Who Is The Mystery Man Behind Prop 8?

Who is funding California's Prop 8, the country's most controversial ballot measure? The Mormons' donations are well known, and are a source of outrage among the church's more moderate elements. But little attention has been focused on two of the proposition's biggest individual donors: Elsa Broekhuizen, the mother of Blackwater founder Erik Prince, and Howard F. Ahmanson Jr., the reclusive theocratic millionaire who inherited $300 million from his philanthropist father at age 18.

When I profiled Ahmanson in a 2004 article for Salon.com, I became the first journalist in 20 years to interview him. Yesterday I resurrected my reporting for The Daily Beast, updating it to cover Ahmanson's recent machinations, particularly his role in Prop 8. As I wrote, Ahmanson few Americans have heard of Ahmanson -- and that's the way he likes it. His extreme politics and eccentric personality reveal the draconian underside of a ballot measure billed by its proponents as "pro-family."

During a 1985 interview with the Orange County Register, Ahmanson summarized his political agenda: "My goal is the total integration of biblical law into our lives."

Though Ahmanson's rhetoric has softened over the years, his politics are derived from the radical Christian Reconstructionist theology of R.J. Rushdoony, a far-right theologian who advocated replacing the US Constitution with biblical law. "God's government prevails," Rushdoony wrote, "and His alternatives are clear-cut: either men and nations obey His laws, or God invokes the death penalty against them." Those eligible on Rushdoony's long list for execution included disobedient children, unchaste women, apostates, blasphemers, practitioners of witchcraft, astrologers, adulterers, and, of course, anyone who engaged in "sodomy or homosexuality."

Rushdoony was the father Ahmanson never had, bringing him to radical right-wing Christianity not long after the anxiety-ridden, Tourette's-afflicted scion of wealth checked out of the Menninger Clinic. Ahmanson bankrolled Rushdoony's religious empire; in return, Rushdoony made Ahmanson a board member of his think tank, Chalcedon, which to this day advocates theocratic revolution in the United States. Ahmanson and his wife were at Rushdoony's bedside when he died in 2001.

(Read the full story on Ahmanson here).

My article is accompanied at the Daily Beast by a new video by Michael Wilson, creator of the brilliant documentary, Silhouette City. Wilson also co-produced my video documentary about Sarah Palin's belief in spiritual warfare, "In The Land Of Queen Esther."

On November 2, Wilson went to San Diego's Qualcomm Stadium to cover "The Call," an 80,000-strong Pentecostal rally for Prop 8. The Call organizer, Lou Engle, gathered his troops together for several days of fasting and prayer to stop what he called the "sexual insanity" of Prop 8 opponents. The rally culminated with Engle imploring his fervent crowd to become martyrs, to be willing to lay down their lives for the cause.

(Click here to see Wilson's video.)

The defeat of Prop 8 would be a nightmare for the Christian right. As Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council said of the ballot measure, "It's more important than the presidential election... We will not survive [as a nation] if we lose the institution of marriage."

But behind the Christian right's panicked pleas for preserving "traditional marriage" lies a more deep-seated fear. California's rejection of Prop 8 would represent a decisive repudiation of the theocratic fantasy outlined by Rushdoony and mainstreamed by Jerry Falwell, James Dobson, Lou Engle and countless evangelical minions. Ahmanson has spent what he could to keep his mentor's dream alive, but the movement's nightmare may arrive nonetheless.

Comments

[NickNas]

WHY can a TAX EXEMPT Church even do this in the first place?

hmmmmmmmmm­mmmmmmmmmm­mmmmmmmmmm­mmmm

[deadelephant2]

This article needs to be published in ALL media outlets possible, to expose this Dominionist wack-job to the greatest extent possible (since he likes privacy) and have his name and face plastered everywhere. People should know this creep's face EVERYWHERE he sets foot, and challenge him right to it. The Mormon Church needs to have its tax-exempt status entirely revoked for its bully-pulpit advocating Yes on 8, and if Prop. 8 does pass ALL concerned people need to plan a HUGE protest march on the Mormon Temple in L.A. to expose them for their involvement and lies in the campaign.

[IzzyCA]

I just got my first ever Robocall! It was a pro Prop 8 call. I actually laughed about it, because really, I voted two weeks ago, and I voted NO on Prop 8.

[Shrinath]

wooohooooooooo way to go IzzyCA!

[RG5626]

Good on ya! I'm voting no on Prop 8 tonight.

[MsMeryMac]

I mailed my ballot in 10 days ago and voted NO ON 8!

[ndngrrl71]

You know what this is what I'm sick of. When the Christians decided to turn Marriage into a legal document they screwed up. Now they don't want to face the consequences. You cannot mix religion with the Law it's illegal. The CA Supreme Court ruled on it - Accept it.
I have to give kudos to my parents who always said marriage exists between two people who love each and would do anything for each other in sickness and in health. They never once said it only existed between a man and woman. The consitution was written to protect every individuals right not just the select few. I really wish these good Christians would quit telling me how to think. Don't even get me started on Mormon's.

[OkieIntellectual]

I've been saying this for years. The part of marriage that actually counts in the real world is the civil contract and shared obligations of the couple, which are legal matters. I don't know if the Xtians have heard, but you can get married without ever going through the church.

[VeroucaSalt]

And should I ever choose to get married, it will be OUTSIDE the walls of any church. The whole Earth is my church!

[700rpm]

Xtians! That's GREAT! The newest word in my vocabulary!

[Shrinath]

Very simply put, marriage is an alliance of two souls. Sure, Christians have monopolized that. And then the govt. saw it as a way to control the masses. The Church and the govt. is all about control. Which is stronger??? The Church.

[KarlaElisa]

See???

If they were successful at abolishing abortion and driving out the gays they would not be content.

No...then it'd be censorship of art and literature.

National Sunday law.

The drive to make this country Christian (which kind remains to be seen) would amp up and these folks like guns and wars.

[OkieIntellectual]

And Sarah Palin is leading the way.

[4everdem]

I wish this would have been posted sooner. In fact it really ticks me off that it wasn't. I would have like to have used much of this article as talking points for no on 8.

[knowBuddhaU]

4everdem, I'm sure the author wishes the very same thing. I wish my colleagues and I had done a better job, decades ago. Hey, we're tryin', we're tryin'! Rome wasn't unbuilt in a day.

[BlueZoo]

What are these people so afraid of? Defining anything doesn't make it so! I'm much more afraid of the supporters of Prop 8 than I am of the proposition itself. The USA is not a theocracy and, hopefully, will never be one; however, if you give these people an inch into their beliefs, they will take it as full support of their theocratic agenda. Let's not given them any credence whatsoever!

[taddles]

They want to re-create the US as a theocracy and this prop is just one step along the way.

[knowBuddhaU]

Word to you, BlueZoo!

Election Anxiety:; Advice from Abraham Lincoln
By Russell Bishop

"How many legs does a dog have if you call the tail a leg? Four. Calling a tail a leg doesn't make it a leg."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/russell-bishop/election-anxiety-advice-f_b_140251.html

[suzannenyc]

Really interesting. Why didn't this come out sooner? Wouldn't that have made a difference? I hope Californians reject this measure, but the last time I checked it didn't look good. It's amazing that these billionaires with eccentric ideas can fund these ballot mesaures that overturn laws and affect our lives whether we like it or not. A similar thing happened in NYC when Ron Lauder bankrolled the term limits law and almost singlehandedly changed NYC government. And the opposition never has the same funding so the side with money wins.

[Imago]

"but the movement's nightmare may arrive nonetheless"

May that happen today.

[mommadona]

Here's his picture:

http://blogs.ocweekly.com/navelgazing/gay-marriage/oc-fundie-funder-gives-money-t/

[mommadona]

How so few can do so much to so many in so little time.

These people need to be eliminated from our society.

[knowBuddhaU]

Hello again, mommadona, good to see you here.

That would be to reverse their mistake: don't they want to eliminate us? Isn't that what the concentration camps were all about?

We are already doing away with the horrible beliefs they hold, right here and now, with this discussion, in the simple expression of our shared humanity.

They are not our enemies, mommadona: they are us. They are our kin, however effed in the head they appear.

You know the old phrase, "There but for the grace of god go I"? What's a 'but for'? Here's how I say it:

There BY the grace of god go I. That which we do to the least of our kin, that we do unto All.

[courageunderfire]

You are so right on 'knowBuddhaU' I agree whole heartedly, very well said!

[mommadona]

OK, how about this:

These people's influence needs to be eliminated from our society.

Obviously, they despise society as it is today - otherwise they wouldn't be trying so hard to change it.

There is a point when the arguments go from the philosophical and ideological and start to impinge on reality and real people's lives.

When can we stand and state in loud voices: "ENOUGH. NOW LEAVE".

I'm feeling much like the good citizens of Illinois when confronted with the Mormons in the 1800s.

[Kassandra]

These people allow me to feel the flames on the soles of my feet when I hear them talk. They are the true Antichrists.

Perhaps that is why they hate the other religions fundamentals so much; they want it their way or the highway/hell.
Sounds to me as tho Ahmanson has some "Daddy issues"; don't all fascists have "Daddy issues". Makes me wonder about the "sanctity" of the nuclear family at all.

[kellygrrrl]

It is time for CA to send a very loud and clear message to the NeoChristo­FascoFring­e!

GodLoves ALL Families!

Stop H8!

[Emmory]

Do you people realize that all of your values come from religion?
Why do you THINK murder is wrong?
Why do you THINK stealing is wrong?
Etc.
Without religious guidelines we would all be behaving like animals.

You can't decide now, after all of that is already in place to start believing religion is the enemy.
It doesn't matter if you believe in organized religion or not, you're already a part of it.

I'd be careful with what you wish for.

[knowBuddhaU]

No one is saying that, friend. Read carefully: we're saying that this is a most horrible use of a perversion of religion.

Religions function like country clubs: for the benefit of their members. Some are run as white male supremacist dominions; others, far more charitably.

It would be the hugest possible mistake, to toss out all religions for the bad faith acts of a tiny minority.

[Emmory]

No kidding.

[atila]

At the end of the day i know the majority of Californians are going to defeat this inhuman and disgraceful act from the reli.gious ex.treme right ...That's why a Barack Obama Presidency is so important,we need to return to the center and rebuild our tradition of disagreement but respect to each other,otherwise we are in peril and we could became a Nation of ex.tremist­s...

[kgb999]

You consider endorsing Gay marriage to be a view held by the "center"?? That's an extreme left position - many Americans are supporting democrats IN SPITE of their stance on this, not BECAUSE of their stance on this.

Being a true centrist isn't popular around here, but centrists believe there is validity to both positions - and we recognize that NEITHER side is being honest about their true objectives. We generally support civil unions and oppose marriage. And indeed most democratic politicians at least SAY they hold to this position - because THE MAJORITY of Americans feel this way.

If the objective is the ability to care for one's family, a measure will always have the centrist support. If the objective is to decimate/eliminate differing philosophies, the action should be rejected. In this case the push to be considered one-to-one equivalent is geared not only to achieve the valid protections that homosexuals and all Americans deserve, but also to score serious points in an unrelated culture disagreement.

It takes two to have a conflict - and compromise requires both sides give a little and get a little. America will be in bad shape if the left's version of neoconservative wingnuts takes over the country. The last thing we need is another batch of faux-centrists pushing extreme cultural wedge issues. It's time for both sides to stand down, accept CIVIL UNIONS nationally and stop this stupid gay marriage battle once and for all.

[TheHandyman]

How amusing. You think that the centrist position is that of seeing both points of view and deciding that both points of view is wrong? What an absurd notion. You actually belong to that faux centrist group. You are a right-wing nut. The Declaration of Independance talks about inalienable rights and points out that all Men have them. Not some Men, but all Men. To say that only some Men may marry but others must accept some other form is to define those "Men" as being less than what they are. The battle is being fought by People whose rights have been abridged by othe people whose stilted beliefs have kept them from achieving what is rightfully theirs. The Supreme Court of California declared it so and now the willfully ignorant religious nut jobs, of which you are one in spite of your self description, want to try to change the law to continue an injustice.