Jeff Sharlet: The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power
Jeff Sharlet is (Ishmael) on Daily Kos.
This diary is my effort to transcribe an interview with him today on WNYC radio's The Leonard Lopate Show, about his new book. I've added my own notes and some helpful links.
Action needed? Read up, get informed by yourself because the corporate media will surely NOT be covering this very powerful and secretive group in Washington, DC.
All-Purpose Action Links:
The Nation action and media links for recommending the Jeff Sharlet's good work:
http://capwiz.com/...
Talking Points? In their wisdom, The Founding Fathers enshrined separation of Church and State so that each may thrive, free from undue influence. This group called "The Family" is a threat to our democracy.
Cheers to Kossack Jeff Sharlet for doing this work.
Book Review:
"Just when we thought the Christian right was crumbling, Jeff Sharlet delivers a rude shock: One of its most powerful and cult-like core groups, the Family, has been thriving. . . .
More below the fold:
Sharlet's book is one of the most compelling and brilliantly researched exposes you'll ever read -- just don't read it alone at night!"
--Barbara Ehrenreich
From the bookjacket:
They are the Family—fundamentalism’s avant-garde, waging spiritual war in the halls of American power and around the globe. They consider themselves the new chosen, congressmen, generals, and foreign dictators who meet in confidential cells, to pray and plan for a "leadership led by God," to be won not by force but through "quiet diplomacy." Their base is a leafy estate overlooking the Potomac in Arlington, Virginia, and Jeff Sharlet is the only journalist to have written from inside its walls.
The Family is about the other half of American fundamentalist power—not its angry masses, but its sophisticated elites.
http://jeffsharlet.blogspot.com/
(Note: this is where I started listening to the radio interview)
New word:
MAXIMALIST. (Note: I can't find a satisfactory definition, but "redundant overkill in features and attachments" is the closest.)
More than Christian Fundamentalists, The Family =
Maximalist = filtering everything through Jesus, Bible.
Whatever the question (what should be done about Social Security, etc.), they think Jesus would give the answer: Privatize.
The Family dates back to the 1930s. Group of Christian businessmen who hated New Deal, hated FDR. Elected a Governor in the Northwest.
They moved to Washington.
They believe that Christ cares most about the sovereignty of his will. If we try to regulate markets we are going against God's will. They believed The Great Depression was God's punishment for our trying to regulate markets.
"Jesus said some nutty things too"--that's how they describe the Sermon on the Mount.
Their mission is to help "The UP and OUT" ...trickle-down Fundamentalism...They believe the poor will be helped if the "UP and OUT" (neglected upper class, upper income Christian leaders. Fundamentalists).
They prefer male leadership. But they accept Sen. Clinton as "a friend" not a member. She belongs to a prayer circle of theirs but does not support all their ideas. When The Family realized we're not going to have a one-party rule in America, they reached out to some Democrats.
"The Family" gives rent-free (or low cost) housing to favored politicians like Sam Brownback. They got him together in a prayer group with other politicians when he was an unknown, helped launch his political career.
Gerald Ford was a member! His inner circle included members. (WOW! Who knew?)They like that kind of low key power. Melvin Laird was in his prayer circle.
They asked, "Would Jesus want us to pardon Nixon" and the answer was, of course, "Yes."
Influential Book: "The Man Nobody Knows" 1925 by Bruce Fairchild Barton, Founder of BBDO (major MAJOR ad firm, see:)
Batten, Barton, Durstine & Osborn.
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
Jesus Christ as successful CEO. The belief that
The Church has become too feminized, too sissy. REAL men look in the hearts, ask what Jesus would do, then they DO IT. "The Man Nobody Knows" was a bestseller. Synopsis:
In this book Barton paints a picture of a strong Jesus, who worked with his hands, slept outdoors and travelled on foot. This is very different from what he saw as the "Sunday School Jesus", a physically weak, moralistic man - the "lamb of God"[5][6] Barton describes Jesus as "the world's greatest business executive", and according to one of the chapter headings, "The Founder of Modern Business",[7] who created a world conquering organization with a group of twelve men hand picked from the bottom ranks of business
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
Head of "The Family"...Doug Coe...How he works: "We work with power where we can; we build new power where we can"....Author Jeff Sharlet calls it "Country Club".....they don't rail against anybody (unlike other Fundamentalist Christians)...Instead, they quietly invite certain people to come talk with them............(esp. members of the Country Club set)(P.S. In my family's eavesdropping experience, the Country Club set is infested with the WORST racism and anti-Semitism this side of the KKK and nutty militia groups).
Ivanwald, a house in Virginia, where young men are groomed for leadership in "The Family"......You only get in via invitation and they only invite 'elites'.....
They insist Jesus isn't Christian; anyone can bow down to Jesus, even a Muslim, a Jew, or a Catholic (!! They come out that old Protestant anti-Catholic movement).
They admire Hitler. For his leadership lessons. Going back to the 1930s, in The Family's files, admiration for Hitler. Merwin K. Hart was a paid employee of The Family, American fascist and anti-Semite. The Family thought the Genocide was getting off track; they prefer the (positive) total commitment model. They also like what Mao did in terms of his methods.
"It's not the ends we admire; it's the methods." (Note, that's one definition of evil: when groups like The Family justify their underhanded means by their supposedly admirable ends).
Different from Fascism, they don't care about the masses, they don't care about organizing the masses.
They believe certain foreign leaders are chosen by God to be America's allies. For example, (bad guy) Suharto of Indonesia, anti-Communist who killed many Indonesians and who got the green light from President Ford (and Kissinger) to invade East Timor. "The Family" had invited oil executives and Congressmembers to meet Suharto in Indonesia.
They follow the historical example of Evangelicals....missionize at the fringes, on the outskirts, and thereby surround the centers. American history: Evangelicals knew they couldn't have success in Boston and NY in the 19th C. so the went to the provinces so that one day the mainstream centers would be encircled by Evangelicals.
The Family is doing this with small nations, trying to get more voting power in The United Nations.
Africa. The Family believes: God wants big electric power contracts for Africa. One example where this was achieved by bribes, cronyism, but yielded disastrous results for the Africans. One of The Family's projects.
"The Kingdom of God is not a democracy" they say.
They don't believe in the Rapture, they are not Christian Zionists. They are post-millennialists...Jesus can only come back after 1000 years of rule in His name. They have been around for 70 years and are taking a long view of their work. If a Democrat gets elected, they are still working strategically for the long run.
How The Family works: Another example. New Central Asian Republics after collapse of USSR. The Silk Road Act in Congress, poured aid to Central Asian autocrats....helps Koch Industries, Brownback's key sponsor.
Ambitious.
David Coe, son of leader Doug Coe, says Genghis Khan is better than George W. Bush...showed Jeff Sharlet a map comparing how much territory was conquered by each. "Imagine how much could be conquered in Jesus's name"....
Eccentric theology they have there.
Fortunately, traditional Fundamentalists are alarmed by their abuse of power.
Unfortunately, The Family is interwoven in American political life.
They founded The National Prayer Breakfast in the early 1950s. Eisenhower gave them (payback?); Truman flatly had rejected the proposal because of Separation of Church and State. (Note: Eisenhower was a wee bit miffed that people didn't realize that he was America's MOST RELIGIOUS president). Americans are muddled; they wrongly believe that The National Prayer Breakfast dates back to George Washington. (Note: I was a little kid when Eisenhower attended The National Prayer Breakfasts and remember, in my juvenile way, of 'smelling a whiff of fascism' about it back then).
America has strong religious leanings. Free exercise of religion guarnateed by the Constitution. You can run for office on your religious beliefs, for example: You can say: I believe in the Biblical injunction to help the poor and this is how I'm going to do it.
Good examples of religious influence in American history: Abolitionists, Advocates for the Poor, Dr. King.
"The Family" wants to exercise the influence of their religion, too, but behind closed doors.
MORE:
The archived version of this radio interview will be available later:
http://www.wnyc.org/...
Journalist Jeff Sharlet's website:
http://jeffsharlet.blogspot.com/
Excellent Article:
Jesus plus nothing:
Undercover among America's secret theocrats
http://www.harpers.org/...
Much more about this "Christian Mafia", with links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
Daily Kos Diary by Frederick Clarkson :
A Kossack's Hot New Book on "Elite Fundamentalism"
Tue May 27, 2008
http://www.dailykos.com/...
Compare and Contrast with The Business Plot, the Fascist Plot against FDR:
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
Final Note: It seems to me that the anti-clerical, anti-religion Russian Revolution totally freaked out the Merchants Rulers of the world. Not only were they afraid of losing their economic power, they also feared losing their personal religion and the traditional Biblical tool used for controlling workers--the injunction to servants to obey their masters.....and the admonition that your rewards are not in this world, but in Heaven.
Biblical quotations:
http://www.biblebrowser.com/...