eli5-What is a think tank?
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Basically, various groups know what they think. Like, Libertarians know they hate government, and they want total freedom. But they occasionally run into problems when somebody says, “But that’s batshit crazy. Because all of these bad things would happen…”
So the think tank’s job is to really carefully think about Libertarian ideals, then write papers about how it would ideally work, and then make that all sound reasonable.
So like, it’s bad if everybody says, “Libertarians want predatory price gouging after natural disasters.” And then the think tank steps in with a paper that says, “There is no such thing as price gouging. What’s happening is, the free market encourages entrepreneurs to flock to disaster sites with much-needed supplies, for which they expect a certain nominal profit to defray the risk of entering a disaster area. Were these profits not allowed, there would simply be no disaster supplies and the victims of natural disasters would surely die. Market regulation assures the deaths of countless hurricane, tornado, and flood victims every year, and only the unfettered market can save them.”
And that sounds much better, and so people who hear it say, “Oh well I guess that makes sense. Cool.” And then you have your crazy uncle at Thanksgiving who is now armed with a litany of arguments and rhetorical attacks, courtesy of the think tank. Libertarian rhetoric can shift the public mind, and Libertarians presumably have a better chance of getting their people elected into office.
That’s more or less the goal of a think tank.
(sorry for the snark)
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