Pulling Back the Curtain
"Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!"
I've spent considerable time reading about and researching the Council for National Policy, a radical right-wing conglomerate of media, political, judicial, religious and industry leaders bent on their particular anti-democratic, theocratic, neoliberal version of the United States. I've read the book by the subject of the Moyer's interview in this article. The title of the book is "Shadow Network: Media, Money, and the Secret Hub of the Radical Right" by Anne Nelson. It provides an historical accounting of the confluence of far right-wing political zealots and the religious right dating back to the early 1970s and the fears that a more egalitarian society evoked for some. Members of certain organizations saw that their chokehold on power, political as well as economic, was beginning to slip with the continued policies of the New Deal and the strides made by the Civil Rights Movement and the extension of benefits of Johnson’s Great Society, hence a vision was cast where those feeling threatened would work behind the scenes to not only stop the momentum towards a more equitable and just society, but to reverse those gains for the recently empowered.
For the past 40+ years, various entities have coalesced around this movement, as both the article and the book clearly define. When one steps back far enough from the individual trees of the daily news cycle, the entire forest can be seen in sharp focus. What has happened since the 70s? An erosion of the economic strength and civil rights of those outside of the elite circles of power while those at the top have feasted. Feasted economically which, in turn, has allowed them to feast politically via lobbying, stark bribery and, not so shockingly, the Citizens United Supreme Court decision giving de facto control of political power to those with the most wealth. The last four decades have been about quietly changing the rules of the game to benefit those who consider themselves entitled to lead. At the heart of this movement is the Council for National Policy.
One has to only look at the members and leadership of this organization throughout its history to understand just how much influence the CNP and its various arms had and continues to have. Though incredibly secretive, from time to time, membership lists and meeting notes or recordings find their way online. The dots become incredibly easy to connect between why the working and middle class continue to struggle and decline while the wealth and power of those at the top continues to grow exponentially. Those in positions of power have no desire to see the vast majority of Americans improve their conditions and lots in life. The agenda is to keep Americans solvent enough to keep paying for the goods that their companies produce or the services that they provide so that they can continue to reap the benefits of the labor of others and collect their dividends from the sacred stock market.
Take a look at the past four decades or so to see just how much legislation, just how many judicial rulings, just how many government programs have actually helped the middle and lower economic classes. There may be a few crumbs thrown in there to appease and placate, but the majority of legislation, rulings and programs have been for the benefit of those at the top.
That brings us to now. Is it a surprise that Mr. Trump’s mantra of Make America Great Again was chosen as his election slogan? This is the overarching philosophy of the Council for National Policy. They want to drag the U.S. away from granting civil rights to all people, they want to deregulate businesses to allow themselves to run unimpeded in their quest for wealth and power, they want to decimate the freedom of religion by advocating a certain brand of belief, they want to destroy the labor movement to ensure that workers have fewer rights and less bargaining power, they push their brand of American Exceptionalism in public and private schools, they preach the originalist view of the Constitution, they foist the myth of individualism and attack the concept of community, they fight to delegitimatize and violently suppress any movement that is contrary to their aims, calling these groups terrorists, anti-American, socialists, communists, anti-fascists, or whatever the most popular pejorative du jour is and deploy the might of either the militarized police or U.S. military to take care of the problem.
Mr. Trump is most likely reviled by the majority of the CNP’s membership. He represents all that they despise. He is crass, a showmen, gaudy and gilded, a climber and a clinger, a pariah who demands personal loyalty without having an ideological foundation beyond the transactional. Mr. Trump has run afoul of the CNP’s ideals and leadership by denouncing and dismissing from his service those tasked with shepherding him. Take a look at members of the CNP who have served in the current administration that have been cast aside—Kellyanne Conway and Steve Bannon are two of the highest profile. Yet the CNP continues to back Mr. Trump. I’d wager that they put up with his two-bit carney reality TV schtick because that allows them to move more easily. With all eyes focused on Mr. Trump and his daily dysfunction, they can do things like place in consideration an ideologue true-believer in Amy Coney Barrett as a nominee for the Supreme Court without too many people digging in to her connections. They can suppress voting rights and allow Mr. Trump to take the heat while reaping the benefits. They can absolutely gut environmental protections to benefit corporations’ bottom lines and it’s all on Mr. Trump’s shoulders. These and pretty much all of the work that the Trump Administration has undertaken has been directed by the CNP, a massive phantasmagorical quid pro quo giving Mr. Trump the pomp and circumstance and adulation of the uninformed that he craves, as well as a steady flow of much-needed cash from government coffers into his businesses, in return for doing the bidding of the fascistic neoliberal theocrats hiding behind a massive dark curtain.
Even if Mr. Trump is defeated in the upcoming election (which I’m not convinced will happen), the grand plan of the Council for National Policy is ongoing. The movement to kneel on the necks of those wanting a more equitable and just society will continue. A Biden Administration won’t have the wherewithal to challenge this (and would it really want to?) and reinstate most of the gains that have been erased. I’m not sure that any administration will have the ability to suppress the machinations of those wishing to rule in this manner. It will take educating the people and pulling back the curtain on the Council for National Policy and its affiliates, untangling the Gordian Knot of organizations and groups, money and influence, that comprise the CNP.
Friends, some days I have little hope. Some days the shadow of a rising American fascism seems to be threatening to blot out the bright things that really do make our country great. It is up to each of us to work to make sure that this doesn’t happen. We need to make sure that authoritarianism doesn’t happen here. It goes beyond just voting. It involves a tireless vigilance and a willingness to constantly educate yourself. It means maybe going to uncomfortable places in your thinking and challenging long-held beliefs. For some, it may mean gathering en masse to call out the actions of those in positions of power. It may move you to form alliances and allyships that you would never before have considered. It will definitely, and most likely already has, caused fissures in long-standing relationships. We the People must firmly grasp our ideals of all people being created equal in the pursuit of life, liberty, prosperity and freedom. We must engage those forces that work to assume those things for themselves only while ensuring others are excluded.
By all means, vote. Voting is an important aspect of citizenship. But do more than vote.
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