The organization has operated under many front organizations to keep "The Family" invisible so it won't be under scrutiny and perhaps "misunderstood." Among those front organizations have been many different committees, councils, fellowships, foundations, forums and societies, and each of them raises financial funds independently. The Family's only publicized gathering is the annual National Prayer Breakfast, which it established with congressional sponsorship, and its real purpose is to recruit the powerful attendees into smaller, more frequent prayer meetings, where they more seriously proselytize and "assist people in establishing a personal relationships with Jesus."
Admittedly, The Family has done some good. Unfortunately, like the more well-known leaders of the "Christian Right," most of their words and activities have not been good for anyone but the wealthiest few Americans, their mega-corporations, and the U.S. Military Industrial Complex. They have fostered and financially supported relationships between the U.S. government and some of the most dictatorial leaders in Africa, Brazil, other Latin American countries like El Salvador and Honduras, and Indonesia, especially during the Reagan Administration and the Bush Administrations.
To younger members of The Family today, Jesus is not merely an idol to be worshiped, but an ever-present Over-Lord from whom you cannot escape, and for whom you must fight and even kill or die for in order to serve Him properly as a soldier in the Army of God. They shamelessly and proudly proclaim that their mission is to rule the world by force of arms if necessary, and they think the advice Jesus gave about not judging means that they can perform terrible acts and not judge each other, as long as they can rationalize that its for the glory of Jesus and greater Christendom. They do not realize they actually serve what Jesus called Mammon, not God.
Now, don't get me wrong, because I love my country. Even though like Benjamin Franklin I was born and raised as a Christian but came to understand I am a Deist, I love the core teaching of Jesus. And I am an American. In fact, I am a U.S. Marine Corps veteran who served in the 1960s (in my early twenties) and put myself in harms way for my country when John F. Kennedy was president. But now, even though I would certainly not compare America to a fascist state, I must ask you to please remember that in Adolph Hitler's Nazi Germany, the children and youth were indoctrinated in his concept of "Christian religion" and in the ways of the military. Most of the German people never questioned Hitler's youth movement as a vehicle for evil Nazi indoctrination in the 1930s. It all seemed fine to them at the time, and they in fact liked hearing that Germany was superior and good, and deserved to be the dominant force in the world.
Does that ring a bell? It does for me, because in my view a similar thing began happening in 1981 with the rise of the Reaganites and the Christian Right, and increased again during the eight years the Bush Regime reigned. After all, Bush claimed he was "doing God's will" by living by the "sword" (gun and bomb), waging an ill-advised war, and pursuing a military agenda seeking world dominance with their Project for the New American Century (PNAC). And that could happen again unless we make needed changes.
Again, don't get me wrong. I'm merely making the point that it is through religious and military indoctrination, with a doctrine of preeminence and superiority, that fascist states come into being and military empires are forged by the fire of war and force of arms. We must become aware of that, because the U.S. Religious-Military-Industrial Complex is militarizing the culture of our nation to prepare for endless war. And it would be endless if we continue in this madness.
I tell you that lasting peace cannot and will not be "won" by waging war. It cannot be done, especially not today or in the future. We will have lasting peace when truth overcomes falsehood, when love overcomes hate, and when good overcomes evil that masquerades as good. We will have lasting peace by making peace by making amends and reconciling our differences.
Therefore, I advocate a Constitutional Convention, and I advocate this New Declaration of Independence, which is an edited and revised update of Thomas Jefferson's work.
A New Declaration of Independence
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all human beings are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are the rights to: life; liberty; equal rights; equal opportunity; justice; safety; universal health care; complete public education from universal preschool-child care to post-graduate school; fair and adequate compensation for your labor; adequate social security income (if and when needed, so that no one suffers from hunger, poverty, or homelessness); real freedom of religion (with respect for all religions to prevent religious bigotry, domination, theocracy and persecution); and real freedom in the pursuit of happiness.
We declare that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among peoples, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of government becomes obstructive to or destructive of these ends, it is the right and duty of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute new or reformed government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form as to ensure and protect the collective equality, education, prosperity, well being, health, tranquility, and happiness of the people.
Now granted, governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes. Therefore, the people have been more willing to suffer, while abuses and offenses seem bearable, than to free themselves by abolishing the government to which they are accustomed. However, when a long series of deceptions, offenses, betrayals, and abuses of power, invariably pursuing the interests and the favor of the wealthiest few at the expense of the many, creates conditions which reduce the majority to subservient, dispensable subjects, it is the absolute right and duty of the people to throw off such government, to institute new or better government, and to provide new safeguards for their future security, equality, prosperity, and well being.
Such has been the patient sufferance of the majority of the people; and such is now the necessity to alter their system of government. The history of this government is a history of repeated deceptions, offenses, betrayals, injustices, failings, injuries, and abuses of power, resulting in the establishment and perpetuation of an unjust, corrupt, inequitable political-economic system and society in which a wealthy, privileged few disproportionately enjoy the fruits of the labor of the majority, while the lot of the majority diminishes and growing numbers of good, hard working people are reduced to conditions of poverty, to the extent that tens of millions of innocent children in this nation suffer from its devastating effects.
Furthermore, since this inequitable political-economic system of government functions by partisan political contest for sovereign presidential power and congressional dominance, the people are repeatedly divided and polarized by a foolish and juvenile partisan rivalry for the throne of political power. The wealthy and powerful from the right and the left fight amongst themselves to maintain and even gain more wealth and more power, soliciting support not only from their wealthy peers but from the average people who generate that wealth and power but cannot sufficiently benefit from it themselves. Thus the wealthy few keep the people divided and weak, unable to stand united because they are misled and pulled in opposite directions. A partisan king (president) sits on the throne, serving the interests of his winning party and supporters, while the majority of the people and the losing party suffer the consequences.
Therefore, in the name and by the authority of the good people of this nation, it is now solemnly declared that:
1) As soon as possible and from thereon, we the people shall share the throne of a reformed government, as equal joint heirs;
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