When I first arrived in Washington for my internship with a small liberal policy organization, I toyed with the idea of organizing liberal students to challenge conservative interns to a friendly pickup game. I figured that this project would be a good way to build a community of progressive interns and also to have a little fun. It never got off the ground, but I did talk with a lot of interns from across the political spectrum. Through those conversations, I learned a lot about the stark differences in how liberal and conservative organizations approach internships. In many ways, a conservative-liberal intern game would resemble the New York Yankees playing a Little League team. From resource commitment to ideological training, the right has a major advantage over the liberal left.
The financial comparison is obvious. Many liberal writers have noted the monetary advantage of the conservative movement. It’s common knowledge that dozens of well-endowed think tanks pump out policy papers, talking points, and a myriad of other resources for right-wing politicians and pundits on a daily basis. Although it may not be surprising that conservatives also spend more money on recruiting young people, I was shocked to discover the actual size of the discrepancy. Conservative organizations spend about five times as much as their left-liberal counterparts.
Conservative students are one of the most heavily subsidized interest groups on campus today. Millions of dollars are pumped into the effort to find and train the next generation of reactionary leaders. For example, the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI) spends more than a million dollars a year to support conservative student publications on campuses across the country. It also spends more than $40,000 per year on a fellowship program for students in Washington, D.C., and funds a so-called “Honors Program” that is a week-long lecture series for undergraduates. The ISI spends all this money planting seeds in hopes that they will bear fruit. And they do—former ISI fellows have gone on to become leaders of major policy organizations and senior advisors in several Republican administrations. Ronald Reagan’s security adviser, Richard Allen, for example, is an ISI graduate.
Heritage Foundation, one of the most influential conservative think tanks in Washington, also has a robust internship program, with anywhere from eighty to a hundred students. They are paid a weekly stipend of $250 and regularly receive free meals in exchange for attending lectures during their lunch hour. Perhaps the most generous part of Heritage’s internship program is the dorm for participating students. Located a block away from the foundation, it provides interns with cheap housing in an aggressive real estate market. According to a story in the New York Times (July 31, 2006), Heritage spends over half a million dollars on its internship program each year.
The same article examined the programs of liberal organizations and found nothing even remotely comparable. The few organizations that do compensate interns, such as the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities and the Center for American Progress, only have a handful. The vast majority of internships on the liberal left are unpaid.
It’s good to pay people for their work, but the consequences are more far-reaching. Unpaid internships are generally only available to the most privileged students. After all, it’s nearly impossible to work forty hours a week for free and still pay the rent. Although studies are scarce, I’m willing to bet that the vast majority of liberal interns in Washington come from relatively well-off families. This is obviously problematic for the liberal left. If part of the purpose of internships is to develop new leaders, shouldn’t those leaders be representative of whatever is imagined as the left constituency? Right now, the majority of the internships are only available to the wealthy. In contrast, conservative organizations are, ironically, more sensitive to issues of economic (and racial) diversity.
Although there is no empirical proof that conservative internship programs are attracting more working-class students, it is common sense that programs that pay well are more likely to attract young people of modest means. Working-class young people who want to work in the left-liberal movement are unlikely to make a living wage. No wonder so much of our leadership is middle and upper-class.
If the liberal left is serious about building the next generation of leaders, it is crucial that we start to provide real funding for these internships. Because the current arrangement tilts so incredibly toward wealthier young people, organizations should spend the next few years recruiting interns from working-class backgrounds and interns of color. Right now, conservatives are way ahead of liberals when it comes to being representative. This isn’t a matter of altruism; it is in our interest to invest adequately in the next generation of leaders.
But money isn’t the only problem with how internships are structured in the liberal-left community. During my time in Washington, I talked with half a dozen interns who worked in conservative organizations. Their experiences seemed much richer than the opportunities offered by our organizations. The conservative movement is very serious about developing the intellectual foundation of its summer employees. Instead of simply assigning their interns grunt work, the Heritage Foundation and other conservative groups organize an endless stream of books, pamphlets, and guest lectures to provide students with ideological resources. Liberal organizations seem to view interns primarily as a source of cheap labor for a short time period—running errands, filing, and doing other mindless tasks. In contrast, conservatives seem more interested in turning interns into committed foot soldiers for the right. Students aren’t viewed as a resource to be used for three months and then discarded. Instead, conservatives expect their interns to make contributions to the movement for the next twenty (or more) years.
There are some indications that the liberal left is beginning to understand what needs to be done. The Center for American Progress, a relatively new think tank run by Bill Clinton’s former chief of staff, has a well-bankrolled project called Campus Progress. Partially modeled on ISI, Campus Progress funds student publications across the country. It also provides a running calendar of summer events and sponsors an annual conference for interns.
The Center for American Progress isn’t the only group reaching out to young people. People for the American Way has poured more than two million dollars into its youth organization, called Young People For. A comprehensive training program designed to build leaders for the future, it is the most strategic and effective example of youth outreach in the left-liberal movement. Any organization looking to bulk up its programs for young people should try to model it after Young People For.
Both Young People For and Campus Progress seem to avoid some of the mistakes of the past. Both organizations are committed to racial, economic, and gender diversity. Unlike many left-liberal organizations, the young people involved appear to genuinely reflect our movement.
These are good first steps, but more can be done. Interns must be provided with opportunities to deepen their intellectual understanding of liberal-left politics. A summer book club for students could help to accomplish this goal. It sounds slightly dorky, but I’ve met dozens of interns who are eager to sharpen their theoretical grasp. By providing free books along with weekly discussion sessions (where there would, of course, be free food), liberal organizations could help interns build their understanding of the ideals that motivate the left—and build community at the same time.
A liberal career fair would also be useful. Most interns come to Washington with the hope of finding future employment. Even if organizations didn’t have immediate job openings, it would be great to show young people the scope of the liberal left movement. Students need to be able to visualize politics as a career and to make connections with people who already have successful political careers. By helping connect students to movement organizations, such an event could build capacity for the future.
Liberals could also easily copy the conservative lecture series for summer interns. But this shouldn’t be a random collection of policy wonks giving talks on current events. It should be a coherent group of intellectuals, activists, and other key players in the movement. Instead of preaching to the choir, the speakers could provide students with an intellectual framework to understand politics.
Ultimately, internships should be a learning experience for young people. We aren’t just a temporary resource that changes every summer. Liberal organizations need to get serious about investing time, money, and resources in summer programs for students. Internships should be designed to help foster a lifetime political commitment—not just a summer of glorified grunt work.
Ben Waxman studies politics at Juniata College. He can be reached at ben@benwaxman.com.
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