Log In | Register
19 Votes
27 Comments
Meet the Real Power Behind the GOP
News Type: Opinion — Seeded on Wed Aug 20, 2008 12:14 AM EDT
Article Source: Political Research Associatesadvertisement
The Council for National Policy (CNP) is a secretive right-wing nationalist group that was formed in 1981 to counter what its leaders saw as the excessive influence of purportedly liberal organizations like the Council on Foreign Relations.1 CNP, may of whose founding members helped spearhead the emergence of the modern conservative movement (sometimes referred to as the "New Right"), remains an important element of the American Right and is regularly courted by conservative politicians, religious leaders, and activists. The invitation-only group sponsors closed conferences and seminars for "national leaders in the fields of business, government, religion and academia to explore national policy alternatives."2
A 2004 New York Times report about CNP highlighted its secrecy. "Three times a year for 23 years, a little-known club of a few hundred of the most powerful conservatives in the country have met behind closed doors at undisclosed locations for a confidential conference, the Council for National Policy, to strategize about how to turn the country to the right."3 Added the Times, "'The media should not know when or where we meet or who takes part in our programs, before or after a meeting,' a list of rules obtained by the New York Times advises the attendees. The membership list is 'strictly confidential.' Guests may attend 'only with the unanimous approval of the executive committee.' In e-mail messages to one another, members are instructed not to refer to the organization by name, to protect against leaks."
Published to:
- Pamela Drew's Column, All of Newsvine
- Groups: Corporatism, Election News, Our Orwellian World
- Regions: none
- Public Discussion (27)
- Corporatism
- Election News
- Our Orwellian World
What's this?
Who's leading the conversation?
This visualization below allows you to see the impact that each user
has on the current conversation.
The top row contains the group of users who have had the most impact, the 2nd
row the group of users who have had the 2nd most impact (et cetera).
Users with similar impact are grouped together, and the average score of the group
is shown to the left of the group. The author of the article is also shown on the
left, in their corresponding group.
Each user's score is based on the number of comments the user has made plus the
number of votes their comments have received. The scores are calculated relative
one another, so while their absolute value is not particularly important, their
relative difference does indicate a larger difference in impact on the conversation.
82
17
5.7
{"commentId":2511142,"authorDomain":"PamelaDrew"}
An article written two years ago was recently posted on Alternet to reexamine this powerful group of covert power brokers. This piece is less academic and thus more readable and perhaps a better place to start for folks who don't munch on politics, breakfast, lunch and dinner. It's a great, manageable read.
Secret Society By Sarah Posner, Gadflyer
Posted on March 1, 2005, Printed on August 19, 2008
http://www.alternet.org/story/21372/On April 29, 1992, Tom DeLay stood up on the House floor and decried a "tax-funded boondoggle" that sent freshman members of Congress to Harvard for a seminar. "Yes," DeLay asserted, "the congressional freshman orientation at Harvard doesn't cost millions of dollars. But even the thousands of dollars of tax money used for this congressional boondoggle sets a bad example for new Members of Congress." Instead, DeLay urged, "grassroots organizations" should conduct orientations at no cost to the American taxpayer. The organizations DeLay named were the Coalition for America, the Council for National Policy, Free Congress, and Free the Eagle, all radical conservative groups with ties to the right-wing Christian evangelical movement. As DeLay spoke, the Council for National Policy (CNP) was in a fight with the IRS over a tax-funded boondoggle of its own, a fight in which CNP ultimately would emerge the victor.
Most Americans – even many self-professed political junkies – probably have never heard of CNP or would confuse it with countless other groups with similarly unremarkable names (including the Center for National Policy, a liberal group). But conservative activists would know what Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has referred to as "the heart of a great conservative movement that helped to make America strong and prosperous in the 20th century – and is now helping to ensure she remains free and secure in the 21st century," or what Indiana Republican Congressman Mike Pence has called "the most influential gathering of conservatives in America." But because CNP has been so successful at maintaining its secrecy – flouting the law for more than two decades – it has managed to obscure the depth of its reach in conservative political organizations, political fundraising, the conservative media, and even the Bush administration itself.
{"commentId":2511142,"threadId":"335314","contentId":"1764454","authorDomain":"PamelaDrew"}
- 7 votes
#1 - Wed Aug 20, 2008 12:20 AM EDT{"commentId":2511517,"authorDomain":"jade-log"}
"Sarah Posner characterizes the council as tightly linked to "a community of well-connected activists who advocate for the imposition of fundamentalist Christian ideology in public life and have succeeded in forcing their agenda in the Bush administration."
Once again more disturbing information. A long time ago I read the "Illuminati" and "Magister Ludi." Two of the most impenetrable texts I have ever read. The CPN is right up there with them. More layers than birch bark. They are like the prow in the ship of state and I so removed am caught in their wake. This particular branch of Christian belief abhors pleasure. Their ascendancy to the throne of power has been a nightmare for me. I can only hope their grip will be loosened.
{"commentId":2511517,"threadId":"335314","contentId":"1764454","authorDomain":"jade-log"}
- 6 votes
{"commentId":2512394,"authorDomain":"youthinasia"}
It is truly stunning to hear politicians who are in league with this group and various other illuminati of Wingnutistan shamelessly sell themselves as patriots representing "real" Americans (because you know, those people in San Francisco or New York City are not real Americans). The ideology supported by this group - the brain trust of the American Taliban - is the exact opposite of open enlightened democracy as envisioned by the Federalists and anti-Federalists alike. Rather, the adjectives used to describe these shadowy creeps would be authoritarian, reactionary, hyper-secretive, paranoid, theocratic, plutocratic, perhaps kleptocratic as well. I suppose some "conservatives" like John McCain can be excused for their association as they simply are not bright enough to truly understand the full implications of supporting antidemocratic think tanks and nefarious other agents of chaos that are actively or implicitly conspiring against the best interests of most Americans. Then again McCain might just be another sleazy opportunist Con doing whatever it takes to become emperor, ... er, ... I mean president.
{"commentId":2512394,"threadId":"335314","contentId":"1764454","authorDomain":"youthinasia"}
- 5 votes
{"commentId":2515466,"authorDomain":"PamelaDrew"}
the exact opposite of open enlightened democracy
When you dig into the history of covert operations in our government with the OSS turned CIA you see that we have the same Wall Street power brokers controlling the information. Classified is more about protecting the guilty than protecting the country. Even 9/11 hit on the Twin Towers is emblematic, since they were built by the Rockefellers and affectionately called David and Nelson for the brothers Rockefeller back when the asbestos filled White elephants were constructed.
I often wonder how much of the asbestos liability, that was driving Halliburton toward financial ruin before the War on Terror contracts saved them, would have been worsened if the WTC had to have the environmental remediation that was required by law. Just another "lucky" coincidence.
{"commentId":2515466,"threadId":"335314","contentId":"1764454","authorDomain":"PamelaDrew"}
- 5 votes
{"commentId":2511480,"authorDomain":"lele"}
These people are sooooo scary. Thanks for always spreading the word and 'getting smarter', Pamela.
Anyone that wants to learn more about these people without finding you've lost three weeks of your life after you ran and hid under a rock in fear should start with the book (or blog apparently) The Sinner's Guide to the Evangelical Right. The book might be just a bit out of date now, but it's still quite relevant and really freakin' hilarious.
{"commentId":2511480,"threadId":"335314","contentId":"1764454","authorDomain":"lele"}
- 5 votes
#2 - Wed Aug 20, 2008 1:12 AM EDT{"commentId":2511528,"authorDomain":"jade-log"}
It will be on my to do list.
{"commentId":2511528,"threadId":"335314","contentId":"1764454","authorDomain":"jade-log"}
- 5 votes
{"commentId":2511622,"authorDomain":"PamelaDrew"}
The book might be just a bit out of date now
Sometimes the dated material is better than the more current, because the ability to see it in the context of what we know now can reveal more than was obvious at the time. My real appreciation for "dated" material came in 2002 when the 1915- History of Standard Oil made the CIA's burn list. It wasn't a public list. but there are always Patriots who work to offset the dark forces. *smirk*
It's online now and one of the best works of muckraking journalism ever. My hero, Ida Tarbell wrote in meticulous detail what is a perfect blueprint for how the interests of corporations, big oil and Rockefeller combined to dominate our government and Justice system.
Interestingly too are the key States that play to the earliest corruption of the democratic process. To the CIA's credit, it is a great choice to keep from public view. They do know where the real threats are, the library!
{"commentId":2511622,"threadId":"335314","contentId":"1764454","authorDomain":"PamelaDrew"}
- 5 votes
{"commentId":2512102,"authorDomain":"robvukovic"}
......and what about the tri-lateral commission?
{"commentId":2512102,"threadId":"335314","contentId":"1764454","authorDomain":"robvukovic"}
- 3 votes
#3 - Wed Aug 20, 2008 3:00 AM EDT{"commentId":2515144,"authorDomain":"PamelaDrew"}
Yes indeed, another fine collection to add to the list. There are more than a few of these corporate government groups and the memberships are intertwined. Here's a good profile of Trilateral.
"The Trilateral Commission is international and is intended to be the vehicle for multinational consolidation of the commercial and banking interests by seizing control of the political government of the U.S." -- attributed to Senator Barry Goldwater.
Also unconfirmed attribution to Goldwater: "David Rockefeller's latest scheme to take over the world, by taking over the government of the United States"
One note about David Rockefeller, he's also a member of Skull and Bones, the group who in my estimation is the epicenter of all the think tank and covert influence.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skull_and_Bones
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Skull_and_Bones_members
{"commentId":2515144,"threadId":"335314","contentId":"1764454","authorDomain":"PamelaDrew"}
- 4 votes
{"commentId":2512841,"authorDomain":"johunt"}
What a bunch of BS!
{"commentId":2512841,"threadId":"335314","contentId":"1764454","authorDomain":"johunt"}
- 2 votes
#4 - Wed Aug 20, 2008 7:23 AM EDT{"commentId":2513277,"authorDomain":"SthPacific"}
I agree Jarhead, How could they say that about Ronnie Reagan, He was a great American, even if he did privatize the Media, Sell arms to Iran, Was a good friend of Saddam Hussein, and created the Mujahadeen (Osama bin-Laden/Al-Qaeda) .
{"commentId":2513277,"threadId":"335314","contentId":"1764454","authorDomain":"SthPacific"}
- 5 votes
{"commentId":2515214,"authorDomain":"PamelaDrew"}
Reagan was the head of the Screen Actors Guild who helped HUAC blacklist actors in the McCarthy witch hunts. He was loyal to the powerful interests who used the Red Scare to distract from investigating the Wall Street ties to Hitler and punishing the companies seized by Congress for trading with the enemy and he, like Nixon, was rewarded for the loyalty.
{"commentId":2515214,"threadId":"335314","contentId":"1764454","authorDomain":"PamelaDrew"}
- 5 votes
{"commentId":2513196,"authorDomain":"SthPacific"}
Funny that this is news, I thought the Thatcher Reagan Neo-Liberal junta was common knowledge. the only thing that was unique to America was the Pentecostal Protestant Christian loony think tanks. Ofcourse this kind of thing would be absolutely unacceptable anywhere else. We'd vote the communists in before the Christian Nazi Fascists, but I guess thats not an option in the USA
{"commentId":2513196,"threadId":"335314","contentId":"1764454","authorDomain":"SthPacific"}
- 4 votes
#5 - Wed Aug 20, 2008 8:15 AM EDT{"commentId":2515297,"authorDomain":"PamelaDrew"}
Funny that this is news,
Try to remember that Americans are so steeped in propaganda and so sheltered from the realities of what happens in our political process most still don't know they're eating gmo food. When the mainstream media can omit reporting on a decade of feeding us as lab rats and privatizing our commodity crops, it is hard for people to have any clue what the real forces at play here are.
{"commentId":2515297,"threadId":"335314","contentId":"1764454","authorDomain":"PamelaDrew"}
- 6 votes
{"commentId":2525770,"authorDomain":"SthPacific"}
Ah I see, like the recent conflict in Georgia, Sth Ossetia is a bad breakaway republic because They dont respet the territorial integrity of Georgia and the US supports Georgia, and Kosovo is a good breakaway republic because it does not respect the territorial integrity of Serbia, and they wave American flags.
I just love the way the American public thinks what it is told to think. The way they can hold two diametrically opposed views at the same time without the slightest hint irony, and are completely oblivious to how this is perceived internationally.
{"commentId":2525770,"threadId":"335314","contentId":"1764454","authorDomain":"SthPacific"}
- 5 votes
{"commentId":2528479,"authorDomain":"PamelaDrew"}
The way they can hold two diametrically opposed views at the same time
We swallow it all, including spin that Roundup Ready food is equal to traditional food. War is Peace!
{"commentId":2528479,"threadId":"335314","contentId":"1764454","authorDomain":"PamelaDrew"}
- 5 votes
{"commentId":2539560,"authorDomain":"SthPacific"}
*grins* and Pacifica has always been at war with Eurasia, That is a fascinating argument, Because GM foods are unique, they can be patented, because only something that is completely and 100% new is patentable, but when it comes to testing the safety of these foods they are the same. You would think that there would be a legal argument to this from either angle, but, alas no.
{"commentId":2539560,"threadId":"335314","contentId":"1764454","authorDomain":"SthPacific"}
- 4 votes
{"commentId":2542351,"authorDomain":"PamelaDrew"}
Because GM foods are unique, they can be patented, because only something that is completely and 100% new is patentable, but when it comes to testing the safety of these foods they are the same. You would think that there would be a legal argument to this from either angle, but, alas no.
That's how it is in the bizarre reality that's more like following Alice down the rabbit hole. As the Queen said when Alice had lost her way, you can't lose your way because everything here is my way. Which left Alice to wonder about how everything that should be wasn't and everything that shouldn't be was. There are pills for that, ask your doctor for a free sample, side effects may include death but it's the right choice for a healthy life. Swallow up and enjoy feeling freedom!
{"commentId":2542351,"threadId":"335314","contentId":"1764454","authorDomain":"PamelaDrew"}
- 4 votes
{"commentId":2513390,"authorDomain":"Meloney"}
The CNP was the focus of this ABC News story in May.
Inside the Council for National Policy
According to one of its most prominent members (who asked that his name not be used), the CNP is simply and nothing but a self-selected, conservative counterweight to the influential center-left establishment.
{"commentId":2513390,"threadId":"335314","contentId":"1764454","authorDomain":"Meloney"}
- 4 votes
#6 - Wed Aug 20, 2008 8:33 AM EDT{"commentId":2515348,"authorDomain":"PamelaDrew"}
CNP is simply and nothing but a self-selected, conservative counterweight to the influential center-left establishment.
For all the talk of the left, it still escapes me who these left representatives are. I'd love to know who the left is. Where are they and what are there names? Is this all a reaction to Dennis Kucinich who seems to be one of the few championing individual rights? He didn't last long, not even the debate spotlight. So long as we have no right to know something as fundamental to our basic rights as what the heck is in our food and the media bans discussion my view is that the left is an illusion.
{"commentId":2515348,"threadId":"335314","contentId":"1764454","authorDomain":"PamelaDrew"}
- 6 votes
{"commentId":2515656,"authorDomain":"Meloney"}
good point pam - The secret power broker association is justified as a defensive measure. This carries the subtle defamation of an "enemy" and scapegoats the unidentified (yet "influential") center-left.
{"commentId":2515656,"threadId":"335314","contentId":"1764454","authorDomain":"Meloney"}
- 5 votes
{"commentId":2518104,"authorDomain":"abcrow"}
Wow, Pamela. Thanks so much for posting this.
Please look for an email from me.
~ann
{"commentId":2518104,"threadId":"335314","contentId":"1764454","authorDomain":"abcrow"}
- 3 votes
#7 - Wed Aug 20, 2008 2:16 PM EDT{"commentId":2524309,"authorDomain":"PamelaDrew"}
Gotcha, and thanks for the email. Just as an fyi to anyone who's interested, there's nothing that I won't say in public so long as I believe it to be true. If ever there's a topic you don't wnat to venture into here I'll be happy to discuss it privately but for my own part nothing is off limits but the CoH!!
That's not to suggest anything about the email just to let folks know in general terms that fools rush in where angels fear to tread and I've been known to forge ahead where few others will go.
{"commentId":2524309,"threadId":"335314","contentId":"1764454","authorDomain":"PamelaDrew"}
- 3 votes
{"commentId":2662459,"authorDomain":"Meloney"}
Related story seeded here "A Nation Under God". Chilling.
{"commentId":2662459,"threadId":"335314","contentId":"1764454","authorDomain":"Meloney"}
- 1 vote
#8 - Sat Aug 30, 2008 6:41 PM EDT{"commentId":2662519,"authorDomain":"PamelaDrew"}
Thank you, I'll be right over to check it out. :~)
{"commentId":2662519,"threadId":"335314","contentId":"1764454","authorDomain":"PamelaDrew"}
- 1 vote
{"commentId":2662902,"authorDomain":"MinnieApolis"}
Another good seed from our intrepid Pamela Drew. Those far-righty (aka f-righty) groups are all scary to me. And then some of them go so far as to foster conservative writers and pay them to submit articles all over -- saw that in a couple of documentaries I reviewed for Newsvine but I would have to dig back a bit for the titles.
This is not directly related but something you might also want to check out -- about our Federal Reserve. http://minnieapolis.newsvine.com/_news/2008/08/30/1807255-a-brief-history-of-the-federal-reserve-1910-1971
Enjoy.
{"commentId":2662902,"threadId":"335314","contentId":"1764454","authorDomain":"MinnieApolis"}
- 3 votes
#9 - Sat Aug 30, 2008 7:24 PM EDT{"commentId":2667348,"authorDomain":"PamelaDrew"}
The Rockefeller's private banking operation, my friendsters of the FED, wouldn't miss it, thanks!!
{"commentId":2667348,"threadId":"335314","contentId":"1764454","authorDomain":"PamelaDrew"}
- 4 votes
{"canLink":false,"threadId":"335314","isPrivate":false}
You're in Easy Mode. If you prefer, you can use XHTML Mode instead. |
As a new user, you may notice a few temporary content restrictions. Click here for more info.
Start Tracking
Stop TrackingCOMPANY STUFF:
LEGAL STUFF:
- © 2005-2009 Newsvine, Inc. |
- Newsvine® is a registered trademark of Newsvine, Inc. |
- Newsvine is a property of
