The Family's Ties

Since 1935, an organization calling itself "The Family" has been able to operate unnoticed in the Washington Beltway. The organization got its start when a group of inheritance babies organized to attack Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal. Since its beginning, one goal of the organization has been to remain invisible. But that invisibility is disappearing because of the sensational sex lives of GOP South Carolina Governor Mark Sandford and Republican Nevada Senator John Ensign. From the time it was reported that Ensign and Sandford were members of The Family, there has been a new media revelation every week about this secretive group that recruits conservative politicos to further The Family's political agenda. Five years before National Public Radio or corporate media spent a minute exposing this creepy organization, investigative reporter Jeff Sharlet had written a book that detailed stories about The Family. Those stories should have caught the attention of any responsibly run media outlet, but investigative reporting in mainstream media has been dead for a decade.

It was the sex scandals of Family members Sandford and Ensign that put the operations of The Family on the media's front page.

Here's what those two GOP sex scandals brought to light: Ensign lived in an elegant townhouse on C Street in the Washington Beltway. It is the place where Ensign carried on his extramarital affairs. That townhouse was owned by The Family. It is the same townhouse where Sharlet found six U.S. congressman living together in 2003. It wasn't a normal rental arrangement. The rent they were paying was so low that it was apparent that The Family was providing a subsidized living arrangement for those politicians. Now the Ensign scandal is finally driving a possible investigation into what kind of political favors The Family expected of their low rent tenants.

I interviewed Sharlet in 2004. He seemed frustrated back then that no one was paying attention to the relationship between neo-con politicians for hire and The Family. What did The Family want from its well- connected political members?

Sharlet uncovered documents that show that The Family's political doctrine suggests that Stalin and Mao represent the best role models of leadership through absolute strength. Sharlet's documents show that a fundamental part of The Family's political beliefs is that strict authoritarian rule is the most acceptable form of government and that the hand picked elite politicos in their organization are the ones most capable of promoting that iron-fisted doctrine. Today the short list of the politicos revealed to be part of the Family includes Republicans James Inhofe, Sam Brownback, John Ashcroft, Ed Meese, and Jim Demint. That list is growing daily. National media such as NPR is now reporting stories about how The Family has by way of huge money and political influence propped up some of the world's most ruthless dictators to promote authoritarian policy. The Family's money and fingerprints have been traced to the support of mass murdering "Papa Doc" Duvalier and Somalia's doctor death, General Siad Barre.

After years of an effort to move this evolving story through the dull brain of traditional media, Sharlet has finally made it clear that what he has uncovered is far from tin foil-hat material. Stay tuned.

Follow Mike Papantonio on Twitter: www.twitter.com/RingofFireRadio

Comments

[karma namdak]

Hitler? Mao? Stalin? Great leaders?

I don't think so. These lunatics need to be stopped and by stopped, I mean exposed as the nuts they are... but the dangerous nuts they are! DO EVERYTHING YOU CAN to educate your friends about this group. Even traditional evangelicals should be afraid of these guys...

They don't believe in ANYTHING but power. They are in no way followers of Jesus. They believe they have access to transcendent knowledge but what they actually have are the deluded beliefs of men who lost their battle with existence.

We are here for one reason and one reason only: to cultivate peace and happiness for all sentient beings and sustain that for as long as possible. These men will cultivate war, hate, poverty and misery for INFINITE numbers of beings if they are not stopped soon.

They consider themselves "The Elite", but they are nothing compared to "The Masses"! We, who truly love and care for one another, who truly admire Jesus as a spiritual visionary, will squash these bugs out of existence. And if you kiss Coe's ring, you're in trouble, too.

The Family is a family of demons. Power over your mind is the only power worth having! Power over others is a dead end.

[coolchange]

The Family is a Cult.

[Kiri sute gomen]

Thank you for the report, I believe it is very relevant to our current troubles as a nation.

[larry278]

Call it the Family or the Fellowship, this group of fundies is a group of reactionary, bad actors who had ties to Hitler's mob in the 1930s. That bunch now calls itself neo-con. Who cares what label they use? This is the same bunch who fought FDR as he saved US capitalism from itself; they are the old time, rabidly, reactionary forces FDR fought & beat.
The Family now sponsors the cat house on C St which is a refuge for the GOP's brigade of straying husbands & legislators. The family claims to be bringing Jesus to the wealthy & powerful but their cat house on C St is their big thing in 2009; that's getting the headlines now. The Family continues to make it's main task of subverting democracy in the USA so the uber rich will get richer. The Family's operatives like to give the American people the shaft as they did in the 1930s.

[rflctammt]

WHY is this story practically buried on the HUFF POST and essentially non-existant on the MSM?

Rachel Maddow has been investigating and reporting on this for weeks while CBS, ABC and rest of the MSM have been focused on Obama's birth certificate and Sarah Palin rumors. WHO is controlling the media on this? I think if we found the answer to that, we'd find the answer to why a whole lot of NUTHIN' is getting done in Washington. Seems to me there is a very powerful underground of very twisted "leaders" who have been getting away with some pretty underhanded stuff...

Thank you for your efforts to bring this into the light as well, Mr. Papantonio. The truth will out - sooner or later.

[karma namdak]

I don't get it either. This is a HUGE story and everybody, including Christians... no, ESPECIALLY Christians... should be very concerned. The Family is perverting Jesus' message beyond belief!

[JohnDylan]

I'm from Europe and we don't understand the problem, why would you want to become powerfull if you can't use it in a way like sleeping with nice ladies. Look at the politicians in Italy and France, why would you want to become the first lion/monkey if you can't use the rights they have (sleeping with all the females in the groop). Oke they are a bunch of hypocrits but please give them a break, they have power and they use it in the way all the animals with power use it.

[BMS]

Rachel Maddow has had Jeff Sharlet on time and time again over the past several weeks; she has been giving this story a lot of air time. Scary group and kudos to Sharlet for exposing them.

By the way, it's Gov. Sanford, not SANDFORD. I'm a proofreader by day; sorry to nitpick.

[OlderBudWeiser]

Was the C St. cheap apartment Norm Coleman stayed in? Bet it is.

[tomasedison]

THE FAMILY that plots together stays in power and gets huge cash rewards while preaching to America's holy roller segment of society

[LMPE]

The Family makes the Corleone clan look like choir boys. This entity is a religious version of Skull & Bones, if you will.

[RRonin]

That was the first thing I thought of when this story first broke. Skull and Bones for men who'd never be allowed into Skull and Bones!

[frontman9000]

Jeff Sharlet was on Real Time with Bill Maher last week. I encourage any of you who missed it to try to find it on HBO on demand. It was scary to say the least. Sharlet was saying that these men believe that they have been "hand picked" by God to control the world and that they are above the law and any indiscretions. This is why you see Sanford and Ensign refusing to resign because they are not the "little people" of the world. In one part of the interview, Sharlet explains a conversation he overheard in which one of them could be excused for raping a child because their mission is too important to be set back by what they deem to be mild sins.

[Chaimirija]

Bill Maher was speechless.

These people are dangerous. Notice how they project out their true intentions onto their enemies?

[RRonin]

Didn't that blow your mind when Bill was speechless? I think it was the first time I'd ever seen him without anything to say!

[TRYKER]

Thanks Mike for this important post. At least Rachel Maddow has some spine, she is taking this on and doing a good job of reporting.
I'm sick and tired of the "tax exempt" supposed religionists getting away with tax evasion and fraud, let alone this "family" being above the law in apparently every respect.
They run a hoochie house and Doug Coe leads them with great regard for ruthless dictators, corrupting Jesus"s message into "Jesus the savage" who obeys no laws and kills anything that stands in his way. But secrecy saves them, they think? What a corrupt mess, close them down. Its sickening.

[taurus96]

Because of Rachel, we started to get the story, little by little she did the investigat­ion,callin­g,checking sources,having the author on her shows many times.All of the main stream media did nothing for five years.How lazy they are and then they worship Murrow,Cronkite and go on and on how great they are reporting.
Hurray, for rachel and thanks for the great job you do every show.

[mamalisa38]

I guess we have our own Taliban right here in the good old U S of A ~ sad. I can't remember who it was but one of those smarmy republican's, just this year, said that they need to act like the Taliban!

[HairFarmer]

Thanks Pap ... keep up the attacks on these people and put em on your Googley Eyes list while you're at it !!!!

[Gnrshrtd]

No wonder Sharlet has been frustrated about the lack of coverage on this topic. This groups appears to have a frightening agenda. Coupled with the secrecy and reach (and considering what is yet unknown), this story reads like the Borgias. Don't stop reporting.