THE POWELL MEMO'S UNFILLED REQUIREMENT

In 1971, Lewis Powell wrote a memo to the director of the US Chamber of Commerce outlining a plan to fight back against the Dirty Hippies.  It marks the beginning of the modern conservative war on liberal culture and values and in hindsight reveals a glaring weakness of modern American conservatives: mediocrity.  Powell was sufficiently worried about this to include the paragraph in the memo:

Quality Control is Essential

Essential ingredients of the entire program must be responsibility and “quality control.” The publications, the articles, the speeches, the media programs, the advertising, the briefs filed in courts, and the appearances before legislative committees — all must meet the most exacting standards of accuracy and professional excellence. They must merit respect for their level of public responsibility and scholarship, whether one agrees with the viewpoints expressed or not.