Glenn Beck and The 9/12 Marchers: Subversives From Within
Who are these people?! Where do they come from?! Ordinary Americans might wonder why anyone would stoop so low as to follow Glenn Beck, Fox News and Dick Armey (and their corporate sponsors masquerading as "FreedomWorks") as they organize their "9/12 March On Washington" to cynically exploit the 9/11 attack.
Patriotic Americans might question the organizer's aim to provide a media forum for dimwitted right wingers to scream "Liar!" "Socialist!" "Antichrist!" "Muslim!" "Death Panels!" "He's not an American!" and so on and on and on about the commander in chief charged with defending us from further attacks. And some people might even cry "shame on you!" to the more mainstream Republicans participating that include Dick Armey of FreedomWorks, as well as GOP Reps. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, Mike Pence of Indiana, Tom Price of Georgia, and South Carolina GOP Sen. Jim DeMint.
Ordinary folks from Planet Earth may ask why the Republican Party, right-wing activists and members of the Religious Right seem so unreachable with mere facts let alone decency and decorum. (As the proud father of a US Marine who fought in Afghanistan, I'm particularly outraged that these people would exploit the 9/11 attacks after my son and others were prepared to give their lives in response to our enemies.)
As a former Religious Right leader, who was raised (and home-schooled by my Evangelical-leader parents, Francis and Edith Schaeffer) in the movement, let me explain just why the ordinary rules of decency don't apply to the right these days.
Let me also answer this question: Who are these people?
Protecting Your Children From Satan
A big part of the answer to understanding the heightened climate of outright hate and fear of the "other" is the home school and Christian school movement. It is a modern incarnation of the anti-federal government ideology of earlier firebrands such as John Calhoun who was the 7th Vice President and a Southern politician in the 19th century. Calhoun embraced slavery, states' rights, limited government, and said that Americans should secede from the union if it went against their wishes. (See: "Calhoun Conservatism Raises Its Ugly Head" by Mike Lux in the Huffington Post Sept 11/09.)
In the early 1970s the evangelicals like my late father and James Dobson decided that the our society had fallen so far "away from God" and so far from "America's Christian history" that it was time to metaphorically decamp to not just another country but to another planet:. In other words virtually unnoticed by the media and mainstream political operatives, a big chunk of American society seceded from the union in all but name.
What they did is turn the white race-based in "Christian school" movement of the 1950s into a countercultural phenomena. As tens of thousands of new Christian schools opened, it was no longer just about "protecting" white kids from minorities and African-Americans. It was about protecting your children from Satan in other words the United States government's long reach through the public school system.
To protect your children from Satan -- in other words mainstream, open patriotic and pluralistic America -- you either kept them at home where mom and dad could teach the children right from wrong or sent them to a cloistered private evangelical/fundamentalist school. At home or in school you used curriculum prepared by the likes of James--beat-your-child-and-dare-to-discipline-Dobson, RJ-slavery-was-a-good-thing-Rushdoony, or many and other right-wing anti-American activists. That curriculum presented "secular America" as downright evil. Hating the USA became next to godliness.
The Anti-American Home Schoolers Come Of Age
We are now several generations into this experiment of holier-than-thou withdrawal from our American mainstream culture. If you wonder who it is that's both running and underwriting organizations such as the Family Research Council, Focus On The Family, Freedom Works and other organizers of the 9/12 March and who are the most faithful followers the likes of Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh or viewers of Fox News your answer is: it's the home school/Christian school generation of men and women now hitting their thirties and even forties who might as well have been raised on a different planet.
What are these home school and Christian school children taught? Here's a quote from one of the far right's leading home school curricula creators:
"The political question is this: By what biblical standard is the pagan to be granted the right to bring political sanctions against God's people? We recognize that unbelievers are not to vote in Church elections. Why should they be allowed to vote in civil elections in a covenanted Christian nation? Which judicial standards will they impose? By what other standard than the Bible?"
(Gary North of Institute For Christian Economics)
The generation raised on the belief that the US government is illegitimate because it is trying to "impose" non-biblical laws on people has hit the streets. These are the people who grew up indoctrinated into an alternative reality. Today they are out there waving signs of Obama dressed as Hitler. They are buying weapons and ammunition. Some are in the growing and revived militia movement. They are Dick Armey's foot soldiers. People like Armey and Beck can count on the ignorance of their dupes. It's against their religion to read a real newspaper, watch anything but Fox or go to a real school.
Evangelical Red Guards
Over the last 30 years Evangelical fundamentalists have managed to do what Chairman Mao failed to do with his Red Guards: indoctrinate a whole generation of evangelical people to see their own society as the enemy and act like subversives from within the culture. These people are as anti-American as Al-Qaeda. The "Christian Reconstruction" movement is working for theocracy. Reconstructionism (of which Gary North is one leader) says that the law given for the political and legal ordering of ancient Israel is intended for all people at all times.
Reconstructionist leader David Barton gives a definition:
"The Christian goal for the world is the universal development of Biblical theocratic republics, in which every area of life is redeemed and placed under the Lordship of Jesus Christ and the rule of God's law."
Who are Glenn Beck's foot soldiers? In effect what we have is a group of indoctrinated people who have never actually lived in America because they were brought up deliberately cloistered from it by their parents and churches. Because they are legally "Americans" they can move freely around our democracy trying to destroy it working within the United States. Today they are acting like a fifth column, no, they are a fifth column. Some of them have not just seceded metaphorically, there is even a growing movement for states to secede literally.
Today the right wing America haters actually are doing to America what no "illegal" immigrants ever do: work to overthrow our democracy and replace it with a theocracy. The home-schooled, privately educated brainwashed horde are an antidemocratic, fundamentally anti-American political movement. For a start they do not accept the results of the last election.
Liberal/Progressive Wishful Thinking and Blindness
Meanwhile those ordinary Americans including many Democrats, progressives and liberals who work within the system can hardly imagine that there are people so far outside the lines of what they regard as ordinary decent behavior that the progressives seem psychologically unequipped to deal with this reality.
President Obama is one such person. His talk of bipartisanship is a pipe dream. Why?
Bipartisan Pipe Dream
Because you can't be bipartisan with people who don't play by the same rules -- say accepting the will of the people -- as you do. Obama is not alone in his gentlemanly wishful thinking. For instance consider New York Times book review editor Sam Tanenhaus saying in his book (The Death of Conservatism) that the the conservative movement is over.
Tanenhaus rightly points out that the extremism of the right has driven away traditional Republicans. I ought to know! I, as a life-long Republican and former Religious Right activist helped create this situation. But Tanenhaus and others like him just don't get the fact that the far right is resurgent, in fact more dangerous than ever as a wounded animal is dangerous. They don't get it because kindly liberals also live in a bubble.
The kindly liberal reasonable bubble of an open free culture in which reason, argument in fact prevails is far removed from the other America, one of militia training camps, fundamentalist churches, parents who follow Dobson's "parenting" advice by "breaking" their children and whipping them (as Dobson tells them to do in his books) and thus raising the damaged and dangerous automatons of biblical vengeance and sadism.
The Last Chess Game You'll Ever Play
What reasonable people don't understand is this: if one person is playing chess abiding by the rules and their opponent is losing at the chess game it may appear that they have lost the match. But what if one person is willing to change the rules? For instance, if you're playing chess against someone who -- if they start losing -- takes a lead pipe out of their back pocket and smashes you over the head with it the "rules" change.
Serial Killers
The real story of the Religious Right and their power to destroy is told by Max Blumenthal in Republican Gomorrah, and Jeff Sharlet in The Family and by me in Crazy For God. What our books have in common is the understanding that you can lose in the political system but still "win" -- according to your destructive agenda -- if your agenda is non-political but rather religious and apocalyptic in nature.
To understand the Religious Right today and how dangerous they are don't think politics -- think serial killers who "win" by "getting even" with the society they perceive as having disrespected them. It isn't about facts. It isn't about election results. It isn't about truth. It's about victimhood and revenge on the "elite" in other words on everyone not like you. It is about the weird combination of sadism and masochism Blumenthal describes in his book.
Think Republicans who have no plan of their own for health care reform other than stopping Obama. Think "Deathers" and "Birthers" who are all about de-legitimizing our system as "evil" because it includes rights for gays.
New Rules: Anarchy and Scorched Earth
What those who think that the power of the Religious Right and/or the Republicans is ended don't understand is that it's only ended if you believe in the rules. When I say the rules I mean, for instance, that if you lose an election the other side gets to legislate. However if your opponent is not interested in the rules and is, A) waiting for Jesus to return and consume all the "infidels" or, B) you are just waiting to take that "lead pipe" out of your back pocket -- say go to public meetings and intimidate people by carrying loaded weapons to those meetings -- or worse, maybe even use them to shoot down someone -- all polite bets are off!
The fact of the matter is we now know what the experiment in raising children outside of the American mainstream means. It means that there's a whole subculture within American culture that mistrusts facts precisely because they are facts. They glory an alternative view of not just politics but of reality.
They frequent the creationist museum and look at dioramas of dinosaurs cavorting with humans. They believe that gay people choose to be gay just stick it to the rest of us and could change if they invite Jesus into their hearts. They believe that before you run for governor of Alaska, for instance, you should get a preacher specializing in "casting out the spirit of witchcraft" to anoint you so you can win against the demonic forces of secularism -- as was the case with Sarah Palin when she first ran for governor. They believe that the NRA was telling the truth when they claimed that Obama would "take away your guns" and so have loaded up with more guns and ammunition. They think the time has come to rise up and overthrow the government. And yes, most of them also believe that black people are inferior to whites, so to have a black man in the White House is itself "proof" of American's fall from grace.
There's no arguing with such people and no winning against them using mere elections. They are not playing by American rules. Their idea of winning is not fair elections but Armageddon.
Religious Right Growing Again
Those who say that the Religious Right and the far right have lost their power are looking through the lens of rule-obeying democratic liberalism. They don't understand that their opponents will always carry the proverbial lead pipe in his or her back pocket. To the progressives who think that the Religious Right and the right wing has lost its power I say this: You're correct when it comes to political facts (for the moment) of the last election, but you're dead wrong when it comes to the way revolutions work.
Second American "Tea Party" Revolution
Revolutionaries never have played by the rules. They don't have to win by the rules. They hate the rules. They don't live in a rule based or fact based universe.
They believe they are serving a "higher cause" so it makes the "mere human" rules unimportant. They're ready to shout down opponents, call out "liar" about someone telling the truth, undermine public meetings and/or commit physical violence. They are also willing to become the tools of cynical corporate lobbyists using them for ulterior purposes, say stalling health care reform.
In order to "win" -- in other words destroy our country as we know it -- the far right merely needs to be true to its own rule which is, to put it very mildly, that coloring outside the lines is not only perfectly okay but required.
Conclusion
Not only do the Religious Right distrust facts to them facts are evil. You are "satanic" if you believe in evolution. You're also satanic if you believe health-care reform is about anything but death panels and abortions. You're satanic if you don't believe that gay people are evil or if you think sex education is sensible. You're satanic if you don't believe in Satan!
The tactics that progressives develop for actually winning against the right have to involve far more than politics. They have to also involve ceaseless vigilance against an enemy that has now -- literally -- raised up an armed, paranoid and deluded alternative nation within our borders and created a fifth column to undermine the United States and our democracy. They need to be called out by the rest of us in no uncertain terms.
Long term the Religious Right subculture has to be understood, then exposed for what it is: an anti-democracy movement built on willful lies with potentially violent underpinnings in the thrall of an apocalyptic cult of revenge on everyone not like "us." It is also the useful tool of corporate lobbyists. Who use these shock troops of the proudly ignorant for non-ideological reasons.
The Religious Right may have lost a round politically but they've still got a "lead pipe" in their back pocket. They can still "win" by making the rest of us lose our democracy by increments. They will even spit in the rest of our faces by exploiting the national tragedy of 9/11 in their 9/12 "Tea Party" march.
Frank Schaeffer is the author of Crazy for God: How I Grew Up as One of the Elect, Helped Found the Religious Right, and Lived to Take All (or Almost All) of It Back and the forthcoming Patience With God: Faith For People Who Don't Like Religion (Or Atheism)
Follow Frank Schaeffer on Twitter: www.twitter.com/frank_schaeffer
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Our current problem - (3000 different lannuages, nations, religion, patriots and worshipers) - is that everyone's Lies must be ENFORCED. Only The Truth that creates and sustains Life on earth requires no enforcement.
When they speak Truth than every human, within every nation and religion, speaks the same words.
The swords, muskets, cannons, threats of hell, and promises of heaven, are required to enforce LIES.
Great article, this is just what progressives need a common enemy to unite against, lest our democracy become a radical theocracy.
This is insanity. I don't doubt that there really is a movement by a certain segment of fundmentalists to take over,but I don't think they will succeed. The military is sworn to protect the United States from enemies both foreign and domestic. Any attempt from these people to over throw the government would I hope be thwarted by the US armed forces. The military has many non-lethal weapons that can be used on armed and unruly mobs. I've seen them demonstrated on the Discovery channel so I know that they have them. These Christian groups may not believe in science, but they'll learn that it does exist.
Now, on to what I think will happen to the Republican party. Hatred is a cheap recruiting tool and we've all seen it used by fascist regimes in the past. The Republican party and the true Republican has always believed in free enterprise and business. By partnering with this religious group they are destroying any relevance they may have in the future. The Republican party will have to seperate itself from the religious right to survive. Surely those who are business men will realize what a tremendous upheaval the economy will suffer as a result of a revolution. The stock market would certainly crash if the loonies take over the government. Our economy and other economies will topple around the world because of it. Then too our enemies will grow in power if the nuts take over.
I suspect you seriously underestimate the degree to which the Pentagon has been infiltrated by right-wing evangelicals (David Patreus). Also, the military is not the only army in the game any more.
See Blackwater.
They outnumber US troops in the middle east theater and their leader is a far-right wing Christian evangelical who views his god-given mission is to eradicate 1 billion Muslims.
It is worthwhile that you take the time to read the article below.
Jesus killed Mohammed:
The crusade for a Christian military
http://harpers.org/archive/2009/05/0082488
I've been reading an learning about what you have termed as the Fifth Column for several years now (mainly on Talk2Action) and have been worried about this trend since I first found out how insidious and wide-spread it's become. With the election of President Obama, things seem to have come to a head and your book and this post underscore that idea quite clearly. My question is a simple one.
What the hell do we DO about it? How can a problem like this be dealt with? It didn't happen overnight so it sure as hell isn;t just going to go away.
I frequent rightard websites and forums all the time. I see this crap daily, and it's getting worse every day.
Don't forget, these same wingnuts love nothing better than to throw around thinly veiled (if veiled at all) threats about how revolution is coming, and how great it is that the police and military will be on their side when, not if, it does.
Good thing they're wrong, or we'd all be in a heap of trouble. Because they're clearly working themselves up into a frenzy preparatory to this.
Good thing they're wrong about another thing: good thing so many of us 'liberals' are armed, despite the best efforts of some of our misguided brethren.
If they ever do grow a pair and start their precious little revolution (and only then), they'll find that we - the American people - are not the pushovers they think we are. Law enforcement and the military, with few exceptions, will take a dim view of their domestic terrorism. A few thousand deluded violent extremists cannot win against loyal law abiding citizens, law enforcement, and military.
It has taken me some time to figure out how to reply to this article. All of the name calling is very inciteful. He sure has lumped everyone at the protest into a little nutshell. Where do I start? Subversive. WOW !
My Mother went to protest. She is in her mid 80's. She went straight from High School in Illinois to work in a factory in Tn. until WWII was over. Yes, while the men were serving overseas, the women worked the factories and plants in their places. They also sent their jewelry to the government as metals were needed. They lived with gas, tires, oil, sugar, coffee, nylon, tea, etc rationed. They planted gardens as food was rationed, it was needed to send to our troops.
While my Dad served overseas from '41 to '45, she worked in a factory many states away from family and friends. She had no young adulthood as we know it. It was devoted to serving her country. She knows freedom is not free. She went to protest because she thinks Congress is out of control. Which I might add is her right under the Constitution. So you might want to rethink calling the protesters "subversive".
That seems to be the age group that went to these tea rally's. People on Medicare. Government run health insurance. The mentality that I have mine. I worked all my life for my Government Health care. Why can't the middle class Americans have affordable Health Care? Why are you and mother so against everyone else having affordable Health care? Why should we pay for your Mother's healthcare?
Do you not talk to your parents or grandparents? I ask because most of these things you brought up your parents or grandparents would be dealing with.
My parents have been paying taxes since the early 30's(Dad 30's/Mom40's). Social Security went into effect in 1935 and they have paid that since then. Also the elderly still, even into retirement pay taxes on capital gains (investments, cd's, etc)
People on Medicare pay a premium every month, it is approx $100 per person, $1200 per year. It is not free. Also, Medicare does not cover all expense, some seniors buy additional Medi-gap policies.
And I never said there should not be affordable health care for everyone. Government health care is the same as any private policy, it is contracted out to the same insurance companies as your private policies. She was not protesting against people having health insurance. We didn't have health insurance until my Dad company went union in the 60's.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medicare_(United_States)
"Since the beginning of the Medicare program, CMS has contracted with private companies to operate as intermediaries between the government and medical providers."
The only difference between private policies and government run policies is the money/cost.
I was disputing the calling of people at the protest "subversive". There were a lot of signs there that I saw on the news that said "Go Green, Recycle Congress" or "taxation WITH represention aint't so hot either". Those aren't so sensational.
Maybe the author of this article was a bit monolithic in his depiction of the 912 Protesters. Not all were right wing religious fundamentalist zealots. But a major component of them no doubt were, and am sure many degrees of sympathizers were among them too.
I also find a sick irony in those who love to hold up how the country came together in national service during ww2 yet denounce any other such attempt during peace time no matter the circumstance.
Another sick irony is how misplaced their outrage is. They froth over desperately needed health care reform to end the twisted exploitation of the sick by corporations, when the real problem is the growing collusion of the Money Power and our government.
My Father drug us out of a Baptist Church when they said "Don't vote for Kennedy because he is Catholic". He told that Baptist preacher that he fought against hatred and it would be a cold day you know where before he would allow his children to be taught hatred by any church.
Wonderful post!
I wonder if these people qualify as a cult? If I had to guess how many 9-12 marchers call themselves "Christian", I bet it would be above 90%.
Once again Mr Schaeffer has provided us with a valuable former insiders view of the real enemy.
Dialog only works with those who WANT to be reasonable and accomodating, and doesn't work with folks unwilling to play by common rules or have a value system based on hate and intolerance of all but themselves.
People in this country have been protesting "en masse" since the 60's. Why are they being called names now? They used to be called "anti-war protesters" or "hippies", but they were not called subversive, racists, leftists, righties, birthers, deathers, teabaggers, etc. Ask yourself why the name calling and race baiting? Is it to take you away from the real issues?
Ask the 9-12 marchers what they are protesting and they will say Barack Obama, Socialism, Health Care Reform, Big Government, Taxes, Big Spending, National Debt, as well as Obama as: Hitler, Stalin, the Devil, the Anti-Christ, Chairman Mao, and as a Kenyan Usurper of the Presidency.
It's kind of hard to distill that into one category like, "anti-war protesters".
Frank Schaeffer is right. It is not about reason or facts. It is not about truth.
I believe it is about mindless fear. It's definitely not about Christ's teachings.
FYI, they were called many of those things
I'm an evangelical Christian, and would like to demonstrate how incorrect this article is.
1. I don't know who Glenn Beck or Dick Arney are.
2. I don't watch Fox News. I watch nothing or BBC America news.
3. I've lived in TN nine years, but I've never heard of Marsha Blackburn. I'm just not very interested in politics. However, I'm not anti-American. Even Christians who complain about America can't touch the hatred of Al-Queda.
4. I'm homeschooling, but not because of Satan at all. The education level is so poor that 33% of our county's residents ages 26 and over do NOT have a high school diploma OR a GED. Since the teachers don't speak grammatically correct English, I'm homeschooling primarily for pedagogical reasons.
5. I don't know who Rushdoony is, I don't believe slavery is OK, and I've never met anyone that does.
6. I don't think Obama is Hitler, I'm not buying guns or ammo, and I don't know anyone who is. I accept the election results and am not anti-democratic
7. "Most of them believe that blacks are inferior to whites"??? Wrong! I certainly don't and don't know any Christian who does.
8. I've never heard anyone say that evolutionists are Satanic. They just don't have faith in God as creator. Not everyone does. We don't all have to be the same.
9. I've been to England 17 times and would LOVE to have an NHS plan here.
THERE'S MORE!
Just because you've lived in Tennessee a mere 9 years doesn't prove Mr. Schaeffer's statements as incorrect. I've lived in Tennessee almost half a century and I can attest that his thoughts are factual and correct. If you've been in TN 9 years, political or not, how on earth can you not know who Marsha Blackburn is? Just so you'll know, she is one of the head cheerleaders of the party of NO, Congresswoman, Marsha Blackburn. The rest of your post I'm quite relieved to read. There are many people in TN and all over the South that think exactly as Mr. Schaeffer discribed. I know this for a fact as many in my own family hold these extreme views. Hopefully, you will continue not to get to know how many of your friends and neighbors think just like that. It gives me hope that in a state full of willfully ignorant Republicans, there are indeed reasonable conservatives, such as yourself, that can work together with reasonable progressives to make the state better for all.
Unfortunately there are a lot of very intolerant evangelicals who disagree with you - and if they ever gained power would get rid of you and the rest of us for being satanic liberals.
I don't think you should consider yourself in the group Frank Schaeffer was talking about.
He is talking about the people like the "Christians" that are on this site:
http://www.worldviewtube.com/video.php/videoid-4353/Brannon-Howse/Brannon-Howse
Note the comments on the site - they are a real eye-opener. Brannon Howse, who runs the organization, has had Dick Armey, Glenn Beck, and Tom Delay speak at his "Christian" events.
The reason that this affects me is that I am getting emails from my former pastor who is endorsing Brannon Howse, and the right-wing "National Enquirer" site, WorldNetDaily.com.
I am a Christian and the radical right-wing scares me. They can convince people who I thought were good Christians into believing outrageous lies. You would not believe the depths to which they will descend in order to attack Obama and even demonstrate and protest against their own interests and the well-being of others.
We need more of our religious citizens to respect the right of others like you do.
However, I hate to tell you. The author is dead on about the general state of evangelicalism in this country. Since you apparently do not follow politics or the news, you are unaware of this situation.
Do you know who built the telephony or network infrastructure you use daily?
No, because it's irrelevant to your ability to use it or be effected by it.
One needn't be ignorant of the source of an idea or belief to be solidly in its grasp.
That said, you clearly assume in your reply that because SOME xians are being criticized, that the criticism applies to all.
Doesn't apply to you? Then it doesn't apply. Move along.
Thank you, Mr. Schaeffer. I have sent your piece to my legislators and asked them to talk with Janet Napolitano for further details. I have also asked them to set up hearings and to come up with a multiple attack solution to this insurrectionist problem so that maybe we can reduce the number of innocent casualties, such as that little girl in Oregon whose parents let her die because they believe that gawd is the only healer and subsequently passed away from pneumonia.
As the Bible clearly states (James 2:6): But you dishonored the poor person. Are not the rich oppressing you?
I saw Mr Schaeffer on Rachel Maddow last night. Powerful. Scary. I had a hunch that there was a post just like this one out there. Thanks Mr Schaeffer for being so articulate and unwavering in your opinions. This really is huge.
Frank, I'd feel a lot better if I knew you or someone like you was one of the president's top political advisers. It's time to say to hell with bi-partisanship for exactly the reasons you've stated here.
I agree. Let's send copies of this post to the WH.
"Today they are out there waving signs of Obama dressed as Hitler."
Indeed, and all those who go along with all this 'he's a Communist/Fascist/Marxist' stuff would do very well to look into the history of the person fronting the group who made the most well known of those posters.
Mmmmmm. Someone who has been a Communist/Marxist/Socialist/Fascist/Tyrant?
It's not the POTUS, it's the guy who made those signs with the Hitler moustache!
You couldn't make it up...and I didn't.
And thank you, Frank, for your message/post here. It was terrific.
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