink and Charles Koch.