In North Carolina, left-wing nonprofit advocacy groups for decades have wielded an alarming amount of power in the media, state politics, and government. They work together, both in loose coalitions and organized networks, to influence and control public policy. Only now, however, is there a user-friendly online database that sheds light on this vast, shadowy network. Mapping the Left combines data and on-going stories about the organizations, the people and the funders that make up the radical liberal left in North Carolina. We came up with the idea for a database that would illustrate the magnitude of the network of liberal/progressive groups in North Carolina a few years ago. It started as a simple list prompted by accusations being made by some of those far-left groups (and echoed in the media) that, in North Carolina, there was a vast right-wing conspiracy. The accusations stumped us because it was hard to come up with even 10 conservative/libertarian advocacy organizations in North Carolina at the time. In the end, the accusations led us to count the organizations on the Left. The results were stunning. Our research uncovered a well-funded army of more than 140 organizations employing nearly 2,000 people fighting to enlarge state government and erode our freedoms. Since well before the 2010 election groups on the Left have been relentless in North Carolina; we watched them work separately and together during political rallies. After the 2010 election we watched that activism morph into such things as Moral Monday protests, get-out-the-vote drives, and other activities designed to shift NC back to the left. Read More: mappingtheleft/2015/01/21/mapping-left-introduction/
Posted on: Fri, 23 Jan 2015 08:27:07 +0000