The Ben Franklin Fellowship's State Department Renovation

"In the early 1980s, the Federalist Society was established to intellectually counter the judicial activism agenda that had captured America's legal profession. To many conservatives it seemed a hopeless endeavor, but FedSoc founders were determined to win back the country's court system, law schools, and legal associations that had largely been abandoned to the liberal-left and radical legal activists. With time, they made great progress."

"woke ideologies that pervade State, a group of retired foreign service officers (FSOs) launched BFF in early 2024. BFF took the iconic name of Dr. Franklin, America's first envoy, as a symbolic call to return to foreign policy common-sense: U.S. national interests, sovereignty, secure borders, and meritocracy-not DEI and wokeism-in diplomatic service. The ambitious plan was to reassert venerable but long-ignored traditional American ideas and values within the foreign affairs bureaucracy."

The Federalist Society overcame early doubts to regain influence in courts, law schools, and legal associations. A new group, the Ben Franklin Fellowship (BFF), launched in early 2024 by retired foreign service officers, seeks to challenge the prevailing mindset among State Department career officers. BFF invokes Benjamin Franklin to signal a return to foreign policy common-sense emphasizing U.S. national interests, sovereignty, secure borders, and meritocracy rather than DEI and wokeism. Organizers quietly network among like-minded career officers; the group remains a minority but is growing. Founders articulated eight guiding principles anchored in international realism and conservative views.

Read at The American Conservative