Is Ted Cruz the Next Barry Goldwater or Christian Right’s Best Chance?


Susanne.Posel-Headline.News.Official- ted.cruz.council.for.national.policy.christian.conservatives.take.over.america.theocracy_occupycorporatismSusanne Posel ,Chief Editor Occupy Corporatism | Co-Founder, Legacy Bio-Naturals
December 6, 2015

 

Just after Senator Ted Cruz announced his bid for the Republican presidential nominee for 2016, he was compared to another right-wing fundamentalist that tried to become president in 1964 – Senator Barry Goldwater.

Critics who made this comparison acknowledged that both candidates “emerged from the party’s conservative wing, and faced accusations of extremism” but they stop the comparisons there.

Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia dismissed the comparisons because Cruz “is too far right for mainstream America.”

However, if this comparison is further inspected, it appears that Cruz campaign might actually be a Goldwater reboot that America just might be ready for.

Although Goldwater ultimately lost, his campaign solidified a shift in the rhetoric of Republican presidential talking points; moving the point of conversation to a call for a more fundamental approach to politics.

This tactic was popular in the 1980s and helped Ronald Reagan win the presidency, according to urban legend. However, in his autobiography , Reagan remembered going to bed the night before he pre-recorded “A Time for Choosing” in 1964, and thinking: “[Hope] I hadn’t let Barry down.”

The speech centered on Goldwater’s rhetoric of a smaller government as inspired by the Founding Fathers, and pushed the concept of government controlling the people through the economy.

Here the idea that the government must use force and coercion to achieve their goals became a palatable notion; which necessitated “a time for choosing”.

Reagan said : “You and I are told we must choose between a left or right, but I suggest there is no such thing as a left or right. There is only an up or down. Up to man’s age-old dream – the maximum of individual freedom consistent with order – or down to the ant heap of totalitarianism.”

This speech raised $1 million dollars for Goldwater’s presidential campaign and was highly regarded as Reagan’s first notable public performance that gave him importance to the Christian fundamental uprising.

But despite the popularity of Reagan’s speech, it was not enough to save Goldwater’s election, which was lost by the biggest margin in history. And with Goldwater’s loss went the chances of the Christian right to place a fundamentalist into the executive branch of the US government.

The rhetoric Goldwater pushed aided the burgeoning libertarian movement with its attack of the legacy of the New Deal, and its melding of liberal republican ideals to fundamentalist Christian narratives.

Fast forward 16 years, and Reagan’s use of the Christian right’s growing presence within the Republican party made abortion, gay rights and the role of religion in public life talking points that resonated with devout Christian voters.

And unlike Goldwater, the combination of Reagan’s charm and the right’s rhetoric made Reagan a shoe-in for president.

Curiously enough, 3 months after Reagan took office, a conservative coalition of businessmen, evangelical leaders, billionaires, and media members formed called the Council for National Policy (CNP).

This group described their organization as one that “brings together the country’s most influential conservative leaders in business, government, politics, religion, and academia to hear and learn from policy experts … to cultivate ideas to help solve America’s growing problems.”

The founders of the CNP stated that they “were seeking to create a Christian conservative alternative to what they believed was the liberalism of the Council on Foreign Relations.”

Their mission statement includes agendas such as “to acquaint our membership with those in positions of leadership in our nation in order that mutual respect be fostered … to encourage the exchange of information concerning the methodology of working within the system to promote the values and ends sought by individual members.”

While some of their founding members were also members of Reagan’s presidential cabinet, most of them went on to capitalize on the growing evangelical Christian movement toward traditional values that they were creating – a tradition that is still going strong today.

• Gary Bauer went on to work with the Family Research Center
• Amaud De Borchgrave became a journalist for Washington Times, Insight magazine
• James Dobson founded Focus on the Family
• Jerry Fawell, Pat Robertson and Pat Buchanan became televangelists
• Wayne LaPierre founded the National Rifle Association in 1975
• Larry Klaymann founded Judicial Watch
• Oliver North became well-known during the Iran/Contra scandal and went on to become a pundit for Fox News
• Edwin Feulner founded the Heritage Foundation
• Ralph Reed became head of the Christian Coalition
• Erick Erickson became the founder and editor-in-chief of RedState blog
• John Allison became president and CEO of the CATO Institute
• Steve Green became president of Hobby Lobby Stores
• Jim DeMint became the president elect for the Heritage Foundation
• Mark Levine became a nationally syndicated right-wing radio host
• Larry Pratt, head of Gun Owners of America

And although there are many more people who are entrenched in the right-wing while also being members of the CNP, the infiltration of Christian fundamentalism didn’t stop with these avenues.

With the rise of the digital age came the introduction of the internet and the boom became the perfect place for the CNP to take a stronghold on information consumed by the public.

Enter in conspiracy culture and the rise of Alex Jones .

His brand of right-wing conservatism mixed with a big helping of patriotism and a revisionist view of history has become a platform for the CNP to reach a wider audience.

Jones echoes Goldwater’s John Birch Society rhetoric, but adds conspiracy to the recipe to appeal to those Republican moderate, independent, and even libertarian minded Americans. But where he shines the brightest is with the extreme fundamentalists of the party.

With is radio show, Jones has presented his fair share of CNP members such as:

• Stanley Monteith
• Paul Craig Roberts
• Michael Savage
• Phyllis Schlafly
• Jerome Corsi
• Senator Rand Paul
• Larry Klaymann
• Pat Buchanan
• Chuck Baldwin

The influence of Jones’ alternative media on the mainstream population has been palatable, and has spawned sub-movements that increase the effect and power of the CNP.

Most notable is the popularity of Congressman Ron Paul with Jones’ audience after a big push for the representative finally gave him a chance at being the Libertarian candidate for the Republican Party’s nominee for president – a status Paul had attempted to achieve twice before but failed.

Paul resonated with Jones’ conspiracy followers because he spoke out for smaller government, the evils of the Federal Reserve bank, the US tax policy and the Internal Revenue Service; as well as the military-industrial complex. These topics are heavily discussed at infinitum on Jones’ radio program and repeated in publications on his website.

And while Paul ultimately lost his political position, he has retained saint-like status within conspiracy circles.

Another creation of the CNP was the Tea Party movement. Founded in part by Mark Meckler , a member of the CNP, who was forced to resign after he accepted funding from fellow CNP alumni the Koch Brothers.

Since then Meckler has gone on to start the Convention of the States pro-patriot movement with the goal of rewriting the US Constitution and rewinding the nation to a time before the 12th amendment.

But infiltrating and fostering conspiracy theories through Alex Jones and forming the Tea Party weren’t the only mediums the CNP used to become an influential force in public sentiment, this group of fundamentalist created their own army for the Christian god.

OathKeepers is a conservative/patriot militia was formed by Stewart Rhodes with the help of CNP member Larry Pratt, who got the idea from CNP member former Major General John K. Singlaub .

Singlaub assisted in supplying the Contras with armory and militia training during the Reagan administration with the help of White House liaison Oliver North to create “non-insurgency counter warfare strikes” with funding from millionaires as well as fellow CNP members and oil billionaire H.L. Hunt, Joseph Coors, H. Ross Perot.

Shockingly, the funding provided by CNP members to the Contras was tax deductible.

Monies raised in the 1980s for the Contra militia totaled in more than $60 million for weapons, militia training, fatigue uniforms and other necessities.

Years later, promoting the militia blueprint visualized by Singlaub, Pratt stated in his book published in 1990 called, “Armed People Victorious”, that based on his expertise in “citizen defense patrols” (used in Guatemala and the Philippines) there should be a militia movement fostered and developed in the US to combat “communism”.

These conservative/patriot militias would be modeled after the “death squads” created by CNP members in South America.

This concept has been sold to the public as needed protectors of the US and a “Christian” army to ensure our return to a Constitutional Republic under the direction of the CNP.

Pratt was involved in the publication of the guidebook for US militias known as the “Field Manual of the Free Militia” which details how to prepare “insurgents” for “underground war” and is used by OathKeepers.

To show just how strong this CNP militia had become, during the standoff between OathKeepers and supporters of Cliven Bundy in Nevada against the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Pratt compared the scene to the Battle of Bunker Hill.

This altercation became known in patriot circles as the “Battle of Bunkerville” because the Bundy Ranch is located in Bunkerville, Nevada.

Pratt said: “What they were hoping obviously was that they could run tanks in like they did at Waco as a final, murderous act, but clearly that wasn’t going to be political possible in ‘Bunkerville’. It’s interesting, the country you could in a way say it got started at Bunker Hill and it got a new injection of life at Bunkerville, Nevada.”

Interestingly, Rhodes is a former staffer of Congressman Paul and a good friend of Pratt.

Since the days of Barry Goldwater, the landscape of America’s relationship with fundamentalist Christianity has changed. The call for a return to a Christian nation and the demand to take America back has fomented a pathway for members of the CNP to make their bid for the presidential seat.

Enter CNP member Senator Ted Cruz.

Like Goldwater, Cruz has aligned with John Birch Society talking points and has even been given the endorsement of conspiracy king Alex Jones. He is also coming up second in the current GOP polls , coming up to contend with Donald Trump’s spot for the Republican nomination.

Cruz has ignited a fire under Christian fundamentalists with calling for the replacement of all US Supreme Court justices with conservative believers that will vote with biblical values in mind.

For Cruz and the CNP, the 2016 presidential election is about the rise of Christian fundamentalism taking hold of America and controlling the direction of our nation.





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