Categories

"Nothing is more powerful than an idea whose time has come."

We hear the phrase "think tank" quite often in regard to today's public policy environment, more than any other time. But how much of the public realizes what the term refers to or why it is even important to us? In layman's language, a think tank is simply a human organization which develops specific ideas, depending on the type of think tank involved—especially important for any much-needed political change.  Research on a certain type of problem facilitates specific interaction among intellectuals who are pursing similar goals. For example, government policies are focused through a public policy think tank, with a goal of improving policies or looking for viable alternatives through academic and scholars.

Most of the public feels these public policy think tanks are accomplished through politicians or financial contributions, but instead they are generated on college campuses and other think tanks, or research organizations throughout the United States. One example of a think tank is the Pacific Research Institute for Public Policy (PRI). Founded in 1979, this tank's stated vision is "the principles of individual freedom and personal responsibility". A non-profit corporation, it is associated with the think tanks of American Enterprise Institute and the Cato Institute, while promoting a free economy, limited government, and private initiative. Corporations behind PRI are Exxon Mobil Corporation, Microsoft, Pfizer, Verizon, and the White House Writer's Group.

Hundreds of think tanks are in existence today, figuring very prominently in the 1900s. Many assume the Manhattan Project was a very focused think tank of its time, a project during WWII to develop the first atomic weapon which involved three countries—Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom—developing ideas through intellectuals with politicians the last to climb on board.

One of several reasons think tanks are considered unpopular is because they are too slow: George W. Bush has campaigned on Social Security reform about twenty-years after the NCPA and Cato Institute think tanks had proposed it. Also, the NCPA think tank had proposed health savings accounts fifteen-years before it came to the forefront for their availability. Either way, think tanks are goal-oriented with their researchers searching a specific topic with much-needed solutions for definite problems. They are graded upon how successful they are in solving problems from the real world.

Where at one time early think tanks worked on several ideas at once, today each think tank has the ability to focus on one problem at a time, openly advocating single issue public policy changes. Financed by special interest groups, they choose to serve for established ideas instead of developing new ideas which in itself is helpful to promote changes in public policy. But compared to earlier think tanks, they actually will resist any way of thinking that is opposite or different from the "narrow goals" of those who financially back them.  

Today, think tanks are not only changing but growing within a world of academic and scholars, with this growth depending on their skill and expertise to tap a serious potential. This newly developed intellectual revolution is setting the stage for new technology and policy debates coming around the corner for us.