@msolga,
The majority of them are mavericks, and of course, demagogues like Beck and Limbaugh are simply out to make as good a living as they can exploiting the fears and prejudices of their audiences. Nevertheless, there are people who work in an organized way. The Project for a New American Century long had a plan to invade Iraq, and urged President Clinton to do so in an open letter in 1997. I used to simply provide a link to the PNAC web site for the evidence for this, but those boys have stopped paying their bills, and the web site is (the last time i checked, at least) inaccessible.
Well, i checked and the
Project for a New American Century's web site is apparently back in business. They were founded by former members of the administration of Ronald Reagan, many of whom occupied positions of responsibility in the administration of the second Mr. Bush--such as Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz and many others of the usual suspects who ought to rounded up whenever a political crime has been committed.
Additionally, of course, there are conservative "think tanks" which receive large donations from conservative backers and who articulate the philosophy of American conservatives. Examples of conservative think tanks would be the Heritage Foundation and the American Enterprise Institute. There are, of course, "liberal" (in the narrow and essentially center-right American definition) think tanks, as well. So even with running-dog capitalist, imperialist organizations such as the PNAC, we are talking about "mainstream" organizations. People like Glenn Beck represent the lunatic fringe of American conservatism--or at least attempt to exploit the sentiments of the lunatic fringe.
There are some scarier things going on, though. There are a host of small colleges, of the type which are usually described as liberal arts colleges, but which are anything but liberal. Some are down-right lunatic fringe themselves, such as Bob Jones University, in Greenville, South Carolina. It is a fundamentalist Christian school, and was segregated racially until about 2000 or 2001, even to the extent of forbidding interracial dating. It has been outspoken in its criticisms of Roman Catholicism and the Mormons (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints), claiming that neither of these major churches is Christian. During the Reagan administration the IRS (the Internal Revenue Service, the tax boys and girls) revoked the tax-exempt status of Bob Jones University, on the basis of their racial discrimination, and demanded that they pay back taxes. The university took them to court, and the Reagan administration (unwisely) attempted to quash the court actions. Finally forced to back down, the Reagan administration had to watch as the Supreme Court ruled against Bob Jones University. BJU had argued that their racial segregation and no inter-racial dating policies were sincerely held religious beliefs, and that God intended racial segregation and that the bible forbids inter-racial marriage. They have since had to pay millions in taxes and back taxes, and their contributions fell off. They are still a pretty damned rich college, though, and lots of people still enroll there. BJU was also controversial as a string of political figures from the right, starting with Ronald Reagan, spoke there. Bob Jones III is a little bit wacko--he described George Bush the elder as "a devil," and called Reagan a traitor to God's people for choosing him as a running mate. Within a decade, Jones was shaking Bush's hand and praising him.
It is claimed that BJU has largely withdrawn from politics, and in 2008 the university formally and publicly apologized for its racial policies. They are still not tax exempt, last time i checked, even though continuing to advertise themselves as a religious organization.
There are plenty of such religious colleges in the United States, and there is essentially nothing wrong with that. The problems with BJU were a direct reflection of the problems with Bob Jones, Bob Jones, Jr., and Bob Jones III--they were all nut jobs. Ironically, Bob Jones (the original one) was a supporter of William Jennings Bryan, considered a dangerous socialist demagogue by the Republicans of his day (1890s).
Among other famous (or notorious) institutions of this kind are Oral Roberts University, founded by a televangelist, Oral Roberts, who is essentially the granddaddy of American televangelists. ORU has never been the center of controversies as toxic as those which plagued BJU, but it has not been free of scandal. It has been criticized by other Christians for its materialism, and a law suit was brought by some former professors against Richard Roberts, son of the founder, for peculation and for illegally contributing to the political campaigns of conservative politicians. Robers lost, and resigned.
Liberty University is another such institution. The controversial televangelist Jerry Falwell, with an outspoken conservative political agenda, founded the college, which later achieved the honor of university status. Because, apparently, televangelists like to seek their greater glory by founding such institutions, they are often inextricably linked to the fund-raising activities of their founders. The SEC, no less, investigated Falwell and his college. (The SEC--the Securities and Exchange Commission, investigates investment fraud.) There were and continued to be serious questions about the bond issues at the school, and eventually, using funds from private contributors, LU bought out their debt, and separated themselves from Falwell's televangelist empire. LU claims to be "training champions for Christ" (taken directly from their web site).
The one i think is most scary is Patrick Henry College (named for a famous Virginia Patriot, alleged--but never proven--to have said "Give me liberty, or give me death!"). They are a fundamentalist Christian "liberal arts" college in Virginia which intends to train Christian soldiers to work in government. During the recent Bush administration, a number of their graduates were employed in minor positions, and a great many of their students got summer jobs as interns in the executive branch, as well as in the Congress. Their stated goal is to put as many of their Christian soldiers into government as possible, for the express purpose of forwarding their notion of God's plan by means of the government. Them boys is the real scary ones. To their credit, they are not affiliated with any of the bible-thumping televangelists, and i know of no legal or moral scandals which attach to the institution.
To a large extent, the American conservatives are in disarray these days, and that is because of a leadership vacuum. Most conservatives are, of course, normal, decent, honest and honorable people who are troubled by the turn to the extreme right which the Republican Party took, and who, although they may listen to people like Limbaugh and Beck, tend to think for themselves. Limbaugh and Beck rely on the lunatic fringe, the "ditto-heads" (an epithet for Limbaugh's supporters, and a badge which they proudly wore) who want someone apparently clever to do their thinking for them.
