Claremont Institute

The Claremont Institute is a conservative think tank that describes its mission as to "...restore the principles of the American Founding Fathers to their rightful, preeminent authority in our national life. These principles are expressed most eloquently in the Declaration of Independence, which proclaims that "all men are created equal and are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights." To recover the founding principles in our political life means recovering a limited and accountable government that respects private property, promotes stable family life, and maintains a strong defense." While it has a national perspective, there is a special interest in issues affecting California (U.S. state), where it is located. Its research centers include groups for terrorism, constitutional law and ballistic missile defense.

Historical perspective

It runs an education project, Founding.com, intended to make the founding documents of the U.S. more generally available. With the Ashbrook Center, it cosponsors a site, VindicatingTheFounders.com, supporting the book by the same title by Thomas G. West. According to the website, the book is a "defense of the Founders' views and actions on slavery, women's rights, property rights, voting rights, and other controversial issues." RightWeb quotes a Library Journal review that states the book's goal is "to defend the U.S. Constitution and the men who drafted it in 1787 from the accusations of sexism, racism, and prejudice against the poor. West writes from a conservative perspective, and, as he frequently pauses to remind the reader, his arguments are learned and logical. However, this is a deeply flawed book. West writes in a supercilious and dismissive tone. Worse, he digresses far afield to introduce his ideas on contemporary issues, which have almost nothing to do with the founders; his chapter on the family is simply a compendium of current conservative views and he rarely mentions the founders, who said and wrote little on the subject."

Terrorism

Among its centers is Americans for Victory Over Terrorism, with a description of "Through the shaping of public opinion, the encouragement of a foreign policy based on the founding principles of America, increased research about Islam and Islamism, and a steadfast commitment to attacking those who would blame America first, AVOT will work toward victory in this first great war of the 21st century." Senior advisors are William Bennett, Brian Kennedy, Seth Leibsohn and Thomas Karako.

Defense policy

The missile defense site opens with the statement "a robust and layered ballistic missile defense comprised of systems based on land, sea, air, and space has become an absolute necessity if we are to fulfill the constitutional duties to insure domestic tranquility and provide for the common defense." Project advisers include Frank Gaffney, Jr., Hank Cooper and William Van Cleave.

It sponsored a 2006 "Independent Working Group on Missile Defense, the Space Relationship, and the 21st Century," which concluded the "U.S. lead in space may indeed be pivotal to the basic geopolitical, military, and economic status of the United States. Consolidation of the preeminent U.S. position in space is akin to Britain's dominance of the oceans in the 19th century." Cosponsors included the American Foreign Policy Council, Missouri State University's Department of Defense and Strategic Studies, the George C. Marshall Institute, Hoover Institution, Heritage Foundation, High Frontier, and the Institute for Foreign Policy Analysis. The group also had representation from the major U.S. defense contractors, and took a position that strong nuclear and missile defense policies were necessary.

Tom Barry, a RightWeb opponent of military use of space, wrote that these views were part of the George W. Bush Administration space policy, especially stating a danger from China, and overstating the recommendations of the Rumsfeld Commission (Rumsfeld Commission). He quoted Theresa Hitchens of the Center for Defense Information as suggesting the group was not independent, but the policy did not go as far as the hawks would like.

External relationships

There is a considerable degree of interconnection, although no formal policy, among senior faculty and staff at the Institute, Azusa Pacific University, Hillsdale College, Ashland University and its Ashbrook Center, the Claremont Colleges, and the University of Dallas. The academic institutions share a commitment to what they term basic American values, some emphasizing the Founders and some Judaeo-Christian principles.

Funding

Bbetween 1985 and 2005, Claremont received nearly $10 million in donations from conservative foundations, including the Scaife, Bradley, Olin, and Earhart foundations.