Politicians and bureaucrats are masters of doublespeak. To them, it is a matter of survival with all the risks this implies: democracy has gone astray, voters are frequently misled and the functions of the State are being corroded as a result. Think tanks—which are private research organizations representing civil society—have been set up in an attempt to remedy the situation. Their role is to reveal the ambiguity of political discourse, denounce demagoguery and the misuse of power by the State and its bureaucracy, criticize bad public policy and propose solutions. In the US, these think tanks are funded exclusively by private donations and have become, in American society, almost as powerful as the media.