June 14, 2005
To Be Young, Gifted and Right
The vast right-wing conspiracy is back in vogue among the young’uns, DCist just learned from today’s New York Times. Jason DeParle describes the many rewards -- in the literal sense -- of the intern program at the Heritage Foundation.
Here’s how one current member of the summer class of 2005 got to this elite round of 64:
Like all Heritage applicants, she [Daren Stanaway, of Harvard] also answered a 12-item questionnaire designed to ferret out latent liberalism with questions about guns, abortion, welfare and missile defense. (If you agree with the statement that "tax increases are the most appropriate way to balance the budget," this is probably not the internship for you.)
If you agree with the statement that “anyone who’s spent any time in Washington knows that interns for conservative organizations get more perks,” this is probably not the article for you. But it’s still a fun read:
The 64 interns are each paid a 10-week stipend of $2,500, and about half are housed in a subsidized dorm at the group's headquarters, complete with a fitness room... Another leap forward occurred in 1999, when a supporter, Tom Johnson, offered to donate an adjacent building. Mr. Feulner embarked on a $12 million fund-raising drive to renovate it and carved out space for 30 dorm rooms. For $10,000, donors could have their names in bronze on a dorm room door.
Pardon our saying so, but $250 a week makes these junior conservatives (gasp!) poor. They’ve got a nice view of Union Station less than a block away, but the location in the middle of Senate office anomie leaves something to be desired on the social life front. According to one DCist who lives nearby, “the only viable eating options in that area (at that salary) are the Bagel Shop that never has enough bagels, Subway, and the awful Union Station food court. I imagine even Armand’s [pizza buffet] is a bit too expensive.” Unless Daddy’s paying for weekly outings to Two Quail, that is.
But does that put happy hour discussions of Clausewitz over Cognac out of the question? Not so much, at least if they’re willing to put their high-mindedness aside for a night of debauchery at Lounge 201 across the street. Again, unless they can afford it with some extra assistance, we guess it’s late-night post-kickball flip-cup at The Irish Times for them. Do Heritage interns partake in flip-cup?
Still, there’s always the no-frills fun of green space available a few blocks up the street in Stanton Park -- maybe they call it the Lockean state of nature?
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Dude, flip cup is a non-partisan good, I believe. Everyone loves a good flip cup...
Both Daren and her sister Ralph have gotten internships at The Heritage Foundation.
I've actually been....um, intern hunting in that place. :)
It's some nice digs, but their cable restricts them from anything with a TV-MA rating. So no South Park or Chapelle's Show. Glad I'm a liberal!
I scooped DCist. Sweet (even though I grabbed it from Wonkette).
As I mentioned in my commentary, seems odd that free market types would be so eager to partake of subsidized housing.
There is nothing wrong with the Union Station food court. I just wish they'd hurry up and re-tile the floors already.
"if they’re willing to put their high-mindedness aside"
Right. Liberals are definitly not high-minded. Or do you mean think-tank interns?
"subsidized housing" usually refers to "goverment subsidized housing". In the context of this, it would be paid for by the Heritage foundation and thus considered part of the interns' compensation package.
And, did I miss the sarcasm, or isn't $250/week actually quite a bit when you consider they aren't paying for housing? Sure, they'd have to intern for 40 weeks to get that coveted bronze plaque, but it seems pretty good for the post-college pre-real world kid living it up in the city w/ no South Park to watch....
The snarkiness is a bit thick in this one. DCist is probably best served to stay away from the political fray. Just concentrate on the city itself, please, not the needless ideological wars. I don't really understand what the value of this post is.
Excuse me, the Union Station food court leaves much to be desired. Being accosted by the "Yummy Yummy!" lady at the Bourbon Chicken place and paying $9 at the gyro+soggy fry place is bit much. And not to mention the school groups ...
I love it when lefty types start talking about the market like they understand it. Red Line, there's nothing anti market about a private organization granting housing subsidies to its interns. It's not like the Heritage dorms are government subsidized.
LOL Very true.. even a staunch liberal like me noticed that one.
This was an odd post.
as a gw student, i am as annoyed by conservative kids as the next guy, but i have to agree with some of the other comments. 250 a week? pretty good for an internship-style job over the summer in dc, even if free housing isn't included. i wish i was making 250...
Please. Marx had the market pegged long ago. Say what you will about his political ideas, but that leftist carved straight to the bone on the market. Let the Heritage Foundation shield its gentle interns from the harsh realities of the DC housing market...it'll make even better hypocrites of them.
That Heritage Foundation "subsidized dorm" was, not too long ago, a low-income, primarily elderly and African-American apartment building. But now Heritage has done it up real nice for their interns. That conversion also closed a pretty good deli on the ground floor.
Anna,
That was a joke. I realize it's essentially a scholarship, or part of the compensation package.
Looks like the 'elite corps inside the capital's premier conservative research group' aren't so impressive after all. Did anyone see the article on NYTimes.com today about their most recent blatantly partisan 'study' on absitence pledges? Check it out at: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/15/health/15pledge.html
Heritage's most recent idealogical gem includes what other researcher's call 'glaring' statistical error on the part of the researchers, who for whatever reason refuse to submit it to any real academic journals. Perhaps because their work is 'unlikely to be published in current form' according to independent experts.
Good job spreading partisan lies, discouraging effective policy, and contributing to the spread of STDs across the country Heritage! You would think they could at least put out reasonably good publications with the only interns in town on a 250$/week salary.
It is about time that someone really spoils an intern.
For all questioning the housing arangements, the interns have to rent from Heritage. Sure, the make $250 a week, but they have to pay around $700 a month from that 250 to live in the heritage accomodations
You guys are the 82756 best, thanks so much for the help.