At State Policy Network’s 32nd Annual Meeting in Phoenix, Arizona, SPN President and CEO Tracie Sharp outlined a bold vision for the future—one where the public policy work championed by state-based think tanks is reinforced by an entire freedom ecosystem, which we call Durable Freedom Infrastructure.
In her remarks, Tracie explains why Durable Freedom Infrastructure—a model built and refined by SPN affiliates over the past decade—is essential for securing lasting policy victories.
The video and transcript are below.
Some of you may know that I grew up working on my grandparents’ apple orchard. This time of year always reminds me of my grandmother. As harvest approached, it was an all-hands-on-deck effort to prepare. Once the apples were ripe, we had to pick them quickly and get them to the fruit shed for the best prices. My whole family would spend long hours at the orchard, working together.
One year when I was about 10 or 11, my grandmother was furious at me for fighting with my sister over who got to ride the lawnmower. Riding the mower was one of the more enjoyable jobs for a kid before you had your driver’s license, so of course we both wanted that job!
But Grandma said, “Stop it! There’s no time for this. Figure it out and finish the job!” So my sister and I flipped a coin. Let’s just say I was stuck picking up rotten apples while she proudly got to ride the mower! But we got the work done and brought in the harvest.
Today, we’re going to talk about working together to harvest market ideas in our states.
Staying current with the news is crucial in our line of work, but we can feel crushed by the constant stream of dire headlines. Many leaders get caught in the doom loop…but that’s not us.
It inspires me how this Network resists the urge to spin our wheels in tribal arguments—there’s no time for it!
Instead, we find a higher gear to solve problems on the ground.
That’s because many of you realized we can’t meet today’s challenges with an outdated playbook and expect better results.
It’s time we talk about the next phase of this Network, a powerful development that’s already in progress.
Churchill said that optimists see opportunity in every difficulty. We are those optimists—the happy warriors‚ not naïve, but shrewd problem-solvers who believe in the power of our founding principles. After thirty years, we’re built for this challenge. But to seize the opportunities ahead, we must strategize and mobilize to turn the tide and win.
That’s what we’ll talk about this afternoon.
To truly influence state policy and make our reforms durable, we must have a holistic strategy—one that is operationalized, weaponized, and most of all, customized for every state. A Durable Freedom Infrastructure.
This Network has grown beyond the confines of a traditional think tank model. We’ve recognized that ideas alone can’t drive change. We’ve observed here at SPN, that many of you have increased your government affairs and legislative advocacy—It’s paying off and picking up speed, thanks to how freely you share your insights with your peers.
Let me be clear: We didn’t get into this business to become political operatives. This isn’t about engaging in fleeting, superficial political “gotchas” over and over. No! What this is about—and what we’ve observed out in the Network—is that some of you have shrewdly built the unique political infrastructure your state requires for lasting impact—and it’s working! It’s about how you’ve created robust, free market movements in your states, with the think tank as the intellectual hub.
The long-term design is meant to become a state’s built-in voice for freedom: one that can activate both offensively and defensively.
It’s designed to put the right infrastructure in place ahead of time to activate and adapt quickly to hold ground, and gain ground.
And to be more effective than our opponents, we must combine policy and advocacy at the right times, on the right issues, to convince the right people.
Many of you are already doing this in your state, and you’ve heard us talk about it in some way, shape, or form over the past decade.
It’s been referred to as the Six Capacities…The Donor Owner model… Building capabilities…
It’s had a lot of names.
We call it Durable Freedom Infrastructure. It is a blueprint and more and more of this Network has made Durable Freedom Infrastructure the core of its strategy. It’s an undeniable pattern…so we’re devoting a whole plenary to it here at the Annual Meeting.
The slide behind me outlines what we’ve observed as the six basic capacities that make up the Durable Freedom Infrastructure.
It is an outline of a proven playbook refined by a decade of real-world testing and implementation by your peers in the Network. You may be familiar with these six components:
The first capacity is the state think tanks.
We need to lean into what makes us great already.
State think tanks aren’t meant to handle every political function independently, but they’re the idea factories powering our movement, and the core of our Network’s identity. While opponents have some similar capabilities, they can’t match our 50-state network—a secret weapon, applying steady pressure and discipline to the founding principles—our True North. The infrastructure can supercharge our existing Network—a strategy that meets the challenge of our times. It’s a Network of Networks. A Team of Teams.
Second, voter insights.
We need the right messages, at the right time, delivered to the right audiences.
We’re not in the business of creating policy by poll, but we do need to persuasively sell our ideas. Gaining deep insight into public and stakeholder perspectives is crucial for winning successful issue campaigns.
Third, political capacity.
Our reform ideas need air cover.
Whether we’re on offense or defense, our ideas aren’t self-executing. We’re talking about beefing up government affairs and issue advocacy to push the necessary levers to pass policy into law.
And this is where we’ve observed the most variation and customization.
Some states accomplish this by taking the H election, others through a dedicated c4—and in some cases, they’ve used c6s, and PACs. The point is that they’ve mobilized what their state needs to rally support and pass the best policies. We’ve seen this capability built in-house, or by partnering with trusted in-state organizations—both approaches can work.
Fourth, litigation centers.
Fortunately, this capacity has been growing in the states, so there’s a lot of momentum. We need to support the effectiveness of litigation centers—so that they are ready to strike on a moment’s notice (including when we need to defend our own ideas).
Fifth, media and investigative journalism.
We need more independent journalism.
We can’t count on mainstream media to expose government corruption or promote our ideas. Over the last decade, you have shown us that to circumvent bias and highlight state and local issues, we must build our own media platforms and engage broader audiences.
And sixth, leadership academies.
Last, but certainly not least, we need to grow our future talent pipeline.
Imagine a new wave of freedom-focused leaders who we help connect their values to market ideas. We need more leadership initiatives to attract, train, and deploy them. Maybe they’ll become the next generation of policy experts and advocates…or even run for office.
Ok—let me sum up. Here’s the point.
What this Network is showing us is that the Durable Freedom Infrastructure is a successful model we need to accelerate in every state. In. Every. State.
And model is the right word here.
Because the Durable Freedom Infrastructure is not meant to be some one-size-fits-all straitjacket…every state is different…and every affiliate that’s deployed these capabilities has done so in a way that works for them (and their state).
They’ve learned from their peers and customized it. Part of the power of this strategy is in how adaptable it can be to changing times.
Right now, 33 states are committed to the strategy of building and deploying Durable Freedom Infrastructure.
Of these, twenty-two states have at least three or more components of this Infrastructure.
And so far, SIX states are deploying the full suite of capacities as we described here.
We’ve observed that many are already experiencing some pretty phenomenal results, too. In fact, the Network has had more policy wins in the last four years than in the last 40.
