Many Democrats—and some Republicans—expressed bewildered shock at the outcome of the 2016 election. Recovering quickly, pundits began to weigh in on “what went wrong.” But the constant rehash of the mistakes and manipulations of a single campaign cycle will not yield the electoral or policy outcomes that progressives want. For that, they must come to terms with their failure to match a half-century of sustainable long-term strategic investment on the Right.

While the lavish spending on a conservative libertarian agenda by the Koch brothers has attracted plenty of ink over the past few years, their machinations cannot adequately explain today’s political spectrum. Relative latecomers to the Republican Party, the Koch brothers built upon the groundwork laid by earlier funders and activists, which simultaneously posed benefits for and obstacles to reshaping the agenda to their own ends. The conservative movement of the present day reflects the desires of funders, entrepreneurs, and leaders who came together in the 1970s—many of whom now wield their influence from beyond the grave.

Key figures of the 1970s included entrepreneurs like the late Paul Weyrich, co-founder of the Heritage Foundation, and his wealthy ally, late beer magnate Joseph Coors. While the Kochs dabbled with third party libertarian politics, less well known foundations like Coors, Scaife, Olin, Bradley, and others supported efforts to redirect the Republican policy agenda in a more permanently conservative bent.

The loyalty and trust conservative funders invested in New Right leaders supported movement-building through serial entrepreneurship and long-term planning. Weyrich, the “chief strategist” of the New Right, was able to put his ideas into reality after connecting with Coors. The beer magnate provided $250,000 in start-up funds for the a new research organization from 1971-1972—equivalent to about $1.5 million in today’s dollars, an expensive risk on an untried leader. But after a couple false starts, this investment lead to Weyrich founding of the Right’s most prominent think tank in 1973, the Heritage Foundation. With Coors’ backing, Weyrich also established the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), Television News Inc. (TVN), and the Committee for the Survival of a Free Congress over the next year. Progressive foundations have been critiqued for funding pet projects with time-consuming annual renewals instead of guaranteeing operating expenses necessary to sustainable organizational development.

Conservative funders, with an eye to the long-term, accepted that there would be failures. When TVN closed in 1975, having lost eight million dollars, Coors continued to financially support his friend in arms. By the end of the decade, that meant backing Weyrich’s work organizing the New Christian Right and helping to found the Moral Majority with the late Jerry Falwell.

And while TVN may have been a very expensive failure, it too had one lasting impact: training Roger Ailes, future CEO of Fox News.