The Family and the "new realities" of conservatives

Ron Suskind in an October 17, 2004, The New York Times Magazine article by writer , quoted  an unnamed aide to George W. Bush. The quote was later attributed to Karl Rove^.

The aide said that Suskind lives "in what we call the reality-based community," which he defined as people who "believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality." ...

"That's not the way the world really works anymore. We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you're studying that reality—judiciously, as you will—we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors…and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do."

This is essentially the philosophy of The Family and Douglas Coe.  The Family or The Fellowship, a secretive militant fundamentalist Christian association led by Coe. 

Coe admires power and compares Jesus to “Lenin, Ho Chi Minh, Bin Laden” as examples of leaders who change the world through the strength of the covenants they had forged with their “brothers.”

He preached that  special people are not bound by social conventions. He admired the grandiose plans of some notorious leaders and their ability to wield power.

Coe compared Jesus's teachings to the Red Guard during the Chinese Cultural Revolution:

I’ve seen pictures of young men in the Red Guard of China... they would bring in this young man’s mother and father, lay her on the table with a basket on the end, he would take an axe and cut her head off.... They have to put the purposes of the Red Guard ahead of the mother-father-brother-sister – their own life! That was a covenant. A pledge. That was what Jesus said.

Jeff Sharlet wrote a book about the family based on living in the family's C-street dorm in Washington DC. He considers the family a Christian activist organization and not a conspiracy. Many conservative US representatives and Senators have lived in this dorm

The Family can trace its origins to Abraham Vereide, a Norwegian clergyman, who had fascist leanings and catered to the Republican "outs" during the New Deal. Vereide was the founder of what eventually became the National Prayer breakfast.

sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reality-based_community

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Family:_The_Secret_Fundamentalism_at_the_Heart_of_American_Power

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Sharlet_%28writer%29

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Does Ayn Rand matter?

The Major read both Atlas Shrugged and the Fountainhead in 1960s. He promptly forgot about both books.

The Hero of the Atlas Shrugged was John Galt, an individualistic architect who didn't want to conform to societal rules.

Wikipedia explains who John Galt is:

Galt is acknowledged to be a creator, philosopher, and inventor who symbolizes the power and glory of the human mind. He serves as a principled counterpoint to the collectivist social and economic structure depicted in the novel. The depiction portrays a society based on oppressive bureaucratic functionaries and a culture that embraces stifling mediocrity and egalitarianism, which the novel associates with socialistic idealism.

Rand wrote the novels as a counterpoint to FDR's New Deal , European Socialism and Russian collectivism.

Rand's work wasn't taken that seriously in the 1960s but today it is embraced by conservatives, particularly libertarians.

After the Great Depression, the Republicans were no longer the in-crowd who controlled government. The desperately wanted their control back.

One of the means the GOP used to get back into power was religion.

On of the people who helped Republicans was Abraham Vereide.

As Wikipedia notes:

The Fellowship also known as the family was founded in 1935 in opposition to FDR's New Deal. Initially headed by Fellowship Foundation traces its roots to its founder, Abraham Vereide, a Methodist clergyman and social innovator. Vereide was a Norwegian immigrant who founded Goodwill Industries in Seattle in 1916.

This secretive group is behind the National Prayer Breakfasts and supported by many conservative politicians. It even has a boarding house for conservative politicians in Washington.

In Newsweek, Lisa Miller wrote that The Family describes themselves as people brought together by common love for the teachings of Jesus and that all approaches to "loving Jesus" are acceptable.

In contrast, Jeff Sharlet, who was interviewed on NBC News and wrote a book, The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power, and an article in Harper's about his experience serving as an intern in the Fellowship has a very different view of The family.

The family compares Jesus to "Lenin, Ho Chi Minh,Bin Laden" as examples of leaders who change the world through the strength of the covenants they had forged with their "brothers".

The family views all of these men as special people who societal conventions do not apply to. This is very similar to Ayn Rand's libertarian ideas about John Galt.

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CREW To Obama: Skip The National Prayer Breakfast

1 Feb 2010 

A prominent good government group is demanding that President Obama and members of Congress skip this year's National Prayer Breakfast, calling its organizer "shadowy" and "cult-like."

The group, Citizens For Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, lashed out at the fundamentalist Fellowship Foundation, which has organized the breakfast with presidents and prominent Washington and world leaders since 1953.

"The National Prayer Breakfast uses the suggested imprimatur of the elected leaders who attend to give the Fellowship greater credibility and facilitate its networking and fundraising," CREW director Melanie Sloan said in a statement.

"The president and members of Congress should not legitimatize this cult-like group -- the head of which has praised the organizing abilities of Hitler and Bin Laden -- by attending the breakfast."

The White House confirmed to the Huffington Post that Obama plans to attend the breakfast, scheduled for Thursday, but had no response to CREW's letter. The Fellowship is closely connected to the now-notorious C Street House near the Capitol -- essentially a dorm for ethically-troubled Republicans.

"For those who have been housed in or sought refuge at C Street House," says Sloan's letter, "a shocking pattern of unethical behavior has emerged, sparking public outrage.

For example Senator John Ensign (R-NV), who lived in the house, is being investigated by the FBI and the Senate Select Committee on Ethics for events surrounding an affair he had with a former campaign staffer and his efforts to cover up that affair by helping her husband, his former chief-of-staff, become a lobbyist in violation of federal law."

The letter also mentions ethical troubles for C Street House guests Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), Gov. Mark Sanford (R-S.C.), and Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan.).
Very little is known about the Fellowship.

As Newsweek reported last September, "Nothing about its organizational structure is visible to the public: not its board of directors, nor its executive team, nor its mission statement, nor its 200 subsidiary ministries, nor its national or global membership."

Click here for a PDF of CREW's letter.

Rightardia comment: Obama has already skipped one of these prayer breakfasts.  He should skip this one as well. 

In 1942, Abraham Vereide founded Fellowship Foundation Inc. in Chicago as the middle United States headquarters for the growing prayer cell and prayer breakfast planting ministry. Vereide was openly sympathetic to European fascist movements in the World War 2 era. Doug Coe, the stealth evangelist, now runs The Family and the C Street retreat.

Source:

Arthur Delaney // Huffington Post

Related Documents

• 2/1/10 - CREW Letter to President Obama and Members of Congress // 2.4 mb

Related News Releases

• CREW URGES PRESIDENT AND MEMBERS OF CONGRESS NOT TO ATTEND SHADOWY FELLOWSHIP’S NATIONAL PRAYER BREAKFAST // 1 Feb 2010

Related News Coverage

• Watchdog to Obama: Stay away from ’shadowy’ group’s prayer meet // 1 Feb 2010 Raw Story
• Watchdog: No Prayer Day for Obama, Congress // 1 Feb 2010 Mother Jones

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LtSaloon: Tom Coburn’s Shame

LT Saloon

by RS Janes on Fri, Nov 27, 2009

If this lunatic has any capacity for shame, that is…

“Thirteen major military and veterans groups have joined forces to try to force one senator — Republican Tom Coburn of Oklahoma — to release a hold that he has placed on a major veterans benefits bill.

Coburn has been identified by Senate aides as the lawmaker preventing consideration of S 1963, the Veterans’ Caregiver and Omnibus Health Benefits Act of 2009, by using an informal but legal practice of putting a hold on a bill.”
– Rick Maze, “Coburn Named As Senator Holding Up Vets Bill,” Marine Corps Times, Nov. 3, 2009.

Finally, sanity prevailed in spite of the embarrassing Coburn…

“The U.S. Senate unanimously approved legislation Thursday to provide financial aid to caregivers of disabled veterans, ending a stand-off with Sen. Tom Coburn that drew national attention.” […]
“Coburn had objected for weeks to passing the bill using the Senate’s fast-track process, holding out for the opportunity to offer amendments.”

– Chris Casteel, “U.S. Senate Approves Veterans Bill,” The Daily Oklahoman, Nov. 20, 2009.

Sen. Coburn is a C Streeter who tried to broker a deal for his C Street pal, Sen John Ensign, who was involved with an extra-marital affair with one his staffers. The C Street House is operated by 'The Family,' a shady Christo-Fascist organization headed by Doug Coe. Coe belives men like Coburn and Ensign are special people who are above the law like Adolf Htler, Joseph Stalin and Mao Zedong.

Extra-legal nut jobs like this have crossed the line into sedition. There is nothing in the Bible that sanctions this sort of behvior. This is reminiscent of some of the religio-fascist ideas of Hitler and Mussolini.

Rightardia has been saying for along time that the GOP does not really have a voting record that is supportive of veterans. Sen. Coburn's obstructionism is another example.

graphic courtesy of http://ltsaloon.org/

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Bill Maher on Christian evangelicals in Iraq and Afghnistan

The Christian Embassy recruits high ranking officers. It appears to have similar goals to The Family headed by Doug Coe. The Family operates the C Street Facility that many right wing Washington politicians such as Senator John Ensign live in.

In public, The Family hosts Prayer Breakfasts; in private, they preach a gospel of "biblical capitalism," military might, and American empire. Citing Hitler, Lenin, and Mao as leadership models. The Family's current leader, Doug Coe, declares, "We work with power where we can, build new power where we can't."

Doug Coe advocates that Christian leaders are special people who don't have to follow the rules. He uses the example of King David who stole his general's wife and then had the general assassinated. To Coe such actions are permissible for thee 'special Christians.'

After King David took Batsheva,the general's wife, Nathan the prophet told him: "For so says God: behold I will raise up evil against you from your house." (I Samuel 12:11)

Immediately afterwards and for the rest of his reign, David was afflicted with a succession of intrigues, scandals and rebellions from within the royal household itself.

The Family philosophy, which has no Biblical basis, could explain why Washington Republican leaders think they are above, the law.

George W. Bush is alleged to have said "Stop throwing the Constitution in my face," Bush screamed back. "It's just a goddamned piece of paper!"

Rightardia was not able to find a link between the Christian Embassy and The Family. Both organizations want followers in high places. Obviously if senior military leaders buy into Christian evangelical ideas, they will look the other way when the evangelicals are recruiting or violating the First Amendment in the Armed Services.

graphic courtesy of OldAmericanCentry.org

source: http://www.twf.org/News/Y2009/0525-Family.html 

http://www.christianembassy.com

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New magazine for the C Street Fellowship

click image to enlarge

It is edited by Doug Coe. the lead article explains the biblical basis for elite Christo-fascists to have sexual affairs and engage in other activities that society would consider criminal or anti-social.

graphic courtesy of the http://ltsaloon.org/

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Background on The Family

The movement was founded in Seattle in 1935 by Abraham Vereide, a Norwegian immigrant and traveling preacher. He opposed President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal and was worried that socialist politicians were about to take over Seattle's municipal government. Vereide organized a small group of businessmen sympathetic to European fascism, fusing the far right with his own polite but authoritarian faith

Prominent members of Seattle's business community recognized his success with those who were "down and out" and asked him to give spiritual direction to their group who were "up and out." He organized prayer breakfasts for politicians and businessmen that included anti-Communism and anti-union discussions. Vereide was subsequently invited to set up similar meetings among political and business leaders in San Francisco and Chicago.

Abraham Vereide believed he was contacted by God in 1935 who told the message in the Bible was misinterpreted. It was his mission to bring community leaders to Christ. This elite would then use private means the help the less fortunate. Verveide was pro-capitalist and anti-union. He was the trickle down advocate of the 1930s.

Doug Coe,the modern leader of the Family, has told his C street followers In Washington DC that they are above the Madding Crowd and that normal rules don't apply to the elite. The family 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.”

Coe believes his followers are above the law and has used King David as an example. King David stole his general's wife and then had the general assassinated. Coe believes such behavior is appropriate for his special group of right wing Republicans. This philosophy may explain why Republicans presidents such as Nixon, Reagan and George W. Bush authorized extralegal activities that were unconstitutional.

In his preaching, Coe repeatedly urges a personal commitment to Jesus Christ. It’s a commitment Coe compares to the blind devotion that Adolph Hitler required from his followers.

"Hitler, Goebbels and Himmler were three men. Think of the immense power these three men had, these nobodies from nowhere,” Coe said.

Later in a 2008 sermon, Coe said: "Jesus said, ‘You have to put me before other people. And you have to put me before yourself.' Hitler, that was the demand to be in the Nazi party. You have to put the Nazi party and its objectives ahead of your own life and ahead of other people."

Coe also quoted Jesus and said: “One of the things [Jesus] said is 'If any man comes to me and does not hate his father, mother, brother, sister, his own life, he can't be a disciple.’ So I don't care what other qualifications you have, if you don't do that you can't be a disciple of Christ."

Writer Jeff Sharlet lived among Coe's followers six years ago and was troubled by their secrecy and rhetoric.

“We were being taught the leadership lessons of Hitler, Lenin and Mao. I would say, ‘Isn’t there a problem with that?’ They [The Family] seemed perplexed by the question. Hitler’s genocide wasn’t really an issue for them. It was the strength that he emulated,” said Sharlet, who is a Contributing Editor at Rolling Stone and is an Associate Research Scholar at the NYU Center for Religion and Media in New York.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doug_Coe

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x5249775

http://deepbackground.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/04/03/857959.aspx?p=1

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Right Wing Christian Conspiracy

Every where you turn you find right wing politicians that are evangelical or tied into The Family, the Mormon Church, or a Pentecostal denomination.

Evangelicals have been infiltrating the Armed services for at least 30 years and many of these right wing zealots are senior officers. The Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs is located near a large evangelical community and many of the young men marry evangelical wives after they graduate from the academy.

There are many reports from Iraq and Afghanistan of troops refereeing to themselves as the New Jews or crusaders. Protestant clergy have conducted exorcisms in hospitals in front of Muslim patients. In Afghanistan some troops had planned to distribute thousands of Bible before commanders made them destroy the Bibles. Distributing a Christian Bible in Afghanistan is a crime.

Even worse the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has reported that neo-Nazis have enlisted in the armed forces and many advertise their racist sentiments on the New Saxon web site. Some of these individuals had swastikas and Celtic crosses tattooed their bodies when they enlisted. Many joined the Army or Marines to learn how to use weapons and explosives.

It is not a coincidence that George W. Bush, John Ashcroft and Sarah Palin are Born Again Christians. Senator John Ensign is tied into a shadowy Christian group called The Family and is sequestered with other politicians in a Family compound.

Several members of the United States Senate and Congress, mostly Republicans, are resident or non-resident members of the Family. Boarders at the Family's house on C Street include or have included Senators Tom Coburn, R-Okla., John Ensign, R-Nev., and Sam Brownback, R-Kan. and Representatives Zach Wamp, R-Tenn., Bart Stupak, D-Mich., Jim DeMint, R-S.C., Joseph Pitts, R-Pa, Mike Doyle, D-Pa. Other members include or have included Senators Don Nickles, R.-Okla., Charles Grassley, R.-Iowa, Pete Domenici, R.-N.Mex., James Inhofe, R.-Okla., Bill Nelson, D.-Fla., and Conrad Burns, R.-Mont. and Representative Frank Wolf, R.-Va. Gov. Mark Sanford of South Carolina is also a member of the family.

Mitt Romney is a bishop in the church of the Latter Day Saints and Mike Huckabeee is an ordained minister. The GOP is seeped in 'old time' religion. Michele Bachman was booted off of a school board when she tried to install 12 Christian principals in a charter school that were similar to the 10 Commandment . There is even a judge in Alabama who was impeached for displaying religious symbols in his court room. He is running for governor.

Many of these Republicans have graduated from Christian schools such as Bob Jones University or Liberty University who indoctrinated their students with Christian values that are historically inaccurate and undemocratic. Many of these Republicans believe that the US was founded as a Christian nation.

Monica Goodling, a government attorney, graduated from one of these schools and she dismissed several US Attorneys for political reasons and replaced them with conservative attorneys provided through a secret GOP network.

Is all of this a coincidence or part of a coordinated right wing conspiracy? Hillary Clinton has talked about the vast right wing conspiracy when she was the First Lady. Rightardia thinks she knew what she was talking about. The objective of this cabal is to Christianize America and stop new progressive programs. These people are mad as a hornets nest because of the defeat of the conservative Christian agenda in the 2008 election.

America saw where this wayward right wing agenda led us in the past eight years. These zealots aren't happy campers and they will do what ever they can to undermine Obama and the Democratic party. Don't undestimate them. They are organized and have a militant agenda.

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Senator John Ensign 'Dear Cindy' letter

Members of The Family forced Senator Ensign to send this letter to his girl friend. Ensign was considered a presidential contender before the scandal broke. Click on the letter to enlarge.

Several members of the United States Senate and Congress, mostly Republicans, are resident or non-resident members of the Family. Boarders at the Family's house on C Street include or have included Senators Tom Coburn, R-Okla., John Ensign, R-Nev., and Sam Brownback, R-Kan. and Representatives Zach Wamp, R-Tenn., Bart Stupak, D-Mich., Jim DeMint, R-S.C., Joseph Pitts, R-Pa, Mike Doyle, D-Pa. Other members include or have included Senators Don Nickles, R.-Okla., Charles Grassley, R.-Iowa, Pete Domenici, R.-N.Mex., James Inhofe, R.-Okla., Bill Nelson, D.-Fla., and Conrad Burns, R.-Mont. and Representative Frank Wolf, R.-Va. Hillary Clinton reportedly is a member of the Family though unnamed sources close to her have denied it. South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford is also a member of The Family.

The leader of this group is a shadowy person referred to as the stealth Billy Graham, Doug Coe. Check out the video on Mr. Coe and his organizations.


source: wikipedia

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